Just posting this as an interesting development in our life with our young mare Boots. Who'd have ever thunk it, but: Since the day following her second set of vaccinations, April 30th, Boots has been having muscle twitching, some days far worse than others, some days nearly none, but always some. May 21st was her worst day. The vet clinic sent a vet tech to draw some blood. One of the values (I forget which) came back as "not compatible with life". That was her worst day, and she obviously felt 'weak', although she didn't collapse. This video is from that day: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBXtCyCkY9Y By trial (and error), changes in her diet and adding a medication (Acetazolamide, a diuretic) our vet has concluded, and I agree, that while the UC Davis lab testing of her hair sample came back N/N (negative/negative) for the Impressive (AQHA) gene defect (only that one gene is tested for), a handful of other genes, if defective, can also cause/contribute to HyPP. There are something like 18 genes involved in the human form of HyPP and it can spontaneously occur in in dogs and cats, too, as well as in horses. Just her unfortunate luck, she's one of the spontaneous ones (or her dam or sire were - no way to tell). While HyPP horses can be ridden, shown, etc., for our purposes - trail riding on public park trails and up/down hills, through rocky creeks, etc. - I will no longer be riding her. Combining the possibility of having a major attack with her green-ness, no matter what a nice trail horse she was becoming, I just don't feel it is worth the risk. I'm not a lithe, lean, young, and agile rider anymore, so riding a greenie was already pushing my luck! And I would feel horrible if she went down in either a very public area or way back in acreage behind us, the far from the road/barn. An interesting site with experiences with HyPP attacks told: http://www.bringinglighttohypp.org/Experiences.html I'm posting this site NOT to flame or blame, especially since Boots HyPP is apparently a spontaneous version and NOT the Impressive line gene. I'm posting it for understanding just how quickly, unpredictably, and serious an attack can be; i.e. why I no longer choose to ride her on the trails. On the fortunate side for her, she is a terrific companion for Gilligan, the muscle twitching is not uncomfortable for her, it is controlled with minimal medication (and WalMart has a great price on it), so she can remain here as a pasture pal. In this regard, it's little different from a severe injury rendering her unridable. I have thought about freeze branding her with some kind of HyPP + brand in case she ever was sent through auction, sold, etc. Being older, I guess I just think more about 'what if' we aren't here to prevent it. And how I'd hate the possibility of having someone breed her or put their kids on her. I held off posting because I thought our vet would be out to see her today, but the appt. got bumped to mid month. I'm glad I did wait, as I went through many emotional stages to get to my current one of acceptance! She was such a fun ride, especially once I got her hormonal swings figured out. Bummer! But, she's still a sweetie, easy to handle and work around. I was encouraged to post this because this is slightly a cautionary tale, too, since HyPP double positive horses are no longer being registered by AQHA. However, they are being sold without their papers, well bred quality looking stock at low prices, tempting the unwary. Although this probably wasn't the source with Boots case, it is becoming a more common problem. It can be tested for through Univ. of CA at Davis, among other labs. As always with horse sales/trades it's buyer beware, and the more knowledge of this, the better for us all. |