Difficult to say. He’s very subdued in the group where he is now. But he was more dominant in the previous group and actually other horses were sorta scared of him.
However, he was always subdued to my black horse from day 1 (and also absolutely inseparable from him!), even while he was terrorizing the rest of the horses from the previous group. Also, our current group is pretty young, except for my black guy, and they were as a group for long time together, so it’s difficult to judge whether being subdued is a symptom of something or not.
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Yeah, it sounds like it could just be how he is.
I do think I see slight ataxia in the back end, but I also am not the best looking at subtle lameness. That could also just be weakness too.
I echo getting a second opinion, and some blood panels including Vitamin E to see if anything is obviously off. I had to with my gelding; what was initially chalked up as laminitis (even though hoof rads were clean) due to being a fjord and metabolically predisposed ended up being what our second opinion and third opinion/rehab vet agree is related to his neck findings.
Keep a daily log of everything you can; what you do and how he does, take lots of photo and video. Sometimes its hard to tell progress without something like that.
Most of my 2024 was testing, trial and error, and it was expensive and exhausting but we just took things one day at a time. Anything new that you try, try to give it a few weeks to a month and try and isolate other change variables if you can otherwise its hard to tell what’s really working.
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Wait, I no longer know which horse we’re looking at. I thought it was the lighter colored one?
Yes, the lightly colored. I asked my boyfriend to film and for some reason he was filming both my horses 
Because he likes the black one also. So they are both in videos.
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Nothing looks terribly alarming in those videos. Young horses buck, don’t always maintain their leads, or sometimes cross canter behind. I think my young horse is just waiting to decide which direction he wants to shoot off in next and sometimes he does not get the lead and then swaps once he knows/decides where he is going.
I would try not to worry so much. If I was certain there was something wrong, i would say get the testing done… Right now further testing is optional and not mandatory. If something changes for the worst, I would haul to a university.
As for him not getting up, he may have just decided against getting up in favor of another roll. I have one horse who loves nothing more then a good roll (I think she’s rolled about 7 or 8 times in a row, just to make certain she got every spot covered).
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Well the main alarming thing is the neuro test. If the neuro test was ok, I wouldn’t find any other things too alarming also. That’s why I wasn’t finding it too alarming in all that time I had him. But the neuro test is showing that something is just really not quite right, and here and there some additional observations show that there’s something to it… I don’t know, I think I’ll not sleep calmly unless I perform the full check while he’s still pretty much OK.
I think I would recommend a good chiropractor look at him on top of other work ups.
At one point I was ready to put my guy down. He was clearly in pain, more ataxic than usual. Had him put through a lameness exam that he passed with flying colors until he was asked to canter on the longe: at which point he bunny hopped, cross cantered, and almost fell several times. Chiropractor came out and he was very severely out everywhere and once she put him back together he was fine.
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My first thought when it didn’t get up first was it had an itch on its belly and did a swipe or two to scratch it and then got up?
Hard to tell much in these videos, generally for lameness exams you have someone lead the horse here and there from your front and coming back to you and sideways, in a circle both ways and move them free in a round pen and watch if they are even as they travel around and around.
I’m going to also add in to trust your instincts with this too. It has served me very well even when others have likely thought I was making nothing into something. You know your horse best!
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Unless I missed something - all you have right now is neuro symptoms and they appear to be hind end related? I have had two horses that exhibited neuro symptoms (very long stories) but what you need to focus on next is the CAUSE of the sypmtoms. So many things can present this way. I spent a lot of money on both of them - one was about 11 when they showed up, the other was 9. One had a lot of cervical changes and spinal compression. Now retired. The other had something called polyneuritis equi. He had both cranial nerve issues and hind end deterioration, and was put down.
I feel for you - these situations are nerve wracking at best and heart breaking as well.
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If you are convinced something is wrong then I see no harm in getting more extensive tests done. Based on the videos, nothing looks alarming but we aren’t the ones observing the horse on a daily basis.
Videos of an actual neurological exam would be helpful.
Guys, I’ve managed to find out one of his brothers has PSSM! Will also investigate this direction now.
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Pssm is no fun. My mare seems to have a progressive case of either pssm type 2 or MFM. As a young horse, she only struggled at the canter. It wasn’t until her teens that she had her first tie up episode.
The key with these horses is a really good diet and a daily exercise plan. These horses need to be out moving around as much as possible.
Well, of course I’m not super excited about PSSM, I just think it seems better than Wobbler… And if it’s confirmed, we can start diet and exercise plan ASAP, instead of just sitting and waiting for Idk what. So, while far far far from perfect, it seems actionable to me, and I’m a person of action.
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PSSM is much better than a diagnosis of Wobbler’s Syndrome! PSSM is not easy to manage, but it can be managed with diet and exercise. It can and does sometimes present as a neuro issue or even a combination of issues. Iberians have some history with PSSM.
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We are starting to have maybe some good luck: a colleague of the doctor in Germany who would be able to do full check for all possible causes, is in our country right now! If he has time, he will visit us to repeat neuro exam. He is more specialized in this area and will tell his opinion and also pass it to the doctor in Germany. We sent blood samples today for vitamins & general analysis, and we will send for PSSM1 this week (though my guess it’d be rather other type of PSSM, but we will test it a bit later). I definitely feel less stressed and crazy knowing that after month of worrying and stupidly not acting I am doing something to find out the root cause.
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This is great news! I really hope that works out for you and you get some answers 
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