I bought a mare and after a month of having her I finally got in touch with one of her old owners and old barrel trainer... she has mild paralysis and I can only imagine if I were to put her on the barrels it'll be full grade eventually.

I'd rather not even test it as she gets very anxious and she can't collect properly. The pattern is the last place we need to be worrying about. She's beautiful on the pattern, I'm just so sad for her. She's gone through multiple owners due to this I believe; she's perfect in every other way and she has to be in discomfort which is why she gets worked up.

Has anyone had the surgery done? She's 8, healthy other wise with some body work issues to address. Im wondering if I should get it done for her, or just retire her and use her for pleasure. I've heard horror stories of the surgery not being successful. She's very well broke, it's a shame to not try I just don't know what to do and I do not want to sell her and have her go through another home again because she's a special one. It's not fair for her. I have two other horses that go for training next year so I can wait until they're ready if she's not going to be able to perform.

Success stories, advice, anything helps! Thank you!

I have one with some paralysis, never did the surgery though. He sounded like a freighttrain and bled because of it. Yours might be bleeding and that where the anxiety stems from. Once I got the bleeding under control mine did fine for almost 10 years. Still rides just fine now in retirement. When he's fit and in full work he still sounds like I just pulled him out of the pasture after 2 years off and asked him to lope circles, but he's fine. I kept him on MVP AirWay daily and then Breathe O2 paste when I ran, plus lasix sometimes. Equipulmin seemed to work well too and is soemthing you can give daily. If you haven't tried something like that then thats an option. And just straight ride her for a few weeks to let it all take effect &s tay off the pateern. Let her wind down & breathe so to speak. Not saying it'll work, but its probably worth a shot. My gelding is about half paralyzed and he was just fine with this setup. His gate issues he had were ulcers on top of it, so maybe make sure you've got all bases covered. Best of luck! 

This may be a dumb question but what do y'all mean "paralyzed"? What is paralyzed about their breathing? 

Means their larynx is partially paralyzed, it can't open/close as normal 

larygneal hemiplegia is called roaring or a paralyzed flapper. There are 4 grades. Grade 1 is normal, Grade 4 is complete paralysis. Grade 2 is where one arytenoid cartilage is lazy but can fully open. Grade 3 is where one arytenoid cartilage is lazy and does not fully open.  If you want to know how much its affecting performance, you could have dynamic endoscopy performed where they place a special scope on the horse that you can ride with. They video the airway  and you can see during different phases of exercise how much it affects them. I wouldn't think it would be necessary for something obvious like a grade 4 laryngeal hemiplegia, but it could tell you a lot if theres only some dysfunction. 

Thanks JLazyT and Casualdust - y'all have taught me something new!