Pookah
Mar. 12, 2010, 10:03 AM
Hoping that all of the combined knowledge on COTH might be able to help out with some horsey weirdness.
The horse in question is a 19 year old Hanoverian gelding, has been with current owner for 3 years. He's a big guy, about 17.1, has always been super healthy and hardy--prefers to be out as much as possible, very laidback and easygoing. He is in a very quiet semi-retirement barn, where he is one of four pretty aged horses. They are turned out together daily (nighttime in the summer) in a 5 acre field, and come in at night to stalls with attached paddocks. It's very low-key and quiet.
This winter, Steiny got very little work because of our terrible weather, plus a back injury for his owner (he is typically a lower level dressage horse, in light to medium work). His grain, supplements, and hay have not changed (except to increase his grain in recent weeks), but we have noticed in the past 6 weeks that he has lost weight, muscling, and bloom over the winter. The loss of muscle is very generalized and equal on both sides--just looks like he has not been in work and has slightly less muscle, although not severe. It is, however, more muscle than he has lost in the past when out of work.
In November, he began having odd episodes when he came into the barn for evening feeding. On the days when he has these episodes, he comes in very anxious--wild-eyed, almost charging into the barn, jigging, clearly very "up." He is not terrible, but definitely needs a chain over his nose to be handled safely. He then begins eating his grain, but stops after a few bites, and begins to display some odd behavior. He stands in a very tense posture, frequently nods his head, mouths a lot, and appears to twitch in the shoulder/back area, as if he is trying to get flies off his back. His eyes somewhat glaze over, and he appears to be somewhat disconnected from the outside world, if that makes sense. He tends to turn his head to the right during these episodes, and will occasionally paw. The initial episodes in November and December, which were infrequent (less than 5 episodes per month) presented more as colics--he was treated for mild colic and each time had fairly dry manure and was mildly impacted, but responded well to treatment.
Throughout January and February, the episodes became more and more frequent, and for the past week they have occurred just about every other day. Interestingly, we do see them occasionally in the pasture, but always in the afternoons, so there does seem to be a link to the time of day, but the weather (sunny vs cloudy, etc) seems to have no effect. The vet has observed several of these episodes, and has come to believe that they are seizures. However, everyone is completely stumped as to the cause, and from the literature we've been able to find, these seem fairly unusual for seizures in horses.
He is going to the vet this afternoon for a spinal tap, as the current hope is that it is EPM. Other possibilities are epilepsy, encephalitis, brain tumor--not good stuff! One other possibility that has been raised is seizures related to Cushings--this horse doesn't present with other Cushings symptoms, but is a metabolic disorder type horse--no problems yet, but definitely the easy keeper profile until now. So, horse is under veterinary care, and the vet is consulting with other vets, but I'm wondering if anyone in this big group has ever seen something similar that we could look at. Link to the video below is from one of these episodes that occurred in the field last week--skip the first bit as you don't see much until a little bit into the video.
Thanks so much for any ideas!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w76j7PWQKi8
The horse in question is a 19 year old Hanoverian gelding, has been with current owner for 3 years. He's a big guy, about 17.1, has always been super healthy and hardy--prefers to be out as much as possible, very laidback and easygoing. He is in a very quiet semi-retirement barn, where he is one of four pretty aged horses. They are turned out together daily (nighttime in the summer) in a 5 acre field, and come in at night to stalls with attached paddocks. It's very low-key and quiet.
This winter, Steiny got very little work because of our terrible weather, plus a back injury for his owner (he is typically a lower level dressage horse, in light to medium work). His grain, supplements, and hay have not changed (except to increase his grain in recent weeks), but we have noticed in the past 6 weeks that he has lost weight, muscling, and bloom over the winter. The loss of muscle is very generalized and equal on both sides--just looks like he has not been in work and has slightly less muscle, although not severe. It is, however, more muscle than he has lost in the past when out of work.
In November, he began having odd episodes when he came into the barn for evening feeding. On the days when he has these episodes, he comes in very anxious--wild-eyed, almost charging into the barn, jigging, clearly very "up." He is not terrible, but definitely needs a chain over his nose to be handled safely. He then begins eating his grain, but stops after a few bites, and begins to display some odd behavior. He stands in a very tense posture, frequently nods his head, mouths a lot, and appears to twitch in the shoulder/back area, as if he is trying to get flies off his back. His eyes somewhat glaze over, and he appears to be somewhat disconnected from the outside world, if that makes sense. He tends to turn his head to the right during these episodes, and will occasionally paw. The initial episodes in November and December, which were infrequent (less than 5 episodes per month) presented more as colics--he was treated for mild colic and each time had fairly dry manure and was mildly impacted, but responded well to treatment.
Throughout January and February, the episodes became more and more frequent, and for the past week they have occurred just about every other day. Interestingly, we do see them occasionally in the pasture, but always in the afternoons, so there does seem to be a link to the time of day, but the weather (sunny vs cloudy, etc) seems to have no effect. The vet has observed several of these episodes, and has come to believe that they are seizures. However, everyone is completely stumped as to the cause, and from the literature we've been able to find, these seem fairly unusual for seizures in horses.
He is going to the vet this afternoon for a spinal tap, as the current hope is that it is EPM. Other possibilities are epilepsy, encephalitis, brain tumor--not good stuff! One other possibility that has been raised is seizures related to Cushings--this horse doesn't present with other Cushings symptoms, but is a metabolic disorder type horse--no problems yet, but definitely the easy keeper profile until now. So, horse is under veterinary care, and the vet is consulting with other vets, but I'm wondering if anyone in this big group has ever seen something similar that we could look at. Link to the video below is from one of these episodes that occurred in the field last week--skip the first bit as you don't see much until a little bit into the video.
Thanks so much for any ideas!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w76j7PWQKi8