Thank you.
Girthing can have a vasovagal response. It can stimulate the vagus nerve and cause this. Also, horses need REM sleep which they can only get lying down. If the horse is in a position where they’re not secure enough to lay down they can become narcoleptic from that. This happened to my horse when I put her on night turn out. She was too worried to lay down outside and was not used to laying down inside. She tried to go down several times in the cross ties and had marks on her hocks and fetlocks till I figured this out. She’s been fine once I changed her back today turn out.
Just to close the loop on this. A week prior to the scheduled gastroscopy, one of the vets came out to check mare’s heart. All was good so she said I could start riding her. As soon as the vet left, I put a loose surcingle on, figuring I’d longe her one more time before starting to ride. Within a few minutes, mare had dropped to the ground three times. Two of my barn mates were there, saw it and said her hind end looked neurologic before she went down. I got the mare outside, not knowing what was going to happen next. I called the vet back, and she returned within 20 minutes. As vet put it “this is a completely different horse from the one I saw 20 minutes ago”. Horse was headshaking, heartbeat “disorganized”, staring, pawing a bit but standing and not sweating. It was completely weird. Then suddenly she was fine.
We had never been able to reproduce this response with a surcingle or girth. Given that the reaction was worsening, the mare went back to her previous owner for permanent turnout.
If this was a vagal reaction, it was a whopper. It was definitely not narcolepsy: mare was bright and alert every time it happened. Ulcers? Minute possibility. I chose not to go forward with the gastroscopy because if the mare’s reactions were worsening that rapidly, I couldn’t risk someone in my barn getting hurt handling her, so she got a very soft landing.
Thank you all for your thoughts and support. I miss that mare, and have been on the hunt for something special to fill her stall. No luck so far, but I can be patient.
4 Likes
glad to hear you found a good option for her. Often not so easy to find. Good luck on the horse hunt.
2 Likes
