[nicz2cu]

As some of you know, I'm working with a rescue shetland mare. I had the vet out Tues., she gave shots, checked teeth, said everyone was looking fine and the little mare was coming along well. Today the worst thing I've ever witnessed happened and I'm hoping that perhaps someone can give me a clue as to what may have caused it.

Here are the facts as I know them, my husband and BIL were out looking at the horses as BIL had not seen the little rescue mare when she started shaking, lost her balance , started turning circles and went down and had a BM when she hit the ground. My DH ran to get me while my BIL worked to get her up, and all she could do to stay up was lay against him and turn circles.

I saw this as I was getting to the fence and all of a sudden my gelding who has never attacked another horse in any manner except to pin his ears and say " I'm the Boss " charged her and BIL and started trying to kick her with his front feet, landing one blow before I could get him away. Then he and "D" ( my 2 year old filly ) started racing like wild when I tried to seperate them into the smaller of the two pastures.

I fianally got a lead rope on the mare and started checking for dehydration, nothing to point to it, I then thought of heatstroke and decided to cool her off real well with the hose, which seemed to solve the problem. I took her to the shade and she immediately seemed to go to sleep or be resting from her previous exertions. We stayed there for a good thirty minutes and I decided that I needed o see how Moose would react to her now........ same thing, so I'm keeping them seperated until I can get to the bottom of this.

We have checked on her every 15 - 30 minutes and she seems to be her old self , eating , drank some PowerAide. They have been together for three weeks or so and no problems what-so-ever ,at least nothing like this.

The only thing looking back is the fact that she did not seem to have any sweat on her...... her neck perhaps, but nothing at all like my other two.

If you got this far , thanks........... if you have a possible reason or solution as to what caused this, I'd love to hear it.

[gluey33]

I did read recently in another post(may have been in another Forum) that when a horse doesn't sweat its a sign of heatstroke. But thats all I know. I really hope someone else can give you some decent info.

[nicz2cu]

That was my initial thought ( heatstroke ) since she seems fine, eating well........ I've cut her feed back except for her RB , BOSS and hay. I'm confused as to why he attacked her when she had this spell, and wanted to even after it subsided.

Are seizures possible out of the blue ?

The not - being soaked in sweat is the only thing that worries me . I added a small amount of sea salt into her last feeding , she did not eat it and she does not eat or like the loose minerals .

I'll continue to monitor her until I can get the vet back out here, just would like some idea of what I might be dealing with.

[Dawn]

I'm glad you're planning on getting a vet out. There are just so many different issues that can cause a scenario like this.

As far as the gelding attacking, it's just a common instinct. Take down the sick/dying/etc... Harsh but true. If you have a horse down and thrashing about in your herd, it's going to attract predators. You're definately right in keeping them seperated for now, and even afterwards, you'll have to be very cautious about reintroducing.

How is she drinking (sorry if I missed that)?

I actually completely missed out all of your info about her in previous threads. I'll have to go looking. Was she a starvation case? Or what exactly is her background?

Also she could be having some type of reaction to the shots. They could have triggered seizures (of course seizures could have come about on their own as well), as well as various other issues that might have presented this way.

Does she normally sweat good?

Also, assuming she's drinking well, if she's not sweating, you do not want to force feed her salt or electrolytes. The salt/electrolytes are lost when they sweat. She's not sweating, so that's not an issue for her.

You said her and your other horse have been together for 3 weeks. Is that the amount of time you've had her? Or has it been longer?

[Ryle]

What you describe sounds like seizure activity. It could be caused by any number of things--head trauma, severe heat, neurological disease. A vet exam would be a great idea. Until then I would keep her seperated from the other horses, make sure she's eating and drinking ok and watch her so that you can make note of any odd behavior or symptoms.

It's very very unlikely that this is a vaccination reaction 4 days post-vaccination.

[Dawn]

I wasn't thinking along the lines of an allergic reaction. But more along the lines of the fact that the vaccines could have affected her internal organ function thereby resulting in a seizure or similar issue. Or caused a syndrome that could result in seizures.

[Ryle]

Not likely.

[kola]

nicz2cu,

Do you know what vaccines she had? If not, call your vet and ask.

Kola

[lacy]

As usual, I agree with Dawn

I think that maybe it was a seizure. I don't think that she would have lost her bowls if she just dropped from heat exhaustion, but I could be wrong.

Attacking her is normal, like Dawn said, its a matter of "survival of the fittest" Its best to keep them apart and work very cautiously to reintroduce them AFTER you figure out what is going on and the vet gives you some ideas.

I'd hate to think of her being back in there and going down when no one is there to help her defend herself.

[Ryle]

A pasture mate attacking a sick horse is not normal horse behavior. Horses will generally just walk away from another horse that is ill once they determine that that horse isn't going to keep up. Sick horse's don't attract predators to the herd, they attract predators to themeslves and the generally just don't manage to keep up with the herd.

Horses aren't big on killing other horses.