Dr Kellon posted the video below to the DSLD-Equine Group. It is nothing short of amazing. The horse in the video is in Germany and is diagnosed with DSLD-ESPA, Cushing's Disease, and laminitis with penetration of the coffin bone. The video below shows how this horse regained mobility due to correct treatment and a caring owner.
Fran Jurga's blog has an interesting post on HERDA today. Further reading indicates there are some similarities to DSLD-ESPA listed in the post, such as:
Greetings Everyone,
Horse in question: Pax. Age 13 as per neck freeze brand. Ex-trotter and then former Amish buggy horse. Free adoption from woman in Goshen, NY who rescued Pax from Nickerson's kill pen in Unadilla. Has always been a complete pasture ornament, after his arrival here. He has been on MSM since his has been here.
When Pax arrived at age 9, despite his elongated rear pasterns, he was full of pep and vigor. He loved to voluntarily run in the pasture. In the last two years, he has steadily been declining at a slow rate. At first, I thought he had innocuous windgalls or osselettes, due to his racing career and trotting on pavement as a buggy horse. Now, I suspect he has more serious problems.
In May of 2008, he began to limp on his left hind leg. I attributed this limp to a possible strain as it was a very wet spring with slippery ground. Because the limp did not subside, after a couple months, and he was also developing a roached back, I had him examined by an equine vet from the Wisconsin Equine Clinic and Hospital, which is about 1-1/2 miles west of me. Her diagnosis was his limp and roached back was caused from his over-extended pastern ligaments. She pointed out Pax was also losing muscle mass in his same left hind quarters. I was skeptical about this because I had another elderly horse with a slightly roached back, but she was 29. She said Pax would never live to a ripe old age; one day he would lie down and not be able to get up. Treatment: keep Pax on MSM, period.
Pax no longer holds his head high; he no longer even trots. Currently, Pax is on MSM's regimen and also on 1/2 mg of bute twice a day, along with Gelusil to avoid any gastrointestinal side effects from the bute.
I am here because of a dear friend who recognized Pax's symptoms as DSLD. His rear legs appear exactly as the photo on your home page. I am enclosing three attachments. One taken after his rescue from the kill pen and two taken shortly after his arrival.
Thank you for reading this long introduction....
Blessings,
Mari :)
DSLD-ESPA discussion of 22 y/o Arab broodmare with dropped fetlocks. Owner would like to ride this mare. Other horses with this condition are discussed and some owners provide photos. Click here for thread
Esmeralda is a Paso, a Peruvian breed of horse with a smooth swaying gait. They are charming animals, but their breed is prone to DSLD, a disease where little tears form in the ligaments, but do not repair with the same elasticity as before. Eventually a horse with DSLD cannot walk or stand. They are in constant pain. There is no cure.
my gelding (quarter horse) who I put down almost exactly one year ago. He was diagnosed with DSLD about 7 months before he died. Notice his low rear fetlocks. He had been having hard to identify hind end lameness, and back pain when the vet diagnosed him. We stopped ridding, put on corrective shoes and made him comfortable. He started laying down a lot and had a hard time keeping on weight. Just 4 week after I bought a new horse to ride, my gelding presented with colic. No impaction, no gas bubble, but it sure looked like colic. After 48hrs 4 vet calls (two tubings), fluids, blood work and no improvement it was obvious he was dying. The vet said they suspected it was some sort of organ failure, not colic.Obviously, we need more education regarding DSLD-ESPA. False colic is but one of the myriad of symptoms we see as the horse breaks down. It bears repeating. DSLD-ESPA is a systemic connective tissue disease that can affect the legs, but it is NOT a leg disease. Breakdown of the suspensory ligaments is an outward symptom of the chaos that starts in many parts of the animal's connective tissues and progresses through acute degeneration and phases of relative stability. Necropsy results have shown that horses are affected in tendons, ligaments, eyes, aorta, internal organs, and skin.
Current researchers strongly advise to take all affected horses out of the breeding pool so the disease does not get passed on, as the disorder is believed to be genetic. Currently at least one productive Akhal Teke sire has been witnessed to show classic symptoms, however there are quite a few photos of a variety of Akhal Teke available, which put them on a list of "also supects".
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In view of the so very narrow genetic diversity of the Akhal Teke breed, suspect horses ought to be tested by knowledgable veterinarians and their immediate family checked as well.
Equine cerebellar abiotrophy is a debilitating neurologic disorder that affects Arabian horses almost exclusively, and for which there is no treatment or cure. But, thanks to the work of veterinary researchers, breeders now have access to a new DNA test that could help them detect carriers of the condition so they do not propagate the problem in their herds.
The cerebellum is the part of the brain that plays an important role in the integration of sensory perception, coordination, and motor control. Equine cerebellar abiotrophy kills neurons in the cerebellum, causing head tremors and a lack of balance. Unfortunately, there is no treatment. Affected horses are routinely euthanized before adulthood because of the risk they pose to themselves and others.
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Researchers at the Veterinary Genetics Laboratory have developed an indirect DNA test to help determine if a horse is a carrier.
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While gene therapies to treat the disorder could become available in the future, Penedo said she doesn't expect to see them for years. Besides, the new test can front-load a solution to the issue.
"A cure is not needed if one doesn't produce affected foals," she said.
A prominent Arabian horse breeding operation based in the United Arab Emirates recently became the first to publicly announce one of its stallions is a carrier of cerebellar abiotrophy (CA). Albidayer Stud released the news that World Champion Arabian stallion Marajj is a carrier for the inherited neurologic disease, for which a DNA test recently became available.
"We decided to test Marajj because a foal of his was suspected of having CA," said Dawn Martin, Marajj's breeding manager. "The decision to make an announcement wasn't really a difficult one to make. An announcement like this, about a horse of his caliber, will only help the breed, as well as the research into CA."
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"
Another one gone.
Mariposa Lazo - 20 May 1985 to 15 June 2005
It’s a beautiful day. The sun is shining for the first time in weeks, the sky is a clear blue, and the wind is warm...
And my horse is dead.
She is twenty, not really that old, even for a Peruvian Paso but she suffers from DSLD, degenerative suspensory ligament desmitis (equine connective tissue disorder).
Good-bye, Mari. You were as good a horse as anyone has a right to ask for.
Alisandro was calling for Mari every fifteen minutes or so throughout the first night, but now that it's a few days later, he seems to have accepted that she's not coming back - at least not anytime soon. He too is a Peruvian Paso and likewise has early stages of DSLD, and he made himself quite sore pacing the fence that first evening.
The day we put Marimba to sleep, I woke up thinking about Tina, my dog, who missed her 16th birthday by two weeks. I rescued her at six weeks old, and she had been with me ever since. It was the first time I had been faced with making *that* kind of decision. I found it odd that upon waking, Tina was the one in my thoughts instead of Marimba, but there she was.
Goodbyes are never easy, especially when they are final. Worse yet is the goodbye we must say when we made the decision. I made the choice not to end her life, but to end her pain. We like to think they'll be better off. We say goodbye dear friend. I love you. I will miss you. But whether or not they understand us, we don't know. There's regret, a very heavy heart, and a void left where there was once joy.
Marimba's final moments were spent here at home with me and my husband saying Goodbye. My vet offered to load Marimba on the trailer, take her away, and euthanize her at the clinic. But I couldn't bear the thought of her final moments being afraid in an unfamiliar place with strangers. It is important to say goodbye. And so we did.
Death is Nothing at All
by Henry Scott Holland (1847-1918)
Death is nothing at all.
I have only slipped away into the next room.
I am I, and you are you.
Whatever we were to each other,
that we still are.
Call me by my old familiar name.
Speak to me in the easy way
which you always used.
Put no difference in your tone.
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.
Laugh as we always laughed
at the little jokes we enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of me, pray for me.
Let my name be ever the household word
that it always was.
Let it be spoken without affect,
without the trace of a shadow on it.
Life means all that it ever meant.
It is the same that it ever was.
There is absolutely unbroken continuity.
Why should I be out of mind
because I am out of sight?
I am waiting for you,
for an interval,
somewhere very near,
just around the corner.
All is well.
In fact, Dr. Gus Cothran is hot on the trail of genes that may be linked with DSLD and is focusing on areas where genetic changes have been described in association with human diseases that bear a strong resemblance to equine DSLD, such as the Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.
Ehlers-Danlos is actually a constellation of several different types of connective tissue disorders, with different genetic changes, so pinning this down could take some time if the situation in horses is similar. There are many clinical similarities between E-D and DSLD. In addition to the abnormal ligaments and tendons, human patients may have changes in their intestinal-tract walls, which leads to bouts of abdominal pain, eye changes, arterial changes and odd progeria (premature aging) or very loose skin. The hope is that the genetic work will eventually lead to a diagnostic test for DSLD. For the moment, most involved with this disease feel very strongly that affected horses should not be bred.
I entrusted my long-time companion and first horse to the care of a
retirement facility where my beautiful, 16-year-old, palomino, Mountain
Pleasure Horse gelding is now way too thin, has small sores on one hip
and elbow, and is in need of a good home as a pasture buddy. I don't
know how this could have happened because he is an easy-keeper and has
never been underweight!
He still has lots of life left in him, is very curious and loves being
around people, and could be fun for training tricks or just enjoying
his beauty (once back in good condition). He can't really be ridden
because of a diagnosis of DSLD, but when feeling good, he could
probably lead around a child for a short time.
I have three horses at home on a very small acreage, and I've been
trying to find a home for one of those three. Now, I may have to pick
up my palomino gelding so that he can get back in good weight before
winter. I also took my beautiful, yearling filly to that facility
because she was diagnosed with cataracts. I will have to bring them
both home at the same time when I rescue my gelding, and it will be
very difficult for me to maintain five horses at my house.
If you, or anyone you know, can help me out, please e-mail or call me as soon as possible. Thank you VERY much!
Link: http://milwaukee.craigslist.org/grd/853155815.html
More Paso Fino owners have been showing up on the D/E (shortening
DSLD/ESPA for equine systemic proteoglycan accumulation) yahoo list
lately with positive cases. Along with a lot of other breeds. Latest
one a Percheron/Morgan cross. There is currently a DSLD positive Paso
Fino at a rescue here in WAshington state who's 38 yrs old! I was
amazed the old fellow's still around.
Just to add re symptoms:
early symptoms often are vague- slight 'offness' in gait, fetlock
swelling that might come and go, resistance to work in a horse that's
normally a forward mover. Fetlocks don't always drop, a good number of
horses remain pretty upright or even contract up. One of my Peruvian
cases dropped, the other's angles actually contracted over time. And a
lot of evidence now that tendons are affected as much and sometimes
more than suspensories. My gelding also had very loose skin, something
some but not all seem to show. Latest thinking of researcher Dr.
Jaroslava Halper at Univeristy of Georgia is that it's systemic
connective tissue disease similar to Marfans disease in humans. It has
to progress to a certain point before it can be identified in the legs
through the current diagnostic protocol, which can befound at the link
posted or also at Dr. Mero's site, dsld.org. The protocol includes flex
tests and ultrasounds by a vet who needs to know where and how to do
the measurements.
Coon footed horse/DSLD put down?
I have a coon footed pony thats hind legs have dropped so far, he has completely straight legs now(not even an angle at the hock). He is 4 yrs old and is on stall rest. The vet gave him 5 months before he will be in so much pain he will have to be euthanized.
I Dont see the point in keeping him around for five months just to be in pain. Maybe if there was a good outcome but sense theres not is there really a point?
I think it would be best to put him to sleep now and not have him suffer at all...but a certain someone is saying it would be extremely selfish to do that.
Is it selfish to put him down before he is in pain or goes crazy from being stuck in a stall? I thought it would be doing him a favor.Additional Details
My vet gave him 5 months before his pasterns would be hitting the ground and he would be in a lot of pain. Right now his hocks are hurting him doe to the straightness in his legs.
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