Four rides this week. Big pony update below the cut.
So about a month ago Clark had another hard farrier appointment where he was just obviously miserable and could not hold his feet up for long. My friend asked if I knew if anyone in his pedigree was a known carrier for any of the common QH muscle disease. I have his papers but know nothing about QH bloodlines. So I splurged on a genetic test through UCDavis that is specifically a genetic disease panel for QHs.
Aaaaand….he has PSSM1. Which is a glycogen storage disorder that basically causes muscle tightness, pain, tying up, etc.
I’m bummed but also hugely relieved, because it explains so much about his behavior etc, and validates my instinct that he just hasn’t been Quite Right.
Unfortunately there isn’t any cure or treatment really. But management involves super low sugar/starch diet, higher fat, and basically daily exercise.
The diet is not a huge change from what we’d been doing, but riding almost daily is a massive change for us both. It is very very helpful to know though that pushing through the discomfort on days when he feels resistant or tired or stiff will actually help him feel better. It’s a challenge for me though, cause my policy with him has always been that if he communicates he’s uncomfortable and he doesn’t want to participate, we stop. I hate having to make him do stuff anyway.
Anyway. I rode four times this week. Doing short 10-15 minutes, mostly walk, with some short trot stints. He has been so so good, and feeling pretty darn good too.
For diet right now he has a round bale of grass hay all night, and then turnout all day with minimal grass and weeds to nibble on.
Then AM and PM he gets:
1lb. Stabul 1 super low starch grain (peppermint flavor cause he’s a picky monster)
A scoop of MadBarn Omneity pellets.
Cosequin ASU
Loose salt
1/8 cup canola oil.
Gonna start slowly increasing the canola oil. He doesn’t need extra calories, but the research suggests PSSM horses benefit from more fat even if they aren’t underweight. So I’m gonna try to keep the grain down to only what he needs to mask all the supplements and add as much oil as he can tolerate.
Will soon also be adding Vitamin E and Magnesium oxide, as these are the things everyone seems to agree can be helpful.
So, here goes our next adventure. So far he has been a champ. I just have to not let my other life stress and shit interfere with keeping the momentum going.