Horse collapse

[safrow46]

Hi, I am looking for anyone who may have been in a similar situation. Recently my daughters pony, Alicia, has been having stange episodes. It begins when I try to catch her, she lets me get her, then goes into a panic and breathes very heavily, her eyes get wide, she trembles and begins to back up, then her back legs just seem to give up and she collapses to the floor and rolls right over. She will get back up straight away but appears slightly dazed. This has happened 4 times over the last month. It is as if she is afraid of me or anyone trying to catch her. She also began to back away from me in the stable. She was the most friendliest pony on the yard, my daughter, who is 6, used to run up to her in the field, give her a cuddle then spend about five minutes trying to get her headcollar on and Alicia would just stand and wait! I am convinced someone has been abusing her, as she also got 3 very odd wounds, one on her front leg the other two on the hind left leg. They were bright red and round, very swollen and sore, to me they looked like cigarette burns but now I think they could have been caused by an airgun??? Two other horses in the field both had identical wounds on their foreheads and another little pony in the field also has some unexplained marks. I may be being paranoid but something tells me that Alicia has been subject to an attack and she has now lost her trust. Once caught and brought in she returns to normal, it is just the initial catching. My vet came and was none the wiser, suggesting her episodes were epilepsy. However, Alicia sometimes begins to panic but won;t actually fall over, or fit if it were epilepsy, I have to use my voice to calm her and she will relax once she knows I'm not going to hurt her. I do not think it is epilepsy as she only reacts when I catch her? If anyone out there has been through something similar, or if anyone can offer some advice I would be very grateful.

 

[Sukistokes2]

I have had horses for over thirty years and NEVER heard of anything like this! How frightning for you. Something is going on and you are very right to be concerned. Has anyone else noticed anything odd about how their horses are reacting, can you set up a rota to watch for strange people in the fields. I work with "naughty" children and a lot of them like to ride horses in the field, they think it is funny and fun and do not care about the animals or owners. A lot of them smoke! Can you speak to your vet again, maybe you should get a second opinion, another vet may have new ideas. If it continues I would want to move to a new area.

 

[pintoarabian]

I had a horse that began to do that too. He was diagnosed with Cushings soon after. Pergolide controlled the collapses. I am not saying that is what this is but don't rule it out.

 

[Devonshire dumpling]

My first thoughts were fits.... they come in various degrees, even stary eyedi can be a fit, and being dazed afterwards is also an indicator.... the injuries could be due to fits when you are not there either?

could be some kind of heart block/starvation of oxygen to the brain??

If it's poisioning,heart or epilepsy does sound neurological to me.

When the horse falls back and over is the horse rigid anywhere?? muscles,. legs? neck??

xx

 

[NeilM]

We had something of a similar nature near us. A very friendly and easy to catch Welsh Sec A suddenly became almost impossible to get near and used to hide behind his field mates.

The field is close to a footpath, although there is a fence and gate in between. The owner thinks that someone must have been in the field and done something to frighten the pony. He did calmed down in the end.

We also had a mare shot with an airgun. I used to do a lot of vermin control with air rifles, so I recognised the marks straight away. They will be perfectly round and will take the hair off completely. They will heal and the hair will grow back, but I reported the matter to the Police, as it is a firearms offence to shoot and airgun on land that you do not have written permission to be on.

 

[Allover]

How horrible for you and the pony.

You say the vet is "none the wiser", i would either get a different vet up or get this one back and tell him you want her to have a proper work over. As well as being scary for you it must be awful for Alicia. I know if she was mine i would want to know exactly what is going on.

I presume if it were a shooting incident then the pellets would still be inside her and visible on x-ray and maybe even palpable?

Best of luck and i hope she gets better soon

 

[Devonshire dumpling]

Hmmm I have thought on, if it were me I would move the pony somewhere you know she is safe and see how she is, I also think she needs to been seen by a vet again ... poor u, poor pony xx

 

[NeilM]

I presume if it were a shooting incident then the pellets would still be inside her and visible on x-ray and maybe even palpable?

It's unlikely that airgun pellets would actually penetrate the skin, they really don't travel very fast. What they will do is cause a nasty, perfectly circular welt.

 

[indie999]

um I caught some local boys once chasing and throwing sticks and stones at our horses but this does sound suspect........can you move them or cctv etc nighttime etc etc or even if you fancy spending a few nights out up there incognito?Report to the police too..

If your vet is not finding anyting wrong perhaps have a look on net to show what air rifle pellets or gun wounds would look like. Most leave a red mark

Good luck

 

[Allover]

It's unlikely that airgun pellets would actually penetrate the skin, they really don't travel very fast. What they will do is cause a nasty, perfectly circular welt.

Ahh OK, i just presumed they would penetrate as i have had one removed from my cats hip. Sense would say though that horses have much thicker skin than cats!!

Also if the pony is panicking when people approach then maybe, if she was shot with an air rifle, it could have been done at close range. Would they then penetrate?

 

[safrow46]

My first thoughts were fits.... they come in various degrees, even stary eyedi can be a fit, and being dazed afterwards is also an indicator.... the injuries could be due to fits when you are not there either?

could be some kind of heart block/starvation of oxygen to the brain??

If it's poisioning,heart or epilepsy does sound neurological to me.

When the horse falls back and over is the horse rigid anywhere?? muscles,. legs? neck??

xx

Hi, no she doesn't become rigid she rolls right over then gets straight back up. But it only happens when someone gets hold of her headcollar, she seems to be panicking waiting fr something to happen and looks absolutely terrifed.

 

[safrow46]

We had something of a similar nature near us. A very friendly and easy to catch Welsh Sec A suddenly became almost impossible to get near and used to hide behind his field mates.

The field is close to a footpath, although there is a fence and gate in between. The owner thinks that someone must have been in the field and done something to frighten the pony. He did calmed down in the end.

We also had a mare shot with an airgun. I used to do a lot of vermin control with air rifles, so I recognised the marks straight away. They will be perfectly round and will take the hair off completely. They will heal and the hair will grow back, but I reported the matter to the Police, as it is a firearms offence to shoot and airgun on land that you do not have written permission to be on.

Thank you for this. The wounds were perfectly round, the hair had completely come off and they were red raw underneath. They have healed now but are still swollen. I did suspect an airgun rifle to be honest. I feel sick thinking someone could have done this. I have contacted the police but there's nothing they can do unless they happen to be there when these hooligans appear

 

[safrow46]

It's unlikely that airgun pellets would actually penetrate the skin, they really don't travel very fast. What they will do is cause a nasty, perfectly circular welt.

This is exactly what they looked like. Funnily enough, a few weeks earlier, all the horse escaped into the next field, but this is not an easy thing to do - we have electric fencing and a large dry stone wall which was completely knocked down. The horses were running around as if something had frightened them, they were like wild animals and we had to herd them back as we couldn't get near any to catch them! Warning signs that someone had possibly been shooting at them that night??

 

[safrow46]

Hmmm I have thought on, if it were me I would move the pony somewhere you know she is safe and see how she is, I also think she needs to been seen by a vet again ... poor u, poor pony xx

Hi, thank you for your replies. My pony is being moved this weekend to a 24 hour secure yard, may be costing me more money but her safety is more important. I can't sleep through worry.

 

[safrow46]

um I caught some local boys once chasing and throwing sticks and stones at our horses but this does sound suspect........can you move them or cctv etc nighttime etc etc or even if you fancy spending a few nights out up there incognito?Report to the police too..

If your vet is not finding anyting wrong perhaps have a look on net to show what air rifle pellets or gun wounds would look like. Most leave a red mark

Good luck

Hi, CCTV would be ideal but unfortunately I can't afford it and the farm owner is not interested. I've reported it to the police and googled airgun wounds, they do appear similar, and I do suspect thats what they are to be honest. It makes me feel sick. I am moving my pony this weekend

 

[fatpiggy]

The collapses do sound very much like some sort of seizure but they could be panic types and not actually neurological storms. Horses fits aren't like what you see in humans and dogs and they tend to be on their feet and conscious while they are happening. It is possible to trigger a fit by pushing the horse's head up and back, so the pony may be doing this spontaneously when you put the headcollar on. Can you lead her just by a rope around her neck?

The injuries are decidely suspect. We had a mare shot in the under-tail area and it was clear that it REALLY hurt. Another horse had some strange marks a while afterwards too and we were doubly suspicious. I've been hit by gunshot pellets and not only do they hurt, they are red hot. Poor pony, there are some sick people out there.

 

[safrow46]

Thanks everyone for your input. I do not believe my pony has epilepsy, she has since calmed down and not had an 'episode' this week, my daughter has been riding again but on lead rein just incase. She behaves perfectly normally once out and about with me. I go to see her every day, give her a treat to catch her, bring her in with a token bucket feed so she knows its nice to be with me, and leave her in a few hours. I am basically having to regain her trust again. It is so sad but I just hope this never happens again and whoever thought it would be funny to abuse a little pony gets what they deserve. I will be moving her off the farm she is on this weekend to a much more secure and well run livery yard with CCTV. It is disheartening to know that even my closest friends on the yard think I am being paranoid and the yard owners won;t do anything to help. But thank you for your input, it makes me feel better to know some people out there understand!!!

 

[Archangel]

This may be right off the wall but could it be that her patellas are locking?

Maybe someone has frightened her and as she tenses and starts to go back they lock and she falls. I say this because I was scratching my horse over the door once and he was in ecstasy rocking back and suddenly his patellas locked, he went totally stiff and just lost his back end and went over. It was awful, I thought he was having a seizure. Once they had unlocked he got up as if nothing had happened. A bit random but just a thought.

 

[safrow46]

The collapses do sound very much like some sort of seizure but they could be panic types and not actually neurological storms. Horses fits aren't like what you see in humans and dogs and they tend to be on their feet and conscious while they are happening. It is possible to trigger a fit by pushing the horse's head up and back, so the pony may be doing this spontaneously when you put the headcollar on. Can you lead her just by a rope around her neck?

The injuries are decidely suspect. We had a mare shot in the under-tail area and it was clear that it REALLY hurt. Another horse had some strange marks a while afterwards too and we were doubly suspicious. I've been hit by gunshot pellets and not only do they hurt, they are red hot. Poor pony, there are some sick people out there.

Hi, this is exactly what I think they are, she seems to be in such a panic and she does actually life her head and starts to back away, possibly bringing on the 'fit'. She has since not had an episode as I have been working hard with her to regain her trust. And the wounds she had her VERY sore, they are still swollen now almost two weeks later. It makes me sick to think someone could do that.