Advice please on a horse that seem to have occasional trouble getting up.

[JEP]

Earlier this year a friend of mine, who use to breed horses and is now in her early 70's. asked if she could move her last remaining horse to my yard as she was very worried about how the horse would be looked after by her family should she become ill or worse. Having a spare stable and plenty of grazing I was happy to help her and so far it has worked well. However one thing is concerning me - on a couple of occassions I've noticed the mare seems to have trouble getting to her feet if she's been lying down in the field for some time. She seems to sit up on her haunches, then rock backward and forwards before getting up. Once on her feet she shows no sign of any lameness. I mentioned this to my friend who said the mare has done this for several years and it's worse when she has a "grass belly" which she does at the moment. It only seems to happen when she has laid down for sometime and never has a problem when getting up after rolling.

The mare is not ridden at the moment but I try to long rein her a couple of times a week, as well as restricting her grazing, to try and get some of her extra weight off. She is 14 and has capped hocks but show no lameness when worked. At the moment she is out 24/7 but will come in at night during the winter.

My friend does'nt seem concern about it but should I suggest she get her vet to check it out. I've never had this problem with any of my horses, even the older ones, so would be grateful for any comments regarding this.

 

[Box_Of_Frogs]

It might be just her own way of doing things, exacerbated maybe by a big belly getting in the way. My only concern would be that if she genuinely struggles to get up (rather than a funny habit) then if she's unable to get up for hours she could get pneumonia or other problem from being down so long and her own weight pressing on her internal organs. I'd watch her very carefully and continue getting her weight down. She's not got a touch of laminitis has she as that would make her front feet hurt when putting weight on them to get up.

 

[JEP]

It might be just her own way of doing things, exacerbated maybe by a big belly getting in the way. My only concern would be that if she genuinely struggles to get up (rather than a funny habit) then if she's unable to get up for hours she could get pneumonia or other problem from being down so long and her own weight pressing on her internal organs. I'd watch her very carefully and continue getting her weight down. She's not got a touch of laminitis has she as that would make her front feet hurt when putting weight on them to get up.

Thanks for this - It does'nt seem to take her long to get up, probley less than a minute but just seems ages compared to my two. I will continue to get the weight off as was a bit concerned re Laminitis but she is'nt really showing any real signs of it. Just wondering if, with a touch of arthritis, her hind legs get a bit "dead" when she's been lying down for a while. She's on a joint supplement but thinking about also using something like No Bute as well.

 

[Beausmate]

Is she rocking in a kind of 1..2...3...up! sort of way, or could she be scratching her backside? If she's fine otherwise, then it is probably just a funny habit.