Anyone ever experienced this? Horse staggering

[MizElz]

Reading another post reminded me that I meant to post this ages ago. My old horse Mickey, who I had before Elz, used to lose his back end and stagger - quite frequently. He was a rescue case - he'd been horridly beaten and abused by his previous owner, and the first time he started to stagger I thought it was through nervousness. The second time, it seemed a little weird - one minute he'd be fine, and the next, it would seem like his back end had just dropped away, and he would lose his balance almost totally. It was a regular, if unpredictable occurence, and we were never able to understand why he did it - neither have I ever come across anyone else who has had a horse do the same thing.

Mickey died seven months after I got him, of a very sudden heart attack one night in the stable; he was only 9 years old. Now, I dont know whether his death was linked to this staggering issue, but I'd be interested to know if anyone has ever heard of something similar?

 

[carys220]

Sounds a bit like Shivers??? My dog used to stagger a bit(not the same I know) but this was because of trauma he received to his back when he was a puppy, he had extensive nerve damage in later life and had to be PTS when he couldn't control his backend anymore.

 

[the watcher]

causes for the staggering could be equine narcolepsy (although I think they usually drop form the front) or nerve damage resulting in a loss of signals to the hind legs - or wobbler syndrome

I wouldn't conclude that this and the subsequent early heart attack are necessarily connected

 

[MizElz]

Oh gosh, it could have been I suppose.....we didnt know much of his history, only that his male owner jumped him extremely hard, then one day just abandoned him completely - stopped riding him, stopped feeding him, stopped watering him - and mercifully stopped beating him

I guess if he was a shiverer that would have put paid to any jumping career, and could be the reason why he ended up as he did

 

[MizElz]

mother_hen - I dont know much about wobblers, but is the fact that his staggers were inconsistent (ie. you couldnt predict when or where he would do it) be consistent with the effects of wobbler syndrome?

 

[TicTac]

Sounds like a back related problem. The horse I lost recently would do exactly the same. Would loose his back end on the lunge or when you were riding him he felt like he was slipping behind. He was PTS in april having been diagnosed with a fracture to the pelvis. kissing spine and bone cysts.

Hope this helps