A sad WWYD

[Pleasedontdothat]

I’ll preface this by saying that for many reasons (including equine ones) I’m feeling very fragile at the moment so please be kind. Last year I got my first horse - a very sweet-natured 15.1 cob. All went well to start with - I’d tried him twice in the school and out hacking - he did a bit of a spook but it was nothing I couldn’t handle and he was basically an ‘energy conserver’. He was quite green for his age but my daughter was happy to school him for me. After a few months we started to have the odd incident - he got his head underneath his lead rope when he was tied up on the yard for a couple of minutes, panicked, reared up and fell heavily against the stables, he started getting very nappy in the school and would suddenly take off out on hacks - it felt like he was panicking, one minute he’d be pootling along on a loose rein then suddenly he’d be charging down the road with no obvious trigger. After one incident dd decided to take him in the arena to see what was going on - he was fine for 20 minutes then she picked up canter and he was off in a blind panic - eventually she managed to pull him up but she said she didn’t feel safe on him and didn’t think I should ride him again. We had the vet out - he had the equivalent of a vetting but there was nothing obviously wrong. He’d had clean leg x-rays when I got him and we x-rayed his back (clean) and scoped for ulcers (clear). The vet said his gut feeling was that it was something that was causing him sporadic bursts of pain, probably an abnormality in one of his facet joints but it was very difficult to diagnose and not easily treatable so his recommendation was to retire him. He’s been mooching in the field since September but he’s been getting increasingly bad tempered with the others (it’s a stable herd who otherwise all get on really well), bargy to lead and breaking through fencing (post and rail and electric rope). He’s not cantering or playing with the others (will do a few strides of disunited canter but quickly pulls up) and generally seems quite unhappy. They have 24 hour turnout in large, undulating fields with natural shelter, hedgerows to browse, constant company for mutual grooming, safety and friendship so all the others are really happy and relaxed. I don’t know what the best way forward is now and I’m feeling very sad and lost about it. Any advice?

Have you done any further investigations to confirm it's a facet joint issue (ultrasound, bone scan, physio, injections etc)? I and I'm happy to be proven wrong, it's not an area I know much about! would have expected the back xrays to show something if it was a facet joint issue.

Have you considered introducing groundwork, in the same way you'd rehab KS - lots of long and low, pole work, core strengthening etc. Giving him 'a job' might help his mood and get him to carry himself in a better way.

Ultimately, you know him best. If you don't think there's any chance of rehab and he's unhappy retired, the hardest decision may be what's best for him in the long run.

Massive sympathy from me - I've been in similar shoes and I know it's an awful position to be in.

If he's had a fall could he have injured his neck or SI?

Sometimes a good physio can locate a painful SI but sometimes not. It can cause problems in canter like wrong lead or being disunited. Steriod injection into the SI is not too expensive.

The way you describe the fall with his head under the rope I'd also be concerned about the neck, you might need both ultrasound and xrays to rule out a neck injury.

He sounds unhappy and not safe to handle. If you don't want to do any more vet investigations / treatment it's not wrong to pts at this point.

Sounds really tough. Did the behaviour all start after he fell on the yard?

Sort of.. as in that was the first time something went wrong - but that was well over a year ago - we got the vet out and physio and apart from sore muscles where he hit the wall he seemed to be ok. His behaviour has been deteriorating - today I brought him onto the yard to wash him as he’s been getting very sweaty and dd was going to give him a bib clip to make him more comfortable - he was swinging his hind quarters around which felt unsafe and then he reared up, snapped the head collar as well as the twine and ran back towards the field. I was doing some groundwork, poles etc with him - he used to be perfectly calm but he’s being a bit thuggish so it’s not particularly enjoyable for either him or me. All of dd’s competition horses are perfectly behaved - I can do everything on the ground with them without worrying so I don’t think it a complete lack of skill on my part.

Apparently the back X-rays would have shown kissing spine if he’d had it but he’s too chunky to get a good view of where the facet joint is ., even if we could see it, the initial treatment would be steroids which our vet didn’t advise as he’d be a laminitis risk.

Sounds as if there is a pain issue. If he is clearly not happy in retirement and the handling is dangerous then to put down becomes the sad but sensible option. It sounds as if you have already considered vet treatment options. Be kind to yourself and put your safely first.

It screams to me of neck pain from the trauma of pulling in a panic on his lead rope. It would have caused calcium to build up in his facet joints causing pain and restricting nerves. This in turn causes intermittent nerve pain. Pain causes aggression and my wobblers horse was prone to bolting on occasion as well as displaying neuro issues which may not be present in yours yet or at all.

I'd suggest having his neck xrayed. They can inject steroids which can help to a degree.

Agree about neck 100%

Thank you for the suggestions. My vet is sure it’s pain-related but was reluctant to do neck x-rays (I asked for those at the same time as the back x-rays) as in his experience they are very hard to get useful information from and due to Timmy’s build he was even more reluctant to give him steroids. I’ll have another chat with him but I’m feeling very guilty about having tied him up in a way which meant he could get his head stuck

I would ask another vet for a second opinion and push for further investigations. Our horse has arthritis in his SI & facet joints and had some really unpredictable, explosive moments under saddle prior to diagnosis, amongst other things (it never showed as lameness and back X-rays were clear; he was diagnosed with ultrasound). He was so unhappy and not himself over winter but following diagnosis and steroid injections plus Osphos, he is back to his happy self and back into ridden work after months off, where we feared the worst. Anabolic steroids can be an option if weight is an issue, and you could try a grazing muzzle if the vet is concerned about giving steroids because of his build...surely it is worth a try if he is unhappy and in pain. I hope you are able to get some answers soon to be able to help him x

Megan Elphick had a gelding called Ari who showed similar behaviour. He had an issue with his neck that caused pain and erratic behaviour.

I'd put money on his having an issue with his neck.

I'd like to add that my wobblers horse was eventually referred to hospital where he had stand up xrays/scans on his neck as portable xray machine xrays the vet did had shown he had no issues in his neck.
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It turned out that his spinal column only had a gap of 17mm in places, in unaffected horses of his size the gap should have been 52mm. The nerves were being compressed drastically leading to the issues we were encountering.

I do feel a referral to a hospital that are able to produce decent imaging of the area is crucial to get a diagnosis. I'm not sure if you are the same as me but I always feel so helpless without a diagnosis and when you finally have one, even if it is the most appalling one you can have, at least you know where you stand and what treatment if any can be given.

I think that is going to be your only way forward at this stage. Wishing you luck x

I'd like to add that my wobblers horse was eventually referred to hospital where he had stand up xrays/scans on his neck as portable xray machine xrays the vet did had shown he had no issues in his neck.
.
It turned out that his spinal column only had a gap of 17mm in places, in unaffected horses of his size the gap should have been 52mm. The nerves were being compressed drastically leading to the issues we were encountering.

I do feel a referral to a hospital that are able to produce decent imaging of the area is crucial to get a diagnosis. I'm not sure if you are the same as me but I always feel so helpless without a diagnosis and when you finally have one, even if it is the most appalling one you can have, at least you know where you stand and what treatment if any can be given.

I think that is going to be your only way forward at this stage. Wishing you luck x

Just to update .. the vet came out again - Timmy’s not insured and my very helpful and pragmatic vet told me I could spend thousands on diagnostics, possibly never get a definitive answer and the outcome would be the same. He said he stood by his recommendation to retire Timmy as the only treatment he could offer would be steroids (not advisable due to laminitis risk) which would mask the symptoms but the problem would still be there - we’d only know when it had worn off because he’d start running off in a panic again - it could be 3 weeks, 3 months or longer but it would happen at some point - riding is my hobby, it’s supposed to be fun and I don’t want to be thinking every time I go for a pootle around the lanes that this might be the time he does it. They’ve gone onto their summer fields and he seems a bit more cheerful - we’re keeping an eye on him and if he lets us know he’s uncomfortable then we’ll reassess.