Dr. Oglesby's article

[Beverly540@aol.com]

Brenda, 
   Thanks for the tip. Can't wait to read the article on possible causes of
tying up. I am particularly interested in the portion regarding carbohydrate
causes. When I posted my original "tying up problem solving case" I left out
one other thing we did for Flower, because I thought no body would be
interested in it.....but I guess I was wrong about that, so here goes:
        My husband and I work together  in a pretty large restaurant. Everyday
there is lots and lots of fruit and vegetable waste that is saved for us. We
feed most of it to our cows. BUT -- we found out that the horses absolutely
LOVE cantelope rinds, watermelon rinds, banana peels, pineapple rinds....any
kind of fruit rind, even grapefuit and orange. So, we were cutting some of
this up along with some of the left over rolls, and feeding it to the horses
along with their daily grain ration. 
           When Flower started her tying up episodes the vet called the VA
Tech equine hospital nutrition folks and they said that we were probably
giving Flower too much carbohydrate for her body to handle. So she longer
receives these goodies that she loves! 
          Poor Flower -- no alfalfa, no grain, no fruit, no left over rolls.
Just plain old grass hay and pasture. She thinks she's being punished because
all the other livestock still get their goodies. After all, they never tied
up. Any one else feeding fruit rinds?? Just wondering.........
         And I would love to receive a copy of the articles you have compiled.
I use Microsoft Office, Windows '95. Thank You!
Happy Trails,
Beverly Schlegel and Flower
Blue Ridge Mts. of SWVA
>>Brenda wrote:
<snip>
Dr. Oglesby's article
http://www.horseadvice.com/articles/diseases/lameness/rhabdomyolysis.html
Possible Causes:
 Some proposed causes are:

=95Altered carbohydrate metabolism=20
Recent work has identified abnormal carbohydrate metabolism as a cause in
many breeds of tying up. The others on the list are at this time unproven
causes of the problem.=20
=95Hypotension and Electrolyte imbalances
Horses which tie up during or following exercise frequently have
electrolyte imbalances. These imbalances cannot be diagnosed with simple
blood testing. =95Lactate build up (unproven)=20
=95Too little oxygen getting to the muscles (unproven)=20
=95Vitamin E \ selenium deficiencies (unproven)=20
=95Hypothyroidism (unproven)=20
=95An interesting observation by the University of Calif. is that ear ticks
(Otobius megnini) have been associated with muscle spasms in more than half
a dozen cases. These muscle spasms were very much like tying up. In each
case muscle enzymes were elevated. When the ear ticks were treated the
horses got over the spasms. Other signs identified with theses horses were
colic, tremors, and seizures. (JAVMA, v207, n1)" END of quote.

I would suggest that where the proposed cause is listed as "unproven", it
likely means that the hypothesis has not been adequately tested.  It does
not necessarily mean that the proposed cause is incorrect (although it MAY
mean exactly that).  I say this because nowhere did Dr. Oglesby state that
the proposed cause was "proven to be incorrect". The article has lots of
other information on tying up and is well worth reading.  Hope this helps.