This is an archived Horseadvice.com Discussion. The parent article and menus are available on the navigation menu below:
HorseAdvice.com » Diseases of Horses » Nervous System » Diagnosing Diseases of the Nervous System »
  Discussion on Episodic neurological conditions (long)
Author Message
New Member:
locke2

Posted on Wednesday, Mar 7, 2007 - 4:43 pm:

I have been reading various postings and disease symptoms for a while on this discussion board. After reading the problems of Padraig I've decided to put my mare's problem to the group.

Penny is a 12 yo Racking mare. Bought her 2 1/2 years ago. She has a lovely temperament, was a brood mare for 5-6 years, doesn't seem to have much formal training but is always willing to try. Boarded her with an experienced woman and Penny was put in a field of a few mares, a donkey and a gelding. About 3-4 acres, round bale all the time under a roof, good grain, square bales too and grazing, out 24/7 except for meals.

We live near an army base and have helicopters going over the farm every morning, big double rotor helicopters. Penny is not afraid of them but she watches them as they cross the sky, none of the other horses pay any attention to them. Sometimes Penny watches the crows cross the sky too. She tracks from the time she sees the helicopter until it's out of sight. Then she turns her attention to the next helicopter crossing the sky. She is very observant according to the former owner (I'll say, no one who has seen Penny do this has seen any horse before who pays attention like this to things in the sky). After watching 3 or 4 helicopters she gets a little jumpy but not bad, I try to distract her attention with something else.

About 1 1/2 years ago Penny started having what we call episodes but they are far apart (anywhere from 3 months to 5 months apart). Since I board her I've never seen one myself but here's what I'm told.
First she starts trembling. Then she starts to turn in a tight, right hand circle. Which progresses into a larger and larger right hand circle at the trot or rack. Then she stops and walks off normally. She looks afterward for a while like she's dazed a bit. The episodes usually last 2-3 minutes. Then she seems fine.
One time when Penny happened to be doing her circle around the alpha mare that mare kicked and kept kicking Penny. Poor Penny was kicked on all four sides many times. Penny could have but did not run away nor try to defend herself. Penny can obviously see during these episodes. She hasn't gone through any fencing, she has jumped the salt lick in the field that was in her way but can't seem to stop the circle. When Penny was brought in from the beating and put in the round pen we called the vet. I arrived first and started to approach Penny and stopped, she had a blank look to her eyes. I rustled the carrot bag and she looked at me and I then approached her. When the vet arrived he said she looked like a horse who had lost a fight but otherwise seemed fine. He gave her something for pain and swelling. We put her in a paddock by herself in the field for the night and I was surprised the next morning, other than a few cuts she looked fine, no swellings, walking fine. We turned her back out with the others and she was fine for several months. That was the only time another horse has gone after her and I think it was only because Penny was literally circling the other mare.

After each episode I hope it's the last since there is so much time in between. Of course, I don't know if this happens when no one is around or at night. Observation of these episodes has always been in the morning, never in the afternoon or evening.

Her last episode was in October until this morning. She has been moved last fall to my friends house, now there are just 2 horses in a smaller area. But, today she fell down. My friend did not see the whole episode through her window but she saw Penny doing a very tight circle, fell down, got up and the circle got a little bigger and then she stopped and walked off. My friend went down to check her and feed. She came right in to eat, had breakfast and went back out when they finished. If you didn't see the episode you'd never know anything was happening with her.

I had the vet run every blood test she could and the only thing that came back unusual was her progesterone level was very high. A couple of months later I had the progesterone test only run again and this time it came back very low. But, as the vet said, with hormones they're always going up and down.

My vet has no ideas what this is, we live in a farming area so vets are more livestock oriented, not specialized in strange behavior.

Can anyone suggest any other tests that can be done at the farm? No xray machine in this area but possible ultrasound available.

She has never displayed this behavior in hand or while riding but I don't know if I should ride her. I haven't been lately because I just don't know. She does fine being ridden, but should I?

Any ideas would be appreciated, I just don't know what to do for her. Thanks very much.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Thursday, Mar 8, 2007 - 6:53 am:

Welcome Debbie,
While hormones do normally vary in concentrations, few normally vary as much as progesterone. What you describe is absolutely normal.

I too think you describe a horse having mild seizure activity but really don't have much more for you than that. Of all the things you can do that might help understand the pattern the most important is a diary. Take careful notes of what has happened around the time of the seizure to see if patterns develop. A video tape of the event would help professionals quite a bit with understanding what is going on.

Lastly I strongly suggest a consult with a veterinary neurologist with a possible exam directed at seeing is their any low grade incoordination or weakness. From there you can better assess your risk of riding.
DrO
New Member:
locke2

Posted on Thursday, Mar 8, 2007 - 8:40 am:

Thank you Dr. O. We have a short video near the end of an episode. It's hard to get much tape since they only last 2-3 minutes unless you have a recorder in your hands at the time which was the case that day.

I'll have to see what I can do to find a neurologist.

Thank you again for your suggestions.

Debbie
Member:
kitch

Posted on Thursday, Mar 8, 2007 - 10:04 am:

If you will email me the video I will be glad to review it and try to post it, MPEG and WMA formats work well.

Send it to: horseadviceREMOVEthisPART@horseadvice.com
Note that the above has a section that needs to be removed before emailing. The purpose is to keep the email spam bots from harvesting the email.
DrO
New Member:
locke2

Posted on Monday, Apr 2, 2007 - 1:12 pm:

Unfortunately the tape went to Germany and has since been reused.

Penny has had another episode which makes 2 this month. She was seizure free from October to March and now she's had 2 at 25 days apart. I wonder if I should put her on Phenobarbital now. I don't want her to hurt herself if they can be controlled.

Also, on another post I read not to use Ivermectin wormer, what can I use. And Ace Promazine (sp) shouldn't be used. What should I use for sedation for such things as floating her teeth.

Thank you for any help. Debbie
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Tuesday, Apr 3, 2007 - 7:34 am:

Hello Debbie,
There is no specific contraindication for ivermectin use and if you have been using it without problems, I see no reason not to continue its use.

However acepromazine does lower the seizure threshold in many cases. Instead I would use alpha-2 products like xylazine or detomidine, for more see Treatments and Medications for Horses ยป Sedatives & Anesthetics.
DrO
Home Page | Top of Page | Join Us!
Horseadvice.com is a BBB Accredited Business. Click for the BBB Business Review of this Horse Training in Stokesdale NC