Pedigree Query

I recently inherited for free a yearling (by Freespool, out of an allowance mare with $200,000 in earnings) that has been diagnosed as a wobbler. He is not very bad yet, but you can plainly see that he is a bit unstable in the hind end. Supposedly it will get worse for sure, and he will probably have to be euthanized by age three.

The people that had him were using a nutritional therapy that is only recommended for wobbler foals. My veterinary manual of equine practice says that it will not work on yearlings or older. Because of this nutritional plan (no protein, poor quality feed, vitamin E, copper, and selenium, as well as OCD pellets) he came looking wasted. His skin was terrible and his neck looked like a pencil, while he was ribby and had a belly even though he'd been wormed recently. I decided that this was no way to live and decided to feed him up, and if he gets worse, well, times up. He is looking TONS better, and he is no worse in his wobbling so far.

My vet said that at his age, the only treatment that works is to have the Bagby Basket surgery that Seattle Slew had. She said 100% of her clients that paid for the surgery had success. She did not know how much it was, but it was "expensive." (She doesn't do the surgery; I would have to take him to a clinic, where I would no doubt have to pay first to get him re-evaluated).

I have another yearling, two weanlings, and one in the belly to get to the races in the upcoming years, so this horse can not be in the priority to go to training no matter what happens to him. I think I should assume that there is no chance that if he had the surgery, that he would go on to be a racehorse, so even if he had the surgery and was cured, there is no point spending $10,000 in training on him when I have these other horses to bring up. The best outcome I could hope for would be to give him a stable and comfortable life, and anything else would be a bonus.

Before I spend $1000 at a clinic to evaluate him, has anyone ever had this surgery done? How much did it cost you, including pre- and post-op? Was it successful? What were the post-op restrictions and care like?

Last year my 2 year old was diagnosed with wobbler's. It cost $2500 to have all the tests done, plus care, and he was at the equine hospital for 4 or 5 days. They will give you all the stats, and there is a fair amount of research online, but until you are sure about the severity of your yearling's case, it is hard to make an assumption of life after surgery. In my 2 year old's case, his was the most severe of diagnosis, compression in 3 vertebrae, and the vet told me that in his case even with surgery he would be no better than a rather unsteady pasture pal. We made the most difficult decision to put him down.
I thought the care he received was excellent, the vet was Dr. Grant who did the Seattle Slew procedure, but unless you find out what is really going on inside his neck the prognosis is just speculative.
Good luck to you and your yearling.

Thank you for that information. I don't think he's been diagnosed to that extent as he never left the farm (the vet visited him there), and they aren't a big enough place to have a diagnostic clinic on the farm. Apparently that vet did check to make sure it wasn't EPM, and pronounced him a candidate for the surgery. No one got a quote for the surgery. I feel certain that if I take him to UC Davis for an evaluation, I'll be in as deep as you were in no time, because they will need tests to make a quote. Once I hear the quote, I won't be able to say no. I think I'm in for a big VISA bill.

Does anyone have info on what they paid for the surgery itself?