Pregnant horses seizuring

[weerunner]

Hey guys, I know I have seen you solve issues that vets could not figure out as we have some awesome mini experts here. So I'm bringing this here in case someone here has had a similar thing happen.

I have 5 mares pregnant (about 6 - 8 months along). Two months ago one of them (at 6 months) started have little muscle twitches in her neck and along her sides and at the same time had difficulty walking. She is my little rescue mare. I had heard of thumps and thought maybe that was it, so gave her 10 tums in her feed and by the time she was done eating it was over. So I thought, better put her on 16% mare and foal feed as that has more calcium. Two months went by with no incidents, then in a week she had two more events. For the last one I did not have any more tums, but she stopped after about 15 minutes, so I believe the tums were not actually helping. The seizures were stopping after about 15-20 minutes on their own and the mare returned to acting completely normal.

So today, another mare started. She was worse and could not walk at all. If I tried to make her walk to the barn she fell over. So I stood with her while the seizure was happening and when it was over we walked to the barn. My vet is stumped! He has never heard of such a thing. He has ordered me to take a video next time and send it to him.

Some details that might be important, they always do it when outside, usually later in the day, usually when it is cold and rainy. They are always sweating and shivering when I get to them. After the episodes I always check for baby and baby is fine and bopping around, thank God for that. My vet works 30 minutes away and can not get here in time to witness it, but I'll get a video and send it to him next time one starts up.

So anyone with this type of experience please feel free to suggest things. I'm at a loss.

 

[chandab]

Amanda, please post this to the mare stare forum as well, perhaps someone there has seen something like that while watching pregnant mares. We know how many mares they watch, so perhaps you'll get lucky.

Thumps is the only think I can think of too. Do you feed any beet pulp? Its higher in calcium, so that might be a good source of additional calcium, just in case that is what's going on. Alfalfa is also higher in calcium.

 

[weerunner]

I just stopped feeding beet pulp but was feeding it back when the first mare started so dont think that is the reason. Maybe I better start using it again though just in case it was helping.

 

[chandab]

Perhaps alfalfa would be good, give the extra calcium along with more protein that pregnant mares usually need.

 

[BSharpRanch]

I thought Thumps were hiccups?

 

[targetsmom]

I posted a video of our mare with thumps last year.but the link doesn't seem to work. Try doing a forum search for "thumps" and look for my 2012 post. The link is on page 3 and lets hope it works from there.

 

[weerunner]

couldn't find it Mary. Sure would like to see it. I've seen other videos of thumps on the internet and this is nothing like that. The horse acts like someone is jolting them. The head jerks up and the body clenches but just for a second and then it releases and then it starts again. This goes on for about 15 minutes and then it slowly decreases and then nothing. Horse walks away like nothing happened. So weird, and it is freaking me out now that two of them are doing it.

 

[madmax]

My experience with thumps is you see a rhymthic beat in the flanks in sync with the heartbeat, I had a newly weaned colt do that and it was very obvious to be an isolated beat in the flanks. If it were me, . I would walk my fields or paddock and look for poisonous plants and check their hay. I think it is strange that more than one is doing it, so to me it must involve something they have ingested. I had a horse have seizures in the past and he would fall down and stagger, when it was over it took him some minutes to get back to normal..

 

[targetsmom]

I don't think thumps is what your mare has but here is a link to the thread and the link to the video is on page 3 and works.

http://www.miniaturehorsetalk.com/index.php?showtopic=128871&hl=thumps

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

I agree that it seems to be something in their diet. I would be doing some blood work to see if anything is out of balance, it could be something other than calcium (in fact seems like it is since it isn't 'thumps') Also I agree with madmax, I would be checking the pasture carefully, do they have access to a round bale? perhaps try keeping them off it for a day or two to see if they stop when they eat from a different source. It seems like it must be something brought on by their time outside ???

I hope you find the cause soon and please let us know how they are doing.

 

[weerunner]

It is December in Nova Scotia. There isn't much in the paddock even in summer, but next to nothing now that we've had a few freezes. Hay is the same hay since July, feed is the same supplier since early spring. Feed is bought every week fresh, so no chance for mold and hay is lovely, well dried, awesome smelling hay.

I did bring a mare in in June and did not do a quarantine. But no one has show any other signs of illness and neither has the new mare.

Will likely be getting the vet to come take blood samples from the two affected mares, I pray these are the only two.

I agree it seems to be environmental, so I'll keep thinking on what happened in the last two months that might be causing it.

Thanks for your thoughts guys.

 

[jess - bentley]

Sometimes horses have seizures when they have low blood sugar, maybe have the vet pull their blood right after they have one.

Good luck with them and I hope everything turns out ok!

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

It is December in Nova Scotia. There isn't much in the paddock even in summer, but next to nothing now that we've had a few freezes. Hay is the same hay since July, feed is the same supplier since early spring. Feed is bought every week fresh, so no chance for mold and hay is lovely, well dried, awesome smelling hay. Is it possible the bales are coming from different fields than they were? Even different areas of the same field can have some different weeds growing there

I did bring a mare in in June and did not do a quarantine. But no one has show any other signs of illness and neither has the new mare. I would think you would have seensomething before now, usually 1 month quarantine is sufficient for everything.

Will likely be getting the vet to come take blood samples from the two affected mares, I pray these are the only two. This is more likely to give you some answers than all the random guessing we might do

I agree it seems to be environmental, so I'll keep thinking on what happened in the last two months that might be causing it.

Thanks for your thoughts guys.

I'll keep my fingers crossed you either find the cause quickly or it never happens again.

 

[weerunner]

Here's hoping. If I do find out what is causing it I'll be sure to post here to let you all know. Information is always a good thing. Maybe it will help someone else someday.

 

[jess - bentley]

Hi again, I wanted to ask you a few questions. you said that they usually do this later in the day when it is cold and rainy. Do your mares have free choice hay? Are they doing this before they are fed dinner because that would indicate low blood sugar levels and they burn more energy when it is cold and rainy to stay warm. Are they better once they eat? If so make sure they have free choice hay and give them lunch too, not just breakfast and then a long space before dinner. I could be totally wrong about this, it's hard to tell with out knowing more and actually seeing them. Some of the major diseases also cause horses to seizure such as rabies, west nile, tetanus, epm and more but since your mares don't have other symptoms it shouldn't be anything like that. The only other thing is if they are exposed to a toxin, if they are eating something they shouldn't or exposed to something. What kind of bedding do you use. Some shavings are toxic, from toxic tree's. I know walnut can cause seizures. I use a pine bedding.

Hope this helps and they are ok!

 

[weerunner]

Hmm, I can try giving a midday meal. Could be the pregnant ones just need a bit more than usual this year, it has been particularly wet and yucky all summer and it is continuing into winter that way. One of these mares stables at night and the other is out 24/7 except on nasty rainy/snowy nights. So the one is not exposed to shavings, they are the same shavings I always buy, softwood ones.

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

Just an FYI, and maybe not related at all but years ago (eons actually, when I was a child) we had an unusually wet summer one year and people all over our area were loosing cattle. Almost always pregnant cows, usually shortly before they were ready to calf. Tests showed (eventually) that there was a shortage of something in the hay, can't recall what but it was a result of the fast growth in wet conditions, maybe lack of sunshine... wish I remembered better but just something that came to mind.

 

[HGFarm]

I would also be feeding pregnant mares alfalfa (that's all that is fed here pretty much anyway). Calcium deficiency can be fatal. Do you have another vet to ask? I too would be doing blood work to check!

 

[madmax]

I hope your mares have not had any more episodes. It occurred to me that sometimes winds blow leaves into our paddocks from other areas and perhaps something like that happened in your case. Just a thought to consider. Hope all is well now.

 

[romewhip]

Selenium and magnesium are two things that can be absent in hay, and are important for proper nutrition and body chemistry. Are the mares getting any kind of mineral supplementation? Calcium may also cause seizures when too low. You desperately need to get blood work done immediately.