My 7-year old horse has tested positive for EPM...equine protozoa myeloencephalitis for those with inquiring minds. I will be starting her treatment shortly but wondered if anyone here has had any experience with this disease. Apparently it is caused by ingestion of grass/feed/hay/water contaminated with possum feces. Her feed is in the house so it's not the feed. It could be water from a creek that runs through the property but there is a tank with water by the barn that seems to be their water of choice. The pasture could definitely be the culprit but there's not way to tell. Or the purchased hay bales could've had the sporocysts. Who knows? It doesn't matter a whole lot at this point. Most horses can recover so that's a good thing. Her diagnosis was done quickly because I knew there was something "off" about her. I didn't hesitate to call the vet so I'm happy about that. Please post if you have suggestions. Thank you in advance.
…… Anyone have a horse that has had or has EPM?
- Thread starter Nich1
- Start date
Greenspode
Veteran Member
I have dealt with it quite a few times with clients horses. The biggest issue is the loss of coordination, combined with the muscle atrophy, which is usually asymmetrical, or only on one side. Athletic performance can be severely affected, and the road to recovery can be long.
What is this horses occupation, and what symptoms were you seeing that led you to be concerned? This information will influence the advice that I give you, as each horse begins treatment at a different phase of the condition, and a good outcome for a pasture pet is hugely different from a good outcome for a high level sport horse.
Greenspode
Veteran Member
Oh, and the feed didn't need to be contaminated before it was dispensed. Opossums will defecate all over the place, and often feed tubs, buckets, and the ground around their housing will be contaminated and you might not even know it!
rafter
Since 1999
Vitamin E....Vitamin E.... Vitamin E.
You can get some supplement from the vet for it and it isn't real expensive around $50 for a month and does a lot of good if you caught it early. It is also good as a preventative to do a couple times a year.
Most horses carry it since they are exposed to it from either hay or grazing, it just gets worse in some horses and it can be because their immune systems are compromised by something.
When you catch it early it is treatable. If you let it get so bad that they lose a lot of muscle control....it is bad.
You can get some supplement from the vet for it and it isn't real expensive around $50 for a month and does a lot of good if you caught it early. It is also good as a preventative to do a couple times a year.
Most horses carry it since they are exposed to it from either hay or grazing, it just gets worse in some horses and it can be because their immune systems are compromised by something.
When you catch it early it is treatable. If you let it get so bad that they lose a lot of muscle control....it is bad.
Many good comments here. I'll try to answer without the "reply" mode to save space.
Greenspode: my Zip is a "pasture pet." Her daily feed (morning and evening) is forage only...soaked Standlee timothy pellets and beet pellets, salt, Cal Trace supplement, freshly ground flax seed. (For a long time, I made the supplement from bulk minerals but changed to the Cal Trace for convenience.) She has been an easy keeper so her hay quantity was one flake per feeding. She is barefoot and I do the trimming. She is wormed usually 2X per year but I do my own FEC so if she's not above 100, I skip the worming for that round. This past October, I used Quest Plus. She has another horse as pal. That horse has had no symptoms. I know possums are present.
At the first, she just didn't seem herself. She was slow to come to eat and then slow to ingest her food. When horses do that, I immediately get alarmed. I called the vet who did the usual...rectal exam for possible colic (I didn't see any pawing or discomfort but what do I know), hoof test for pain and general overall inspection. The next day, I continued knowing something was wrong. The next vet call did a few neurological tests...watching her walk, turn, etc. He did a tail pull and he placed her hinds to the side to see if she would regain a balanced stance. Her right side did not respond very well. He felt it was EPM and drew blood for a CBC and EPM test. The CBC was normal (no liver or kidney problems). And, as mentioned above, EPM test from Cal Davis showed 640 which is a 95% probability of EPM. She has some muscle loss but not very noticeable and it is not asymmetrical. She is quite a muscular horse so her rump is somewhat affected.
If you have other questions, I'm happy to answer. Any help from experienced people is welcomed. I am looking for other supportive anti-inflammatories. While waiting for the EPM results, we put her on Banamine to see if there was improvement but there was not. The vet thought she may have an injury that would cause her issues.
Rafter: yes, Vitamin E. The Cal Trace supplement has 750 IU included along with other vits and minerals. I've upped her Vitamin E to 10,000 IU daily beginning 4 days ago. I'll continue that. Thanks for the comment about it.
Greenspode: my Zip is a "pasture pet." Her daily feed (morning and evening) is forage only...soaked Standlee timothy pellets and beet pellets, salt, Cal Trace supplement, freshly ground flax seed. (For a long time, I made the supplement from bulk minerals but changed to the Cal Trace for convenience.) She has been an easy keeper so her hay quantity was one flake per feeding. She is barefoot and I do the trimming. She is wormed usually 2X per year but I do my own FEC so if she's not above 100, I skip the worming for that round. This past October, I used Quest Plus. She has another horse as pal. That horse has had no symptoms. I know possums are present.
At the first, she just didn't seem herself. She was slow to come to eat and then slow to ingest her food. When horses do that, I immediately get alarmed. I called the vet who did the usual...rectal exam for possible colic (I didn't see any pawing or discomfort but what do I know), hoof test for pain and general overall inspection. The next day, I continued knowing something was wrong. The next vet call did a few neurological tests...watching her walk, turn, etc. He did a tail pull and he placed her hinds to the side to see if she would regain a balanced stance. Her right side did not respond very well. He felt it was EPM and drew blood for a CBC and EPM test. The CBC was normal (no liver or kidney problems). And, as mentioned above, EPM test from Cal Davis showed 640 which is a 95% probability of EPM. She has some muscle loss but not very noticeable and it is not asymmetrical. She is quite a muscular horse so her rump is somewhat affected.
If you have other questions, I'm happy to answer. Any help from experienced people is welcomed. I am looking for other supportive anti-inflammatories. While waiting for the EPM results, we put her on Banamine to see if there was improvement but there was not. The vet thought she may have an injury that would cause her issues.
Rafter: yes, Vitamin E. The Cal Trace supplement has 750 IU included along with other vits and minerals. I've upped her Vitamin E to 10,000 IU daily beginning 4 days ago. I'll continue that. Thanks for the comment about it.
Greenspode
Veteran Member
Nich1, It sounds like you caught this early in the process. If she is not experiencing a REALLY noticeable loss of coordination, and the muscle atrophy is not obvious at this point, you have the opportunity for a good outcome. Coupled with the fact that she is not a performance animal, I think she will recover very nicely with treatment.
Were she a high performance horse, or even a horse with an active recreational riding lifestyle, the recovery process is far more involved. Even at that, you caught it early, so she could have a good outcome for a return to athletic activities with a very dedicated and methodical exercise and rehab routine.
As an example....I had a student with a 17h, 9 year old ISH gelding who was eventing on a national level, doing 2nd level dressage, and competing in the 1.2m jumpers. His first symptom was a weird sweat pattern, with blotches of sweat in random places, and then totally dry in others. His rider did NOT share this with anyone when she first noticed it, because she didn't think much of it. Had she mentioned it right away, I would have been all over it.
About a week and a half after the sweating pattern appeared, I noticed in a lesson that he was developing "pitting" in his neck muscles, which looks like little divots in the muscle, as if one had pushed a knuckle into playdough and the impression remained. I knew right away what it was. It was then that she mentioned the sweating. We immediately called the vet, and were given an appt. 5 days out.
Over the 5 days, during which we took him out of work, the loss of coordination started. He struggled to turn one direction....I can't remember which, and was noticeably dragging a hind foot on that side by day 4. By day 5, there was a noticeable change of symmetry in his musculature, with the weak side clearly "flatter" when viewed from front and back. Remember, this was a VERY fit and well muscled horse when this all started. His symptoms appeared very rapidly from totally fine and competing every weekend, to clearly NOT ok and totally out of work, within a couple of weeks.
Vet came and told us what we already knew, and he was placed on a course of treatment. I honestly can't remember what we treated him with (it was at least 15 years ago!) but he was kept on stall rest with access to a small paddock during the next month. Once treatment was well underway, the vet cleared him for a rehab routine to begin.
We spent the next 6 months doing daily strength and coordination exercises. These included hand walking or ponying from another horse, starting with short distances of a couple hundred yards, gradually building up until he was doing several miles a day.
At the same time, he would have another session each day that involved exercises for flexibility. He learned ALL the carrot stretches, which he couldn't do at all on his weak side without nearly falling over when we started, as well as in hand work that focused on bending and walking small circles and lateral exercises in hand at the walk, such as leg yields, side passes, etc. We also did a lot of walk, halt, back, walk, transitions in hand. Daily vigorous grooming to increase circulation and stimulate the muscles was also part of the routine.
About 2-3 months in, he was showing signs of improvement, and we started some lunging work. We could have used a round pen, but he was higher than a kite by this point, and we did not want him tearing around and hurting himself, so we lunged him instead where we had more control. We started with parallel lunging, because he could not handle a circle very well in one direction, and this allowed us to "lunge" him using the whole perimeter of the ring rather than a circle. Trot work was added to his routine, with circles gradually introduced. Walk and trot ground poles were added around that time.
By 4 months we were upping the balance game, and ponying him over more hilly and uneven terrain. The hills were a bit of a kicker for him, and he struggled with balance, but we took it slow and persisted. His ground work became more intense, and canter work was introduced. We also started putting him back out with his buddies by this point.
At 5 months, we started riding him again, on flat, perfect, footing. He was nicely walk and trot both directions, with circles and ground poles, etc. We continued to pony him daily outside of the ring.
At 6 months the vet gave him the ok to return to whatever work we felt he was able to comfortably. We spent the next 6 months rebuilding his strength and getting him back into a "normal" riding routine.
At the one year point, we were able to have an honest re-evaluation of the situation. The decision was made that he was fully recovered on good footing, and was really his old self with his dressage work, though still stiffer and weaker on one side, but no more so than many horses without EPM. There were issues that he had not had previously, but all in all we were pleased. His jumping was fine over lower fences and on good footing.
The kicker was uneven ground, high speeds, or exercises that required a quick mind and quick feet. His mind was still quick, but it didn't translate well to his feet. I don't have to tell you that no one wants to travel at speed or jump big things on uneven terrain with a horse that has any sort of impairment.
The decision was made that his future, rather than the high octane xc machine he was, and was intended to be, that he was better suited to a life of dressage, jumping small fences (-3') on good footing, and leisurely trail rides on good ground. It was not worth the risk to horse and rider to try and do more, as we always felt that he was too high a fall risk if things got tricky.
He moved on (we couldn't sell him at that point, as EPM was not as treatable then as it is now, and even now most people don't want to mess with it. I don't blame them.) and was leased out to a rider who wanted to do exactly what he was able.
So, 12 months, countless hours of work, and a decently good recovery by veterinary standards, but still a high performance animal who was never able to return to that level of activity.
If you, or anyone, is interested, I could do a more detailed outline of his rehab work, but it sounds like your mare won't need it. You caught it before it became a serious issue, and she does not have a vigorous occupation that she is working to return to, so I bet you will have a great outcome! Still, stretches and ground work would likely help with rebuilding whatever strength, flexibility, and coordination has been lost. It would also help her recover fully in case you wish for her to engage in some performance activity in the future.
Good luck and keep us posted!
Were she a high performance horse, or even a horse with an active recreational riding lifestyle, the recovery process is far more involved. Even at that, you caught it early, so she could have a good outcome for a return to athletic activities with a very dedicated and methodical exercise and rehab routine.
As an example....I had a student with a 17h, 9 year old ISH gelding who was eventing on a national level, doing 2nd level dressage, and competing in the 1.2m jumpers. His first symptom was a weird sweat pattern, with blotches of sweat in random places, and then totally dry in others. His rider did NOT share this with anyone when she first noticed it, because she didn't think much of it. Had she mentioned it right away, I would have been all over it.
About a week and a half after the sweating pattern appeared, I noticed in a lesson that he was developing "pitting" in his neck muscles, which looks like little divots in the muscle, as if one had pushed a knuckle into playdough and the impression remained. I knew right away what it was. It was then that she mentioned the sweating. We immediately called the vet, and were given an appt. 5 days out.
Over the 5 days, during which we took him out of work, the loss of coordination started. He struggled to turn one direction....I can't remember which, and was noticeably dragging a hind foot on that side by day 4. By day 5, there was a noticeable change of symmetry in his musculature, with the weak side clearly "flatter" when viewed from front and back. Remember, this was a VERY fit and well muscled horse when this all started. His symptoms appeared very rapidly from totally fine and competing every weekend, to clearly NOT ok and totally out of work, within a couple of weeks.
Vet came and told us what we already knew, and he was placed on a course of treatment. I honestly can't remember what we treated him with (it was at least 15 years ago!) but he was kept on stall rest with access to a small paddock during the next month. Once treatment was well underway, the vet cleared him for a rehab routine to begin.
We spent the next 6 months doing daily strength and coordination exercises. These included hand walking or ponying from another horse, starting with short distances of a couple hundred yards, gradually building up until he was doing several miles a day.
At the same time, he would have another session each day that involved exercises for flexibility. He learned ALL the carrot stretches, which he couldn't do at all on his weak side without nearly falling over when we started, as well as in hand work that focused on bending and walking small circles and lateral exercises in hand at the walk, such as leg yields, side passes, etc. We also did a lot of walk, halt, back, walk, transitions in hand. Daily vigorous grooming to increase circulation and stimulate the muscles was also part of the routine.
About 2-3 months in, he was showing signs of improvement, and we started some lunging work. We could have used a round pen, but he was higher than a kite by this point, and we did not want him tearing around and hurting himself, so we lunged him instead where we had more control. We started with parallel lunging, because he could not handle a circle very well in one direction, and this allowed us to "lunge" him using the whole perimeter of the ring rather than a circle. Trot work was added to his routine, with circles gradually introduced. Walk and trot ground poles were added around that time.
By 4 months we were upping the balance game, and ponying him over more hilly and uneven terrain. The hills were a bit of a kicker for him, and he struggled with balance, but we took it slow and persisted. His ground work became more intense, and canter work was introduced. We also started putting him back out with his buddies by this point.
At 5 months, we started riding him again, on flat, perfect, footing. He was nicely walk and trot both directions, with circles and ground poles, etc. We continued to pony him daily outside of the ring.
At 6 months the vet gave him the ok to return to whatever work we felt he was able to comfortably. We spent the next 6 months rebuilding his strength and getting him back into a "normal" riding routine.
At the one year point, we were able to have an honest re-evaluation of the situation. The decision was made that he was fully recovered on good footing, and was really his old self with his dressage work, though still stiffer and weaker on one side, but no more so than many horses without EPM. There were issues that he had not had previously, but all in all we were pleased. His jumping was fine over lower fences and on good footing.
The kicker was uneven ground, high speeds, or exercises that required a quick mind and quick feet. His mind was still quick, but it didn't translate well to his feet. I don't have to tell you that no one wants to travel at speed or jump big things on uneven terrain with a horse that has any sort of impairment.
The decision was made that his future, rather than the high octane xc machine he was, and was intended to be, that he was better suited to a life of dressage, jumping small fences (-3') on good footing, and leisurely trail rides on good ground. It was not worth the risk to horse and rider to try and do more, as we always felt that he was too high a fall risk if things got tricky.
He moved on (we couldn't sell him at that point, as EPM was not as treatable then as it is now, and even now most people don't want to mess with it. I don't blame them.) and was leased out to a rider who wanted to do exactly what he was able.
So, 12 months, countless hours of work, and a decently good recovery by veterinary standards, but still a high performance animal who was never able to return to that level of activity.
If you, or anyone, is interested, I could do a more detailed outline of his rehab work, but it sounds like your mare won't need it. You caught it before it became a serious issue, and she does not have a vigorous occupation that she is working to return to, so I bet you will have a great outcome! Still, stretches and ground work would likely help with rebuilding whatever strength, flexibility, and coordination has been lost. It would also help her recover fully in case you wish for her to engage in some performance activity in the future.
Good luck and keep us posted!
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You're right, Dobbin. Feed source is Standlee so I doubt that is he problem. She gets no "processed" feed. I lean to thinking it's from the pasture. Her Standlee pellets are in my laundry room so that I can soak them before each feeding. I saw no reason to trudge to the barn to get them so this seemed perfect. Thanks for the thoughts. I'm doing all that I can.
rafter
Since 1999
I use a vet that does nothing but horses and 85% show horses. He does a very quick check for EPM that doesn't cost a thing.... while the horse is standing tied he picks up one front foot and crosses it over the other one and sets it down so both front feet are flat on the ground. An EPM horse can't stand like that for more than a very few seconds because their balance and muscles aren't strong enough.
He then starts treatment since the treatment isn't all that expensive.
Where I used to board my horses the owners horse came down with a very bad case of EPM following an illness that about killed her. (she was at MU on an IV for days and they never figured out what it was) The EPM got her while her immunity was down. She is/was a world champion Cowboy Mounted Shooting horse. After tons of treatment she got better, but never has gotten over it. She lost weight and her whole personality changed too. She lost a lot of muscle tone. He has ran her in the last year or so, but like I told him there are no guarantees that she won't stumble and go down with him. It just isn't worth taking the chance.
He then starts treatment since the treatment isn't all that expensive.
Where I used to board my horses the owners horse came down with a very bad case of EPM following an illness that about killed her. (she was at MU on an IV for days and they never figured out what it was) The EPM got her while her immunity was down. She is/was a world champion Cowboy Mounted Shooting horse. After tons of treatment she got better, but never has gotten over it. She lost weight and her whole personality changed too. She lost a lot of muscle tone. He has ran her in the last year or so, but like I told him there are no guarantees that she won't stumble and go down with him. It just isn't worth taking the chance.
Greenspode
Veteran Member
I don't believe so, at least I have never heard of it that I recall. We shoot possums on sight around here, because I do have horses on the property, but if I didn't I probably wouldn't worry about them.
I need to have a treatment like that...not expensive. But, saying something isn't expensive is all relative, I think. I've read of dear souls on this board who have spent thousands on their pets...and I applaud them for that if they are able and so inclined. So far, I'm at $1600 which is a mere pittance for some. I can do it but my mattress is going to have some sags in it before this is done.
Knighttemplar
Veteran Member
I miss read the title, how the he$$ do you EMP a horse.
rafter
Since 1999
I know the blood test for EPM is pricey, that is why my vet forgoes it and just starts the treatment. He has granules that you add to the feed everyday and last time I bought it which was around Christmas it was $50 for a month supply. I bought it for a preventive measure since in my vets opinion....it doesn't hurt to try to keep it at bay.I need to have a treatment like that...not expensive. But, saying something isn't expensive is all relative, I think. I've read of dear souls on this board who have spent thousands on their pets...and I applaud them for that if they are able and so inclined. So far, I'm at $1600 which is a mere pittance for some. I can do it but my mattress is going to have some sags in it before this is done.
I hear you about what things cost....my show horse just had to have hock injections....I haven't got the bill yet but it will be close to $2K.
A story for another day perhaps, Knighttemplar,
I wonder how many other dyslexics this forum has....
Greenspode
Veteran Member
Holy cow.....are you injecting every single joint in both hocks? Most hock injections are 1/4 that amount, but we tend to only inject the joint or joints with an issue. Just how bad are those hocks? Ouch.
Dobbin
Faithful Steed
Truth; I wrote it that way originally and had to correct it!
rafter
Since 1999
I haven’t got the bill yet. There was both hocks a stifle and some x-rays.
It has occurred to me that I did not post an update on my horse, Zipporah, that had contracted EPM. It was quite a long journey, but she recovered. To recover, it was 6 weeks of Marquis paste, 10 weeks of 10,000 IU daily of Vit E, and banamine for 9 days. It does not appear that she has any lingering problems...appetite returned and muscle mass has slowly rebounded. I am very thankful that it was caught early and that the medication was successful. She is young, so that helped, too. Thanks for everyone who chimed in with ideas and experiences. That's exactly what I had asked for in the original post.