Just as things were getting good all of my fun plans came to a screeching halt. You know that feeling when you are waiting for the other shoe to drop? Well that’s where I have been living the past couple weeks. First let me back up a little bit.
I have been pretty open about how challenging Annie can be to ride on the flat. She makes you work for it. Every. Single. Step. Of. The. Way. The only easy rides on this horse are the ones where you don’t ride. It’s pretty reasonable to accept that she isn’t easy once you have experienced just how athletic she is. When you get it there is nothing better.
I thought that we had ironed out her physical issues last year. We did the bone scan and figured out that her hocks and neck were bothering her. Injected both along with a nice expensive dose of Osphos and we went on our merry way. Then I got pregnant and she was off for over 6 months. She came back into work in July and picked up where she left off last fall.
Mid August, in preparation for our move, I had her examined again in TN and while she got her now annual neck injection the vet didn’t find any other issues. She was maybe a touch sore on her hocks but we wanted to get hind shoes put back on and reevaluate. I try to avoid sticking needles into the joints when possible.
Well, the combination of no turnout and limited riding due to the weather made for one spicy mare. She tried to keep it together but she was basically jumping out of her skin. I had concerns about hind end soreness and decided to see what some turnout did for her before having the vet out to inject her hocks.
On top of being sore I also recently noticed that she started making noise when breathing. I wasn’t sure what the cause was though. Turnout did help her overall demeanor but I noticed that I still had a panicky horse under saddle. Annie gets over excited and even downright belligerent but panic wasn’t the norm. After a quick discussion with the vet we decided that she should get scoped to rule out any soft palette displacement.
That brings us to Tuesday. The vet examined Annie and found that she was very positive for her hock points. Upon a closer look though he noticed some fairly pronounced muscle atrophy on her left hindquarters. His first concern was EPM as it is apparently pretty common in this area. He took a blood sample and that is currently en route to UC Davis for testing.
The real finale of the day though was her respiratory scope. Her soft palette displaced 3 times while she was being scoped. The good/bad news is that this could explain a lot of her behavior under saddle. When the displacement occurs it can make the horse feel suffocated. I dont know about you but not being able to breath does cause me to freak out. I feel terrible that I had tried to ride while this was happening.
There is a surgery (tie forward) that has roughly a 70% success rate that the vet recommended. It is apparently pretty straightforward. She would have the surgery, spend a few days at the clinic, 2 weeks of stall rest, and 2 months of turnout only. Then we would be able to bring her back to work to see what we have. This means that best case scenario Annie will be out of commission until Feb/Mar.
Worst case scenario… Well I can’t really go there right now. First we have to rule out or treat EPM. Once I know more I will update everyone. In the meantime have a bottle of wine for me.
I’m so sorry. How frustrating. Sending you and Annie good thoughts!
I am really hoping you get all the answers you need regarding Annie. Also, I can see the future and there will be many margaritas for you.
Well this sucks, but you have some answers! My friends horse had tie back surgery and it was a huge success. Horse still events Training level. Sending good vibes your way!
Wow. Hopefully not EPM, hopefully a better ride going forward. Wine helps for sure.
Ugh! I am so sorry! Sending positive vibes for the best possible outcome in all cases!
This sucks. I’m sorry this is happening. It does sound like you’re building a good team of people to care for Annie, but dang, it’s just the pits. I hope everything has the best possible outcome, and that you get copious amounts of your very favorite wine.
oh man, that’s a rough double whammy 🙁 good luck with the EPM test, even if it’s positive hopefully she responds well to treatment! same for the surgery. obvi no surgery is ever ideal and it would be way more comforting to have better than a 70% success rate…. but we do what we gotta do. my horse has a tie back and it has not interfered with his performance (either as my eventer or as a race horse) so hopefully it’ll be the same for Annie!
Oh boy, that’s a lot of take in. 🙁 It sounds like you have a good plan in place though. Here’s hoping the surgery and EPM treatment (if it is indeed EPM) all goes smoothly. *hugs*
What a crummy situation! I hope and pray for a good result to the EPM test. Are those tests pretty definitive/accurate? Horse stress plus new baby stress is seriously the worst, speaks from experience. Hoping you get answers, just clear answers, so you know how to best help her. Hugs.
Dang, I’m so sorry to hear this 🙁 Keeping all my crossables crossed for negative EPM and sending you lots of hugs and alcohol <3
Well that just sucks. Sorry that so much is going on, but it does sound like you have a possible plan in place.
Oof. Rough news all around. I hope that answers and treatment come easily.
Holy smokes. Getting hit from all directions. Well, take one thing at a time and hoping you get answers and a plan in place. Thinking if you!
Dang that’s a lot to handle at once… praying for negative EPM and the surgery to do the trick! 💗
Ugh, definitely not good news. 🙁 My experience is with tie back and not tie forward surgery but Stampede became a different and happier horse after he could breath freely. The recovery timeline was very similar. Wishing you the best possible outcome here. I know you will do what’s best for her.
Ugh. So stressful. I hope the surgery will fix up the respiratory issue easily for you. Those are pretty good odds!
And try not to stress too much about the epm. They’ve made a lot of advances in treating it, and most horses go on to be perfectly fine once treated. Worst case for a lot of them, you just have to re-treat every so often. Rio was certainly an exception, but even he made it back to work! And she may have just lost muscle form the lack of work and outside time. Hopefully that’s all you’re seeing. I’m sending all good thoughts to you and Annie for a good outcome.
Poor thing, that’s alot. I’ve seen plenty of horses do well after surgery like that, so hoping Annie will do well as well. Fingers crossed negative EPM.
Oh poor Annie. You need a drink and fortunately it’s almost Friday happy hour time.
Oh Annie! I have my fingers crossed that you get a good outcome.
God that sucks so much!! It’s never fun to have an upset horse, or feel like you dont’ know what is coming next. Sending you a giant margarita (with an extra shot on top), and my best thoughts!
Ugh, sorry to hear about all the stress. I’m really crossing my fingers for a negative EPM titer for you guys!