Nerve damage ?

[Seeing Spots]

Two weeks ago my husband noticed my coming two year old colt laying down in the run in. I went out to check him and thought he might be colicking so gave him some banamine. I kept an eye on him since he wasn't rolling or doing any of the normal colic stuff. Abotu 45 minutes later I saw him up and noticed he was limping big time. I had run my hand over his back leg and didn't feel anything or see any marks when he was down to begin with. We were leaving for vacation so i told the people doing the horse chores to keep an eye on him but I thought he had been kicked and should just walk it off in a couple of days. Well two weeks later we get home and I discover he is no better and has lost tons of muscle tone in that back hip. I had the vet out and he could not find anything wrong - no breaks, no tears, no swelling, nothing. But Wings will not put much weight on his hind leg and has lost muscle tone quickly. The vet is thinking maybe nerve damage and we are at the stall rest, bute and we'll see what happens.
Has anyone had any experience with nerve damage? I guess I need to start researching it a little. My vet said it can improve but it is very slow to get better.
Like I said we are at the wait and see stage.

[magic]

Treat him for EPM. We have had a mare do the same thing...several treatments of epm meds were required but she is doing fine now.

[Seeing Spots]

I'll ask my vet about that. He is standing on that leg a lot better now that he is on bute so hopefully that will help.

[scrtwh]

Chiro maybe and bloodwork, good luck, so terrible when you just don't know the cause.

[Roy4Ever]

I agree to check out EPM. However, I knew a hackney pony who had basically those same symptoms and the vets never did figure it out. It got so his whole right side was misshapen/different looking than the left side. So strange...

Good luck with him!

[Seeing Spots]

Wings is getting around better and at least he doesn't look any worse now. I am going to have another vet out to look at him for chiro work. She gave me some more hints on keeping him comfortable so we are working on that. Looks like it willjust be time.

[jshay]

Since you asked about nerve damage, we had a horse once many years ago who was injured while being hauled to our farm. She had injured her head and had definite "drooping" of her ears and bottom lip. Our vet prescribed MSM and she got better after several months and went onto a successful show career and even had a foal or two for a subsequent owner. I believe it took six months to a year for the "droopiness" to go away.

[Tazsprout]

I hope yout get someone to do a proper exam and get to the diagnosis. Although this COULD be EPM, the presentation with sudden onset like in the absence of any other signs this is a little unusual. I would keep it in the back of my mind, but go looking for the more usual things. Trauma is always high on the list in young colts. I would wonder about a cracked pelvis, damage to hip (can you flex all joints without a protest?) and as suggested, nerve damage (probably secondary to trauma). Also damage higher up the spinal cord is also possibly. I know this all sounds grim, but many of horses with trauma to these areas do OK. Also, most cases of primary nerve damage (like horses with radial nerve damage from a kick, or sweeney) resolve over time.

Best of luck and let us know how it goes.

Chris Uhlinger, VMD.

[Seeing Spots]

Neither of my vets think it's EPM, nor do I. They are both thinking nerve damage up high on his hip. All of his joints work just fine with no stress to him. With the bute he is bearing weight much better and is willing to use that leg now. He has finally settled down in the stall so is more relaxed and steady. He is getting a joint supplement now too so we'll see how things go.

[jshay]

Well, I must agree with Tazsprout, nerve damage would need a "cause" and I know the horse I spoke/posted about got her nerve damage from throwing a fit in the trailer and hitting her head on something hard. I guess what I am saying is I would be looking for a cause, so Icould prevent it from happening. Some on here have coined a phrase, "Dem Saddlebreds is smart," well I will start a new one "Dem vets ain't cheap." LOL and good luck with your colt.

[Seeing Spots]

I think he was kicked by my rescued arab mare. Not positive since I didn't see it but she does kick at feeding time and he eats near her. That or he slipped and fell since we had a fresh snow that day. He was fine when I fed and down an hour later. Both vets feel either one of those could have caused the damage without any outward signs of it. Can't prevent either of those things from happening since I keep my horses in turn out 24/7. My horses are really good at damaging themselves even if I don't see it happen or find the cause. I just replaced my whole fence to help prevent injuries and now they find some new way to hurt themselves!

[Thunderstruck]

I think he was kicked by my rescued arab mare. Not positive since I didn't see it but she does kick at feeding time and he eats near her. That or he slipped and fell since we had a fresh snow that day. He was fine when I fed and down an hour later. Both vets feel either one of those could have caused the damage without any outward signs of it. Can't prevent either of those things from happening since I keep my horses in turn out 24/7. My horses are really good at damaging themselves even if I don't see it happen or find the cause. I just replaced my whole fence to help prevent injuries and now they find some new way to hurt themselves!

Hopefully it is a temporary thing and since it looks like he is getting better it probably is.

Not to scare you but just to make others searching for "nerve damage" aware of this...our Petey had the same sort of thing...treated him for a torn muscle and that didn't help...then for EPM and that didn't help...he continued to barely be able to walk with his back end and we took him to the Vet School in Raleigh and they couldn't find anything either.

He didn't really "limp" as such and didn't seem to be in pain...would just pick his hoof up and not be able to put it down flat and would drag the toe and go down on the front of the hoof rather than the sole. Sounds like your guys actually has some pain somewhere so that's why it sounds to me like something different.

Eventually the decision had to be made to euthanize Petey and the autopsy found that his spinal canal was extremely narrow and over the years his spinal cord just got worn out...thus the weakness in his backend. It was just the way he was born and there was nothing anyone could have done for him. They said that most horses that are born this way rarely make it to 2 years old (Petey was 6 so they were amazed he made it that long) so again hopefully this isn't your case.

[Seeing Spots]

Wings doesn't drag his foot, just limps. And he puts it down just fine and can put weight on it. He will put all of his weight on it but not too often. I did notice that he lifts his leg when he urinates, kind of like a male dog. I am assuming it must be hard or painful to stretch out to do that so he just lifts that leg up. I almost died when I saw him doing that! I think this weekend I will see if he will walk out of his stall a little since we have gotten warmer weather.

[Seeing Spots]

I finally had Wings outside over the weekend. He is really walking pretty well and felt well enough to even rear up a little and give a couple of small bucks. I was happy to see he didn't lose his balance and fall. He even tried trotting a little on the lead - on his own so I guess he is comign along. It will be a very slow process though I think but at least I have hope for a recovery now.

[Chardonnay]

Glad to hear he is feeling well enough to go out and play. Keep us posted if anything changes. Poor boy!

[D_BaldStockings]

That sounds like very good progress since Christmas time when he was hurt.

Hoping for a full recovery for your boy: perhaps Easter :)