Horse walking with tilted head?

[MissTyc]

Any advice grateful!

On my friend's yard a TB came in with a completely tilted head today. He seems bright and alert, but tilted and a bit unsteady on his feet on uneven ground (like he couldn't see where he was going and the terrain was unexpected, she said).

Vet was immediately called and completely stumped. Bloods were taken, but owner has not really been told what to expect or even what they are testing for. Owner appears not massively worried, but friend said if it was her horse she'd be hammering down the door to the equine clinic!!

Anyone ever encountered anything like this? What are they likely to be testing for? Friend said she'd only ever seen similar symptoms in a dog that had had a stroke, but this wasn't mentioned by the vet and this horse's vital signs are all completely normal, no distress, no sign of spinal injury, etc!

Stumped!

 

[AmyMay]

Did he test it for woblers?

 

[horsevideo]

Try a good chiro or osteo? He may be out in the poll, which vets often don't seem to pick up on.

Reassuring that all his vitals are normal so it was worth getting the vet.

 

[Bug2007]

^^^^^sounds to me like he has put his poll out.

 

[Fransurrey]

Probably an inner ear infection.

Bloods are probably for leukocytes and neutrophils. Higher than normal levels of these indicate an infection, but these alone won't determine the exact organism which has caused it (just if antibiotics will help!).

 

[MissTyc]

thanks, I'll pass on the thoughts.
Made me realise how spoiled I am with my vets - they would never leave the yard without having covered evry thought on their mind!

 

[Wagtail]

My thoughts were immediately 'ear infection' too. Also, as others have said, if it is not an infection then get the chiro as yes, his poll could be out (very common though not normally so noticable).

 

[sizz]

Try a good chiro or osteo? He may be out in the poll, which vets often don't seem to pick up on.

Reassuring that all his vitals are normal so it was worth getting the vet.

what exactly do you mean when you say 'out at the poll' ?

 

[Wagtail]

what exactly do you mean when you say 'out at the poll' ?

My understanding is that if the muscles around that area go into spasm due to pain associated with injury or strain, they can have the effect of pulling the head slightly to one side at the poll. This is not usually that obvious though.