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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 380
 
| Severe cases, mild cases. What can it look like and what behaviors did it cause. I am starting to think something might be going on with my horse. I am planning on having a vet to some blood tests very soon.
My horse has suddenly become hypersensitive to touch. Really really bad. I have also noticed some very odd muscle activity in his flank and stifle area and he will stomp is hind feet in response to it. Also some very odd behavior I noticed when he urinated. Seemed reluctant to urinate, it looked just slightly dark for a horse that has free access to water. He circled a lot before urinating like he just did not want to do it and curled his upper lip when he finally did pee. He looked uncomfortable.
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Veteran
Posts: 233
| That's pretty consistent with pssm. Tying up will be rock hard muscles after exercise, reluctance to move, shaking/quivering muscles, and depending on severity it can kill a horse. The timeline varies, but sometimes it's about 10 minutes after you start riding (again, consistent with pssm) and sometimes it's due to electrolyte imbalance after hard work (can occur in any horse).
With pssm, putting the horse on a high fat, low sugar diet AND supplimenting magnesium, combined with daily exercise and not stalling a horse, tends to yield excellent results. There is a hair test you can do for pssm type 1, but type 2 requires a muscle biopsy, and it is often in a horse's best interests to try the treatment protocol and see what happens before you take a 1 inch chunk of muscle out from behind the shoulder with an 8 week recovery time. |
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Go Get Em!
Posts: 13503
   
Location: OH. IO | My case was absolutely UGLY.looked like someone beat her to death with a baseball bat and left her crippled.refused to move(DONT MAKE THEM MOVE IF THE ARE TYING UP)Urine was dark.muscles in butt very tight. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 380
| Ok, got the vet coming out tomorrow at 3:30. I am having his magnesium levels tested, what else should I have the vet test for? |
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Veteran
Posts: 233
| Testing for mag might not do you any good. Pssm horses need massive amounts. My mare doesn't see results until 3 tablespoons am and pm of mag oxide. Because their muscles don't use glycogen normally, they use excessive amounts of electrolytes. Testing for selenium might be a good idea.
Buy your mag at the feed store in 50 lb sacks. I paid $30 , instead of the $1-$2 a day feeding mag restore or smart paks or whatever. |
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  Champ
Posts: 19623
Location: Peg-Leg Julia Grimm | There several different types of "tying up". The classic tying up is probably P1. There are more types that require different diets to make the horse more comfortable and are caused by completely different myopathies with different triggers. P1 is from sugar/starch intake. There's a page on facebook that has some people that have studied PSSM in all forms. https://www.facebook.com/groups/202978353056065/ |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 320
Location: Dubuque,IA | All forms of pssm are now available with dna hair testing that is more accurate than muscle biopsy. P1 is on the five panel through animal genetics. P2 P3 P4 PX and RER atre available through equisec hair testing.Your horse as all the classic signs of pssm.
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 Dog Resuce Agent
Posts: 3459
Location: southeast Texas | What are you feeding ? Animal genetics is the place to start for identifying PSSM. You can do that test alone. Quick turnaround time.
I would start with a diet change.
How much turnout does your horse get? |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 380
| Probably 14 or 15 hours of turn out. He gets 1lb of Essential K and 2lbs of Tribute kalm EZ a day and he is on the chubby side. |
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Dog Resuce Agent
Posts: 3459
Location: southeast Texas | I looked on the web site. The calm EZ has a NSC of 14.3 % and the essential k is 13.3% NSC.
With tying up issues you want to start out below 10% NSC. Sugar + starch = NSC
talk to your vet about a truly low starch low sugar diet.
Join the Facebook group PSSM Forum. There are other groups but this one I give 
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Dog Resuce Agent
Posts: 3459
Location: southeast Texas | if you can get triple crown feed. They have a triple crown lite, NSC below 10%. If you want to do a forage diet you can add triple crown 30 for a supliment.
Sometimes forage can have high sugars, as well as grass. Lush green pastures typically are high sugar.
Educate yourself. Many vets are not up to the latest on PSSM |
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Champ
Posts: 19623
Location: Peg-Leg Julia Grimm | SloRide - 2017-08-09 7:09 AM
Severe cases, mild cases. What can it look like and what behaviors did it cause. I am starting to think something might be going on with my horse. I am planning on having a vet to some blood tests very soon.
My horse has suddenly become hypersensitive to touch. Really really bad. I have also noticed some very odd muscle activity in his flank and stifle area and he will stomp is hind feet in response to it. Also some very odd behavior I noticed when he urinated. Seemed reluctant to urinate, it looked just slightly dark for a horse that has free access to water. He circled a lot before urinating like he just did not want to do it and curled his upper lip when he finally did pee. He looked uncomfortable.
It sounds less like P1 and more like one of the P2 variants. |
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 Expert
Posts: 1302
Location: California | How old is he? I have one with it.. she only had mild symptoms. Hates water on her body, brushing, extremely hard muscled 24/7 and RIPPED (even out of shape). She has only tied up a couple times - she gets reluctant to move, extremely stiff in the hind end, draws up, and shakes in her flanks. If I leave her off for a long period of time and get back on her and work her too hard she will do it. I gave a selenium shot awhile back and she has not had an issue since. She doesn't do well in the heat - sweats a lot just in her pasture. Once I knew she had it and switched her diet and turnout plan it hasn't been too difficult to manage. He could have stones or something too though from the sounds of his symptoms. |
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 Shelter Dog Lover
Posts: 10277
| There is a FB group for PSSM horses, full of information. Good luck with your horse |
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