2 year old mare suddenly has drunk back legs

My Rosie is feeling a bit wobbly in her back end. From what I have been reading it could be toxic weeds especially since her pasture is dry. She gets grain and plenty of carrots and good hay so it's not nutrition. I gave her a new brother in may. Toby is a newly gelded yearling who may have hurt her back from his incessant mounting her when she came into heat just a week after they met. So to make matters worse she could be pregnant... She's a big throughbred and I will make sure she and the baby have plenty of nutrition but now i'm concerned about her condition. Any caring thoughts and advice ?

The obvious thing is to separate them. After that, you can see if she improves. If not, still keep her away from the gelding and work on finding out what her problem is. If she is possibly pregnant, it is not kind to keep her with a gelding who constantly mounts her anyway.

The gelding obviously needs a good 'Come to Jesus' talk, from a feisty mare.

Lizzie

I would get a vet out straight away in case she has taken something dangerous. Next I would be out in the pasture having a look for any weeds or plants that she could have ingested.

If you think there's any possibility it's the pasture, get her off it immediately. Then call a good equine vet & get tests done.

Oh BTW, I think it's more likely to be something other than nutrition, but grain, carrots and good hay doesn't equate to good nutrition. It *may* be, depending what's in your grain & hay for eg, but IME that sort of diet's likely to be imbalanced.

Hopefully she isn't pregnant from a gelded yearling! Separate them, and get a decent vet out to run blood tests to see if something shows up there, test her back to see if there is any spinal damage and generally try to get to the botom of this. Look at the pasutre and see if you can find any poisionous plants, or even see if someone might have dumped something on your land. If the pasture is sparse, make sure she has ad lib hay so she isn't tempted to eat poisinous weeds.

Hope you get you filly sobered up soon!

First things first sorry she's acting a bit off. I would however have her seen by a vet doesnt only have to be about toxic weeds or bad nutrition it very well could be a nuerological issue caused by EPM etc etc. If she's wobbling like you said its not something to take lightly and a yearling mounting her isnt going to cause her to wobble and I don't think she's pregnant. Do the right thing get her checked better safe then sorry.
Good Luck

TRR

Welcome to the forum,Cristy. It sounds like this issue brought you here, we hope you stay!

I agree with the above .. it could be several things, but she needs to be seen by a vet.

Please keep us posted, wishing you the best..

Thanks for the imput. I walked the 11 acres and gathered a sample of every weed out there, googled Montana toxic weeds. Out of 8 only one is a possible. Spotted knapweed. She is a little better this morning. I ran her out a bit and no signs of weakness during or after so i'll check her in an hour. Also vet is coming to preg test her and examine her, I was worried last night so I called on ya'll. Toby was only a week gelded when he was attempting his breeding skills and my vet failed to inform me that it takes 30 to45 days for all live sperm to be out of his system. YeeHah! He's not mounting her any more. Also, I feed them Strategy GX, alfalfa/ grass and carrots for a snack.

I would think it was far more likely to be EPM or West Nile Virus. Oklahoma has just had its first West Nile case this year. Both act just like you described.

If it is neurological, the best test is to have someone walk her forward while a second person pulls hard on her tail to the side. When the second person pulls sideways and a horse with a neurological problem, the horse will almost fall over and will tangle up their hind feet.

EPM is treatable, but must be caught early. Same is true of West Nile. Many horses that get it and are not treated early will get down, not be able to get up and will be lost.

I would call any condition that causes a horse to stagger in the hind end to be a medical emergency.