Anorexic horse.

It's not your fault Elizabeth; you are just a child and as children do, they chatter about things like this.

What I cannot fathom out is the owners of this horse treating it in this fashion and yes I feel terribly sorry for the horse.
 
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Poor bloody horse.
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I agree...
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I wasn't wanting "type" of comment.
I was simply sharing this experience (not sure if that's the right word).

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Ok, was just wondering.

Words well and truely fail me that they are exercising the horse in his condition!
 
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It's not your fault Elizabeth; you are just a child and as children do, they chatter about things like this.

What I cannot fathom out is the owners of this horse treating it in this fashion and yes I feel terribly sorry for the horse.

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Actually, I am completely mystified by the horse and the diagnosis. Anorexia? Has it been looking in mirrors and deciding that all the eventers in H&H are much more fit looking and it is time to shed some weight? Or dismorphic perhaps and sees itself a a cob really?

It may only be a matter or time before it takes to laxatives (bran) or hiding food in the bed to shed even more weight.

This is all very silly, either the horse is a crib biting windsucker that needs a constant trickle feed of high fibre rations and some prebiotics (and God knows there are enough of those in some riding schools) and will be fine or it is too ill to eat and will die. It seems we are never to know and are not allowed to have an opinion either way
 
Well I don't think you are alone in querying the "diagnosis" - I use the term loosely.......VERY loosely.
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Of course this could be a bit of a fabrication of what is actually happening.
 
what about his teeth?

he's obviously poorly and the YO with ''30 years of experience'' is still letting people ride him?
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very confusing!!! i think she's in the wrong proffession!!!
 
I agree poor horse. It should not be in work until it is well and truly sorted.
I also think after reading the posts that the horse is not being treated correctly.
I also cannot truly work out the true reason for the OP post's in the first place either.
Yes we can all share experiences but the idea on this forum is for others to learn from them, at least that is my interpretation. Nothing is being learned from this experience as the horse's treatment has not been discussed except for the fact that it is being hand fed on occasions and is also in work albeit reduced.
People on this forum are trying to offer advice about the horse's condition which is being dismissed as the OP believes it is not their place to intervene at the yard.
Well I'm sorry but if I that was me and I cared about that horse then I would. Even if I got shouted at, at least then you would know how important you were to that establishment and what they actually thought of you.
Judging by the fact that this horse is ill either mentally or physically and is still being 'used' by the riding school then I doubt whether that level of importance is a lot.
I truly hope that the horse does indeed get better though.
Caroline
 
Send him to me, I'd put money on being able to help him. It wouldn't involve having him stood in a stable tacked up waiting for long periods of time for the odd hour he gets ridden now and then.
Not a dig at you, you did what you could to help him didn't you? I worked around riding schools a lot when I was younger and some horses just don't do well under the routine, the periods of stabling on a busy yard, standing around in tack etc. Sometimes some riding school horses just need a different life.
It's sad isn't it? I wish I could have him.
 
We once had an 'anorexic' horse. He never ate anything hardly. Because he ate so little hay, he got fed more hard food to make up for it, he then got spoilt as he would only eat hard food if you held the bucket.... it got ridiculous. He was cured when all the hard food got cut out of his diet and he had to eat hay, he then started eating normally.
 
I understand you don't want advice so I'll make a comment instead.
If he is as bad as you say he shouldn't be in work.
I've never heard of that term used for a horse before, extreme thinness and loss of appetite can be a number of things, from long term worm damage to thickening of the gut wall as in cancer.
I'm assuming they have blood tested him and given him B12 injection?
The best way to get weight on a horse at this time of year is grass..it's growing plentifully at the moment almost like spring.
I do realise as he is not your horse you can't change anything, but you can make a casual remark asking about his treatment, after all they have told you his diagnosis haven't they?
Being an ex riding school owner I understand he has to earn his keep but just giving him feed and hay probably won't sort whatever this is; you can be as rude as you like to me, I'm just telling you facts. I think their diagnosis is a description they've used because they don't know what's wrong with him.
I hope too he gets better.
 
Hardly dare post really, but if the horse is not eating properly then he should not be in work - at all.
Hope he gets better soon.
 
Anorexia in people as a mental health issue is actually shorthand for anorexia nervosa, anorexia is simply a term for not eating, which can be caused by a physical problem. It is descriptive rather than diagnostic
 
Precisely! Which means that the horse has not been diagnosed. The symptoms of anorexia are masking the primary condition. The owners need to find out what is actually wrong with the horse. I'd wager it's ulcers or some other gastric issues.
 
What ever the cause, I would worry about a RS that uses its horses in this condition. We bought a mare from a RS which worked her a lot, fed her at odd times and she was very underweight for a shirexclydesdale. She put weight on when she came to us, had a settled routine and ate grass.
 
anorexia is a mental disorder, i think its pretty obvious that this horse is not happy hence why wind sucking and not eating. you cant call a horse anorexic i dont think, only to describe the situation! but i think it would be best if you didnt call it anorexic, but sick.

people shouldnt ride sick horses, until they are prospering and happy and healthy, which this horse is clearly not.

i used to ride and help at a riding school, and i have seen many horses like this. cobs that were too thin, standing tied up looking at a wall with tack on all day, trekking all day etc etc. im not saying its like that at your riding school, but after a while most of the horses got sicvk of this lifestyle and went away for the wimter (or longer) for a rest and a holiday. maybe thats what he needs, to go away from the stressful environment that is a riding school and go and chill out in a field for a while.

really hope he gets better soon, poor lad x
 
As above, anorexia nervosa is a mental illness, Anorexia is a descrptive term for not eating, usually from a physical cause. The confusion is because people use anorexia as a short hand for anorexia nervosa. I work as a psychiatric social worker so sometimes work with people with eating disorders.
 
i get what youre saying yorksg, i dont like it when people say 'anorexic' when people or animals are not eating, because its so much more than that, i should know x
 
but YorksG is correct in saying that the term 'anorexia' means (dictionary definition) lack of appetite or inability to eat.
Of course the disease Anorexia Nervosa is far more complex and distressing than simple lack of appetite. And I know too!
I don't think that this is a diagnosis at all in the proper sense of the word. All it means is that the horse can't or won't eat properly and is therefore a symptom. WHY it can't or won't remains undetermined as far as I can fathom.
 
Anorexia (loss of appetite) is generally not a primary diagnosis as it is usually caused by something else.

It is a symptom of something underlying.
There may be a physical cause, or it may be psychological - he may be stressed, bored etc.

Simply hand feeding him and carrying on as normal is not going to get to the route of the problem - this is a sign that there is something WRONG which needs to be addressed. It is our responsibility as owners to find out what that is.

The current situation smacks of poor horse management and the horse is the one who suffers the consequences.

Poor sod.
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i dont like it when people say 'anorexic' when people or animals are not eating, because its so much more than that, i should know x

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Why not?
an - without; orexis - appetite, desire.
Agree with others though that this is not a diagnosis - more an observation and I would have thought that the owners and vet would want to find out the reason why the horse is not eating...
 
Elizabeth will you please speak to the YO and express your concern about the horse and suggest that he should be turned out 24/7 and his work load stops immediatly?
 
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I think we should acknowledge that the OP is only 15, is clearly concerned about this horse, wanted to share that concern but is in no position to influence what happens to it. There's no point treating her like an adult who can speak to the YO on equal terms.

Sometimes forum members just have to accept that we can't solve all the world's equine problems. The horse sounds depressed and unsuitable for the work it's doing. There must be hundreds of horses like that. Sometimes we can help them, sometimes we can't. I don't think we can help this one.
 
what i meant weevil was that people tend to use the term loosely, 'oh hes not eating so hes anorexic', 'oh he must be anorexic because hes not eating' yada yada yada. sorry if i didn't make myself clear, and i suppose maybe its not really linked to the situation here, but i just went off on a tangent there!

but i can see your point Elizabeth, seeing as he is not actually yours you feel like you cant do anything. maybe a few hints here and there to the YO are in order? xx
 
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what i meant weevil was that people tend to use the term loosely, 'oh hes not eating so hes anorexic', 'oh he must be anorexic because hes not eating' yada yada yada.

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But if someone is not eating and has no appetite then they are anorexic. Just because the term is most commonly used to describe people suffering from anorexia nervosa does not mean that that is the only definition.
 
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what i meant weevil was that people tend to use the term loosely, 'oh hes not eating so hes anorexic', 'oh he must be anorexic because hes not eating' yada yada yada.

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But if someone is not eating and has no appetite then they are anorexic. Just because the term is most commonly used to describe people suffering from anorexia nervosa does not mean that that is the only definition.

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so youre saying that if i lose my appetite or if i have no desire to eat i am anorexic? am i not just sick? i just wondered, not having a go or anything just have thought and heard people actually call people who are suffering from anorexia nervosa 'anorexic' .
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anyway i think this is a whole different post altogether!
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so youre saying that if i lose my appetite or if i have no desire to eat i am anorexic? am i not just sick?

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Yes. As I said in my previous post anorexia is not a diagnosis, it is a term taken from the greek to mean "without the desire to eat".
As I also said in a previous post the term anorexic is commonly used to describe someone with anorexia nervosa (the eating disorder) but that does not mean that it is the only definition of the term "anorexic"
 
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Our dog kept being sick after eating. Fortunately we realised it wasnt bulimia and took him to the vets.



Elizabeth: I understand you're at a RS and cannot tell your YO what to do. Maybe you posted to hear others experiences so you yourself could perhaps gain an insight into what might be causing this? You obviously care about this horse, and probably feel gutted that apart from hand feeding him there isnt much you can do. This could be a physical illness, or a psycological one. I very much doubt he's been seen by a vet properly, as a vet wouldnt recommend he worked. It could well be the stresses and strains of RS life, in which case maybe the yO will decide he needs too much care to warrant being there and will sell him on.. and maybe he might be okay out of the enviroment. It could be a physical problem.

I hope it all works out for him.
 
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