Horse Collapsed

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toria85

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Hi, i am hoping someone can shed some light on what might be wrong with my Horse. He is a 7yr old Irish TB. Up until this weekend he has been a perfect Horse in perfect condition and health. He has always been a pleasure to shoe, tack, ride, catch ect ect and never plays up. This weekend he was tacked up as normal but he didn't quite seem himself. He was a little more sleepy/quite than normal and didn't seem as happy and alert. I got on him and kicked him on as normal but he was very hesitant and didn't want to go which is not like him. thinking he was playing up a little i persisted and he took only a few step before stopping again. We were on rough gravel and he started to back up until he got on the grass, he then stopped, dropped down on his front legs, then on his back legs and then onto his side. even though i managed to release my feet i couldn't get off him in time and he fell onto his side trapping my foot. He must of realised that i was trapped because he then lifted his weight on that side to release me. Once i had got free he then proceeded to bang his head on the floor which i believe caused him to knock himself out as he cut his head with the force. His legs also started kicking each other but not with great force or speed. He was down and unconcious for about 3-5 mins. He then came too and struggled to get up, when he did get up on the second attempt he was very disoriantated and headed straight for a closed gate to get back into his field. I instantly called my vet who gave him a full examination including heart beat ect and said he was in perfect condition. He took bloods which are due back soon but said he is not expecting to see anything as he is not showing any symptoms of a virus ect. so, i was just wondering if anyone had any thoughts on what it could be as alot of people are telling me i cannot or should not ride him anymore. It is hard to explain in full exactly what happened but it was as if he knew something was wrong and went to the floor himself in a controled manner rather than collapsing as if he didn't want to hurt me and the fact he was hesitant to go out riding that day says he was not right even before he was tacked up which was 15-20 mins before i got on him. he was also a bit down and not himself the next day but the day after he is now back to his normal self with his head held high and years are pert and alert. he has not lost any condition and is grazing and socialising with the other horses fine. any help would be greatly appreciated. thanks toria
 
toria85,

has your vet given you any suggestions? It does sound very strange. Poor you and poor horse, too.

A year or two back we took a middle aged B&W ploddy cob, on loan, with a view to purchase. He turned up and had sweated a bit on the trailer. I thought little of it. We turned him out with a mare, and brought them both in that night.

At 0900 the next morning, as he was being tacked up, he seemed to seize up. That's the best way of describing it. We immediately 'phoned his owner and the vet. As luck would have it, the farrier was here anyway, and both he and the vet, confirmed that it was laminitis brought on by stress. I'm still not too sure about that one, and think that "don't know" would have been a more accurate diagnosis! It took him a full three days before he was fit enough to travel, and as the vet has a clear dislike of the owner/*****/dealer, the horse went back.

Anyway, assuming that they were right, could this be a possibility? How is your horse now?

Good luck.

Alec.

edit to say, Blimey, apparently the word P*i*k*y isn't an acceptable word! I've been zapped!
 
Once i had got free he then proceeded to bang his head on the floor which i believe caused him to knock himself out as he cut his head with the force. His legs also started kicking each other but not with great force or speed. He was down and unconcious for about 3-5 mins. He then came too and struggled to get up, when he did get up on the second attempt he was very disoriantated and headed straight for a closed gate to get back into his field.

I haven't seen this in a horse but I did have a Setter dog that would do a very similar thing
He would be a little quiet then would gradually yet gently lie down his head would bang and he would look like he was running in his sleep .It lasted 3/4 minutes afterwards he would get up but appear mildly disorientated he would head for a door way but appeared not to realise that a door was shut he would seek out a quiet corner and sometimes press he face against a chair (not hard just like leaning)
He was diagnosed as non specific epilespy (meaning there was no obvious trigger for it.)
I always got a feeling he was going to do it from his behaviour alteration up to an hour before it happened
Medication controlled it and he lived a normal life span and was pts at 11 years for a totally different reason.
Not sure about riding him though as a horse falling on you is not to be recomended .
I think you need to work closely with your vet on this if there is no clear diagnosis I would ask for a neurological expert to be involved
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I'm afraid it does sound like your horse has had a seizure. My mare has epilepsy and I have often noticed that just before a seizure starts she looks tired and heavy in her face as though she has a headache (which she probably does). I would ask your vet to do a neurological workup at the first opportunity. Could he have been exposed to a pesticide? Seizures in horses are alot more common than vets would have us believe but they generally affect horses who are older than 11 or 12 so your boy is a bit on the young side. Feel free to pm me if you want.
 
How scary for you.
I have to agree with the others, it does seem like a seizure type problem and until you've had a full neuro work up by the vets I would be very wary when you are handling him and I certainly wouldn't ride him again until he can have the all clear; sorry.

Had to laugh at Alec being zapped though!
 
I think that if you have insurance you really do need to send your horse to horspital for a nerological checkup. You cannot ride or handle a horse safely when it could potentially collapse on you. No matter how good your vet is, he is really like a GP and this is a specialised field.

I lost my own horse a month ago because she very suddenly became uncoordinated behind and began stumbling and semi collapsed in the field. Tests at Liphook showed she had compression on her spinal cord.
 
It sounds like some kind of a fit with the head banging, maybe epeleptic but i would have expected him to go down like a shot if that were the case rather than a controlled 'going down'. Narcoleptic horses go down quite quickly too, so I really wouldn't know but i hope you manage to get it sorted out.
 
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