Horse fall - no self-preservation?

[JGC]

My youngster hasn't been quite right for over a year. First we had some hormonal problems, then she had a progressive ethmoidal haemtoma which took until November last year to treat. She's undergone blood tests since being back in work as she was not going forwards properly, which showed that she'd had leptospirosis, but apparently they may have been contaminated, so we are waiting for the revised results.

Yesterday, she fell over with the yard's rider, They were cantering and she tripped over with her front feet, but instead of trying to save herself, she kept cantering behind. YO and her mother were present - the mother thought the horse was having a heart attack, the YO thought the horse had broken her leg - just to give you an idea of what it looked like.

Vet wants to wait for the blood test results, I am freaking out thinking it's neurological. Anyone have any ideas of similar cases so we could perhaps narrow down what to look into?

She has fallen over twice before - once when she dumped me and galloped up the road after her pal who was being turned out (going very fast on tarmac, so not that surprising) and a couple of months ago when I was bringing her in from the field and she whipped round really quickly to see another horse coming up behind and cause she was on tarmac and with muddy feet, she slipped. Once when I was putting her in her box, she walked straight into the wall opposite, it was dark, so I had her eyes tested, but nothing. The only other thing I can think of is that she tilts her head when loose schooled and sometimes in hand, never under saddle, and sometimes she comes in at me when on the lunge (which I'd put down to her hormonal issues).

 

[Birker2020]

First thoughts suggest its just a case of a young horse being careless, all gangly and silly.
I would also suggest that the head tilting could be caused by her possibly being 'out' at the atlas (behind her ears) as this is what happened to my horse (my physio friend noticed he was tilting his head to the side when ridden and gave him a physio session which put this right).

But I do feel that you may be right to be concerned about the possiblity that it could be a neuro condition and this may or may not have been brought on by a fall that you are not aware of (in the field). Maybe you might like to ask the vet when he returns to carry out a nuero examination of your horse to see if this could be a problem, then at least you could rule this out. You could do this yourself if you wanted to but you do need to be careful and carry it out on a soft surface with you wearing and a handler wearing a hard hat and being careful. My horse was a Grade 3 / 4 wobbler when he was eventually diagnosed, but even at his worse you would have been aware of what tests could have made him fall and which would make him sway so it is safe as long as you proceed with caution!


The sway test is the best test (try it with an another horse to guage what it SHOULD feel like). Then try your horse and see if you can find any difference. And the turning in a tight circle also shows if the horse swings his leg wide it could have a neuro problem. But this could also be indicative of a number of other problems, so I would suggest you ask your vet to carry out a full assessment. If it is a neuro condition the quicker it is spotted and acted on the better. As your horse is young it may be a nutritional imbalance combined with rapid growth, please see causes under this link : http://www.uky.edu/Ag/AnimalSciences/pubs/asc133.pdf

http://www.equinewobblers.com/diagnostics/neurological_examination.html
http://www.vetmed.vt.edu/emc/clinicalservices/neurology.asp

Incidentally Leptosprosis (if she does have this) can cause weakness in animals. Maybe she is just weak and this is why she is falling but this is just a wild guess.

I know this stuff as my horse had a neuro problem at the age of 10 after falling on his neck in the field- reared and fell over backwards. His main symptoms were rubbing his fetlocks togetehr, being extremely possessive of his quarters, swinging his hind legs wide, looking very strange when walking backwards and a canter that threw you up and out of the saddle (more powerful than a disunited canter and not feeling the same at all).