After grooming my horse today she fell asleep in the crossties and almost went down. I had to rouse her several times. She did this 4 or 5 weeks ago while my farrier was working on her. Several years ago it happened in the aisle while I was fitting a double bridle for the first time. I think she has narcolepsy. Classic symptoms. I’ll contact my vet, but was wondering whether anyone has had a horse diagnosed with this.
Did not own the horse, but worked with him. His was a relatively mild case diagnosed early in life; only a select few were allowed to work with him and knew to be careful and aware around him. Stall was kept bedded extra deep. He did not go down while being worked that I know of. He was not a show horse and did not need to travel on a trailer. The biggest risk (and the reason we got him for free) was that he was at generally greater risk of catastrophic injury if he eventually went down awkwardly.
Is this totally new for your horse? Not related to not sleeping during night turnout, for example?
Have vet contact UC Davis. They are the experts in equine sleep disorders. If anyone can help you, they can. Also, put a camera on her stall overnight to see if she is lying down. All vets will want to see this info. If you don’t have wifi in your barn, get a mobile hotspot. It can be connected to a camera. It’s likely not true narcolepsy but a recumbent sleep disorder, where she doesn’t lie down to get REM sleep. Eventually she becomes so tired that she starts to drop during the day. There are multiple causes of this with varying outcomes so it’s important to find out more information on.
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I heard of this happening to an older horse who only slept in his runout. They switched the footing to sand and he wouldn’t lie down and started falling asleep on his feet and falling down. Solved by switching paddock back to hog fuel cedar chips.
Check if mare is not lying down at night because of sore hocks, not enough bedding or insecure environment or noises or new horses etc.
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If it only happens when being handled or anticipating being handled, it can be stress. I had a mare once that would go to her happy place and if I did not help her, she would look like she was getting sleepy (lots of blinking) and then her knees would buckle. Everyone thought she was soooo relaxed when her eyes were half closed and fluttery. Nope.
While I have not had a horse formally diagnosed with narcolepsy, I have had dealt with it with two separate horses.
Both were aging, anxiety-prone TBs. Both lived out 24/7, yet both also had too much anxiety and too many vices (stall walking, weaving) to be stalled. Both started showing narcolepsy symptoms in their 20s, chiefly falling asleep to the point of losing balance and nearly going down on cross-ties and in the pasture.
With both horses, I suspect a combination of their already high strung temperament plus age-related arthritis caused them to stop feeling comfortable sleeping in a recumbent position. Both horses had no problem getting up and down to roll, though.
With the first horse, I had the vet out and that particular vet dismissed my concerns as baseless and tried to make me feel foolish as if I was seeing what I was seeing. This was a little over 10 years ago. Since then, there has been a fair amount of awareness raised about sleep deprivation in horses.
The best thing you can do for sleep deprivation is to give them a comfortable situation for sleep. That looks different depending on the horse. Some horses may need a deeply bedded stall, some horses may need group turnout (or individual turnout or a single buddy), some horses may need a soft spot added to their field, some horses may need pain management. It all depends on why the horse doesn’t feel comfortable sleeping.
I’m not sure. She did this once several years ago when I fitted her for a double bridle. She’d never had to bits in her mouth and they were the Herm Springer bits which are heavy. I attribute it to hold pressure. Her head got lower and lower and heard eyes would close. I thought she would sleep in until I saw all 4 legs buckle and had to startle her back to life. She did this the last shoe in with my farrier in the morning after coming in from night turn out and yesterday when I was grooming her in the mid afternoon she’s also on night turn out she did it again. I had to startle her several times. And at 1 point she looked like she was going to sit down.
She’s 13 and a home bred. She did this once 3 years ago when I put it up with bridle. Her head got lower and lower her eyes close and she practically fell asleep. For hawks are fine she’s on matted stalls with straw bedding. The only thing I can think dog is that she’s not sleeping at night outside. She does and in secure force in general. When I read about narcolepsy she has every classic sign
I don’t think it’s stress related. Maybe several years ago with the bridle but yesterday she loved her grooming session. No calling no tail swishing no faces. Just that oh that’s the spot look
I don’t believe there is a pain related basis for this. She is a high anxiety horse and always has been. Maybe she does not feel secure at night when she’s out and she’s tired during the day but it’s difficult to rouse her once she’s out. I will reach out to my vet and try to get some video. She’s got her hocks all torn up. She’s a home bred and she’s never had marks on her hocks in her 13 years.
Obviously, I have no idea what the issue is for you and your horse. So, I am just musing here, not directing my thoughts at you or your horse.
Horses are more likely to be stressed than sleep deprived, so always a good starting point. I had no idea that it could be stress with my mare until I saw a video of the fluttery eyes on a discussion board about identifying signs of stress in sensitive horses. Once I saw it, I could not unsee it. It is easy to see when horses exhibit stress outwardly, but difficult to see it when they go internal. IMHO, there are few horses that do not go internal at times. So, I always bring it up for discussion on threads about narcolepsy. My mare did it most often in anticipation of stress – grooming, waiting for me to bring the tack out, standing around in the ring before a ride, even if I had not touched her but my routine told her she would be separated from her buddy which was her main cause of stress. So many people say their horse only has narcolepsy in the cross ties. Even more common, that their horse is so relaxed in the cross ties they nearly fall alseep. Makes me wonder.
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Narcolepsy is EXTREMELY rare in horses and should never be the first thought when symptoms like this present. This sounds more like fatigue or sleep deprivation. Narcolepsy is spontaneous, with association of loss of muscle tone and function. It’s also genetic and presents itself very early in life. Like 6 months old early. If this is the first time you’ve seen it, then I would put money on sleep deprivation/fatigue.
Is this horse turned out all the time with other horses? Do you believe she is getting adequate rest and REM sleep? If so, I would separate her at night with a quiet buddy or in a stall to let her rest, give it a week and I would bet that you’ll see a difference. I would also stop riding or working her until you get to the bottom of it. If you’re riding and stop to talk to someone/rest, she could do the same thing.
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This sounds likes sleep deprivation. True narcolepsy would be the horse falling asleep while in motion or active.
My horse has sleep deprivation and will fall asleep in the cross ties or standing in the pasture without locking his knees and fall all the way down sometimes. He usually catches himself but not always. He’s got knee and hock arthritis and doesn’t lay down to sleep much but does get up and down to roll every day.
There are a few articles on different environmental changes to make to see if you can get a horse to sleep lying down again if you do a google search.
Echoing what has been said. This is sleep deprivation not narcolepsy. I had a gelding with this. It is usually a sign they are not getting enough REM sleep.
Questions to ask yourself;
Any changes in routine?
Changes to the herd?
Does this horse have a safe, deep bedded stall to sleep in during the day or night, with room to lay down?
Any injuries which may make it painful to lay down or get up?
Any possible neurological issues?
Any stress in the herd? Is this horse a top dog? Sometimes the stress of watching the herd doesn’t allow them to sleep.
Something is causing the lack of sleep, you will have to investigate what that is and go from there. I recommend boots in turn out, because this can lead to the horse falling and injuring themselves.
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My mare did this for a few weeks when I first bought her and moved her to my boarding barn. She had been at her previous facility for well over a year, was very comfortable and established there. She showed high anxiety signs (pacing, calling, etc) when she had to relocate to her new home with me. BM notified me that she was basically falling down in the paddock during the day and was really worried. I looked it up online and discussed it with the vet at the next routine visit, but by then it had mostly abated and vet said not to worry; she likely wasn’t sleeping well in the new environment and didn’t feel totally safe yet.
It went away on its own after a few weeks when she finally settled down with her new “herd mates” and felt she could trust her environment enough to sleep.
Sounds more like sleep deprivation than narcolepsy. True narcolepsy is rare in horses, but does happen. It’s a game to figure out what is causing the horse to not sleep enough - bedding change, turnout change, turnout time change, stress, arthritis, fear that they won’t be able to get up if they lie down, pain, change of horse in the next stall, boss horse left the facility, etc.
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