This horse belongs to a friend. I haven’t seen her yet in person, but she sent me this video. My first thought was EPM. What do you guys think? I’m gonna advise her to take it to the vet.
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Definitely something neurologic to my eye! I hope the horse is okay. Definitely a vet call. It was my horse I’d be taking it to a clinic or at least touching base at the clinic if that’s possible.
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Agreed…definitely neurologic for some reason.
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Posting again to add I had a friend whose horse looked very neurologic suddenly like that. Took it to CSU and he had to stay there for like a week. They never a hundred percent figured it out but I think they’ve thought that maybe a toxic weed was the cause. A large dose of Dex got him right again… It was weird and even CSU was scratching their heads.
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Oy - I hate when they can’t figure it out. Hard to prevent it happening again.
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Not my first thought. Honestly, listeriosis is the first thing that came to mind. However, that’s based on all of one circle. Cattle I’ve seen with it circle and circle and circle and that’s all they can do. At any rate, running tests asap would be prudent. There are a few really treatable things that can yield a better outcome with early treatment. And, of course, there are some more dire conditions that should be diagnosed asap for the safety of the horse and the humans who handle it.
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Agreed that EPM isn’t my first thought, but certainly a possibility. If it was super rapid onset and the horse has access to potentially toxic weeds, or possibly neighbors (looks like this abuts to a neighborhood?) feeding something as a treat that turns out to be toxic. But it could really be anything from toxicity to an acute injury to EPM or any number of things. Regardless this is an urgent vet visit. Even better if you have a large clinic nearby but this needs a vet ASAP.
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I saw a mini horse who was kicked in head by big horse act like that
So blunt force trauma like hitting the block wall in the photo might
cause that.
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Exactly what my guy looked like when he had EPM. Heavy doses of banamine, steroids and lots of Vit E. He was better in 3 days. Then on the cocktail for a month. Recurred 3X over 10 years.
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The horse is walking half sideways and leaning. We have a call into the vet. So far vet is saying from photos sidewinders syndrome.
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Does he have any history of arthritis in the neck???
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Arthritis in the hip
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what little I know re sidewinders, there are a number of possible causes. Hope the vets can narrow it down quickly. Good luck.
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Ahh, I was wondering about sidewinders from the first video but it’s hard to tell without seeing them walk. Is she older? Best of luck.
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My senior Appaloosa gelding was a sidewinder, it looked very much like this, but it wasn’t because of EPM in his case.
My lovely upper teens TB gelding DID have a short battle with EPM, however. He didn’t walk like this, even when it was just starting.
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This looks like sidewinder to me, like the front legs are on a different track than the back legs.
My horse was diagnosed with sidewinder by Dr Johnson, the neurologist at New Bolton center. My understanding is that it can be caused by trauma or spinal degeneration, which is why it is mostly seen in older horses. We did a month of gabapentin and a bone scan to see if we could find a cause, with the idea that some causes have a better outcome than others. There was nothing obvious on the bone scan. The good news is that I believe that it is not super painful, and is more akin to a person who walks funny bc of a bad back - so more like discomfort than pain I guess.
I hope it’s EPM 
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We think she’s about 18. She came from a rescue a few years back.
Did your horse have to be euthanized or did he live for a while with anti-inflammatories?
I don’t think this is what’s going on with this horse, but want to share to say sidewinders is sort of a catch all that should be followed with further diagnostics so you know exactly what you’re dealing with.
A while back a friend’s horse got a preliminary diagnosis of sidewinders for a very sudden onset of what appeared to be neurological signs. Before any further diagnostics were done to find out a cause, it was discovered the horse was foundering in all 4 feet. The pain caused movement that appeared to a few very experienced horse people and the initial vet as though it was neurological. It was not. Recovery was made and the horse has been solid on all 4 feet since. Now perhaps there is something going on minorly neurological with that horse that was exacerbated by the pain and systemic inflammation? But as a retiree the horse seems fine ambulating normally, getting up and down normally and wreaking havoc as usual in turnout.
Please don’t let your friend close the book with ‘sidewinders’ as a final diagnosis, OP, urge them to dig for the root cause if they can.
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We’re taking her to the vet hospital so hopefully we’ll get some answers
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