Wow! I can't begin to say enough good things about this web site. Ever since I signed up with questions about my Clyde mare, I've been doing every search I can about both my horses issues.
My question this time is about my TB. I adopted him from a rescue agency in upstate NY about 5 years ago and he has been plagued with problems ever since. We call him our second mortgage payment, although our new mare is giving him a run for that title. Anyway, he was severely underweight, lame in the left hind, covered in fungus, and had a bad wound on the inside of his opposite hind leg when I brought him home. Oh and did I say mean. Whew this boy had obviously suffered some abuse. He would bite, kick, or strike the moment he became nervous. Well time heals all (we hope). We got rid of the fungus, healed the wound and got some weight on him, then we rehabilitated a suspensory injury that we found in that left hind. Then began the tying up. I decreased his grain amount significantly which did help some, but it was not until I started mixing my own that it really stopped. Then though he developed head shaking syndrome and his left fore would just sort of fly out sideways when I was riding him. He would suck his bottom lip up and his ears would sort of fall out to the side. We tested him for EPM and he came back with a very low positive titer. I think it was 40. The titer suggested that he had only been exposed as opposed to infected, yet he has all the symptoms. We treated with marquis paste, which seemed to help some at first, but as time went on all the symptoms returned. I've tried several herbal remedies as well as scripts from my vet. Nothing really does much. Then last year he got Lyme disease as well as a mystery shoulder lameness that we first thought was related to the Lyme. We treated the Lyme with Doxy for months and months, but his titer remained high, and his white blood cell count continued to drop. The shoulder lameness finally went away after a lameness vet injected him one time with cortisone in the shoulder. For the continuing Lyme issue we tried tetracycline powder, then Equistem injections. So far, nothing has worked, and in January his white cell count was even lower. We think this is all because of the EPM. My vet said that fighting the EPM makes the Lyme drugs less effective. Recently my vet did a Vit E and Selenium test. It came back that he was low on both. He is now on Platinum Performance (740 IU) and a supplement my vet suggested called Adaptogenesis. She said that she has had good luck with the Adaptogenesis boosting the immune system.
After reading message after message on this board. Does anyone think that my TB is suffering from one of these other common problems? Is there something else I might do to help him?
I've recently added in 1/2C Omegatin and increased his corn oil from 1/2C per day to 1C per day(seems to be doing better and less of a hothead). I hand mix his grain. He gets the following mix 2x/day:
1C Triple Crown Complete (phasing this out for Omegatin)
3/4C steamed oats
1/2C steamed flaked barley
1/2C steamed flaked corn
1/2C Omegatin
1/2C Platinum Performance
1TBS EBiotic
1Scp Grand Meadows Grand Synergy HA Joint Supp
3/4tsp Adaptogenesis (AM only)
1/2C corn oil
1 carrot
free choice grass hay

I used to think that feeding whole grains was better than feeding a processed pellet as I assumed the body could go through the whole digestion process. Now after reading through all the messages it seems I'm doing the exact wrong thing. I intend to keep increasing the oil over the next few months and phase more Omegatin in (Trip Crown out).
This horse is also incredibly hot. In fact since he's been out of work (about 1.5 years) I'm the only one who handles him. Any advice will be much appreciated.

I can't say enough about Omegatin. It is a great feed. I too was hesitant on Pelleted feed at one time but soon converted over. Barley is high in carbs as is most other grains. I sure would try to go with the Omegatin and hold off on all the Grain.

Hi Angela. I'm so glad that you have found this site so useful. And Becki, thanks for a great post! I would absolutely agree about stopping the oats, barley and corn and going with an increase in fat intake. Although there is a bit of controversy about what can cause tying up in TBs, in my experience any horse, TB or other breed, that ties up has polysaccharide storage myopathy and deserves a high fat and fiber and low starch and sugar diet. You don't have to use corn oil - soy oil, canola oil, or any digestible oil will work just as well, just so long as he will eat it. Gradually increase the oil until he is getting about 2 cups oil per 1000 lbs of horse per day. The Omegatin will also add 0.2 lb fat per pound of feed without a lot of starch and sugar, so this is a good feed. You could still mix with the TC complete if he likes that better, but Omegatin with added oil is fine also. These recommendations will end up with him getting slightly more than 1 pound fat per 1000 lbs of horse per day, but given his history I think it is worth trying to err on the side of extra fat. Extra vitamin E never hurts and sometimes helps. Selenium is a bit trickier, so ask your veterinarian to recheck his selenium level in about 3 months after the change in diet. The high fat and low starch and sugar diet should help to reduce his unwanted behaviors and "hot" nature, and will also make his muscles a lot more comfortable. Sometimes bad behavior in a horse is actually a way to try to tell us that something is wrong. I hope this helps, and definitely let us know how things go!

Angela, before I realized that my mare has EPSM I thought she had EPM. The titer on her came back the same as for your horse (low positive). Since my vet felt that EPM was not that likely given her living situation, I switched her to an EPSM diet after having found this site and postponed getting a spinal tap to more definitely diagnose EPM. We were lucky and the EPSM diet cured all her EPM-like symptoms. With your horse being a rescue and having been through so much before you got him, I imagine things are probably more complicated in your situation. But I think that, at a minimum, an EPSM diet - alongside the treatment your vet thinks appropriate - should help your horse fight whatever issues he may have going on with EPM/Lyme. I hope that your horse will respond to his new diet and be as good as new in a few months!

Thanks for the great feedback everyone. After reading through so many messages, I really started to think that some of my TB's problems could definitely be stemming from his diet. The small changes that I have already done seemed to have made him a bit quieter, and the headshaking symptoms seem to be lessoning, but those are very weather/stress dependent and therefore will take considerable more time to really evaluate. I do have great faith in this diet though, and Karen I was hoping to get a message like yours. It just seems so odd to me that a horse could really be having so many problems pop up with no solutions. Today I plan to start eliminating the whole grains and replacing them with the Omegatin. I thought I would do about 1/2 this month and 1/2 next month as well as slowly increase his oil to the amount Dr. Beth recommended.
My vet came out yesterday to check on my mare and ended up taking my TB's blood to check his Lyme titer and While Blood Cell Count a week early. She said he just looked so shiny and healthy, and actually was holding weight. She thought that there must be some improvement.
Thanks again. I'll keep everyone posted.