How often did he have the episodes?
2-3 times a week, especially on trail rides where the footing was uneven. I thought he was just green to trail riding and didn’t make the connection right away.
You should absolutely get this horse tested for lyme disease, as well as having the vet check for the other issues that posters have mentioned. Make sure that the vet has the Cornell test done for lyme.
Lyme disease can cause neurological problems, as well as causing more common issues like body-soreness, shifting, subtle lameness, weight-loss, etc.
And I’d echo what others said above: no child should be handling this horse.
Good luck.
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It’s hard to know for sure how often they occurred, as it may have happened when no one was around. I would say though, it seemed to happen once every couple of months for just over a year. The episodes would last maybe 10-15 minutes. Yes the brain tumor was found post-mortem and was impinging on the spinal cord causing his hind legs to fail. It was so very sad, he was such an amazing horse and gave so much to so many people.
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So sorry, OP. This is a tough one. I’d start by pulling blood for Lyme and EPM. Manual neuro tests are great when they identify an issue, but I don’t believe ‘passing’ them really eliminates a neuro issue.
I’d also think about possible nerve pain. When the horse has a nerve the only gets pinched when he moves a certain way (or a tumor presses a certain way), it feels like he’s being stung out of nowhere -and he responds accordingly. Your vet may do a Gabapentin trial to try to determine if this is the cause.
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I have a call into the vet. Fingers crossed we can get this figured out. Thanks everyone.
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I have nothing to add, just jingling madly for you!
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What are the chances of a head injury before you got her? I had a young gelding who had similar issues. Based on the damage done to his tongue, we believe he had been tied in a bridle, panicked and went up hitting his head on something above him. The older he got the worse he got - to the point he was unsafe even to himself. At that point I opted for euthanasia.
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Good luck. Fingers crossed for a good outcome.
I’d definitely be scoping for ulcers, but she needs a full work up by a competent vet. I’d almost send her to a local clinic or teaching school where she could have access to a wide range of specialists. Often this winds up being cheaper than going round and round with local vets.
Good luck, OP.
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How does one pinpoint nerve pain in a horse? Would xrays show a problem?
It’s possible. I’ve witnessed her throw her head a time or two and if something would have been above, it could have done some serious damage 
It’s not easy. Sometimes x-rays will find the underlying cause of the nerve pain - like arthritis or fracture. Sometimes it’s more art - with a really good veterinary specialist doing lots of manual neurological tests and gait tests.
Just as an update, I talked to a vet at the normal clinic today about her symptoms. She thought they were puzzling and could only suggest she was possibly getting spooked and that was setting her off? Or something sharp in her feed box, causing pain. Nothing sharp there, and I can’t imagine something scary causing this amount of spook!
Had a new to the situation vet come out this afternoon for a hands on exam. Doesn’t see any neurological symptoms. She thinks 100% behavioral- a fresh horse not getting worked enough. Regardless, she pulled blood and will send for Lyme testing and a basic panel to check for any imbalances. She did question whether she was drugged prior to purchase and commented this isn’t a kids horse 
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Glad she has been seen. Jingles for good results.
While youngsters (7yr olds and under - and even some older horses!) can certainly pull some shenanigans from time to time, and they have nothing physically or neurologically wrong with them, your situation seems different to me. The frantic nature of her episodes does not seem like random juvenile spooking to me.
Rule out everything medical first. Then go from there. Oh, and keep your cell with you and the next time it occurs, video the whole episode until she calms down. I would think a vet would find that useful to actually see her in action.
As remote as the possibility might be right now, they may not find a cause and this may just be how she is. Some horses simply have a screw loose and there is no “fixing” them… as sad as that is to fathom.
Wishing you and your daughter the best of luck.
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Horse I have mentioned with random bolting episodes was also the one who tried to sit down occasionally when you picked the front feet.
He also occasionally couldn’t back up. Would trip, trip, trip and have trouble catching himself. The bolting was usually under saddle but similarly wild nobody’s home and really only controllable because he had been a beginner friendly eager to please guy up to when this started. Then he would be dead lame on a front foot. Then the other foot. Then a hind leg. Seemed to show up randomly. Came and went. Sometimes was subtle. Sometimes not. Didn’t respond to treatment of the limbs and feet.
Other times he was 100% fine including with the handling stuff. He was soon after retired for neurologic problems. Recently put down. His neck was a mess.
I think that at times this horse would have passed a neuro exam. But when something was cross firing, he was a disaster. I’m assuming he was having occasional impingement somewhere likely due to the degenerative changes. He was not safe even though the majority of the time (at first when this started happening) he seemed pretty normal. It was very sad.
I may have missed it. Did you say this behavior is limited to when being stalled or led, not ridden? I can only relay my experiences with two horses reacting like this over the years.
First, the outbursts were not confined to certain places or times for either. Second, they weren’t that frequent, enough to lull you into thinking things were sorted and then there’d be another incident. Third, after full examinations it was determined in both cases to be pain related. One was a hairline fracture in the fetlock joint and the other was a severe case of ulcers.
Both were super nice, normal lead horses on a trail string. Until they weren’t and inadvertently almost killed their handlers. As a result they were pulled from work and sent out to pasture for a year. I had moved on by then but last I heard they were eventually back in the line up with experienced hands only.
I wish I knew if their return was fully successful in the end.
All but 1 incident has been when she’s in her stall after finishing her small portion of grain for the evening (and subsequently separated from her pasture mate who gets a larger meal and therefore takes longer to finish). One time the incident was while being led (and this was during a show when she was stalled for multiple days with no turnout).
So, when my horses randomly explode and run like fools just because they are acting up, once they stop running around they don’t go immediately back to being calm. They will still have heads up, maybe tails up, snorting, prancing around a few minutes more, it takes them a bit of time to come back down.
The abrupt change both to wild and from wild I think are the big things that point to this not just being behavioral. That’s not exactly normal. Let us know what tests say. And if you get a chance, maybe start going out and videoing her while she is eating dinner. Maybe you will get lucky and get a video of the whole thing, and a certain trigger can be found (like maybe the head turning a certain way).
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A gabapentin trial can be useful for ruling in/out nerve pain.
But the timing with her grain is interesting. Scoping her is relatively cheap and easy.
The horse I had with a crazy outburst from ulcers was fine fine fine, I thought she was going to die right there in front of me, fine fine fine. It was REALLY scary. But it was ulcers, and I never saw that behavior again after treatment.
Treating this mare would be an easy box to check?
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