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Horse has one floppy ear

8K views 9 replies 8 participants last post by  QtrBel 
#1 ·
*let me just preface this by saying my vet is aware of the issue, and does not think it's anything to panic about, this is something that has been ongoing for 3-4 years. Horse is UTD on everything/always has been. Has had blood work done recently over summer, nothing wrong with her other than her tendon/bone injuries that have nothing to do with this. This is not by any means an emergency, I am just curious what could cause this.*

What would cause a horse to have one droopy ear? She sees vet regularly and has not had any ear mites or what-have-you. No weird fungus infections (minus one on her chest 5+ years ago). She's a bit of a "derpy" mare and has been known to whack her head at times as she's 17.3h and our stalls have bars across the top window area (now closed off for this reason).

Her ear started gradually drooping maybe 3-4 years ago. It wasn't all the time, or bad, to start with. Hardly noticeable at first. In the past 1-2 years it has gotten quite droopy. She seems to be able to move it forward in a "'pricked" position just fine, but once her ears are no longer pricked, it goes right back to being droopy as if there is no other range of motion. Although, there are times where her left ear is pricked, and the right ear (droopy one) is sort of stuck in droopy position. Sometimes she can ***** it, sometimes it seems like she isn't able to.

Am I forgetting any needed info?
I'll post some pictures.
 

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#3 ·
Based on your description, I was going to say maybe someone bit her and damaged it-I knew a pony that got a hard bite when pestering his much bigger pasture mate, and the ear was sort of permanently pitched forward where the bite happened. It always looked flopped forward.

But hers looks nothing like that did-I think "droopy" might be a better description than "floppy."

Will be interested to see if others have ideas for you! She's nice looking regardless :)
 
#7 ·
Thanks for the responses everyone! She's never had any visible damage to the year, like nothing on the outside that I can see anyway. The ear feels sort of "loose" from the base, and then about 2 inches upward of that continues to have a loose feeling.

Nerve damage would make a lot of sense actually, it's what I had initially thought so glad for the extra input =)
 
#8 ·
I agree with the consensus, likely nerve damage. It could have come from anything, a bump to the head or a fall in the pasture, there needn't be any visual injury.


Has she been seen by a chiro? If it was a problem in her neck or at the base of her skull, they might be able to fix it. If not, she'll just always be that unique horse with a droopy ear LOL.
 
#9 ·
Yes, seen by a chiro regularly. I've kept her super UTD on everything as she was doing the A circuit/derbies with a leaser, and now she has career-ending injuries so vet/chiro/farrier/everyone has stayed very involved in her after-care as the goal is to have her be *knock-on-wood* a pleasure/packer horse and goal is to breed as well in the semi-near future (recovery depending). Not sure if anyone remembers my thread regarding her torn suspensory, but turns out she actually fractured her splint as well. Vet does think she'll recover okay, but I love her too much to risk a potential re-injury once she goes back to showing. So, I'd much rather have her as a happy pasture puff/plunk around type horse.

I guess she's just a unique horse at this point. Funny, I've always joked that she's super derpy, and anyone at my barn who gets to know her agrees that she is. Her ear fits in perfectly with her personality:lol:
 
#10 ·
I'd say nerve damage as well and will add inflammation can make the droop worse. That could come from bumps or certain ways she moves her head or neck. Similar to someone that can't sleep in certain positions without waking up with some body part asleep.
 
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