A Horse Walks Into a Bar…

Rutger’s University offers some great FREE informational events for horse owners, you just have to sign up and attend virtually via Zoom. Their last one was on neurological issues in horses. Join me for a recap here:

Dr Sarah Colmer from New Bolton Center presented, starting with answering the question: why pursue a neuro exam? She said “there’s a fine line between fancy and neurological”. Some of the reasons to pursue a neuro exam are obvious symptoms: head tilt, repetitive eye movements, blindness, abnormal tongue, down horse, head pressing. Cranial nerve abnormalities can show as blindness, facial asymmetry, trouble swallowing, mentation changes, seizures, trauma, gait abnormalities, behavior changes, weakness/trembling, muscle atrophy.

How is a neuro exam performed at New Bolton Center? First they check mentation, awareness and how they act. Then a cranial nerve evaluation includes pulling the tongue, flashlight response of the pupils, and ear position. Next they evaluate posture and muscling. The final section is gait evaluation, starting with the easiest task and ending with the more difficult. Walk a straight line, trot a straight line. Evaluate for lameness, since lameness can interfere with a neuro diagnosis. Walk with head elevated, which checks to see how the horse perceives its body in space without the benefit of being able to see what its feet are doing. Next, they’ll pull the tail as the horse is walking, and see how well it can recover from that disruption. Then the horse is led in tight circles to see how well it can manage crossing over its legs. They walk the horse down hill and see how well it does placing its feet. Then they’ll walk down the same hill with the head elevated, again to see how well the horse can feel its legs vs watch them. The last part of the exam is watching the horse graze.