PSSM horse having a vacant episode?

[catembi]

Has anyone's horse had a weird, spaced out episode? My QHxTB Cody is n/p1, n/p4 & px/px. I caught him in to feed this evening and he ignored his dinner & was stretching one front leg out at a time as far as it would go, then scraping his hoof down the wall. Then kept stretching his neck out & curling his top lip. Then waggling his head from side to side. He seemed vacant. I put him in my arena to observe him. He wandered about slowly, & one back leg briefly buckled - this happened sometimes when I used to ride him. I watched him for a bit, then got his dinner which he then wanted. I am certain it isn't colic - no sweating, no rolling, not looking round at himself. He was 7 last week so I wonder if he's about to start declining. All experiences appreciated. (I haven't called the vet as he doesn't seem distressed or in pain...just slightly odd.)

 

[Spottyappy]

Narcolepsy?
sounds very similar to what a friends pony does, who has that.

 

[paddy555]

I would regard that as colic or at least a pre cursor to colic. ie digestive "pain" Didn't want his feed, stretching to relieve discomfort. I wouldn't call it vacant I would regard it as him concentrating on the discomfort. Spacing himself out to cope with it.

He was out at grass? was the grass wet? one of ours had a lot of gas when he came in this afternoon. (rained here)
Did he have a lot of bulky wet grass in his system plus gas? was he rugged when he was out? if not then I have had horses come in with discomfort after rain when not rugged.

If he was mine and the grass was wet I would restrict grazing, give him some hay and rug. (rug especially for the PSSM) Perhaps get him off the grass for tonight with some hay to give his gut a chance to settle.

 

[ester]

Narcolepsy?
sounds very similar to what a friends pony does, who has that.

I'll add sleep deprivation to that too as an alternative to true narcolepsy.

 

[J&S]

The "vacant" look, stretching and lip curling says colic to me.

 

[SEL]

I've had it in response to muscular pain with mine - she stopped in the middle of a lush field and i couldn't lead her forwards nor turn her. Showed no intetest in eating. A few minutes later the twitches started.

So yes to a pain response.

 

[HBB]

I’ve nothing helpful to add but just wanted to send you a hug. You are long due a break in the relentless shitty luck you have had with horses, you must be exhausted with it all ? X

 

[catembi]

Yes, he was at grass and the grass was wet, but they are on a small area atm due to extensive building work here (new stable block & lots of drainage & hardstanding etc etc) and our grass is poor. They have 2 haynets tied to trees & 2 haynets in the existing stables, & they mostly eat those rather than grazing. I left him in the arena for an hour & watched him, then he was interested in his food, then I put a summer turnout on him. I should have done that this morning really, but the contractors decided to go home as it was raining & I was just fed up with the world.

I will keep a close eye on him, thank you.

 

[catembi]

Thank you for all the replies. I also did a post on a PSSM FB group, & I now *think* that it WAS pain but maybe muscular rather than colic. I should have rugged him like I said, but the building work has turned everything into utter chaos & I just couldn't motivate myself. It feels like we are permanently in the 'darkest before dawn' stage - I have lost my old tatty buildings but don't have new ones yet & have lost my really nice line of beautifully done stock fencing & can't have a replacement til the new buildings are up & every day there is a bit more chaos & my life gets that bit more inconvenient.

For those who don't know, I am now riding my companion New Forest that I backed last year. She is coming on v well & we have got as far as jumping, cantering under saddle (just!) and doing a group pole work clinic. I also haveTrev the ex racer who doesn't load but has come back into work now that I have an arena (failed KS surgery in 2015, but being retired for a bit seems to have helped) so I am going to do some lessons on him at home. We did a bit of aff sj & dr back in the day. So I do have a couple to ride & can crack on with lessons as well as taking Tiffany the NF to some entry level comps, so it could be worse.

(Still a bit aaaaarrrrggghhh on the horse front, though!)