Possible narcolepsy

[kc921]

Evening all, (sorry for long post)

It's been brought to my attention by my Y/O that my horse may have narcolepsy, he is suddenly falling asleep, stumbling forward/backward when stabled.
She has said he doesn't do it when turned out.
I've owned him for over 3 years and I hadn't seen this behaviour from him,
I went up the other day, brought him in and just left him and witnessed it myself.
I've padded out his stable to stop him from injuring himself and put a treat ball in there for him to keep occupied, (he has hay in his stable of course) but he seems to be doing it when he is bored/not stimulated.
He is ridden and doesn't do it when ridden/groomed basically when he has attention or is being tended to.
Since he has moved to this yard the only thing that has changed is he is on less feed. I have brought a supplement which is like a "multi vitamin" in case he is lacking in something.
He has also recently had bloods done and all has come back normal (this was before I aware of him doing this)

Has anyone had any experience with this? I know there is no cure for narcolepsy, but is there anyway to help him at all?

Starting to get myself rather upset over it and just want to help him in anyway possible!

(I will be calling the vets on Monday)

Thanks in advance

 

[Flowerofthefen]

Easy to say but don't panic until the vet has seen him. Hope you get your answers x

 

[ester]

I know that on horse vet fb they generally say that sleep deprivation is more often the cause than true narcolepsy.

 

[blitznbobs]

Narcolepsy wouldn’t just happen in a stable it would happen anywhere

 

[meleeka]

It sounds more like sleep apnea which is very common. It’s usually related to a reason why the horse finds it difficult to lay down for a proper sleep. This could be pain or his environment. Once you find the reason, he will stop doing it. When mine did it it was mild arthritis that I hadn’t noticed.

 

[HashRouge]

I know that on horse vet fb they generally say that sleep deprivation is more often the cause than true narcolepsy.

Yes I was going to say this.
I had a vet call out for my mare earlier this year after she had what turned out to be a severe bout of sleep deprivation. She was basically falling asleep while standing up, swaying backwards, and waking herself up, on a more or less constant cycle for 12 hours. The vet gave her a painkiller "just in case" but all her vital signs were fine and the next day she was back to normal. He said it was likely to do with not lying down to sleep, as they need to lie down for REM sleep, and obviously to keep an eye out to see if it happened again. She is 28 and does have arthritis, so I'm not sure how much she lies down to sleep. However since then she's been fine - full of energy and we haven't seen a repeat. Anyway, the vet told me at the time that true narcolepsy is rare and it is more likely to be sleep deprivation caused by not lying down for proper REM sleep. So basically the horse falls asleep while standing up and drifts into REM sleep, which causes them to lose their balance/ co-ordination, so they sway and wake themselves up.

My first question would be whether there are any signs of him lying down in the stable, or if anyone has seen him lying down in the field?

 

[scats]

My friends horse went through a period of this when she wasn’t lying down and getting her R.E.M. sleep. Think they need 20 minutes every 24hours or something. Has anything changed like bedding, location or stable? Is he stiff/sore and struggling to get up so is avoiding lying down?

 

[kc921]

I will say he did have a lack of bedding in his stable, he is on part livery so they do the lot, but yesterday I brought my own shavings and put in a very big bed for him.
No-one has seen him lay down outside, so it could possibly be sleep deprivation?

 

[scats]

I will say he did have a lack of bedding in his stable, he is on part livery so they do the lot, but yesterday I brought my own shavings and put in a very big bed for him.
No-one has seen him lay down outside, so it could possibly be sleep deprivation?

Quite possibly. Friends horse does it when they switch routine (day to night turnout etc) and spends a few days/ first week not lying down or at least not getting R.E.M.

 

[Meowy Catkin]

The lack of bedding in his stable could be the answer. Definitely mention that to the vet.

 

[05jackd]

He had an older mare that developed the exact symptoms you are describing. Vets couldn’t really diagnose anything specific but just said it was likely to be neurological. At 25 years old we ran the bloods suggested which didn’t show anything and didn’t delve any deeper. We just retired her.

She was perhaps slightly worse as she would sometimes fall over in the stable and we decided that it was just too dangerous to stable her. We turned her out and although still showed symptoms it was much safer.

 

[Auslander]

My old man does this - and in his case, it's sleep deprivation as he doesn't lie down as much as he should. He can get up and down to roll, but doesn't seem keen to lie down to sleep - possibly because it's hard to get up when he's been down a while. He's very well otherwise, so I manage him by making sure he has boots on all the time (he skins the front of his fetlocks when he nods off) and keeping him and his similarly afflicted buddy separate from the other horses, so their existence is as peaceful as possible.

 

[FFAQ]

I watched an excellent talk on sleep deprivation by Dr Joe Bertone this week. It was hosted by the Equine Behaviour and Training Association. Well worth getting in touch with them to see if they can send you the recording.

 

[Peglo]

I’ve not seen either of my two oldies lay down for years but they have never done this. I assumed it was because they worried they wouldn’t get back up but after reading these reply’s is it more likely they just sleep at night when I’m not there?

OP I hope this is an easy fix for your horse!