Okay, so today the farrier came and put shoes on Toby. I put him in his stall, wrote the farrier a check and was talking to him. Toby was in his stall and you know how sometimes if you find "the spot" to scratch on a horse, they'll kind of turn their head to the side and stretch out their necks. Well that is what I thought he was doing. The farrier go in his truck and I walked back in the barn. Toby's neck was pulled around to the left and his lips were pulled back away from his teeth. When I spoke to him, he didn't stop so I went in his stall. His lips were actually twitching and so were his eyelids. His head and neck were pulled to the left and his left front foot was pulled up tight to his belly. I tried to move him over, but it was like he was gonna fall over if I pushed on him. I'd say total it lasted maybe 6 or 7 minutes. Then, he relaxed, sneezed twice, and dropped his head and started eating again. I kept him up for 2 more hours and watched him closely. he was fine. No signs of weakness or fatigue or anything like that. Then, I turned them back out in the pasture and he still seems like nothing ever happened. When it was going on, I was thinking oh crap, he's having a stroke. It definitely looked neurological, but no after effects at all. Any ideas?

I would agree with you about the stroke. Horses can have heart attacks, so why cant they have a stroke too? It almost sounds like a humans stroke. If their brains are like ours, if he has something going on in the right side of his brain, it will effect the left side of his body. And from what you were describing, it sounds like his left side was effected, even if just for a few minutes. My moms dog reacted like that with his srtokes too.

Is there anything that you can do to find out what really happened? Hope he turns out to be ok.

Did his eye lids and lips return to normal? Just like humans, there are usually side effects or visual remains of stokes. At least that is the experience I have had with it. Another thought, A nerve could have been pinched during the session with the farrier. Since he is a older fellow, they just are not as flexable, and easier effected. Bless his heart.

maybe it was just a pinched nerve somewhere. He seems fine now. No lasting effects...doesn't seem to have any weakness anywhere or anything like that. Don'tknow

Denise

Sounds to me he just got a stiff muscle there for a minute. Or, like a charlie horse. Some times a mintute can seem much longer. If you weren't looking at a clock it may have been way less time then it seemed.

When anything has a SZ, there is a time right after it they call pistocle (spelling?). Meaning, there is a time after this happens that you may see urine, bowels move or just a blank stare that occurs. If he went back to normal I doupt this was a seizure.

OOPS, if he had a stroke there would be other things that were not back to normal..

people have what we call TIA's which are mini strokes which have no lasting effects... also you can have a range on seizures from an eye twitch to a full blown flop on the ground foaming at the mouth type of seizure. Keep an eye on him for a while and work with your daughter on how to bail off in case he falls down. Keep it slow for awhile so if he does it again hopefully it isn't at a high speed and she doesnt' get hurt that would be my only concern. Maybe a barn cam so you can watch him at random for a little bit your concern for him and his health is important but you really dont want her hurt. ALso keep an eye out for scratches on his knees and nose then you will know if he is maybe falling down. That is my thoughts... Best of luck those older guys are gems they deserve our best and he is amazing!

Thanks guys. He has seemed perfectly normal ever since. No scratches or bumps anywhere so maybe it was just a bad cramp or pinched nerve or something. He scared me.