Albi

[domane]

Just thought I'd let you know that very sadly Albi has been diagnosed with PSSM. He's had some odd symptoms for a while and despite a few of us telling Jill that he's just being a nappy git (me included!) she stuck to her hunch and had him investigated. His future is up in the air at the mo. Yes, he can be managed but he may end up having to be retired because of Jill's work commitments. He's 10 next week

 

[Bodshi]

Oh that's sad. Do you know what his symptoms were and what his treatment will be? I ask because we suspected Raf might have it at one point a couple of years ago but blood tests during a suspected tying up episode showed no abnormal enzyme levels. It's always interested me since then though.

I do hope Albi's symptoms can be managed relatively easily and that he feels better soon.

 

[chunky monkey]

Oh that's such a shame. You've always mentioned albi in your posts. Must be one special horse. Hope she will be able to manage him.

 

[Jessey]

Damn, that's a kicker, hopefully she can find a way to manage it, I know many do if the symptoms are mild.

 

[domane]

Oh that's sad. Do you know what his symptoms were and what his treatment will be?

He started just stopping when she was hacking him. Got very sticky in a jump ring, won't leave the gate area. Literally grinding to a halt and no amount of leg or stick would move him forward. It would last a couple of minutes and then pass. He tires really quickly, runs out of steam. It's like his brain still wants to do it but his body says no. He's tried so hard for Jill . On fun rides the sight of jumps winds him up but he's not pulling to get to them. Jill now feels that he's been panicking in case he's going to be asked to jump. He sweats a LOT and he's had intermittent bouts of his rear end shaking, especially after travelling. He's not fat this year and has gone down a gullet size (we all thought he was just fit but now know it's muscle wastage) He's also very spooky in windy weather. All classic signs, but easily blamed on something else at the time. He has good days and bad days. Vet took bloods and his PSSM markers were double what they should be. Vet came back the next day for more blood to send off to specialist centre for confirmation, which we are still waiting for but vet is convinced already. They don't now need to do a hair DNA test or muscle biopsy apparently to confirm diagnosis.

Interestingly, Jill had him thermal scanned a couple of weeks ago and she didn't really take much notice of the results because the woman was convinced Albs was displaying signs of ulcers (which he may well also have because if being in pain, but we haven't gone there yet!!) but when Jill thinks back there were two clear white lines down Albi's back which shown the muscle breakdown and damage.

Treatment-wise, there is no medication. It's managing diet carefully (low carb, high fat and lits of vitamin e) and regular work.... as in daily... at the level Jill wants to keep him at. So if she just wants to hack for an hour, he must be hacked daily for an hour. If she wants to compete, he's got to jump EVERY day. It's a big commitment.

 

[Trewsers]

I don't know anything about pssm. But hope that something can be worked out. What a shame given he is only ten.

 

[Kite_Rider]

I had to go and google PM as I didn't know what it was, so sorry to hear that domane. What a shame for both Albi and Jill.

 

[Bodshi]

Thanks for that detailed reply @domane. Raf had exactly the same symptoms but we put it down to the Cushings. I suppose both conditions cause muscle loss, so maybe that's why. Raf also sometimes feels like the handbrake goes on - it's a really odd feeling, just like suddenly something is stopping him from moving. It might only last a few seconds or minutes and then suddenly he's free again. And he does an odd kind of twitching over his back/hind end when I'm riding him sometimes, it's a very definite hoik up of one side of his hindquarters but then it's gone again. Also (I'm remembering lots of stuff now) he very bizarrely went through a phase of walking on his tiptoes on his hind feet when he was spooked by something. All muscle related I think and I'm hoping the Vitamin E he's getting now is going to help all this stuff, certainly we've had no episodes of 'handbrake on' recently.

I knew about the low carb and high oil diet, and I knew that PSSM horses need daily exercise but I had no idea that they had to have such intensive exercise, depending on what you do with them - I thought a daily walk out would do the trick.

I'm keeping everything crossed for Albi, hope that the change of diet etc makes him feel much better.

 

[domane]

There must be loads of undiagnosed "lazy" cobs out there. It's common in draught horses and crossbreed derivatives of... so it pops up quite a lot in traddies and patchy ponies.