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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 319
| Taking horse to vet tomorrow. What tests can a vet do to determine if a problem is neurological? My retired barrel horse has fallen at least 3 times since Saturday.
I saw one stumble & fall Saturday night. He seemed to trip and couldn't get his feet under him; he fell down hitting his head on barn post. He scraped his head in 2 places, and a good sized knot came up but he seemed ok enough that I turned him out with other 2 horses. Sunday morning the swelling was down and he seemed fine. Moving a little slow maybe but ate, drank, pooped. Sunday night same story. Then this morning my friend fed and said he had a scrape on his shoulder that we hadn't noticed. When I went out tonight he had an additional scrape above the eye, scrape on his knee and cut on pastern. The shoulder scrape was not there on Saturday night or Sunday. I went over every inch when he fell and again in daylight Sunday. So he must have fallen Sunday night & scratched shoulder. And he must have fallen again Monday after the morning feeding and scraped above his eye and on his leg.
Tonight he was not moving good at all. He did eat, drink & poop. I left him up with another horse for company and we will go to the vet tomorrow. I'm just wondering what kind of tests can be done to check for neurological problems.
Edited by nance 2016-10-12 10:26 AM
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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
 
| I would test for west Nile and epm |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 319
| He is up to date on vaccines. Not epm of course. |
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 Saint Stacey
 
| You can do lameness checks where they lift the head high and watch the horse track. A neuro horse will have problems. They also can pull the tail as the horse walks to see if they have weakness. If they are really sore in the SI, that can be a neuro problem and you want to X-ray the neck. West Nile, rabies, EPM can all be tested for by a blood test (to a certain degree). EPM testing with blood only tells you if the horse has a titer, but not the degree. A true EPM test is with spinal fluid. I would personally start with X-rays of the neck. Many people blame EPM when it's actually wobblers.
I hate to be a downer, but if it is wobblers...you are living on borrowed time. Once they start showing neuro signs, you are pretty much too late to do anything about it. I lost a horse to wobblers. Everyone said EPM. The EPM meds did help at first so I thought I was on the right path. Best of luck. I hate neuro issues. They suck. |
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Saint Stacey
| What type of grain are you feeding him? Neuro issues can also happen from ionophore intoxication from contaiminated feed. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 319
| SKM - 2016-10-10 9:02 PM You can do lameness checks where they lift the head high and watch the horse track. A neuro horse will have problems. They also can pull the tail as the horse walks to see if they have weakness. If they are really sore in the SI, that can be a neuro problem and you want to X-ray the neck. West Nile, rabies, EPM can all be tested for by a blood test (to a certain degree). EPM testing with blood only tells you if the horse has a titer, but not the degree. A true EPM test is with spinal fluid. I would personally start with X-rays of the neck. Many people blame EPM when it's actually wobblers. I hate to be a downer, but if it is wobblers...you are living on borrowed time. Once they start showing neuro signs, you are pretty much too late to do anything about it. I lost a horse to wobblers. Everyone said EPM. The EPM meds did help at first so I thought I was on the right path. Best of luck. I hate neuro issues. They suck.
I had a horse with epm, so have been down that road. She was treated and even competed again but was always a little "off" and clumsy. Was told then that the test only tells if horse has been exposed to epm and that most horses in the south have been.
I'll look up wobblers. No experience with that.
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Saint Stacey
| There are two types of wobblers. Growth related and injury related. I'm assuming you would be dealing with injury related. It usually happens when a horse runs into something or flips. I have a gelding with two fractured vertebrae from flipping with his head tied before I bought him. We caught it early enough that injecting it should stop it from turning into wobblers.
Basically arthritis starts to develop and starts to invade the spinal chord. It turns into neurological problems. |
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 My Heart Be Happy
Posts: 9159
Location: Arkansas | I have no advice but wanted to send good thoughts and prayers up for you and your boy. . . . |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 319
| SKM - 2016-10-10 9:04 PM What type of grain are you feeding him? Neuro issues can also happen from ionophore intoxication from contaiminated feed.
Feeding strategy but started adding whole oats last Tuesday. Hmmmm. Didn't remember that I changed his feed. |
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 Owner of a ratting catting machine
Posts: 2258
| EPM or Wobblers. I read something a couple of different places that indicates that they can have both, causing heightened symptoms, when they might not have shown symptoms from one by itself.
I have a horse that was dying from EPM this spring (without knowing it), and his testing came back negative across the board, except for Pathogenes' inflammation protein test came back 90/100. That can be an indication of anything from a torn stifle ligament to a rocking case of EPM...but I took the plunge anyway and full EPM treatment has given him his life back. Soo testing, in the world of me, is absolutely worthless. Just treat!
Definitely xray from poll backwards, just in case you find something nasty.
Prayers for your guy!
Edited by classicpotatochip 2016-10-10 9:47 PM
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 Take a Picture
Posts: 12842
| Wobblers is usually found in young horses and I believe inherited |
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 I Want a "MAN"
Posts: 3610
Location: MD | Just because they're vaccinated doesn't mean they couldn't acquire the disease. |
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Saint Stacey
| streakysox - 2016-10-11 6:38 AM
Wobblers is usually found in young horses and I believe inherited
Sorry, but that's not true. Any horse of any age, at any time can get injury related wobblers. |
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 Bulls Eye
Posts: 6443
Location: Oklahoma | streakysox - 2016-10-11 7:38 AM
Wobblers is usually found in young horses and I believe inherited
Not true. I had a TB get wobblers and he was 12. It is not a genetic disease |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 319
| Thanks everyone. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 319
| VEt suspects epm. Has anyone used generic marquis? |
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My Heart Be Happy
Posts: 9159
Location: Arkansas | Have you searched past threads on EPM? Lots of info, maybe you can find out about the generic form on some of them. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 319
| He passed away last night. |
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 Expert
Posts: 1343
Location: Oklahoma | So sorry! |
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 Shelter Dog Lover
Posts: 10277
| So sorry, hugs |
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