Wobbles.?????

[paulandashia]

Does anyone have any idea what "Wobbles" are...?

Apparently it is a sickness that cripples horses, and they are unable to ever be ridden... But I never heard of it....

Anyone?

[flowerpage]

Yeah....let me look up a bit more and Ill get back to you....

[paulandashia]

Ok.... Sounds good...

I was just wondering, because they have a beautiful young horse available for adoption here (2 year old), and I just wanted to know what "wobbles" are.... Because I have never heard of it...
I am not personally going to adopt him (unless he can stay in my living room! LoL)
But, I was just curious... :)
Thank you flowerpage..!!!!!

[flowerpage]

No problem. This info is from 1990 so its a bit old but I dont think much has changed since then....

There is an actual “Wobblers”Disease and several similar conditions sometimes considered as differential diagnoses.

(Cervical Stenotic Myelopathy)
An articulation problem in muscular ligamentis in the neck that puts pressure on spinal column, resulting in no nerve signals to the back of the horse.
Usually involves 1 or 2 vertebrae.
Causes: over nutrition, excessive feeding or supplementation.
Usually seen in the biggest, strongest, fastest growing foals.
More common in long necked foals, most common in thoroughbred males.
No control of back end or “wobbly”.
Can also be caused by trauma, such as being cast in stall or falling, slipping.
May not show up until injured.
Clinical signs:
Insidious onset (slow, creeping, not acute)
Under close observation, not quite 100% behind, esp. early on…
Then noticed after trauma, real wobbly.
Most are under 24 mos. Signs worsen with age.
Methods of Diagnosis: History, X-ray
Treatment:
for acute, Dexamethazone, DMSO to reduce swelling in spinal column.
Reduce feed to slow growth, grass hay only.
If noticed EARLY, malarticulation will/can correct itself as they grow.
Not infectious.

There are several other equine diseases that can cause Ataxia (doesn’t have control of legs, wobbly), including Equine Herpes Virus type I and Cauda Equina Syndrome.

From the book The Horse, 2nd edition, by Evans, Borton, Hintz and Vleck, c. 1977, 1990 page 516 Wobbles:

The symptoms of wobbles, also called Equine Spinal Ataxia, are bilateral muscular incoordination and paddling of the hind feet. It usually occurs in young horses and rarely is reported in older horses. The cause is degeneration of the spinal column due to overgrowth of the articular processes of cervical vertebrae, usually at junction C3-C4 although sometimes at junctions C4-C5 and C5-C6. Severity of the disease depends on the location of the bony lesions along the spinal column. Overgrowth close to the head is most severe. The symptoms often appear suddenly and advance rapidly. In many cases, the horse bends the neck to one side, indicating the presence of neck pain. Whether wobbles in inherited is not clear, but in one study 43 % of the cases of wobbles in Thoroughbreds were traced to one of 3 foundation sires. Some mares had more than one foal with wobbles.

Wow, thats alot of info. Sorry. Hope it helps though......;)

[paulandashia]

Wooooowwww..... Who knew.... Hmmm... Poor baby.!

Thank you for the info flowerpage...