Rage collapsed today - trying not to worry but....

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Bounty

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I can't.
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Picked PreNoviceEventer up this morning for what was supposed to be a great day out at the Cotswold Farm Park ride. Got there, tacked up, and hopped on.
PNE's Josh was being less than obliging so me and Rage stood and waited while Josh remembered his manners....

Rage tucked his head between his knees, walked quickly backwards upto the wall and then sank in slow motion - knees buckled, then folded and the back end followed suit. I had time to get my leg out from under him before he lay on it, and he just lay there groaning. People appeared from everywhere and were helping me undo his girth, breastplate and flash, and then he jumped up as if nothing had ever happened
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The best way of describing it was almost as a 'faint'.
Rugged him up and walked him while we waited for the vet to ring back, who said that there was no way of beng able to suggest what had happened as there were no prior symptoms or warning, but to keep a close eye on him. They are coming out tomorrow for an examination, tests and biopsies.

Has anyone else experienced anything like this?

The fact that there was no warning signs is what worries me more than anything - what if it's something that we can't get to the bottom of and next time it happens will be at full speed?! Too scary to think about
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And also - a big sorry to PNE for dragging her out in the lorry for no reason whatsoever!
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She only got a quick ride around the car park!
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I am not going to speculate about what medical condition might have caused this as there are many candidates, some serious, some not.

It is worth bearing in mind that laying down, or sinking to the floor is an evasion that some horses develop so they can avoid being ridden. They sink to the ground slowly, as if about to roll.
 
how awful, you must be worried, it would be hard not to, but try not to get too stressed about it, the vet is coming tomorrow, it sounds very odd and i hope the vets discover what it is soon for you both x
 
The only thing it sounds similar to is narcolepsy which is also known as sleeping sickness where the horse has fainting like symptoms.
Good luck tomorrow with the vet and let us know how it goes!
 
Poor you, so frightening if that happens. Hope you have positive news tomorrow.

Only things I can even think of are could he be cold backed (even if it's never happened before, there's always a first!)?
Could it have been because you stood about waiting for PNE whereas if you had walked slowly around it would have kept the circulation going?
Had a pony do this at one of our rides, turns out he always does it if he's travelled away from home but if you rode him straight from the yard he'd be fine. He clamboured up in his own time after we had all whipped saddle off etc; they rode him around bareback for five minutes then re saddled and he was fine; really weird.

Will be interested to hear the results to this, hope it's not too much of a problem.
 
QR

It was really awful, he seemed to be on the floor for ages (in reality only 20-30secs) and all I could think was that he'd had a heart attack and wouldn't be getting back up again
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I think seeing a horse lying on the floor groaning so soon after losing Cybele just really hit me hard. I wasn't too bad at the time, but this evening I'm turning into a wreck
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YorkshireLass - have owned him 18months and he's never pulled that out of his sleeve as an evasion before. Wish it was an evasion - would worry me alot less!

MFH_09 - We didn't wait for very long at all, having re-read my post it doesn't come across like that at all I know! Accurate journalism obviously isn't my strong point
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I got on and he fidgetted for a minute while I adjusted my leathers , and then a boy kicking a football appeared around the corner of the lorry which scared him (little boys with footballs just don't happen around here very often!) and I walked him in a couple of small circles to settle him otherwise I felt he was about to boil over with the excitement of it all.
We then stood for perhaps a minute before he shot backwards and collapsed.


Thank you all for your kind words.
 
I knew a pony that kept collapsing in a fainting manner- it would just lie down when being ridden, stay down for about a minute and then get up and carry on like nothing had happened. I don't know exactly what happened, all that i do know is that it kept happening, the vets couldn't put a finger on what was wrong and then he had to be PTS, but i cant be more specific because i dont know the details!

however, the pony was bought from dodgy dealers and they hadn't had him for very long.

hope it isn't as severe as this- im sure it wont be! fingers crossed for you both! x
 
Again, thanks for all your good wishes for him. Hopefully the outcome will be better than it was for the pony you knew SCE!

Molineux - I'd girthed up loosely before faffing around adjusting his breastplate, then put it up another hole before getting my hat, whip and tying on my number, and then ulled it up another hole before getting on. After working with a very cold backed horse I always girth up slowly out of habit, and it wasn't elasticated so there's no chance of it being tightened more than I'd realised.


lzt - hows Sam?
 
I've seen my friend's horse do something like this and apparently its done it a few times. My friend and her old part-loaner use it as a normal horse - unaffiliated eventing and you wouldn't know it had a problem. They do always girth it up slowly and lead it around before they get on. Although last year my friend had arranged for a new helper while the part-loaner was away. I was working my horse in the school when this new girl came out from the stables and got on this mare. I think she took a few walk steps and then the mare staggered a bit, the front end just seemed. to collapse into a kneel down and a back leg slid out sideways. She was still kind of stood on one back leg but seemed frozen. The girl slid off the side and stood holding the mare while people came. The horse was motionless for what seemed like ages, her eyes had roled back and she was totally out of it. I can't remember what, if anything, snapped her out of it, but she came to, scrambled up and just seemed a bit dazed. I think my friend gave the horse a few days off and she uses an accupuncturist to do her back whenever she seems 'not right'. I don't know the full story but the mare has been to the animal health trust a few years ago and was diagnosed with some sort of neurological problem. Sorry I don't know all the facts but my friend has told me that Sue Dyson wrote the mare off saying she was unlikely to stand up to anything as she has a dodgy back leg to do with this condition, but as I say this is a lovely useful little mare who continues to give her riders alot of pleasure. Hope this helps a bit.
 
Crikey, that's frightening, glad you got off OK. I know someone whose horse did this, they never found out what it was. It occured on rare occasions but the horse remained fine, they just had to be aware it could happen. Do hope the vet can solve it and give you good news.
 
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lzt - hows Sam?

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He seems comfortable enough thanks for asking; x-rays tomorrow so fingers crossed.

It doesn't seem to have been a good weekend for HHO horses does it
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Will be thinking of you and Sam tomorrow then... after everything you've been through you just really don't deserve it
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KVS - thanks for that, will mention it to the vet tomorrow.

Donkeymad - Am desperately hoping that it can be pinpointed. If it becomes something that 'just happens' every so often then his career as a polocrosse pony is over
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Taking him XC like that would be one thing - it is only one horse and rider at risk, but to take him onto a pitch with five other horses moving very close together at high speed would be catastrophic if he were to drop.
 
Hiya, I was going to PM you but I shall say it in public instead
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- no need at all to apologise! If Josh hadn't been being such an idiot we might have got going and this might not have happened
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I just really hope that the vets visit goes OK tomorrow and that they find out what is is - and that Rage is OK of course, he seemed to be such a sweetie, not like my ignorant beastie at all
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And big thanks to you (and Tony of course) for taking me today
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Have managed to fall asleep 4 times tonight whilst doing my revision...
 
I know an old TB who does this if he's girthed up too tight. He's fine for the first few yards then groans, buckles & hits the ground. He lays completely still, not even an ear twitches, until the girth is undone at which point he hops back up as though nothing has happened!

The first time I saw it I really thought he'd died. We undid the girth because when I reached him I could see him breathing & I thought it would make his last moments more comfortable. I was stunned but very relieved at his miraculous recovery! My YO says he's done it for years - unfortunately his owner's girlfriend had tacked him up that day & didn't know not to girth up until he'd been ridden for a while.
 
Was really nice to meet you at last, and I *do* believe you when you say that Josh isn't always such a pig, LOL! He just needs more partying - obviously trips out once the event season has finished are just too rare!
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A lot of people coming forward with girthing theories... would be really nice if that was the case but I genuinely believe he wasn't girthed up tightly, or too quickly
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We'll see what the morning brings...........
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The only thing it sounds similar to is narcolepsy which is also known as sleeping sickness where the horse has fainting like symptoms.
Good luck tomorrow with the vet and let us know how it goes!

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Oh no how worrying for you - will say that when a horse is narcoleptic (from what I've seen) they hit the deck quickly - no slow mo!
 
s***! how scary!

try not to worry too much, it wont do either of you any good, it could well be a one off freaky thing - they do happen!

just glad your both ok tonight and you managed to get out of the way.

hopefully there will be a perfectly 'non frightening' explaination for it all. Keep us updated how the vet visit goes *hugs*
 
Bounty, this is EXACTLY what happened to my TB mare. A week later she did a full on collapse while I was riding her, not the slow sink this time but a total drop to the floor. I was very lucky not to have been crushed as it was lightning speed. The vet couldn't find anything with blood tests except slightly raised levels of Gamma GT and bile, which are related to liver function and nothing to do with the collapse. His eventual "guess" was narcolepsy; he offered to send her up to Edinburgh for testing but explained they probably wouldn't find anything conclusive. She was written off there and then due to the severity of the collapse. Fortunately I was able to put her out to grass to retire. I hope this isn't the case for you, and fingers crossed, but just be prepared that in cases like these you may never have a definitive diagnosis - I found that the most difficult thing to deal with. I still wonder if it was the right thing to do but at the end of the day, a horse that collapses out of the blue when ridden is a danger to itself and its rider. Good luck. Keep us posted.
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My TB mare used to do this not just when girthed up but when she expected to be girthed up- as if she was expecting discomfort. I wouldn't count this as an evasion; she was genuinely distressed; however, after the first time it was as if she 'came over faint', knew what was happening and deliberately lowered herself in case she fell. The girth could be hanging in swathes at this point. I learnt to girth her up in stages while she walked round & round the box. If she was allowed to go forward she was OK. This continued throughout her life- and she lived until she was 29. She was perfectly safe to ride (gallop, jump) and never went down with me.

I know you feel it wasn't a girthing issue with your boy, but then it wasn't necessarily the actual pressure of the girth that set my mare off. That he backed and went down slowly makes it seem that, like my mare, he could feel it coming. Don't lose heart too soon; chances are he'll be fine.

Wasn't the previous poster the rider who was trying out a different (treeless?) saddle on her mare when this problem occurred?
 
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The vet is coming out between 2 and 3 this afternoon, so will grill him then, and bounce all thse ideas off him.

I'm just dubious about using the girthing thing as a 'get out clause' if that isn't the real issue...

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