Doing the right thing?

Recently, I saw an affected (with DE) 12 y/o QH gelding advertised on Donate My Horse. He's advertised as an easy keeper and can be ridden walk/trot only. Now, I'm not trying to disparage the owner, but with so many anecdotes about deals gone wrong and abused/neglected horses, why take the chance that someone may not care for your "less than perfect" horse or do the responsible thing when it's necessary?

If you have a horse with DSLD-ESPA that you cannot keep, PLEASE do the humane thing and put it to sleep. 

I know it's difficult.

For the last almost seven years, I kept a DE horse that I couldn't ride. When I could no longer control her pain, I released her from it. Knowing that it was the right thing to do didn't help with the heartache or tears, but I know she's in a much better place now, and she is NOT suffering.

I can't begin to tell you how much I spent in vet bills, medications, supplements, etc. trying to help her -- and for a while, I did.  But not everyone has that luxury; economically, things are tough all over the world.

Allowing your horse a peaceful death is NOT a bad thing to do. Yes, you will agonize over the decision; it's one of the toughest you'll ever make. It's very natural to want to pass that decision/responsibility on to someone else, and hide from it. But that would be shirking our duty. Our compassion and concern (aka humanity) for our horse's future is what holds our feet to the fire and enables us to make decision and follow through. It is a responsibility that we should all accept as a part of horse ownership.

Questions from Yahoo Answers

Some good replies to the question below were posted; however, the only reply that gave up-to-date information received a thumbs down vote. I registered with Yahoo to vote it up but am not allowed to vote until I accumulate points. Here's the link:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080905122153AAN8Hze

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.

Tennessee Walking Horse euthanized due to DSLD-ESPA

From the Horsetopia Forum

sweet georgia gurl has been getting worse over the past few months hindlimb lamness that cripples both hind limbs, she lays down alot because she can't get comfy on her legs,. she was diagnosed with a disease that affects the tendons and ligaments because she was born coon footed. she has conformation which has made it a more severe case.it will eventually affect her heart and eyes and she will be in severe pain,I can't have her hurt all the time that would be so sad even though this is sad too I know that she will be in no pain. ( i will look tomorrow and get the name of the disease, it is mostly seen in peruvian pasos, she is a twh. but sadely she will be put down tomorrow because we don't want her to suffer and my vet said there is no treatment that we can do for her. she will be missed greatly. I loved her so much, I am truley heart broken. I sat with her today in her stall and just cried my heart out. she was laying down so I just hugged that big sweet horse and told her how I loved her so..georgia gurl 1999-2008 we will miss you dear friend and babysitter...the last pic is of layton my friends daughter who rode her in costume lead line...she loved her very much.

The Song Remains the Same

From the Ultimate Horse Board
Note: No mention of breed, but other horses owned by poster are QH.

DSLD,Info?
Feb 22 2008, 12:22 AM
Any information you guys can give me? Im going to be googeling it but have any of you guys had to deal with it before? I'm worried about my dads horse as he has really long back pasterns and they almost touch the ground if he goes any faster than a walk. Its just bizzar watching his trot and how he moves off his back feet.

We actually know nothing about what he was used for previously..so we have no idea of any injuries he could have had.. We bought him dirt cheap from a guy who was going to take himto auction cause his wife couldn't ride him and they couldn't keep him.

Lady and Freckles

From: http://www.freewebs.com/userl-tidewater/tidewatershorses.htm

Lady and Freckles (Two registered TBs).

Lady was an 18-month old TB filly euthanized due to DSLD-ESPA.









Freckles is Lady's dam, and she appears to have the upright form of D-E. The rescue director says that Freckles shifts her weight back and forth, and as you'll notice, she has a suspiciously post-legged look. The rescue would like to have Freckles ultrasounded to confirm whether or not she has DSLD-ESPA. Please contact them if you can donate a few $$ towards the ultrasound costs.

ScienceDirect - Journal of Equine Veterinary Science : Diagnostic criteria for degenerative suspensory ligament desmitis in Peruvian Paso horses

ScienceDirect - Journal of Equine Veterinary Science : Diagnostic criteria for degenerative suspensory ligament desmitis in Peruvian Paso horses

If You Ride Your DSLD/ESPA Horse, be Prepared

for comments like this one found in this forum. Scroll about halfway down the page. Look at the picture with the caption It was painful to see this poor Peruvian

Diagnosis & Symptoms

The first time I noticed something wrong with my mare, she seemed to be a little "off" in the rear. Nothing I could put my finger on, but I recognized something wasn't right. I thought she might be getting arthritis as she was 15 y/o.

The first two vets who looked at her couldn't find anything wrong with her. The third vet said she was off in the front, not the rear. The fourth vet diagnosed her with EPM and I paid several $ for Marquis treatment. When she didn't get better, we saw the fifth vet who correctly diagnosed her with what was then called DSLD.



Symptoms
As previously stated, the first thing *I* noticed was the subtle change in my mare's gait. However, after speaking to other owners of horses with DSLD/ESPA, I realized that she displayed some symptoms before the gait change...I just didn't recognize them. It was much later that her fetlocks/pasterns began to drop. This was a very painful time for her.

After a bit of research on the internet, I discovered that dropped fetlocks or dropped pasterns aren't the only symptom of DSLD/ESPA. Sometimes, horses with DSLD/ESPA have their fetlocks or pasterns contract upwards instead of dropping.

Below is a list of symptoms copied from the DSLDequine.info website (Thank you Bunny). Text in red indicates symptoms (in no particular order) that my mare experienced.

Symptoms include:

Sudden onset of heat & pain and swelling in suspensory branches and/or whole fetlock area. Body of Suspensory and/or tendons may also be painful to palpation. Horse may refuse to walk at this stage. Some horses show no lameness at onset, some become severely lame. Often laying down and moaning showing a false colic is present during onset. This is a painful time for the horse.

• Unexplained lameness
• Stumbling and tripping
• Leg cramp, frequent stretching of leg, frequent stomping (not caused by flies landing), lifting leg high and holding, biting at suspensory branches
• Maybe one, two or all legs, may seem to move around from leg to leg in early stages. After onset will be bilateral.
• Heat & swelling in fetlock area, maybe localized on inside or outside of fetlock or could be whole whole fetlock area.
• Soreness in Suspensory ligament on palpation especially in the suspensory branches.
• Enlarged Suspensory ligament and in the suspensory branches.
• May also be lumpy along suspensory.
• Palpation of suspensory may feel so tight and hard like an over stretched guitar string about to snap. Or may feel enlarged and mushy/soft.
• Laying down a lot and trouble getting up, dog sitting before standing.
• Reluctance to move once up but seem to work out of it with time
• Back pain/soreness or soreness/stiffness in hips.
• Digging holes to stand in with toes pointing toward hole.
• Sitting on fences, buckets, rocks
• Horse may become irritable, change in attitude
• Pasterns may be horizontal during weight bearing, or maybe upright with no sign of dropped fetlocks.
• Sweet potato fetlocks- fluid filled, odd shaped overly large fetlocks.
• Dropped pasterns
• Windpuffs in the fetlock area. May show no lameness at this stage.
• Walking wide in rear legs is often seen when rear legs are affected first.
• Stiff robot like movement.

Occasional Symptoms include: (these symptoms sometimes appear before suspensory ligament is affected)

• Broken crest
• Sudden onset of severe allergies to fly spray, bug bites, total body hives for unknown reason
• Extremely sensitive to touch, white hairs grow in areas that were touch sensitive.
• False colics -- laying down and moaning but not rolling, looking at flanks, but normal gut sounds.
• Shifting weight from foot to foot with toe stabbed into ground.
• Sudden loss of weight and horse appears to look older than its age.
• Some horses with ESPA show very loose skin along with premature aging.
• Refusal to walk downhill.
• Change in horses' normal gait, short striding, an unusual hopping gait.
• Refusal to canter.
• Landing toe first when moving
• Stabbing toe into ground while moving.
• Fetlock knuckling over.
• Extreme rope walking, braiding
• Refusal or difficult to pick up feet for farrier, pulling away, falling over when farrier picks up feet.
• Falling over or falling into stall walls, leaning on walls or fences for support. (Many times these horses are misdiagnosed as EPM or WNV or neurological with this symptom.)
• Change in conformation to coon footed post legged stance.

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