Neonatal neurological disease

The aim of the neurological examination is to determine if a neurological disorder exists and if so, where the lesion or lesions are located. Horses, as a precocious species, are born with a more developed brain and fully functional vision and hearing compared with altricious species such as humans. Although brain development continues after birth, the cerebellar layers in prey animals such as the neonatal foal are already distinct histologically at birth compared with predators’ brains. Cerebellar development and myelination in various parts of the nervous system explain the ‘bouncy’ gait in neonatal foals. Neonatal foals are not little adult horses, and major physiological and neurological differences exist compared to older foals and adult horses ...