Hi Dr. Beth.
I need your help again.
Monte was at my "trainer's" for the last 45+days where he stood in a large, dry round pen, come to find out he was only ridden once.
Needless to say his EPSM is worse than it's ever been.
I am also noticing something I have not seen him do before. He has always displayed classic shivers, however now, about 1/2 hour after I've ridden him he draws his legs up quickly and stomps as though a really nasty fly was after him (which isn't) He will be just standing there or grazing and all of a sudden throws his head up and violently kicks out. Yesterday he stomped his front feet as well.
I gave him a little bute thinking maybe he was sore after being ridden. I am just doing light walk/trot ring work and walking trail rides with hills.
Will he ever be "normal"? He can't back without sever difficulty, always displays shiver symptoms while standing, cannot hold his hind legs up at all right now, so I'm not sure how I'm going to have him trimmed next time. His feet are getting worse because the farrier has such a small amount of time to work before Monte has to put his foot back down.
And no, local vets are not helpful, very few drafts in the area. So I really feel alone in this.
Thank you in advance for any help, advice, assistance you may be able to provide.

That is definitely too bad - standing around it not good for shivers muscle. Shivers is definitely the hardest sign of EPSM to control with diet and exercise. And perhaps there are other causes of shivers that aren't EPSM. Unfortunately, if there are we don't know about them and have no therapy. He will probably never be normal, that is pretty typical of shivers horses. We do try to achieve enough improvement that the horse is comfortable and workable. My best advise is to keep working with diet and exercise. Push the fat as much as possible, even more than the 2 cups oil per 1000 lbs of horse per day. At this point he sounds uncomfortable and not really very rideable, so even if he gains unwanted weight without responding you've at least given it your best try. If he is on spring grass you may need to use a grazing muzzle for awhile to reduce intake, since spring grass is higher in starch and sugar. Soak his hay in water before feeding to further reduce sugar intake. You'll need a very patient farrier and should also call a veterinarian, any veterinarian, to work with you, Monte and the farrier to perhaps give him a small dose of a sedative (Monte, that is, although it might help the farrier also :), to make working on his feet a bit less difficult. Good luck and please keep posting for us.

Kim, I don't know if this is going to help Monte any when getting his feet done, but my draft does considerably better when the farrier uses a cradle to let him rest his leg on rather than having the farrier hold it up. You can adjust the cradle to be pretty close to the ground, so he wouldn't have to hold his leg up very high. My draft loves it that way. He can still take his foot back when he wants/gets tired, but he just doesn't want/need it back much at all this way. Hoofjack makes a special draft model that's a bit larger and more stable than their regular horse model. Maybe there are other brands out there as well.

I have the Hoofjack in the Draft size. I love it and wish they had made this years ago. It really helps and is a life saver for my Farrier. It costs about 200.00, but well worth the purchase.