Not convinced it's narcolepsy.....any other ideas?

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ribena73

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Following on from my earlier post, I've read the links suggested by mrs wishkabibble (thanks btw!). I'm not sure it is narcolepsy, he did seem dopey, but when he was lying down he wasn't "flat out", and hadn't been flat out either, he was lying with his legs curled underneath him. I know a girl at uni that had narcolepsy and she just flopped backwards, and I assume horses would just flop sideways?

His wobbly legs worry me though, although I'm wondering if he felt like lying down then remembered where he was, and then once my back was turned did it anyway? I know this probably sounds silly but could it just be that he's had a busy night and didn't get much sleep?

If anyone has any other ideas about what it might be it would be greatly appreciated.
 
It could still be Narcolepsy.

A freind's WB gelding has been diagnosed with it. He very rarely goes down, flat out and goes to sleep, normally when he's standing up snoozing his legs will buckle under him but normally wakes before he hits the floor.

Have you spoken to your vet?
 
I have come across something similar when saddle fitting. A horse I was going out to fit had been diagnosed by the vet as having narcolepsy, He would suddenly drop asleep mostly when being ridden. Totally dangerous and the horse had been written off by the vet. The owner still wanted to ride him, she had problems with her saddle so she asked me to look at it. I basically condemmed it, it was horrifically flocked with huge hard lumps pressing all over the back, it was pinching seriously at the wither and the gullet was too narrow all the way through. We got talking about the impact this could have and it transpired that the horse only demonstrated the narcolepsy under saddle. So when he was tacked up. He never ever had an episode in the field or stable. So I suspected the saddle was pressing on a major nerve. I asked her to try another saddle, I fitted it to the horse and left her to it for a couple of weeks, no repeat episode. So she bought the new saddle. To this date which is 5 years later the horse has never had another episode. He is not narcoleptic, he was actually having a nerve pinched by the saddle, a bit like the 'Spock' effect we as humans can get if we press hard into the ganglion nerve in the base of our neck, ie we can make ourselves pass out through pressure.
 
Bosworth, that is really interesting as when I was putting his saddle on he bunched up his back, almost as if he was getting ready to chuck in a buck (which he never has), so I wonder if he'd moved things around on his back so when I tightened the girth it had the "spock effect". He's never done that before when having the saddle fitted but he did go into a wierd shape this time. I guess it still doesn't explain why he decided to have a lie down fully tacked, unless it was his attempt to alleviate the nerve pressure?

Not spoken to my vet yet, having just yesterday paid a £400 bill I'm too scared to pick up the phone
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has he ever shown this behaviour without tack ( including rollers) And yes narcoleptic horses can go down, and the saddle can suddenly change, if something is broken or the flocking has moved. And it is not a question of going down to alleviate nerve pressure, it is an unconscious reaction. The horse I fitted would do it when going xc, his neck would drop down suddenly then he would collapse. So not immediately the saddle went on. could take up to 30 mins. which is why it was never put down to the saddle but I think it must have been a cummulative effect of the pressure and expansion and contraction of the muscle when moving
 
An ex-race horse at the yard I'm on has been diagnosed (by a vet) as having Narcolepsy.

To my knowledge he's never gone down whilst being ridden. I've seen him go down whilst in his stable & he's also been seen going down in the field.

The collapsing / going down is called 'cataplexy' (as part of my job I know about the human Narcolepsy), so assume the same would be true for horses. Cataplexy is brought on by extremes of emotion either happiness or sadness.

I would perhaps suggest speaking to your vet over the phone. Especially if he has seen the horse recently. It sounds like it would be best to get an answer either way.
 
The lying down with the saddle on happened a few minutes after the wobbly legs, after the wobbly legs I spoke to him for a few minutes and called him a numpty (now feeling guilty for that!) and he stood there fine, just very relaxed, and then went out to get someone. He was then lying down when I got back and stood up when he saw me. There were no abrasions or anything to suggest he went down suddenly though?

We did have an incident a few weeks ago (again on a warm day) where he hit me in the head with his leg as I was booting him up. I wasn't sure if he dozed off and wobbled sideways, or if he had spooked at his rug which was flapping on the fence in the breeze. I later had him jump on top of me when another scary rug flapped in the breeze so I assumed it was a spook and thought no more of it. I'm now wondering though, after today, if it was another dozy moment?

I think I'll see how he is now when I get back to the yard later. My concern is that he was quite dopey afterwards, I thought if it was narcolepsy he would have woken up and been OK. He was really not himself in the stable and I took him for a little walk and he was quite dopey too. Which is another reason why I am wondering if there is somethign else going on. Could it just be the heat getting to him? He had a nylon fly rug on which I am not putting on any more as we keep getting static shock from it, he was warm underneath and all his little veins in his neck and shoulders were up like after exercise.
 
oooh, this is very interesting. i was at a show the other day, and saw a lady put a saddle onto her horse.

as she was girthing up, the horse literally fell over, legs in the air (practically), like it was dead. everyone rushed to it. it wasn't moving.

owner undid saddle and slid it out from under horse, and he jumped back up again, as if to say 'what happened there?'.

she said it was the first time she'd put the saddle on him without a numnah, and it was the first time it had happened.

random...
 
Clipcloppop, I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't but that image did make me giggle- reminded me of the dead sheep in Emmerdale Farm when the plane crashed (showing my age now!) Back to the issue though, I guess that hadn't happened before with that horse? Strange...

Still not sure what was up with Ro but when I got back to the yard last night he had drunk half a huge trug of water and was bright eyed and bushy tailed and dragging me to the field. Turns out the water trough in there is pretty minging and so none of them are drinking so have mentioned to YO now. So, am cautiously optimistic in thinking it was simply a bit of heat exhasution/ dehydration as he was boiling coming in.

Thanks for all your replies and suggestions though, much appreciated
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