susie wrote: >>>Whenever my horse starts to fall asleep she collapses all the way to
the ground... then does not know where she is... The Vet feels that she
might even be having seizures at times.They video taped
her at the vet clinic....So far this has only happened
when in the horse trailer, and camping... she has never done this while I have
been riding...<<<
We had a discussion on RC about this a
couple years ago when I noticed my mare, Equal Terms, actually fall down when
she fell asleep on the picket at rides. Many people wrote to tell me that
they too had a horse who appeared to not be able to sleep standing up. My
mare would get to a point in her sleep cycle where she would be in a really deep
sleep, her head would go down and she would land on her knees, waking with a
start. She would do it over and over in a night.
My vet husband and I decided it was NOT narcolepsy
as it was not at inappropriate times, but only at night when she really would be
sleeping. It did explain the scuffed scars on the front of her
feltlock joints that she had when I got her (has since disappeared) and the mud
I would see in the mornings sometimes after a night in the field.
Interestingly, I spent 6 weeks on the road at XP04
camping with this mare this summer (out third eason together), and noticed a few
things regarding this phenomenon. First, the reason I noticed the behavior
at all, was that this mare was prone to mild colic after a ride- it scared the
tar out of me, so I started sleeping outside to be near her and watch her all
night.
On the third day of XP04, she was third and won BC
and coliced four hours later - I was beside myself to say the least...I gave her
a couple weeks off, and because we were in the middle of this
trip, she was tied to the picket or trailer every night- we observed the
falling down behavior a couple times in this period.
When I finally decided to ride her again, I took
her off all supplements, including electrolytes. I rode her 50 miles
slow on a Friday with no colic, so I then rode monday through friday the next
week with no colic - essentially 6 50s in a row. The point to this is that
I was with that mare 24 hours a day for those days- she was never out of my
sight - I dragged my bed outside to sleep with her every night. Off of all
supplements and with 50 miles a day under her belt, she finally laid down and
slept at night. I have not noticed the falling down since that point
in time, and we have been to other rides now where she was
picketed.
My theory is that it took her three years to learn
to be comfortable enough with her surroundings to finally lay down- she is a
mare that worries inwardly about many things. I think having a deeper
relationship with me has helped to foster that feeling of comfort.
This may not help your mare, but rest assured that
it is not totally abnormal behavior. As far as the colicing we experienced---we
are fairly certain the use of electrolytes caused discomfort to this mare - we
tried different brands in different dosages, and finally took her off ALL
electrolyes---it has worked.
