Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Daniel, Welsh/Arab Cross Lost to DSLD-ESPA

Another one lost to this tragic disease. This comes from:

http://www.yourhorse.co.uk/Your-Horse-News/Search-Results/Your-news/News-from-your-area/Daniel-RIP/?&R=EPI-5223

QUOTE:
"Daniel, R.I.P

By haze

Your news

14 September 2008 16:42
my lovely welsh X arab, sadley lost aged 7 to Degenerative Suspensory Ligament Desmitis (DSLD, very sadley missed xx"

3 comments:

Bex said...

So sorry for your lose.
I have been searching for info on DSLD/ESPA
I have a 7 year old QH with this dreaded diesease.
I know his time is short. It seems alot of people I speak with have never heard of this. Or think it is something I did or did not do.
My guy has only be ridden a few times and NEVER hard, before he started displaying the signs...so I know over work was NOT the issue.People are just not aware of this....and the breeding of these horses continue. I accquired him at a young age and after showing these signs looked into his breeding record more and OH MY GOSH! the linebreeding was there that I was not aware of...
I sincerely hope they can find the marker and get people up to date on this topic.

Bex said...

So sorry for your loss!
I need to re-read before i hit post.
How long did he have these symptoms before you let him go?
Can you tell me anything that you did to help keep him comfortable?
My vet said it is EPM, with EPM you do not have normal looking pasterns/fetlocks and within weeks they are close to touching the ground. He showed the classic signs, swollen fetlocks, weight loss, trembling upon standing when he first displayed this diesease. Right now he has not had another flare up..but i know this is what he has. The vet told me he has heard of this but didn;t know much about it...another said they have not seen it is the Qh breed. any helpful info would be much appreciated!
Thanks
Bex

Pf said...

Hi Bex,

I'm very sorry to read about your horse. Although Daniel wasn't mine, my horse, Marimba, was euthanized in October 2008 due to DSLD-ESPA. She is the main reason I started this blog. I hope by listing other diagnosed and/or euthanized horses in one place, people will begin to see how pervasive this disease really is.

I'm also sorry to hear that people think it's something that you did/didn't do. How sad. We have a long way to go when it comes to educating the public about DSLD-ESPA. That's another reason I started this blog.

I hope you've had a chance to check out the top two links in the right hand column. Under the guidance of Dr Eleanor Kellon, VMD, the Yahoo group is extremely helpful and supportive. They hold new members by the hand, guide them to the info they need to know right away, and help them make sense of all the other information so they can apply it to their own horse's individual needs. Unfortunately, you'll find QH owners as members of the group. Perhaps you could compare your horse's pedigree to some of the other QH owners whose horses have been diagnosed.

The DSLD-ESPA website is full of information about the disease and includes links to the vet and diagnostic protocols. If your vet would like to learn more, perhaps you could send him the link to the DSLD-ESPA Information website.

Regarding my own horse's symptoms, I'll refer you to the very first post I made in this blog (you may need to copy/paste it in your browser:

http://tinyurl.com/cx7lmq

If you still have questions after reading it, please feel free to ask me.