There is something wrong with my mare

[SEL]

OP I know you mused on PSSM / myopathies in your post but I have a field full of PSSM horses unfortunately and the only time I get the random spook or 'I've gone to a different planet' type behaviour is with the Appy who is badly affected - and that's a serious pain response from her. I'm pretty sure you would have picked up myopathy type behaviours before now given your horse's age.

The rest of your description had me thinking along the neuro lines before I read the other posts. I hope you get answers - its very frustrating when you know there is something wrong and you want to help but you hit brick walls.

 

[rabatsa]

My retired horse with a real random spook seems to be affected by atmospheric pressure. Low pressure and he is bad, add in winds and he is a nightmare.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

I'm happy to spend money on her and will be doing so before making any decision. The horse is too "well" to be rash about anything, and given her lack of field injuries as compared to her ridden injuries, I'm confident that - FOR NOW - mooching in the field doesn't trigger her "drama spook" (I have no other word for it!). I was just really at a loss about where to start, and I don't have enough cash to just chuck it at random body parts and hope for the best. I think I have a plan to play with for now, so will follow the neuro avenue first and take it from there. Then X-rays if we can pinpoint an area of specific interest. If she can be made comfortable for riding, great, but my gut feeling is saying this is unlikely (I too have learned to respect that feeling somewhat!); if she can be kept comfortable in the field, then she's lucky since I have 40 acres for her to retire on and she doesn't need feed so.

The two hard lines are 1) if she can't be comfortable/is in pain, and 2) if she's going to cost a lot to keep healthy and happy e.g. if feed intolerance is a part of this and she can't live out on the grass any more, then that would be a problem for me but also for her, psychologically.

I think a reaction to alfalfa is far more common than a reaction to grass. I would defintely change her chaff from the molasses free to a grass chaff as a first course of action.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

My welshie's old owner was adamant that she was reactive to carrots. absolutely certain. they told me very little about her so the few things they did mention stick in my mind. I have seen no evidence of this and dish them out liberally!

We did have one that had to avoid carrots, they turned her loopy!

 

[Nudibranch]

I've dealt with similar in the past and the closest we got to a diagnosis was neck/SI/hock changes (only 7yo). I suspect he'd have become an obvious wobbler in time. If x rays came up with nothing you could bone scan but depends on how much you want to throw at it, and it might still not give you an obvious diagnosis. I believe you can now test for pssm variants relatively easily - type 1 is cheap and simple but you can test for the others in the US or EU. I'd probably want to rule those out given the breeding.

 

[milliepops]

We did have one that had to avoid carrots, they turned her loopy!

I don't doubt they exist, my point being I shovel them into my horse and they have no effect whatsoever other than to make her happy, so the old owner was either mistaken or just bonkers (given the other things they did to her, bonkers is quite the possibility)

 

[MissTyc]

We have the beginnings of a diagnosis. By chance I was able to discuss my mare and have her notes reviewed by a top internal equine medicine expert. Given all the conditions that have been ruled out, she is confident that we are dealing with two separate though possibly connected, issues.
1) the underlying, subclinical "this horse doesn't move quite right / maybe neuro / maybe not" that has been with us from the start - she continues to pass neuro tests, she is essentially sound but awkward - nothing has changed here!
2) the crashing to the ground, she believes, is the outcome of cardiac events. Not sure what it's triggered by, but its presentation during exercise and apparently exclusively when she is fit and in full work is apparently quite typical for syncope-related collapse. Based on her history she thinks we're looking at something that has probably been with her a long time but is now worsening, either because of each passing year or because she was in more work than ever before until recently. Interestingly, this horse has always "fallen" a lot - I hated her spooks when I was first bringing her on as she's often end up on the ground. Specialist said this was quite typical. I always assumed she tripped over herself but who knows ... When she doesn't spook, she tends to stay upright, but we did have an incident a few years ago where a truck came around a corner and my mare crashed to the ground and galloped off. I convinced myself, at the time, that the road was slippery. But I have had horses my entire life, 2-3 at a time, and the reality is I've not had one spend quite as much time sprawled out on the floor as this one!
So maybe an answer to what's going on. We will investigate to a reasonable degree, but it doesn't change anything. The horse can't be ridden.
If I can justify a painfree retirement, that would be lovely for us. She's fat, unclipped, unrugged, living out without extra feed and seems to be totally thriving, so Plan A remains a winter turned away fully and then maybe some investigations when I've saved up for them in the spring in order to be able to make a decision, if required (hopefully not!) over the summer period prior to next winter.

 

[ycbm]

I am pleased for her that you want to give her more time, but with that information, I would PTS. Sorry you didn't get better news.
.

 

[Melody Grey]

I am pleased for her that you want to give her more time, but with that information, I would PTS. Sorry you didn't get better news.
.

I have to agree. A horse that has a habit of collapse, whatever the circumstances is extremely dangerous I’m afraid. ?

 

[MissTyc]

I think if we had less land I would be seeing this differently to be honest. There's no evidence of her collapsing when at rest e.g. no injuries or marks on her at all since she's been turned away; indeed, if it is the suspected condition, then it would be extremely unlikely for her to collapse at rest.

With 40 acres and no livery bills to play with and a horse who seems to be thriving living off the land, playing, running, looking strong and happy, etc, I don't feel any need to rush. Obviously if anything changes or she gets worse, then it becomes a no-brainer.