Re: collapsing horse
Carol Fisher (cfisher@sonic.net)
Wed, 04 Dec 1996 10:38:39 -0700
Sounds similiar to a problem I had with my first horse in 1985. He
would fall down, while I was on him, and appear depressed afterwards.
Attacks seemed to be stress related. He had quite a few right after I
bought him and moved him to his new stable. Then they seemed to go away,
or at least were reduced in intensity in that he would ocassionally
stagger but not fall. When I moved him to a training barn about six
months later they started again and the barn manager thought he had the
wobbles (sp?). It seemed like he didn't know where his hind legs were
and would buckle and fall over.
So we took him to Davis. Diagnosis -- they thought he had a lesion
somewhere on his spinal column and deemed the horse unsafe to ride. They
also asked if I would donate him which I did. Said they would use him
as a teaching horse because of his sweet temperment and when he got too
sick and had to be put down they would do an autopsy to see exactly what
was going on. Recently I read an article about a new discovery in this
area and I thought my old horse had probably played a role in their
research. Unfortunately I didn't keep the article and I can't remember
much more. But I think they had come up with a diagnosis and treatment.
Good luck!