I hope you can help me please, I have owned my 7 yr old dutch warmblood gelding for 2.5 years and believe he may have epsm /pssm due to the following;
(this is after many hours with trainers, trips to the vets, physios etc and many tears along the way)

always been very difficult for farrier / trimmer - particularly hind legs

cant hold right hind up for more than few seconds then needs to put it back down (vet said maybe shivers)

may have tied up - when ridden couple of instances of not wanting to move forward, head tossing, rearing, trotting on spot, then sweating and trembling, one occasion with a trainer he planted in middle of school, looked tense and would not move, when made to move by trainer he tried to run out through the fence to get away from the situation

reluctance to work, very nappy, rears when taken into arena, crunching on bit (better hacking at walk in company)have now given him over a yr off ridden work

anxious, over reacts, spooky, tense, fidgets when tied to fence cant relax

unexpectedly fell over a yr ago when leading in hand (was turning on tight circle on a steep hill)RH been worse since then

Wearing hind toes sqaure all last year , lack of hock action - even when he walks around field (hocks x rayed all ok)

he would stand camped out (hind legs too far under him and leaning forward on front legs)

tight gluteal muscle in hind (noted by physio)- he looks very well though and a pretty good doer

intermittent lameness right hind last summer (vets did not find anything, hocks x rayed)

After searching the net for answers to his symptoms i found epsm and changed him to the oil diet,(begining of nov 09) all was going well, he was able to pick up hind legs longer, seemed more relaxed, much more hock action, more happy to be groomed, lots of galloping around field comfortably when turned out (he lives out 24x7)

Last Thursday I took him to a menage i hire occasionally to long rein him (have not ridden him since last summer) need to get him fit. He has longlined lovely last 2 times ) He started pawing the ground, was fidgity when tacked up then just took off - lots of head tossing, bucks every other stride for 20 mins, he would not stop, was like he was really agitated and very unhappy and in pain. When we managed to calm him down he kept stamping his hind legs towards his belly and almost looked colicy and bunched up. We took him straight home

Is this just a blip, do you think he could be a epsm horse and that we are on the right track, do i need to change the diet? could the cold be affecting him? His field is frozen and he cant move around much at the moment...

Any comments appreciated, my vets just think my horse is an idiot, i have spent many hours money and tears with this horse trying to get to the bottom of things, and just want to help him thank you Laura (UK)

Laura, everything you tell me suggests the very real possibility of EPSM as at least a part of his problems. Being in the first 4 months of diet change, and having reduced exercise lately, could certainly be the explanation for this "blip." I would keep going with the diet, making sure he is getting at least 0.45 kg fat (480 ml oil) per 450 kg of horse per day, and give him as much exercise conditioning as he can tolerate. It would seem he was not quite ready for this exercise. If you had to truck him to this place remember that being on a horse trailer (float, I believe you might say)or van will be a big stress on his muscles right now. So, give him a week or so and perhaps try again. Good luck, and please continue to keep us updated!