Feeding Horses with Certain Muscle Disorders
Muscle disorders cause loss of performance and value in affected horses and may present with a variety of clinical signs ranging from muscle stiffness and pain to muscle atrophy, weakness, exercise intolerance, and muscle fasciculations. Although originally thought to be a single clinical syndrome, it is now clear that these clinical manifestations are common to several different muscle disorders with different etiologies.1 Recently metabolic, inflammatory, dystrophic and other inherited muscle diseases have been described in horses. Proper diagnosis of the specific myopathy involved is critical for determining the appropriate targeted management regimen. This article will focus on muscle disorders with known nutritional management recommendations to help support affected horses. Specially discussed here are Polysaccharide Storage Myopathy, Recurrent Exertional Rhabdomyolysis and Hyperkalemic Periodic Paralysis.
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