If you find your horse on the ground and his legs are paddling as if he is running, his eyes are rolled back and his head and neck area are stiff - then shortly afterwards your horse's breathing becomes labored and shallow, he acts depressed and acts as though he can not see, your horse probably just experienced a seizure. Seizures in horses are not common, however seizures are a common reaction to some serious very types of illness.

A seizure is caused when the neurons in the brain emit a huge electrical discharge in response to a stimuli, that stimulating factor is usually a disease or symptom of disease. The main reasons for a horse having a seizure will fall into five main categories: abnormalities in the brain tissue of the horse, a defect such as a tumor, trauma -especially to the head area, metabolic abnormalities such as lack of water to the point of dehydration and then allowing the horse to rehydrate too quickly and the ingestion of toxins.

Some foals, and this occurs in Arabians more than any other breed, have seizures for no discernible reason, generally these type of seizures are outgrown. A less common reason for seizures that doesn't fit into a category is when an injection goes awry. Accident injection of certain drugs into the carotid artery in the neck of your horse can cause seizures. Make sure an experienced veterinarian does all injections.

Treatments for seizures are usually able to get them under control as they address a specific illness the horse is having. Phenobarbital is the most common drug used to fight seizures in horses. If your horse is having a seizure, get out of the way. It can be alarming to watch your companion flailing, but you cannot control a horse that on the average weighs in at over 1,100 LBS and you're risking injury by being too close.

After the seizure, comfort your horse and contact your veterinarian immediately. Seizures can be almost completely be controlled through elimination of environmental causes and drug therapies.

With the coming of spring, also brings out a good number of insect pests that will annoy and even threaten the life of your horse. Flies and mosquitoes can not only be an annoyance to your horse as he feeds and goes about his day, they can also threaten this life in form of West Nile virus, encephalomyelitis type disease, and a host of other diseases.

While it isn't possible to keep all flies and mosquitoes away from your horse, you can lessen the problem. Many types of flies seek out manure piles to breed in, keep the manure around your horses grazing and daily exercise areas to a minimum. Other flies will breed near a water source and fly in miles just to bite your horse. Stable flies love old moldy alfalfa and hay to breed in, even better if there is leak where it is stored and it gets wet. Keeping feed storage areas clean will eliminate this problem. Also, walk around your property on a frequent basis and check around your area and pasture to make sure there are no standing areas of water, these can become mosquitoes breeding grounds in a hurry.

There are no miracle cures for flies and mosquitoes. There are some great rubs for horses (these are far superior to the sprays as you can protect your horses sensitive head and neck area without worry about getting it into his eyes). Most of these insecticides are only effective for a day or so at the most because sunlight is a huge factor in breaking down the protective ingredients in most chemical insecticides.

Sanitation and removal of insect friendly breeding areas is the key to controlling these pests. Horse and deer flies will not enter deep shade or the interior of a building and since the majority of mosquitoes come out at night to feed, you can protect your horse by bringing her indoors at night. Screening on barn windows will also help cut down on incidences of your horse being bitten.

Yes, there are more of them then there are of you, but you can win the fight against biting bugs and mosquitoes by keeping your horse clean, using a veterinarian approved insecticide if the problem is really bad and removing all breeding sites around your horses areas.