Everyone thinks that their horse is special, especially their heart horse. Everyone has the best, the cutest, the smartest, the sweetest, and so it goes. But I am here to tell you, beyond shadow of a doubt, that my horse is truly, honestly, statistically (probably, I didn’t do the maths) actually one in a million.
It all started the first summer I owned Mr. Shaqerdoodle Fritz. It was a warm day and we were doing a lunge workout in the indoor arena of the barn we boarded at during that time. Every so often, I’d hear an odd low coughing/sneezing/gagging/I have no idea what that is sound. After consulting with a fellow boarder, we concluded that the sound was indeed coming from Shaq, but it was not a cough, sneeze or gag as he did not exhibit any other symptoms that one sees with choke or allergies. The sound subsided when the work stopped, and I thought nothing of it until the same thing happened under similar circumstances a couple weeks later. This time, I was able to record the episode on my phone and send it to my vet. She responded with a diagnosis I had never heard of in equines… HICCUPS.
To be safe, she came out to do a physical exam and run bloodwork. Sometimes known as “thumps” in horses, hiccups are often an indicator of hypocalcemia (low blood calcium) which can lead to far more serious to systemic issues. If the underlying cause is not addressed, these issues can become pretty dangerous pretty quickly. (Shameless plug: when in doubt, have the vet out!! I know it’s expensive, but this farm call was far less than a hospitalization if we had missed something…) Anywho, when all was said and done, Shaq’s workup was completely normal.
The diagnosis remained the same. A horse with the hiccups. Treat as needed with rest and electrolytes when episodes occurred *just to be safe.*
Fast forward about three years, and now Shaq has small scuff marks on both of his front legs, down at the fetlock, that just WILL. NOT. HEAL. Bathing, medicating, wrapping… they would be looking so much better and then BOOM – they’d be back. So, again I called my vet out who confirmed there was no obvious source of infection or outside reason these wounds weren’t healing. We did a round of prophylactic antibiotics to be
on the safe side (since it was spring, and wet and muddy, and try my best he is a horse and they did get dirty). But then, she dropped another bomb on me. “This could be a narcolepsy case.”
Narcolepsy? In my horse? My horse that has unexplainable hiccups? Seriously? She went on to explain that horses who are narcoleptic will fall into such a deep sleep that they cannot rely on their stay mechanism to keep them upright, causing them to topple over forwards, knuckling over at the fetlock and often skinning themselves at the joint line.
Well, it sure sounded like his presentation. But how could we be sure? Narcolepsy is considered rare in horses and is sometimes confused with sleep deprivation. Sleep deprivation can occur when horses are unable or unwilling to lay down to sleep, either due to environmental issues (lack of clean, dry sleeping space) or internal issues (severe joint pain from arthritis or similar). He did not check either of those boxes. We operated under this assumed diagnosis for some time, until he was caught in the act.
Dozing peacefully in the back of his stall, there was a sudden bang and subsequent clamoring. Sure enough, he had fallen asleep, tipped forward, bonked his nose on the side of his stall just as his legs curled under him.
Well, I’ll be damned. A horse with narcolepsy. And hiccups. Huh.
But wait, there’s more… Of course there’s more! Now let’s fast forward another year or so to when Shaq suffered a terrible accident. A puncture wound into the joint capsule resulting in emergent surgery. When we arrived at the hospital, radiographs were obtained prior to opening him up. Low and behold, my horse – yes, the one with hiccups and narcolepsy – has an accessory bone in his carpus (“knee”) joint. A bone that has evolved out in most horses and not often seen with x-ray. There it was, just sitting there doing a whole lot of nothing. (Side note: he has since made a full recovery, but that story is for a different post on a different day!)
So, there you have it. My one-in-a-million horse. He may be the best, sweetest, smartest, cutest gelding out there… but he’s also beat the odds in more ways than one. Maybe I should start buying lottery tickets?
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