Diagnosis: Wobblers - need advise

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Originally Posted by doublesstable

I had the surgery done on my horse and was paid through my insurance company. The surgery was done to C 5 and C 6

When the vet completed the necropsy after I had him euthanized they asked if they could keep the vertebra for medical reasons because it was so successful and a great example of the surgery performed. I actually watched the surgery along with many other vets and students because it is a surgery that is not done too often.

I understand why you would not want the surgery done and think you can try to manage it with those you have contacted already.

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Did you ever figure out why your horse became neurologic again?

OP, wanted to quickly share a story. A friend of mine bred her mare and the colt had wobblers. It was pretty bad. They caught it early, put him on the restricted diet right away. She decided to give treatment a go and reasses a bit later on down the road. I think they even treated him with Marquis...this was like 10 or so years ago. He may have had EPM too...not sure but I do remember them treating him with that at the same time as the diet. ANYWAYS, she started him really slowly and while he will never compete at the level he was bred for, he has gone on to be a really good hunt horse and does some low key hunter paces, etc.

Thought Id share a sucess story with you.

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Originally Posted by TimelessRanch

Did you ever figure out why your horse became neurologic again?

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In the necropsy they found nothing other than the punctured brain stem due to the EPM test gone wrong.

The vet and I felt it was a vaccine reaction which caused inflammation that caused a relapse but no way of determining that.

Could have been a bad vaccine? But other horses were vaccinated and had no issues at the same time.

When vaccines cause a fever there is a reason. I do wish they could have found out why.

My chiro feels vaccines can cause neurological horses issues and can be very dangerous. I have always feared vaccines even with my human children.

And of course the most recent issue I stated my concerns for my new horse and him being vaccinated - - tried to relax about it and let the barn and vet do their jobs and of course he quickly established a nice 105 fever after vaccinations.

The response - "only in your horses!"

I've recently been experimenting with herbs on my neuro horse. Ive been giving her Silver Lining Herbs Brain and Nervous Support and Kidney Support. So far Ive seen some positive changes- using her hind end more, being able to move her shoulders over, (she can now shift her weight back to move her shoulders), no tripping the past few weeks, she can balance better when getting her hooves trimmed- when she had her hooves trimmed last week she actually balanced on 2 legs so she could kick at a fly. This was huge to me since she could barely balance on 3 legs when I first got her. I have begun to ride her again lightly and she is starting to feel like a normal horse. I really feel like its the herbs- the only other thing I've done is I gave her a course of 5 shots of Pentosan back in July (one a week). So maybe it was the Pentosan and not the herbs, I started the herbs in August. I started seeing a difference a week ago.

Shoot, anything is worth a try in my opinion.

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Originally Posted by TimelessRanch

Had Richard Ketch watch the video, and based on that video he said he would have hard time grading Rocco anything higher than 2. Just as I thought! I will attempt to video the neurological exam tomorrow.

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That's kind of what I thought, too, but figured maybe on crossing over or other tests he must have scored different. But a 4 should be like, barely able to walk.

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Originally Posted by Absolut Equestrian

I'm a bit surprised no one has really mentioned that there IS a surgical treatment option for wobblers. Not saying it's right for your horse/situation, but it is out there:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1876198/

This is also an excellent article about diagnostic and treatment options, including the "official" scoring criteria:
http://cp.vetlearn.com/Media/Publica..._03_08_430.pdf

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Just a note - I *did* bring up the surgery, including the most recent cost quote I got. And the fact it wasn't worth it for my Grade 1.5 17 year old, but possibly for her 2 year old.

Why don't you get a second opinion, this time specifically to see if he is a wobbler? I agree with the poster that he will be never safe to ride. He will also be a money pit.

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Originally Posted by chemteach

Why don't you get a second opinion, this time specifically to see if he is a wobbler? I agree with the poster that he will be never safe to ride. He will also be a money pit.

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I am not questioning the diagnosis. I know he has wobblers, I just don't agree with gr. 4 rating. But even the rating at this point is not going to make a difference.

I have a vet/chiro/accupuncturist coming out on Wednesday, will see how that goes. I am starting him on 6500IU of Vitamin E and Cosequin. I am learning about energy healing and already started working with him on that. I removed Alfalfa from his diet completely, and feed him just a tiny bit of grain and the ration balancer, plus coastal hay. I am thinking I will give him 60 or so days to show me that he wants to get better. If he does get better and ends up just being a pasture pet, I am OK with that, as long as he is safe to be around.

Rocco and his buddy Rocky were running through the woods yesterday, if you didn't know you would never even think for a second that there is anything wrong with him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4abjSUyaCs

Staying positive :)