Any idea what could be wrong with my horse

Bosworth

Bosworth

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www.ballhillequestrian.co.uk
bit of back ground first. My youngster is a 2 year old. He was living out with 2young colts from July till early November when the weather changed. In late October another youngster was added to their group. When we brought them in in November we worm counted them all and they showed counts from 150 - 450. We wormed with Equimax and I found no evidence of worms in his droppings. Two of the other youngsters suddenly dropped weight, became lethargic with bad diarrhoea. The other owner was convinced it was because of worms - but to he honest I doubt it very much as even a worm count of 450 is not high. They have not had a vet out to either of their horses as they are not insured and they have serious financial problems. My youngster was fine, eating normally and no sign of a problem, tonight I am not convinced, his poo is loose - sort of grassy poo (he is on good plentiful grass) He is stuffing his feed ( Simple Systems luci nuts, pura beet, linseed and brewers yeast) and eating hay but won't eat his haylage although he has been up until tonight. He is drinking about 3 normal buckets of water at night and looks lethargic and depressed

I suspect some sort of virus - his temp is absolutely normal, he is eating well, looks a bit depressed and is generally lethargic. his weight is fine but bearing in mind how much he is eating he should be putting on weight. I am convinced it is virus of some sort and was intending getting him some Red Cell and some pink powder tomorrow and giving him that for a couple of days to see if he perks up has anyone any suggestions as to what it could be and what to feed.

i will probably give him a couple of days on that to see if he perks up and if not I will give the vet a call.
 
I think my mare has had something similar. She seemed to drop weight over night, and was lethargic and depressed, again eating her buckets but being a bit finiky on her hay.... and seems to be spending a lot of time down sleeping. I have put it down to a virus, as after starting her on the NAF equivalent of red cell she is back to being perky and her cheeky self.
 
You could try vi-sorbin? Also ecchinacea is good.

Are his back legs puffy/swelling at all? They usually will with a virus.
 
Never thought of echinacea will try that as well, will use either vi-sorbin or red cell depending on what I can get from Mole avon. And now you mention it his hind legs are slighly filled but I put that down to standing in for a couple of days over the weekend because of our biblical weather, which i also thought could be the reason he is a bit loose as he has been on haylage 24/7 for a couple of days when he is used to grass during the day.
 
Hmmmmmm. I'd keep a very close eye on him. I would have expected a raised temperature, even if only slight with a viral infection. Are his pulse and breathing rate normal? Gut sounds? Although plentiful grass will fill his belly, there's not much nutrition in it at this time of year so I'd expect him to be hungry for feed/haynets. Why does he have hay AND haylage? If he's not eating haylage, it might be a bad bale. Check thoroughly that there's no soil been caught up in it as it was baled. If it is a virus, good nursing will do as much for him as any supplement so give him tons of tlc and being spoilt. If he was mine and continued to be depressed and have diarrhoea, I'd give him til the end of the week and then get the vet out.
 
Wet lush grass , at this time of year. It isnt normal, and the grass will be a bit like early spring grass. It can play havoc with their digestive systems. I seem to remember somthing about it affecting levels of sodium and Potasium.I would certainly be giving my horse electrolytes if I were you.It cant hurt,but might help.
 
He is normally on haylage and eats if fine but last night didn't really want it - so I tried him with some hay and he ate some of that. Definitely not a bad bale as all my others are happily eating it and it is lovely haylage. And he is happily eating his feeds. I have left him in today with a large bucket of the Simple Systems lucinuts so am not concerned that he is lacking nutrients. he is definitely not dehydrated - checked that today and he is drinking well and his feed is all soaked. his poo is loose - but not diarrhoea. I will get him on the pink powder and blood liquid today and see how he goes for teh next couple of days. If there is no improvement then I will get the vet. At the moment there is nothing really for the vet to see and to be honest if it is a virus there is very little they can do other than what I am planning to do at half teh price!!
 
I would suspect if the legs are slightly puffy that he has a small virus, and you are right, vets will prescribe 5 days on antibiotics and bute if the swelling is bad and he is in pain. If the legs fill more, then I would pressure bandage them.

I would feed vi-sorbin/red cell etc and see how he goes. Keep him in and see if he is peeing a lot - also another sign of a virus.

They dont always have raging temps - but if it does suddenly spike then suspect you being sensible will call the vet anyway.

If he is happy eating hay then I wouldnt worry about him not wanting haylage - my horses prefer good hay to haylage, and will ignore both for good grass!
 
Bosworth an egg count of 450 is VERY high, as this figure only scratches the surface of the actual quantity of mature reproductive worms that the horse has as the dung sample is so small. It does not reveal the degree of encysted burden either unless the sample was analysed at one of the few labs in the uk that now offer cyathatome egg detection. If the dung sample shows a high presence of mature worms then it is more than likely that the encysted burden is even greater. A blood test could give you more information about liver enzyme levels and white cell count and whether or not there is a possibility of burden but will not be conclusive that the problem is caused by worm burden asl only indicates that the horse is dealing with infection of some kind but could be anything, virus, worm burden etc.

Grazing groups of youngstock are at greater risk of becoming infected as horses under five years of age have less natural resistance to intestinal parasites. Loose slushy stools, increased water intake, depression and lethargy are all classic symptoms of worm burden weight loss may come on dramatically at some point but some horses look outwardly well without weight loss for many months. The important thing to be aware of is that if left untreated intestinal parasite burden could lead to eventual death or permanent intestinal dammage

Please note Equimax does not treat encysted worms so you must treat the grazing group with either a five day course of panacur guard (much gentler) or Equest as these are the only two treatments that deal with encysted worms.

It is recommended that horses with a serious worm burden should be treated first with the panacur five day guard as this prevents a mass migration of dead worms/ larvae at the same time which can cause skin irritations and collic. On day six you can then also treat with Equest, this covers for the eventual 20% of encysted worms that the panacur guard may not affect.

Two weeks later take a further dung sample then worm again in eight weeks time with equest from the date of last treatment. Recent studies are indicating that there is resistance to equest at 10 weeks in young animals so don't leave it that long before repeating their treatment. Official statistics are showing that death caused by encysted cyathatomes burden are reported to be on the increase as our climate becomes milder / wetter. Sorry if I've scared you but sometimes the symptoms only start to show when the burden reaches dangerously high levels of infection and death can be very sudden. I hate deworming overkill but when infestation takes hold you need to act swiftly with the correct chemical treatments. Do bear in mind though that intense chemical treatments can disrupt a horses natural intestinal balance so its worth putting them all on baileys digest plus, natural yoghurt, yeesac or some form of probiotic, natural milk thistle from Hilton Herbs can help re-establish the balance of the liver liver too. Good luck.
 
He is now looking a lot happier - has been on maximum dose Naf EnerG which is similar to Red cell, and I have upped his feeds to constant so he now has a huge tub trug of luci nuts with Pura beet to go through the night with and is now happily guzzling that and I will add more if he has finished that by 10pm. He also has a small amount of hay and haylage so he can try either of those should he choose to. He was sweaty earlier so has definitely got a temperature now but his eye is far brighter and he is showing far more interest in his surroundings. His drinking has reduced slightly but it had increased yesterday so nearly back to normal.

I am 100% convinced now that is it a virus and absolutely nothing to do with worms. His reaction to the blood liquid has been so fast I think I have causght it early and hopefully if I can keep him eating and he stays happy he should be over it quite quickly.
 
I hope for your sake it is! When did you last worm the youngsters with Equest or Panacur five day guard? assuming that you have?
 
Hardly shockingly high - I have seen several livery horses with worm counts in excess of 850 when they arrive. Infact up to 1000 is still only classed as medium with Westgate. I have seen a pony - from a welfare centre who was allegedly wormed regularly with a worm count in excess of 3500 and showing no outward symptoms. I insist on worm counts every quarter and every new horse that arrives has to have a clear worm count before we turn out. We worm routinely for tape and bots as advised by Intelligent worming when they develop the programme for each horse. The only horses that have ever gone out on my paddocks without a clear worm count were the two youngsters in with my 2 year old who came from a close friend and i was promised had had clear worm counts and been wormed with equest the day before they came. I can assume from the count that they were not and they have passed their little friends on. But to be honest it is such a short timescale that it is unlikely that any damage has been done to my chap. It is far more likely that the most recent youngster, who I worm counted before he went in with the others, brought in a virus which he has passed around to the others.
Apparantly, I have found out tonight from my vet that there is some seriously nasty virus in this area and a horse locally has been PTS because the vets could do nothing for it despite trying, they are coming on quickly and showing similar symptoms to my lad . My vet is happy with my horses progress he thinks it is only a mild version of it and has asked me to keep him informed and will come out Friday if I think he is not improving.
 
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