While out on your regular ride, you notice that your horse seems a little clumsier than usual, tripping over sticks and stumbling. You put it down to him being lazy, but notice it’s becoming a common pattern. Should you be concerned?
Many horses with spinal problems will exhibit signs of clumsiness as they are being ridden. In particular, Wobbler syndrome occurs when the spinal vertebrae have been compressed. This causes nerve damage resulting in the horse being unable to know where their limbs are positioned. This syndrome can be seen in all horses, regardless of age, breed, or gender, but seems to most often crop up in male horses of fast growing breeds, such as Thoroughbreds or Quarter Horses. It can affect the front legs or the back.
If you suspect that your horse might be suffering from this syndrome, it is important to call your veterinarian for an accurate diagnosis. Wobbler is sometimes confused with the neurological disease, equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM), which causes muscle wasting, facial paralysis, and behavioral changes. In order to properly diagnose, your veterinarian will locate the affected area on your horse’s neck or back, and then take radiographs. These will help your veterinarian to pinpoint exactly what is going on in your horse’s spine to cause the symptoms. Sometimes radiographs are not enough to clearly diagnose the disease, in which case a myelogram may be necessary. This is a procedure where colored dye is injected into the horse’s spine to show on the radiographs where exactly the compression of the spine has occurred. Because the horse must be under anesthesia for this procedure, it is not always a convenient or even possible option.
Wobbler Syndrome can be treated without surgery. Most notably, benefits have been seen in supplementing an affected horse’s diet with vitamin E. For horses that are still growing, a change in diet and turnout in a small paddock can help their bodies to realign. Surgery is an option, however, in which case the surgeon will actually remove pieces of the horse’s vertebrae to eliminate the compression.
My 2 year old Egyptian Arabian filly has wobblers. Will i be able to ride her? will she ever grow out of it?
Should I avoid riding a horse that a VET thinks has slight wobbles but unsure if that or just due to club foot making this horse trips slightly once a while.
I have a 3 year old appy qtr horse that has a problem with her back ankles, hoofs, frog, pasterns etc. I
do not know just where the problem is. The symptom is her back ankles pop, bob and down, pop ( with no sound) It is almost like she is walking along and then all of a sudden she acts like she has just stepped on something, had a sharp pain but keep on going. Sometimes she really resists going down hill even on grass. I can watch her in the pasture just leasurely walking and do the same thing. I have had my ferrier out 2 times, the first I told him about the problem and the second I showed him what she was doing. I have been limiting my riding for feal it will be worse not to mention when I am riding her when she does this I think she is stumbling. If I can I will take a video of her problem. I know this is long winded, but I am trying to give as much information as possible
I have a 14y.o mare when I went to catch her in the field she was swaying around as if she was drunk! I managed to walk her down the field her hind end was going side ways & she had no co ordination going through the gap to her stable? I got the vet out but they couldnt say what it is? They just gave me painkillers shes improved slightly but wen you first bring her out the stable she a bit wobbly on her hind end then the faster she walks the better she is but walks with her back feet very close together almost crossing each other could this be wobblers syndrome?