Cold horse, would else could cause?

[Toffee44]

Vet coming out this week.

Nothing found with dentist. However he said knowing her as a good doer (done her tor last 5years always march/ april time) and looking at her, he would guess ulcers.

 

[Goldenstar]

Was she turned away because of lameness ?
Pain can cause ulcers and being unhappy can make horse fret and get ulcers .
Of course she may just be not thriving because she does not like living out and feels the cold .
Horses can be a nightmare you don’t want to spend a load of money to tell you what you already know .
I have one he loses weight every winter he eats double the hard food my others get in fact it’s more than double he’s a funny horse very active always up to something I have learn to keep him warm and not to worry because spring will come and he will gain wieght he’s already gaining it’s milder here this week and he down a rug now and coming in at night and wearing no rug ( it’s warm in his stable )
He had to come in during the snow the conditions where extreme.

 

[OLDGREYMARE]

Could she have cushings? They have trouble regulating their temperature and they get ribby due to loss of topline very easily.

 

[Toffee44]

I am assuming vet will be doing a blood work up on visit.

 

[ester]

Thanks for the update Toffee, if our vet cushings test they do time it so they can go straight back to the practice to get that days post.

 

[Toffee44]

Bloods suggest a virus perhaps now causing ulcers.

Still quite tucked up but gaining weight feel like I am feeding her loads (normally half a scoop chaff type feeds)!. If shes still not right after spring grass is in we may scope for ulcers but for now on protexin stress dose.

Looking at photos I have taken over last 2 months her gut is relaxing since giving protexin.

So much for just turning away, shes costing more than double what she would normally in feed and supplements.

 

[MissTyc]

If your horse is anything like mine and the other part bred hackneys I know, she is a very busy person! Constantly on the move in the field so I dont think she helps herself.

My Hackney X is the same. Thinks she's the bee's knees and acts mareish but actually not very competitive at the ad lib forage. So she gives it large (a lot), wasting energy while never actually getting her fair share ... this makes more grumpy makes bad gut makes ulcers, etc ... I have a herd living together - they go through one roundbale per day , but we do them on rotation so here are always three available. This gives everyone a chance. If I bring her into a stable or paddock, she eats happily for a bit then complains that she wants to be outside with her friends and gets stressy that way instead. Can't win with some horses. If it was your horse's first winter out, then I have seen some take this long to adapt I'm afraid!

 

[Goldenstar]

Bloods suggest a virus perhaps now causing ulcers.

Still quite tucked up but gaining weight feel like I am feeding her loads (normally half a scoop chaff type feeds)!. If shes still not right after spring grass is in we may scope for ulcers but for now on protexin stress dose.

Looking at photos I have taken over last 2 months her gut is relaxing since giving protexin.

So much for just turning away, shes costing more than double what she would normally in feed and supplements.

My outside horse costs more than double to feed than my inside ones .
In fact at he’s being stabled apart from a few hours a day atm he and I had had enough .

 

[Andalucian]

I was going to suggest a course of Protexin to make sure the gut is able to take the nutrients out of the food she is consuming.
I hope she makes a turn for the better very quickly.

 

[Toffee44]

Thank you for your replies.

Yeah maybe I underestimated her good doerness for hardiness living out (although there is a shelter). Not exactly the nicest winter for her first go out.
She was out in that winter it continously snowed (2010?!?) and was fine but that was a long time ago.

 

[Goldenstar]

Thank you for your replies.

Yeah maybe I underestimated her good doerness for hardiness living out (although there is a shelter). Not exactly the nicest winter for her first go out.
She was out in that winter it continously snowed (2010?!?) and was fine but that was a long time ago.

Tats my outside horse was turned away for two years between six and eight he had no human contact .
When I first wintered him out he managed fine although I did need to feed him a fair bit he’s eighteen now and I had to bring him in in January .
He’s never been keen on the stable but when he let us know in January he wanted in so we just let him choose .

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

My mare is 16 yrs old this year. Out of work since Nov due to my pregnancy. Full turnout since yard move in April 17. Usually a good doer and struggled to keep her down in the summer. Welsh cob x Hackney worming in date.

Last month or so she dropped off a lot so added coolstance copra to her feed- which helped. Shes currently on hi fi mollasses free half a stubbs, fast fibre 1/3 stubb, coolstance copra 1 coffee mug and turmeric. Shes had ab lib haylage since december.

When she first dropped off I added the copra and upped her rug.

Last week the grooms felt she was cold so we put her HW and MW on. Asked them to leave just her HW on yesterday. But she still felt cold and although covered still a bit ribby for her so we have kept both on for now.

Chriopractor this week anyway
Dentist this week anyway


Am I missing something obvious??

putting a heavyweight and medium weight on will only put weight on not warmth as they are not designed to let heat through, you would be better off using a rug designed to go under a turnout instead of two turnouts.

 

[Goldenstar]

putting a heavyweight and medium weight on will only put weight on not warmth as they are not designed to let heat through, you would be better off using a rug designed to go under a turnout instead of two turnouts.

I have been using two turnouts for years and horses are definitely warmer when they wear two .
It also allows you to adjust layers in bad weather without the horse getting wet which you can not do with an underug if you put another out door rug onto of a wet outdoor rug the rug underneath will be dry in morning .
Of course heat comes through out door rugs if it did not we would build houses out of them , watch a wet rug on a horse in a stable and you will see the water steam rising as the horses body heat starts to dry the rug .