PLEASE HELP! found my pony with no control with her legs

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clarejoseph

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hello all! PLEASE HELP! Was checking my horses on sat and found one of my ponies couldn't move it was liked she had a stroke she would go to move but had no control over her legs, she was also swishing her tail alot. called the vet out and he seamed to think she had a traped nerve in her neck or back gave her steriod inj and bute inj and told me to call back in the morning to check on her progress. I monintered her that night and she would walk a few steps then wobble like she would go down but didn't. Vet gave me bute to give her and had another vet from same pratise out today to moniter her. she reckons she has brain problems as saw that one of her pupil was bigger than the other and that she still has no co oradation with her legs. suggested anti bio for 5 days in case of ear infection but if no improvement after to think about having her put to sleep. Im not prepared to give up on her she is eating, drinking, calling to me and seams to be herself but its the fact her legs are not going where they should be. While i was waiting for the vet she did slip over but did get straight back up. She doesn't seam to be in pain just cant get her balance. I have looked everywhere n the net to compare her symptoms but cant find anything. she is a 23yr mare that is quite highly strung and lives out. If anyone has any suggestions please say.
 
No idea what else it could be - the pupil difference would indicate probable brain swelling or bleeding in people so that is probably the same in horses.

I would be very very careful horses that cannot control their balance can be very dangerous as they can fall onto you. If she goes down and is unable to get up it might be fairer to PTS.... It would be awful to find her having been down all night in the cold and wet.

What an awful thing to happen to you and her - I hope she improves today.
 
Been there, so I know how terrifying this can be. FB had terrible ataxia after his accident. He had twisted his spine and damaged his sacro iliac joint and the swelling was pressing on his spinal cord which meant he had no control over his rear legs at all for about four hours and to watch him struggle to get up was heartbreaking. We thought he would have to be PTS on the side of the road. The vet was concerned that he had knocked his head on the way down and that it was neurological but we were lucky that it was 'only' his spine. He had steroid injections for five days and a course of bute. I also gave him about 12 high strength homeopathic arnica granules a day.

What I will say is it takes a long time for them to recover - the number of people who told me that I should have him PTS because 'he would never recover' was incedible. He was still incredibly wobbly after a month and then I had to leave him 1000km away when we moved. In the end he was turned away from August until January, although my friend began lightly exercising him in hand in November. He decided he felt better when he jumped a 1.2m fence to get in with the other horses! I rode him in January and then had him transported in March. He is now on a joint supplement which helps.

Give it time, if it is just her back it may take a long time. The advantage I had is that the weather in southern Spain is so much better than in the UK so he could live out with no problems or worrying about him going over in the mud o getting cold. Don't let the vets push you into a hasty decision unless they are sure she is brain damaged or you feel her quality of life is compromised.

If you need to move her, one person should lead her, not too close to her head, and another person should be behind her holding her tail (the hair, below the dock) stretched out firmly behind her. This helps her balance but if she goes down no one is in the way.

I really hope she gets better quickly, it is so distressing to watch.
 
http://www.horseadvice.com/horse/messages/4/151118.html

This is a link to a forum that you may like to look at discussing strokes in horses. Like the previous poster says, you really have to be careful the mare doesn't fall on you, without question if she did you would be seriously injured if not killed. If the mare becomes recumbent then it might be the best thing to have her put to sleep sad as it is. She sounds like she has had a long and lovely life, and although she may not appear to be in pain I am sure she will be greatly distressed simply by the action of being uncordinated as she is a flight animal xx
 
Thank you for all your posts!! its just i can explain it. she was fine that morning then suddendly this all happened and she now is all over the place. did notice she has a small graze on her bottom lip but no cuts or bumps anywhere else. i have had her for about 18yrs we rescued her and i have another 6 that have been rescued and are just old so have been with the other horses all this time. I would never want her to suffer and be in pain, thats why i dont want to give up on her when she seams to still be with it so if it was brain damage would that not effect her notice me when i carry her feed in the field and she calls at me and then walks over to me? she also seams that she cannot turn her neck round easily, seams a little stiff thats why im thinking more neck or back. Am going to speak to the vet that first saw her and ask him to visit her again, i just dont want to make the wrong decission and throw her lovely life away where she can still recover from this with help and love.
 
Now you have mentioned the stiff neck, I think she may have laid funny on her neck, or slipped in teh field and fallen on her neck. This can cause compression in the spinal column and thus will impinge on nerves and the spinal cord causing neurological symptoms which are what you are now seeing. If it is due to compression in the neck then there are some things that can be done and anti inflammatories can sometimes work wonders, so can a decent physio. However, you may just have to accept sadly that she has come to the end of the road. I do hope you don't have to make that decision, see what your vet thinks when he comes to assess her and mention that you think she may have damaged her neck and this is why she is showing signs of ataxia and see what he says. She sounds like one heck of a mare, and I can see you love her loads. Good luck hon xxx
 
As long as the vet and yourself (you are obviously a caring but sensible owner) think she is safe and 'happy', continue with the therapy, meds and TLC for as long as it takes you to decide she has had enough or that carrying on treatment is the right thing to do.

We had a friend's horse literally poleaxe itself here. It had an extremely frightenening and horrific siezure with blood coming from one ear and the opposite nostril and the most awful thrashing and flailing on the ground. It staggered, heaving like a Grand National runner, to its feet and swayed drunkenly before wobbling almost totally unco-ordinated across the paddock. It fell again but was up once more by the time the vet arrived, to diagnose blindness and brain damage. He gave the horse a lot of steroids and 24 hours to improve.

The horse was quiet for a couple of hours then had a further standing seizure (no blood but dripping with sweat and circling continuously) and the vet came again. He was quiet by the time the vet returned and was given the same time limit but with a more guarded prognosis.

This happened 7pm one Friday and we had a large empty barn for the horse to stay in, so he was contained in there and we watched him all night. By the morning, he was markedly less wobbly, no sign of improvement with his sight but definitely better. On the Sunday he was allowed to travel home in his trailer and to cut a long story short, he is alive and well and you'd have a job to know he's ever had a day's illness!

I never wish to see anything remotely approaching that incident again. He was a slightly younger horse (11 I think) but it was absolutely terrifying and seemed very hopeless at the time.

I'm sure you will do the humane thing and good for you with the rescues and oldies. The lucky things!
 
My horse fell in the field and damaged his neck and displayed signs of Ataxia. Not as severe as you are describing though. He had no visible signs of the fall and if I hadn't seen it happen I would have had no clue. Hopefully time and anti-inflamatories will make the condition improve but even if it does a neck xray may help rule out any significant boney damage. If an improvement comes about fairly rapidly I would certainly persevere if she is not in pain. If there is no improvement or brain damage is suspected then I would have to seriously think about quality of life. Please keep us updated.
 
thank you all for your help and kind words, unfortually my little girl told me it was her time to go today, she had layed down in her field with all her brothers and sisters round her and had no strength to get up, so i done what any other caring owner would do and helped her on her way to heaven. she is now at peace. It seamed to defintally be a brain injury when the vet arrived. It just goes to show how quickly these things can happen. I am absolutly devestated with loosing her today, but made the decission with her to help me. The only concerlation was when we rescused her 19yr ago she could have gone then, but i hopefully made them 19yr count with the love and care i gave her. thank you all for your help.
 
I am very sorry this has happened to you but so pleased you were able to do the right thing - it is the hardest decision.

It sounds as if she had a life filled with love until the very end.

RIP little mare x
 
Just wanted to confirm that she was lucky to have you. We lost a 27yr old boy who fell in the field and broke his neck, after 3 weeks of box rest. Sometimes its better they go quickly even though it breaks our hearts. They all run fast again in heaven! Gone but never forgotten.
 
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