fidleyspromise
Well-Known Member
Background: 19 yr old Highland pony owned since she was 4 and always been healthy. She is clipped in winter and lives out unrugged - happily lived like this for 10 years. Usually warmer than other horses that are rugged and not clipped. Gets ad lib hay but it's double netted and in a hay bell. Lives out 24/7 with a shelter.
Between Nov and Jan she was in regular work and did a fair amount of hacking walk/trot and canter. She was overweight so ideal time to get weight off.
About 3 months ago she started to cough but I didn't think much of it as she has been known to cough occasionally with hay in winter plus air was very dry. She was acting normal - eating/drinking/poohing and careering across field.
Vet was out for annual vaccinations in Feb and mentioned they've had reports of other horses on yard coughing. Sure enough the horse in field beside mine and one across in other field were both coughing.
Vet checked lungs etc and advised no issues so gave me antibiotics. Those didn't clear it. Sometimes the cough was hacking but there has never been any nasal discharge. I rang the vet back and the suggestion is that it will run its course and the cough should clear up.
The cough has now cleared (I gave her buckets of fast fibre for a week and took her off hay to give her throat a break from coarse food) BUT now she is cold to touch. She's currently in a heavy weight rug with a neck. She only now feels lukewarm to the touch (she's usually toasty to touch without a rug). She spends most of her time in the shelter when usually she'd spend some time in it but a lot of time up the field. She's still eating, drinking, poohing.
My suspicion is she has perhaps picked up a chill but I've never known her to be cold to touch. (She's been on a hill before with no shelter with driving wind/rain, clipped and needed no rug).
I'm just wondering if I'm maybe missing anything that anyone can see?
Thanks
Between Nov and Jan she was in regular work and did a fair amount of hacking walk/trot and canter. She was overweight so ideal time to get weight off.
About 3 months ago she started to cough but I didn't think much of it as she has been known to cough occasionally with hay in winter plus air was very dry. She was acting normal - eating/drinking/poohing and careering across field.
Vet was out for annual vaccinations in Feb and mentioned they've had reports of other horses on yard coughing. Sure enough the horse in field beside mine and one across in other field were both coughing.
Vet checked lungs etc and advised no issues so gave me antibiotics. Those didn't clear it. Sometimes the cough was hacking but there has never been any nasal discharge. I rang the vet back and the suggestion is that it will run its course and the cough should clear up.
The cough has now cleared (I gave her buckets of fast fibre for a week and took her off hay to give her throat a break from coarse food) BUT now she is cold to touch. She's currently in a heavy weight rug with a neck. She only now feels lukewarm to the touch (she's usually toasty to touch without a rug). She spends most of her time in the shelter when usually she'd spend some time in it but a lot of time up the field. She's still eating, drinking, poohing.
My suspicion is she has perhaps picked up a chill but I've never known her to be cold to touch. (She's been on a hill before with no shelter with driving wind/rain, clipped and needed no rug).
I'm just wondering if I'm maybe missing anything that anyone can see?
Thanks
