Are there kinds of illnesses that make horses crazy?
—Carolina Unfortunately, neurologic diseases—illnesses affecting the brain—can be common in horses, Carolina. The three leading causes of neurologic disease in horses are infections from bugs and parasites, rabies, and eating things they shouldn’t be eating (like moldy grain or poisonous plants). A horse who is in pain might express it by acting “crazy,” especially when he is being ridden. Any change in a horse’s behavior should be checked out by your veterinarian, who can examine the horse’s body and do some blood tests to discover what’s going on. Since we mentioned rabies, I want everyone to know that it’s really important for all horses to get vaccinated against rabies every year. Rabies is a fatal disease that can be passed to horses from infected animals. It can be transmitted to people through the horse’s saliva, even without an actual bite from the horse. Of course, there are some strange horse behaviors that are caused by hormones, and even emotions! Horses who are very bonded
