Is dizziness in horses a thing/how to get seawater out of a saddle?!

[HorseMaid]

My friend took my mare to the beach this morning. I wasn't there, but had a call saying that as they were walking along the shoreline (few inches deep of seawater), my mare fell over sideways! Friend luckily OK just very wet, ride continued as normal afterwards although mare upset.

I know that when I've ridden her there before, watching the water going sideways in front of me has made me feel dizzy to the point of not being able to look at it (end up riding with my eyes closed), I'm hoping she's just got ridiculously dizzy and fallen over? Is this a thing in horses? We are having the vet out this afternoon for jabs so will ask them to check her over anyway.

So also as an aside, has anyone got any tips on getting seawater out of a saddle? My lovely Ideal Event has had a good dunking ???

 

[SEL]

I used to take rides out in Australia and we had a couple of horses that we couldn't take on the beach ride because they seemed to get woozy. The other thing to consider is whether there was a deep bit of sand - we did have one face plant and dunk a guest.

Can't comment on the saddle but I hope you get it dried out!

 

[HorseMaid]

No deep sand to trip in I don't think, friend said she almost felt her head spin and she just flopped down on her side rather than forwards!

 

[MotherOfChickens]

I get dizzy myself on the beach, its the ground rushing backwards etc (or seeming to). I know horses see differently to us so not sure if this would be a thing or not-but small pockets of quick sand also exist (as a child of the 70s, I am always on the alert for quicksand lol).

 

[AmyMay]

Yep, horses can get dizzy just like us when looking at the shore line.

 

[Cragrat]

Some horses are a bit scary to ride across rivers or fords, because they get hypnotised or dizzy from the moving water.

I think your saddle will need someslow careful drying out and some TLC. Oz will know - Unicornleather.co.uk