Horse that has daily episodes of falling down - safety

I've never seen or even heard of it being done that way in Europe - I thought it was a south American technique ...

I'd stay away from that horse though, not worth your livelihood, or your life. ..

its very common in europe Gary , its easier without the help imo

Not that im sugesting you do him if your uncomfertable but i have two horses o my books that have probloms standing with a hind leg off the ground . One we have taught to stand agenst a barn pole while i trim the good leg. The other the owner stands at his hip and i bring the bad leg back leaving the toe on the ground.only one of them ever gets shoes and thats only because he drags his toe off on the bad leg. Nither are ridden. I think i would have to question the safty and sanity of someone rideing a horse that tilts over all the time. Do what you are comfortable with but if there a good client i think i would have them meet you at the vets and find a safe way to get him done.of corse i would walk away from a good horse with a dangerous owner before i would a dangerous horse with a good owner. I have the scars and dents in my head to prove it be safe

Narcolepsy? What do you consider a narcoleptic horse?

Hi Dave. It seems to be fairly commonly diagnosed up here. Is it not common elsewhere?

Basically these horses fall asleep anytime they stop, or I should say risk falling asleep every time they stop.
And it's a deep full out sleep so the stay mechanism is no match for a fully unconscious horse. They basically fall front end or back then crumple into a heap. Most times they catch themselves and wake up as the front end goes down.

Clients know their horses have this so if they are riding they are careful not to stop and chat while mounted, and while being groomed most have a trick to keep them awake.

Most of my clients that own horses with this employ the nose flick technique and just poke them in the nose when they see their horse start to zone out. I shoe roughly 6/7 horse at all times that have this issue. It doesn't worry me because the owners and myself know how to keep them focused and awake.

Alicia,

Check out "sleep depravation in horses".

I think narcolepsy in horses is often mis-diagnosed. I know of at lest one veterinarian that claims it is nonexistent in horses w/ the exception of foals, though I can't remember their name so I am not able to direct you to his/her work. Will ask my wife (the vet) and see if she can remember.

Client holding the legs, never seen it done, but am told it is down south in Germany. Just remember, watch out for yourself because no one else will.

Are all of those horses related, Alicia? I don't remember ever encountering that problem. I wonder if the affliction is something unique to your area. Have the rest of you seen much of this?

Regards

I have 2 clients, 1 from the Ukraine and the other from the former East Germany (newly immigrated) that I almost had to wrestle their horse's leg from these gals at their first few shoeing appointments. They both said from the teenage years on, they always held their horses leg.
You want to talk about incredibly clean horses to work on.

Back when I was about 50 yrs , the Ukrainian Professor thought she (age 60) should go back to holding legs for me because I was getting too old. I almost let her. more than a decade later her old horse is still one of the cleanest I have to work on

Interesting. I've heard one called sleep deprivation, the rest they have called narcolepsy. Could be the vets are just trying to dumb it down for clients.

Pretty pitiful to think modern horse management is causing this much sleep deprivation.

Rick- they aren't related but all but one have been chestnut(that one was grey so may have been chestnut at one time)
Breed wise they are all thoroughbreds, with one Arab/saddlebred cross.

Would likely make life a lot easier if this was standard. No bad behaviour if the owner might be hurt.

I have offered to shoe other horses with this European style but no takers, yet. Suddenly dormosedan+ torb becomes very affordable for them

Mikel , I am surprised

Had a guy holding a shire foot for me yesterday, kinda got in the way.

what to shoe it ?

Why was he holding the foot for you bill?

Just to keep it off the wet mats so I could burn. I wound up just taking it from him. Not a regular customer, I was covering for a friend.

It's never been a thing here in Denmark, not to say I'm against it! Maybe then the owners would train their horses to stand better!!!

OK guys, lets keep this thing on track.

If you want to have a discussion about "Friend or Foe? Who should hold the foot, handler or farrier.", then lets start a new thread.

Otherwise this one is about Alicia's narcolepsy. Fair is fair.

Clint, the client holding the foot for Alicia, does solve the safety issue for her. Besides, who cares, if the client gets squished, by their own dink?