I have an amazing and much loved Belgian x Thoroughbred. Today while being shoed I noticed he would not back up for me. Instead of going back, he almost fell over - lifting his back legs up to his abdomen, then putting them back down where they were but in a very uncoordinated and alarming fashion. I had noticed that over the last few weeks he had been lifting his legs up while standing to be groomed - but I attributed this to flicking away flies. He has also been spending the last few days primarily in hos barn rather than in his field, which is VERY unusual for him. I lunged him so I could examine his gait - his walk is almost normal - perhaps a little stiff in the back hindquarters but nothing too noticable, when he trots he picks his back legs up sharply and quite high and slams them down into the ground, and his canter was so uncoordinated and scary, almost slamming both back legs down simultaneously that I stopped him immediatly. My first inclination was to call my vet, but I am a newly graduated Nurse and money will be tight for a few more months. Not that I can put a price on my friend, but being so sure that it is stringhalt, is there really anything he can do? Much of the info I saw on the internet was not very heartening. I immediatly closed him off from his bottom pastures although I am sure he does not have any form of weed toxicity. We live between Albany and Lebanon and we planted our pasture ourselves 6 years ago. Is there any hope for my friend? Should I be walking him or resting him? Is this painful? It breaks my heart to see him so debilitated, he is such a vibrant animal that loves to be ridden and is very playful in the pasture and I can tell he is out of sorts. Do you have any recommendations? Please help.

The biggest question will be whether this is truly stringhalt (due to peripheral nerve disease) or shivers (due to muscle disease - most often equine polysaccharide storage myopathy = EPSM). Try using the search feature on the Rural Heritage homepage to search the Virtual Vet for either one and you'll find many messages on this subject. Being a Belgian cross my first thought would be shivers. This is particularly true since you say his walk is almost normal - the abnormal gait of stringhalt is most obvious at the walk. But if you live between Albany and Lebanon Oregon you also need to consider the possibility of false dandelion (flatweed) induced stringhalt. There are a zillion of these plants everywhere. Horses love to eat them and most times there is no problem, but under certain circumstances they damage the nerves. Are there any other horses on the pasture? Usually plant associated stringhalt (also called Australian stringhalt) affects more than one horse. You are right to get him off any part of the pasture that haas many of these plants, though. And then there is the question of neurologic disease such as West Nile virus or equine protozoal myeloencephalitis. For that you really need a veterinarian to examine your horse. In the meantime I would recommend turnout and exercise - it's hard to know if this is painful but exercise will be important unless he is so uncoordinated that he is at risk of falling and hurting himself. I'd also be sure to start to change his diet to an EPSM type high fat and fiber and low starch and sugar diet. I hope this helps, and good luck with him!

Thank you so much for your response. I do have a little POA pony in a seperate part of the pasture, but they are not together because he is blind (the POA). He also does not eat nearly as much as my horse. So, the first thing I did last night after reading up on EPSM and stringhalt was start him on hard feed and hay, but no oil yet (I did not have enough in my kitchen to start). When I fed him today he trotted up to me and I don't want to be too hopeful but I am SURE he was trotting better. He was still uncoordinated when he came to a halt and lifted up his legs sharply when he started to eat...but fingers crossed I am starting to see an improvement. I am heading to Costco right now to stock up on oil and I will definitly keep you posted! If I don't see any improvement within the week I will call my vet (is that a reasonable amount of time to see some improvement)? Thanks again.

This all sounds like a good plan to me. If he is comfortable and not getting any worse giving him a couple of weeks would not be unreasonable. Of coure, you need to call your veterinarian immediately if he starts getting worse.

Just an update, I had the vet come out last saturday and he cannot confirm either stringhalt or shivers but feels it is one or the other. He told me to do what I already have done as far as locking him in one pasture and feeding grain and hay. After one week he seems to be worsening. Today I started him on Ultium and 2 cups vegetable oil (I will slowly ramp him up to full amount). Do you know how long it might be before I see results of the increased fat content if it is indeed shivers related to EPSM? Should I ask my vet to go ahead and do a muscle biopsy right away? Thanks again for your help.

Your diet plan sounds reasonable and hopefully you'll see some changes in the next week or so. You can also send hair to Dr. Valberg's laboratory in Minnesota to check for a gene alteration that is often (but not always) present in what she calls PSSM horses. A negative won't rule it out but pulling hair for analysis is easier on the horse than biopsy, and a positive result would be very useful. If we need to biopsy down the line the changes of EPSM will still be there, even after diet change. Be sure to try and exercise him, also. Having another horse in with him to help encourage him to move would be good. Good luck!