Horse falling while sleeping?

[meljul]

You may remember my post about my horse scrapping his legs up. We thought that he was hurting himself on a chair that was in the barn. We removed it and he got much better. Lately, with the mild weather we've been having, he has been taking naps outside in the sun. One two occassions my mom and brother have seen him fall onto his front legs while napping. His legs are back to the same condition they were in a few months ago. I mean, this isn't really something we can prevent him from doing is it?

[Tootsie4U]

Does he tumble down (unintentional) or does he plop down because he finds it more comfortable (intentional)? Sounds odd...

[IrisSilverMoon]

he might have narcolepsy.

a horse at my stable has this, you watch him slowly fall asleep and then his front legs buckle and he falls. He only does it on cross ties so you just have to make sure to keep him awake there. Most horses only do it under a specific circumstance, like standing out in the field. THe buckling legs is because narcolepsy is a sleep disorder in which an animal (humans included, though it is different for them) will drop right into REM sleep, sleep where muscles are unable to be used, the muscles can't hold the horse up, so the horse falls. Most of the time they recover before they go down all the way though.

might be a good idea to get a vet to diagnose this and see if there is anything you can do.

[meljul]

He drops down onto his front legs, I'm sure it's unintentional because he gets right back up again and his legs are getting cut up in the process, I'm sure it doesn't feel good when this happens.

He was badly scrapping his joints in the fall, but stopped, then just started again a few weeks ago. It was only then we realized he was falling out in the field when sleeping.

[Pink's lady]

Actually, horses don't use any muscle to hold themselves up when sleeping. They have a very clever arrangement of ligaments and tendons that 'lock' in place, and once there, they use no further muscles to hold it. They do need muscle to get the 'stay apperatus' in place and to unlock it.

It sounds as if there may be a problem with your horses stay apperatus. Has he ever had any damange to his knees, elbows or fetlock?

It shouldn't really cause that much problems - however, he will find standing for any length of time hardwork, as he'll need to use his muscles to hold the position. He'll just need to sleep lying down. Make absolutly sure his stable's big enough to lie down comfertably.

If you're still worried, ask the vet.

[meljul]

He has not had any injuries besides the scrapped up joints. His stall is big enough for him to lie down in, although we have never seen him lie down to sleep. Both times we saw him fall he was outside. He loves to sleep in the sun.

Looks like a vet call is in order.

[Evol_or_revert]

I can help much sorry.

Iv seen a horse at a racing stable fall over when sleeping, they said he went through a fence once a damaged his knees so that the locking system doesn't work. so when he sleeps standing up he falls right over.

Hope you find out what the problem is.

[IrisSilverMoon]

Actually, horses don't use any muscle to hold themselves up when sleeping. They have a very clever arrangement of ligaments and tendons that 'lock' in place, and once there, they use no further muscles to hold it. They do need muscle to get the 'stay apperatus' in place and to unlock it.





uh uh...in order to get REM sleep horses HAVE to lie down. They only actually need about 15 minutes of it in 24 hours (and can go without it at all) but they cannot remain standing and fall into REM. Hence the falling down if a horse has narcolepsy and is falling unexpectedly into REM sleep.

[Lgd]

It is not that unusual, some horses do this and wake themselves up as the knees unlock. My friend's elderly gelding does this and has done for years. It doesn't affect them health wise although they do get the odd scrape or bang from doing it. His stable is rubber matted which gets rid of the injury problem to a great extent. I've only ever seen him do it in the stable, and never in the field. Although I have seen others that do it in the field as well.

[meljul]

Does anything this that this could be caused by HYPP???

[Big Ears]

my cob mare has narcolepsy or sleeping sickness.

she falls asleep standing up, her knees buckle and she falls, but usually manages to stop herself before she hits the ground - however she has twice wrenched her back doing it.

she never ever lies down in the field or stable. she once fell asleep like this when I was grooming her and she was relaxed, and just dozed off totally.

she is now retired from riding. she usually sleeps with her head leaning on the stable door - we found the door totally concertinaed one morning so perhaps she fell asleep on it and it buckled.

she has never ever lain down at night in all the time we have had her. she is on rubber mats but she never even has a sleep in the field.