False Colic in QH w/DSLD - ESPA

The quote below comes from the a post in this thread on Horsetopia. Interesting observation from the vet (last sentence). Note that the vet didn't associate the colic/internal organs dying off as part of DSLD-ESPA.

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.

Although we see nothing wrong on the outside, the horse is being attacked through many areas of it's system. For example, when a horse's skin hurts because the fascia is in an acute phase and they pull away from touch, we may think they're just cranky, when their lungs are in crisis, we think it's allergies, when their gut hurts from acute phase of the organ linings, we think they have colic, etc., etc.

From Chronicle of the Horse Forum

Some of us with diagnosed D/E horses know that this disease has been compared to Marfan's. A member of the CotH forum has made some interesting observations regarding DSLD-ESPA, Marfans, and aortic aneurysms. Click here to read the post, and click here to read the entire thread.

Originally Posted by JER
...thought it might be worth mentioning here as the subject is aortic aneurysms.

A few years ago, there was a study done that recommended renaming Degenerative Suspensory Ligament Desmitis (DSLD) as Equine Systemic Proteoglycan Accumulation (ESPA) as studies showed the causes of DSLD ... affected other parts of the body, including the aorta. ...

In human Marfan's, the aorta may leak and 'heal' at various intervals without creating a fatal rupture. I was wondering if this might be what's going on in horses. Perhaps the stress of XC in competition contributes to the final rupture.

Marfan's is a genetic mutation ... but I mention it because it's well-known and often results in a ruptured aorta.

Definitely something we should be looking at in event horses: is there a horse version of Marfan's?

Posted by Teach
I own a DSLD/ESPA horse right now--he was fine for years as a low-level dressage horse who occasionally would be jumped 2-2.5 feet or so, had some intermittent "back trouble" & what I initially thought was a 'mild suspensory pull', was on & off for a bit, then flared into full-blown DSLD ... One of the things we have been told is that DSLD/ESPA is indeed quite similar to Marfan's, & that sudden aortic rupture is often seen in these horses...