CASE STUDY: MANAGING AN ELITE ATHLETE
Pippy was 8 years old and a rising star in the eventing world when Mary Ann Ghadban purchased the Holsteiner mare and imported her from Germany in 2012. Ghadban had high hopes for her. “We were told that she had tied up before but that it was manageable,” says Ghadban. “We didn’t know anything else about her condition at the time.”
Two years after she came to the United States, Pippy— whose show name is “Under Suspection”—was successfully completing three-star events with a professional rider. She was brave and talented and seemingly unstoppable. Then, she tied up.
“It was at an event after the cross-country phase,” says Ghadban. “It didn’t look like much from the ground, but the rider knew something was wrong and the veterinarian confirmed. We pulled her from that event, obviously, and had bloodwork done that showed muscle damage. We thought it was just ‘normal’ tying up, so we changed her diet and knew we’d have to be better at monitoring her.”
Not long afterward, though, at an event in The Netherlands, Pippy tied up severely after the initial soundness jog, before the actual competition even began. “We immediately took her to the hospital,” says Ghadban. “We knew we were dealing with something serious and wanted to get the best treatment.”
The Dutch veterinarian told Ghabdan that Pippy probably had PSSM, but she’d need an in-depth diagnostic workup to confirm it. The best place to do that, the veterinarian continued, was in Minnesota, where a researcher named Stephanie Valberg, DVM, PhD, ran an equine muscle disorder lab. (Valberg’s lab has since moved to Michigan State University.)
After two weeks of recuperation in Europe, Pippy returned home to Virginia, where her veterinarian worked with Valberg to investigate the source of the mare’s muscle problem. A genetic test for PSSM type 1 came back negative, which wasn’t surprising given Pippy’s warmblood breeding. A muscle biopsy was the next logical step, and the results of that,
combined with the mare’s history, led Valberg to make a diagnosis of PSSM type 2.
“Pippy underwent a year of rehab and we changed the way we managed her,” says Ghadban. “We had to make big changes to her diet. She’s on a low-starch diet we devised with Joe Pagan [PhD], an
equine nutritionist in Kentucky. She gets a special grain and supplement and she can’t be on any grass at all here at home in Virginia; there’s just too much sugar in it. When we travel down to Florida, she’s fine on pasture. I wish there was a way to grow those grasses up here.” When she can’t graze, Pippy is fed only bagged hay, which has known levels of sugar and starch.
Pippy’s exercise regimen was also overhauled. “She always has to be moving. The very worst thing that she can do is stand still. She has a dry lot attached to her stall that she can walk in and out of. We take her for a walk, either under saddle or in hand, once or twice a day on days when she’s not in training. She simply cannot have a day off.”
While diet and exercise are the cornerstone of Pippy’s management, Ghadban has also discovered other ways to help the mare maintain her muscle health. “We’ve found that it’s important to keep her well hydrated, particularly when she has to travel long distances in the trailer or prior to starting a cross-country course.” Sometimes this means having a veterinarian administer intravenous fluids.
“We also monitor her muscle enzymes before and after every gallop session and before and after every competition. We are constantly monitoring her so we know how she’s doing. I can be a little obsessive about it,” says Ghadban, who adds that if Pippy weren’t an elite level athlete, the PSSM type 2 might not be a significant issue for her. “I’m not sure it would affect her that much, but when you take these horses and ask them to work at the top level of an extreme sport, any physical problem can be significant, and I think it’s your responsibility to do everything necessary to keep them healthy.”
Ghadban’s awareness of PSSM has helped other horses in her care. “I have a Percheron/Thoroughbred cross who is my foxhunter. A few years ago, she started acting up. She was grumpy and just not herself. Now that I’m in tune to these things, I asked my veterinarian to check her muscle enzymes. They were elevated, indicating something physical was going on. We now muzzle her and have her on the same diet as Pippy. She’s been fine since.”
The instinct to rest hardworking horses with this problem can be difficult to overcome, says Ghadban: “I think that’s the biggest problem with these horses. People think, ‘Oh, I hunted for three hours yesterday so I need to give him the day off today.’ That’s wrong. They need to be kept moving, even if it’s just a 20-minute casual stroll around the farm. Then you can turn them out.”
The efforts are paying off, says Ghadban. With all of these changes, Pippy hasn’t tied up again, even while competing at the pinnacle of her sport. “Once we had Dr. Valberg and Dr. Pagan on board and started following their plan, it’s all worked out. We just traveled 14 hours in a trailer each way to a three-star event and she came in second. I do feel a bit guilty that we didn’t know enough before and we didn’t control her situation better. She’s the most wonderful horse on Earth.”