Horse getting cast

[Gray_Horse_H_J]

Looking for any thoughts here. I have a 4 y/o OTTB mare who has been cast once in her stall that I know of, with a strong suspicion that it’s happen at least one other time. The verified incident, luckily she wasn’t stuck long - the morning employee was doing blanket changes pre-turnout and when she walked back through not long after, my girl was stuck. It was a little eventful because she managed to partially wedge herself under her automatic waterer, but other than some scrapes she was fine. I suspect she cast herself at least one other time because she had a leg scrape that appeared overnight, while she’d been stalled. It’s possible she wasn’t cast, I really don’t know. Just a guess.

Yesterday she got herself into a little mess in her paddock. One of the guys was walking by and noticed her fence was broken, then noticed her face and legs were cut up. No one saw what happened. Based on the damage to the fence, and her injuries, a reasonable guess is that she got cast along the fence.

I know there’s measures that can be taken to help with casting in the stall - banking the shavings, anti cast strips. I’m going to explore those options, but what about getting cast outside? It’s a smaller paddock, but plenty of room for her and her turnout buddy. I’m worried she’s going to tangle herself up in the fence again.

Any thoughts? Advice? Experiences?

[sascha]

Ulcers. Purposeful or frequent casting is a sign of belly pain. They flip upside down to get some relief. Treat the belly quickly and effectively and you’ll not have to worry about casting again.

[Scribbler]

That is really interesting. That makes so much sense.

[Gray_Horse_H_J]

I hadn’t thought about ulcers. I’ve owned her for about 7 months now, and have known her a couple months longer than that. She doesn’t have any other classic signs of ulcers, but it’s certainly a possibility.

Thanks!

[sascha]

You’re welcome. This little known sign of ulcers is etched deep, deep in my brain. I was working for TB breeders and we had a colt come back from being backed and he kept getting cast, but as soon as you went in to his stall, he’d push off from the wall and hop up, only to invert himself again when he had some privacy. What the what? We ended up getting the vet out, treating for ulcers, and that colt never cast himself again.

[Amy3996]

I’m wondering about the ulcer thing too. I have a 5yo OTTB gelding who has been cast 3 times (that we know of) in the 4.5 months I’ve had him. First cast seemed flukey. Well meaning barn hand was cleaning out a round bale feeder, didn’t want to waste the leftover loose hay so tossed it in the run in shed. There was probably 2 small bales worth of hay on the floor of the shed, so it probably looked like a comfy place to lay down. Dumb baby horse managed to cast himself in the run in, though it was caught quickly.

Second time was in the stall in January. BM found him thrashing, stuck up against the wall. Ended up needing two people to extricate him. Scoped positive for moderate glandular ulcers at the end of March. We’ve been treating those aggressively with meds and he’s almost done with week 3 of treatment. He cast himself again yesterday morning. I don’t know if it’s belly pain or terrible spatial awareness or both. I’ll be very interested to see what the recheck scope shows in a couple weeks.

Tried an anti-cast roller, but it made him back sore and miserable. Tried banking shavings, but he just wanted to play in them, so he destroyed the banks and defeated the purpose while making a huge mess. I just ordered anti-cast strips for his stall tonight. Planning to try him on 24/7 turnout with a buddy as soon as the weather breaks and our BM opens the grass pastures again.

I feel your pain. It’s so frustrating!

[ThreeWishes]

One of the first signs of my horse being diagnosed with EPM was his getting cast 2x in the stall. I guess it had to do with not knowing where his feet were … just a thought !