dear gpm, how exciting with the snake.

for the dear old girl, i had a thought about kali-carb with reference to your post of your word search on founder. it has the characteristic symptom 'stiff nape' which could be as near as a human could get to cresty, perhaps?
kalicarb can also cover problems during rest after exertion.
kali carb also has dry hair in humans which can cause the hair to fall out...maybe it can cause the opposite in a horse - the hair not falling when it should?
i am by no means certain about kali carb.
are there any signs and symptoms associated with the recent increased nitrogen in the urine [=tying up, correct?], or was that just discovered by a routine lab test?
does tying up indicate a degree of kidney dysfunction, or simply increased protein metabolism? kali carb is one of the major kidney remedies of khorse.

i took some riding lessons aged 7 and gave up in tears, so i need to have all the horsey terms explained please, or better still explain everything in non-horse.

perhaps moira or another vet will drop in and give an equine anatomy and physiology lesson.