Please help! mare violently shaking

leanne1988

leanne1988

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Hi All,

Today i was grooming my mare, all was fine then all of a sudden she flipped! she started shaking violently, all over her body, her eyes wided and she started thrashing herself against the gate, pawing the ground, pooing every other minute! it was so strange. after a few hours she calmed down,i m so worried though.

Someone said shes probably in season but im worried it may be something serious. Have any of you seen similar symptoms? Im going to call the vet out if it happens again tmorow.
 
Doesn't sound like 'season' behaviour, i think i would have rung the vet. Please ring the vet if it happens again as it sounds very odd.
 
I would certainly consult a vet. It could be something like epilepsy - it certainly sounds as if it might be neurological - and if it happened when you were riding it could be very serious. Best get her checked out I think.
 
Have you had the mare long? It's a long shot, but she couldn't be in-foal could she? I only ask as a four months in-foal mare of mine behaved similarly, just before loosing her foal. I never saw her pass anything or noted any discharge on the morning checks, so really dont know how her slipping was missed. If I'd not paid to have her put in foal myself and seen the scan photos, I would never have known she was even in-foal.

Shortly after the brief 'attack' like your mare had, mine became rather apathetic, had a slightly raised temperature and was off her hard feed. The vet assumed it was a 'bug', took bloods and said he'd let me know the lab results. Within a couple of days the mare was back to normal and the vet reported back that the bloods showed nothing sinister. The following week the mare was scanned routinely, and found to be empty. I've always assumed the 'attack' had something to do with the loss of the foal.
 
Hi, that sounds really scarey. Can you remember exactly what she was doing just before she started shaking? My mare does have epilepsy and what you have described could be a seizure, although, I wouldn't rule out the wasp sting either (having seen an arab mare get stung and the ensueing attack of the "vapours"). The normal course for a seizure is dreaminess or slow reactions,followed by twisting of the head and neck, and then the shaking and trying to lean on a solid object like a fence or wall. (They rarely collapse like how you would expect). Generally they seizure passes quite quickly and they are calm and back to normal within about 6 or 7 minutes.

Feel free to PM me if you want.
 
It sounds like she could have had an extreme pain somewhere, maybe cysts on her ovaries? doesn't sound like bowel as she passed loose poos, but as everyone has said I would call the vet, as it sounds quite a strong reaction to something.
 
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