Horse spun in stall and fell, started having convulsions.. any experience with anything similar??

[Horseyy]

@Christa P

Breeding? If a QH maybe HYPP.

She is a dutch warmblood

[Horseyy]

Not a 100% sure about this as I was not there but from what I understood from the grooms is that she fell first then started having convulsions and that is when she started hitting her head. Nothing made her fall she kjusy suddenly fell after circiling rapidly. Nothing was obviously wrong at the time

@Jealoushe

Did she have convulsions after or before the fall? My old horse hit his head very hard after flipping over, and had a seizure like you describe. He was totally fine after. What caused her to fall?

[Horseyy]

I have owned her for a year now and everything was as it normally is. She fell straight to the ground after spinning/circiling. It did not last long maybe a minute from what the grooms told me. She was acting somewhat normal afterwards but a bit lethargic and seemed to be in pain from the wound on her head. The vet did not pull blood as I am not sure hes convinced its a seziure as its quite rare in horses and he did not witness the event.

@Melissa.Van Doren

How long have you owned her? Living in same stall as normal? Same food as normal? Did she trip herself or slip on mat and then fall? Or just fell straight to the ground from her spin? How long did seizure last? Did she snap out of it right away/back to normal? Or was there a period of lethargy/not recognizing her surroundings, etc., following, no matter how brief? Did vet pull blood for testing? What was the “nerve calmer” given actually called?

[Horseyy]

Interesting. But wouldnt this then occcur to other horses?

@hoopoe

it may be worth having an electrician check for stay wire / voltage / currents in the stable area. I remember hearing about an incident at a horse show that was using electronics at ringside and horses were being shocked by cord running under the footing.

Syncope ( fainting) can come with seizure like behavior during the unconscious phase in people

you may need some followup exam to determine what caused the event in the first place. Severe pain reaction, such as from neck arthritis or lower lumbar pinch may cause sudden shooting pain and the horse may have been. “running” from it. While she may have ben healthy til now, this may be a sign that something is developing.

And of course, with mares, ovarian cysts and follicle issues can cause a whole slew of signs, so she may need an internal exam if it was not done today.

[Horseyy]

This seems like a possibility. I will discuss this with my vet and see. Thank you

@bonstet

Please, please get a set of neck X-rays for her. I had a horse under my care with neck arthritis that resulted in at least two seizures while he was with me. Same as what you described. Compression in the spine can result in significant, dramatic neurologic behavior. If that’s clear, I would pull blood to check for blood-borne illnesses with neurologic symptoms. Good luck.

[Horseyy]

Dont think its HYPP as shes a dutch warmblood but maybe EPM.

@findeight

Best guess, neck or cardio vascular event. Possibly drug/med interaction but I’m leaning towards one of the first two. Have seen EPM create sudden loss of coordination and head or neck injury, like concussion and seizures. I would definitely x ray head and neck. Don’t blow this off even if there are no further signs, something went really wrong and these falls/seizures can get somebody hurt.

I wouldn’t think HYPP is involved with a mare but there are related conditions…honestly, I’d haul her to a clinic for a complete evaluation and a visit with a specialist more familiar with such episodes then any farm vet. Teaching clinic would be perfect, theyll have the equipment and the specialist.

[Horseyy]

Yes two grooms saw the incident. What they described was that she started to circle rapidly in her stall then suddenly started falling and having convulsions which caused her to hit her head in the wall.

@GoodTimes

Did anyone see it happen? Falling because of a seizure and having convulsions after hitting ones head are two very different things.

[joiedevie99]

Once the horse has had a week or two off to recover, I’d have the vet back out. Do some manual neurological tests and see if there is a deficit. Pull some blood for EPM and Lyme. If there are neurological deficits, x-ray the neck as well.

[DarkBayUnicorn]

http://www.thehorse.com/articles/14835/seizures-examining-and-diagnosing

[a1eventing]

What ‘nerve calmer’ was she getting? Something she’s had several times before and same dose? I’ve seem some horses kind of panic from sedatives. Maybe it makes them feel ‘drunk’ or something they’re not comfortable experiencing. Perhaps she panicked from sedative, fell, and hit her head hard enough to have a seizure or concussion

[yaya]

I think you need to back up a step: the spinning caused the fall, but what caused the spinning? That’s not a normal behavior.

[Tippy]

This sounds like a seizure to me. I caught my horse having one on camera. She was sleeping quietly and then suddenly was spinning backwards rapidly, falling into the walls and then fell to the ground and did the classic running while on the ground. After she got up she was completely normal and behaved completely normal until the next one. She could pass any neuro exam any day. There were no other signs other than the seizure itself. Once this above episode happened (broke the stall) it was clear she needed euthanasia. I did have a necropsy done, but nothing obvious showed up and was chalked up to idiopathic seizures. Please take this seriously, get her thoroughly examined and warn anyone that may medicate the horse or that is handling the horse that she may have had a seizure before.

[findeight]

Is she a recent ( more or less) import? Totally anecdotal but according to my vets and my own experience, as nobody records this kind of data, EPM does not exist in Europe. Over here, it’s believed many if not most native born horses have been exposed but are never anything but mildly symptomatic having built up a resistance over countless generations of exposure. Imports lack that and can display much more severe reactions when the buggers move in. Including total loss of coordination, falling over and seizure like symptoms. These start out of the blue and seemingly go away, but they’ll be back.

Would really look hard at EPM, things you can do but sooner is better then later, it can get worse.

Regardless, she needs a full work up, this type of thing is nothing to screw with, you need to know why.

[Classic]

I had a mare once that did something similar. Turned out to be a very painful ovary.

[Lord_Helpus]

You should also post this on Horse Care. That is where the people who know a lot about physical problems hang out.

[sdlbredfan]

@Tippy

This sounds like a seizure to me. I caught my horse having one on camera. She was sleeping quietly and then suddenly was spinning backwards rapidly, falling into the walls and then fell to the ground and did the classic running while on the ground. After she got up she was completely normal and behaved completely normal until the next one. She could pass any neuro exam any day. There were no other signs other than the seizure itself. Once this above episode happened (broke the stall) it was clear she needed euthanasia. I did have a necropsy done, but nothing obvious showed up and was chalked up to idiopathic seizures. Please take this seriously, get her thoroughly examined and warn anyone that may medicate the horse or that is handling the horse that she may have had a seizure before.

I am sorry for your loss. I had a mare do something similar (with same outcome of euthanasia). The Vet and I both believed this to be a relapse or sequelae of EPM, that had seemed to have been treated successfully. She had both the ‘running in place’ while lying down, and syncope/collapse with period of unconsciousness types on different occasions.

[Peggy]

Years ago a friend had an OTTB that did something similar and then starting bleeding from his nostrils. IIRC, they ended up euthanizing him because the prognosis was not good.