Post by harleydales on Sept 25, 2010 18:50:55 GMT -1
I've put this in Horsey Chat in the hope that more folk will see it - mods, feel free to move it to Veterinary.
Harley isn't quite right. BUT he looks awesome - he's toned, pretty fit, shiny and sleek. Eating well, drinking normally, peeing and pooping normally too. Full of beans and energy, no lethargy. Sounds great doesn't it?!
He's had his teeth checked, saddle checked and been seen by the back man, is absolutely sound and vets 10 minutes after the end of a ride with a heart rate of 48 - so no pain or stress at that point.
But he's gone wobbly after the last 2 pleasure rides we've done - and neither have been long (10 miles) or fast rides. He doesn't do it straight away either, it is 5 hours after we've finished the ride, once he's home and back out in the field. He's not cold, not broken out in a cold/hot sweat and not particularly tired (remember he's done 40 mile rides before and has been in the distance game for 8 years so knows his job).
The wobbles/shakes are over his rump and haunches and his shoulders; and every now and then he does a sort of convulsion that draws his shoulders and haunches together. He seems a little uptight and particularly hungry (seems to relish sugar beet more than usual) but otherwise normal.
The shaking last for about 20 hours and then he's fine after that - and to look at him you wouldn't know there was anything wrong.
The vet came last Monday (I did an 11 mile ride on Sunday) and took bloods to do a thorough but general screening which came back clear - no liver, kidney, red or white cell abnormalities, and liver enzymes within the normal range. He is the Scottish endurance team vet so he knows distance horses pretty well and what can go wrong. He's thinking it could be metabolic and/or electrolyte imbalance - but hasn't got a clue why it should go wrong when he hasn't been particularly pushed for the last couple of years.
The next step is to work him and take bloods straight after to see if that shows anything. I'm taking him to a local estate tomorrow to reccy an RDA ride I'm running, it's a 10 mile ride, won't be fast, not far from home and no company, so nothing to boil him up - so it'll be interesting to see if he wobbles after that. I'm hoping the vet will be able to come and take bloods afterwards, but it depends if he's on other calls I suppose - he's going to phone me. Otherwise I'll have to ride him one morning before I go to work and get the bloods then.
I wondered if any of you had come across anything like this before? It's a bit of a worry as until we can find out what it is I daren't go up the miles or speeds and the thing with metabolics is they are notoriously difficult to pin down.
Harley isn't quite right. BUT he looks awesome - he's toned, pretty fit, shiny and sleek. Eating well, drinking normally, peeing and pooping normally too. Full of beans and energy, no lethargy. Sounds great doesn't it?!
He's had his teeth checked, saddle checked and been seen by the back man, is absolutely sound and vets 10 minutes after the end of a ride with a heart rate of 48 - so no pain or stress at that point.
But he's gone wobbly after the last 2 pleasure rides we've done - and neither have been long (10 miles) or fast rides. He doesn't do it straight away either, it is 5 hours after we've finished the ride, once he's home and back out in the field. He's not cold, not broken out in a cold/hot sweat and not particularly tired (remember he's done 40 mile rides before and has been in the distance game for 8 years so knows his job).
The wobbles/shakes are over his rump and haunches and his shoulders; and every now and then he does a sort of convulsion that draws his shoulders and haunches together. He seems a little uptight and particularly hungry (seems to relish sugar beet more than usual) but otherwise normal.
The shaking last for about 20 hours and then he's fine after that - and to look at him you wouldn't know there was anything wrong.
The vet came last Monday (I did an 11 mile ride on Sunday) and took bloods to do a thorough but general screening which came back clear - no liver, kidney, red or white cell abnormalities, and liver enzymes within the normal range. He is the Scottish endurance team vet so he knows distance horses pretty well and what can go wrong. He's thinking it could be metabolic and/or electrolyte imbalance - but hasn't got a clue why it should go wrong when he hasn't been particularly pushed for the last couple of years.
The next step is to work him and take bloods straight after to see if that shows anything. I'm taking him to a local estate tomorrow to reccy an RDA ride I'm running, it's a 10 mile ride, won't be fast, not far from home and no company, so nothing to boil him up - so it'll be interesting to see if he wobbles after that. I'm hoping the vet will be able to come and take bloods afterwards, but it depends if he's on other calls I suppose - he's going to phone me. Otherwise I'll have to ride him one morning before I go to work and get the bloods then.
I wondered if any of you had come across anything like this before? It's a bit of a worry as until we can find out what it is I daren't go up the miles or speeds and the thing with metabolics is they are notoriously difficult to pin down.
