Possible seizure??? (kind of long, sorry)

[MandalayTraining]

So yesterday, my mom got a call from the barn manager where her horse is kept and was told that they thought her horse had a possible seizure. Apparently he was turned out in a round pen (because of heavy snow the horses are being turned out for a short time in the indoor roundpen) acting perfectly normal and then a short while later, lied flat out on his side. When someone checked on him, he looked like he was just napping, which he does a lot of.

About 10 min later they checked on him again and he was thrashing around, his entire body tensed up, eyes rolled back in his head, grunting and squealing. They couldnt get him up because he was thrashing and they didnt want to get hurt. After about 5 min, he got up, acting very scared and disoriented, like he didnt know where he was and a little shaken up. But after they were able to calm him down and check him over to make sure he was fine, they took him back to his stall and he was completely normal. No sweat, no cuts or bruises, he went back to eating and drinking and pooping normally.

The manager said you would have never known anything was wrong with him. The vet came out and checked everything, heart, respiratory, bowels, neurological tests and everything was completely normal. He drew blood but we have yet to hear the results.

Im just wondering if anyone has ever experienced or heard of anything like this happening, and if they have, was it diagnosed? This horse is 10 years old and has never been sick a day in his life, so its very strange.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

[AKB]

How frightening. I would not ride him until the vet has figured this out. Perhaps her vet would want to talk with a veterinary neurologist from a vet school, and review the results of the labs that were drawn. I would wonder if this could be related to an infection, contaminated feed, a tumor, or epilepsy.

[Brydelle Farm]

Trauma, toxins, infection are on the top of the list, epilepsy and tumors are less rare in horses but do occur.

Depending on what the bloodwork shows (or doesn't), a CSF tap may be warranted.

During the neuro testing, did they cover his eyes and try walking him?

Hope things turn out A-OK! Jingles for all of you!!

[Ritazza]

Yes. That is EXACTLY what my last gelding did. We think he may have had some sort of traumatic injury to his head (he broke out of his stall at night and at the end of the barn aisle we found skid marks on the cement, and the bottom half of the garage door was completely bent outwards, like he was running and fell at high speed into the door). The barn manager witnessed him having an episode where he was standing in the crossties while they cleaned his stall, and he fell to his knees - they then put him back in his stall where he fell down, seized (eyes rolled back in head, jerking all over), and then he got back up and was fine. The day we put him to sleep (for other reasons... although this sort of would have been the icing on the cake had we known more about it) I let him loose in the indoor for one last day of freedom after his long stall rest, and he rolled a few times, then laid down, was down for a few minutes, then went flat out on his side and seized. Same thing you described - eyes rolled in back of head, body stiff, jerking and twitching all over, grunting. He didn't respond when I grabbed his halter and tried to pull him up (I had no idea what he was doing, I had never seen a horsey seizure before!). Finally he rolled up, lay there dazed for a few minutes, and then finally stood up and was fine. This was like an hour before the vet was scheduled to show up to put him to sleep anyway, so you can imagine how traumatized I was!!

We'll never know what kinds of problems he had, but there were only two seizures witnessed, and it was over the course of about eight months, so who knows.

[MandalayTraining]

I wasnt present when the vet was out to see him, so im not sure exactly what neuro tests they did. Hopefully blood work will be back by tomorrow morning so we will know more. He is normally a very quiet, calm horse so im thinking trauma can be ruled out, though you can put a horse in a padded room and he will manage to hurt himself! Im wondering if there was something in the hay, something that got baled with it like an animal or insect or something. Thanks for the good thoughts, i will keep you posted.

[draftdriver]

I posted a month or two ago about a draft horse which has done this twice. The vet hasn't been able to determine what the problem is, and I haven't heard lately how the horse is (this is a friend's horse). My friend suspects narcolepsy, but that just doesn't sound right to me. The incidents did not happen during high-stress situations. Once, the horse was out in his pasture, and once in harness doing routine chores.

[MunchkinsMom]

You might want to browse around on this site:

http://www.horseadvice.com/horse/messages/4/66424.html

That is just one of many discussions about seizures in horses.

Good Luck.

[gabz]

Is this a QH?

[pines4equines]

Gabz...I was going to ask this exact same question? What is that Impressive problem that sometimes shows up?

[MandalayTraining]

Yes he his a qh/draft cross. Im not sure if he has Impressive in his bloodlines (he isnt registered) however his sire was registered. After reading about the HYPP gene, it makes me wonder if that could be a possibility because his episode sounds like an HYPP episode. We are still waiting on the blood results (damn snow!) but hes been fine since Saturday. I dont think its epilepsy because there was nothing stressful going on when it happened. He just went from his stall to the indoor round pen and the area he had to walk through is low key. Thanks, munchkinsmom for that link, i will definitely check it out.

[gabz]

Gabz...I was going to ask this exact same question? What is that Impressive problem that sometimes shows up?
HyPP...

If the blood work all comes back normal, you should seriously consider a diet and life style for an HyPP horse. I'm sure you will discuss with your vet. The best thing to do is to start a log. Anytime the horse has an episode like that, write down what the horse ate, when he was turned out, how long, what kind of hay, etc.

A friend had an HyPP positive horse. If he didn't get turned out everyday for exercise he would have seizures. And then she would have to be strongly proactive to avoid a colic in the following 24 hours. He was on special diet and no stress. (no hauling, no shows, etc.) Other HyPP horses I've "known" were okay with some showing and hauling as the owners knew what to watch for and how to manage the horses with their diet.

Best wishes for a good resolution.

Oh, and as you research this, you'll find that many HyPP positive horses never have episodes. Or none that are witnessed by the owners. This may be the one and only that this horse has - or it could be because he has not been out for his normal exercise, it was brought on.

[MunchkinsMom]

Another possibility (remote) might be EPSM:

Equine Polysaccharide Storage Myopathy
Equine polysaccharide storage myopathy (EPSM) is a sub-type of exertional rhabdomyolysis characterized by a defect in glycogen storage in skeletal muscle. This disease is seen in many different breeds including Quarter horses, draft horses and crosses of these breeds. There is evidence that the disease is heritable in Quarter horses; this question has not been answered for other breeds.

Link to the website where I got that information:

http://www.easterndrafthorse.com/Health/tieup.htm

[gabz]

While EPSM does affect Drafts and QHs, from what I've read it's not likely to cause seizures. When a horse ties up from EPSM issues, it gets very stiff and reluctant to move. It might even lay down.