Following on from 'worried about mare' Pics

Queenbee

Queenbee

Well-Known Member
Joined
20 August 2007
Messages
12,020
Location
Cumbria
Visit site
The other day I posted about ebony who has gone downhill rapidly, up until yesterday she has been on 2 meals a day, 3 cakes of haylage at night, out on grass at day to try and improve her weight and condition and still this last week she has lost even more. Well someone asked for some pics and here they are:

What she looked like this time last year (sharing about 2/3 of an acre with ben, and getting no extra food)
100_0293-1.jpg

Taken in March but pretty much how she looked 5 weeks ago
Photo0168.jpg

Taken about the 1st of this month, she had lost some condition but not that much by this point
IMG_0080_1.jpg

Taken today::(:(
IMG_0147.jpg

IMG_0153-1.jpg

IMG_0143.jpg






As of yesterday she started on a new area to graze and 3 feeds a day each comprising of milk pellets, 1 scoop of sugar beet and 1 alfa oil, she is coming in but her appetite is waning with regards to haylage and she probably only ate about 1/2 a cake last night so tonight i fluffed it up on the floor and hoped this was just a blip! I also gave her a scoop of equiminns tonight as her gums are really pale:(

I know that others are saying that their horses are struggling with weight this year but this seems really extreme to me! she seems so lethargic :( she is eating her dinners though and nibbling at the grass. Thank god its monday tomorrow hopefully the vet will get to the bottom of it because right now I couldn't be more worried :(:(

Vibes for my girl please :(
 
just to say 2 things:

1 sorry for the humungous nature of the pics!

2 In the pics taken today she really did have grass, she is currently grazing down the neighbours lane which starts with concrete and then turns into lush grass!
 
So she had dropped that much in under two weeks? Can't really help but I am sorry to hear that and hope the vet can help you get her back to normal again :-)
 
Are her membranes ok or do they have a yellow shading? Just a thought but rapid weight loss and lack of apetite can indicate liver problems. Our old boy had a liver problem earlier in the year. We thought it was liver failure, but after a course of antibiotics he was right as rain. First signs for him were lethargy and loss of appetite. Hope your vet can sort things out tomorrow.
 
Not good:( she has dropped off over her spine, she looks similar to how my oldie looked when he was drinking to excess and peeing for England his topline went in just a few weeks, he was diagnosed with cushings and now has his weight back on where it should be.
Hope the vet finds a reason for it, the better weather may help as the grass should start to improve.
 
She is very poor looking, she needs a blood test really. Isnt' this the same one who you thought was preggers? Lots of abdo movement etc? My guess would be something is going on. Please get your vet out to examine her-she really is v. poor looking. What are milk pellets? She needs to be getting adlib haylage/hay out in the paddock too as grass is obviously not doing anything for her.
 
mandwhy said:
So she had dropped that much in under two weeks? Can't really help but I am sorry to hear that and hope the vet can help you get her back to normal again :-)
Click to expand...
yes, she was looking a little ribby and lacking topline then but I put it down to not having been worked for a month due to weather and injury (me not her)
mga4ever said:
Are her membranes ok or do they have a yellow shading? Just a thought but rapid weight loss and lack of apetite can indicate liver problems. Our old boy had a liver problem earlier in the year. We thought it was liver failure, but after a course of antibiotics he was right as rain. First signs for him were lethargy and loss of appetite. Hope your vet can sort things out tomorrow.
Click to expand...
Not checked membranes but will have a peek tomorrow
asommerville said:
could she have worms?
Click to expand...
I wondered that at the begining of month and wormed both of mine with equest, he passed worms (lg roundworms) she didnt
be positive said:
Not good:( she has dropped off over her spine, she looks similar to how my oldie looked when he was drinking to excess and peeing for England his topline went in just a few weeks, he was diagnosed with cushings and now has his weight back on where it should be.
Hope the vet finds a reason for it, the better weather may help as the grass should start to improve.
Click to expand...
Thats interesting she has been drinking quite a bit and noticed her peeing quite a bit but then she always has peed a lot, but certainly fluid intake is up
kerrieberry2 said:
the poor little mare, how old is she? has she had her feet done recently?
Click to expand...
she is 18, up until recently she was unshod but she doesn't grow hoof quickly so i had to shoe her about 3 weeks ago
 
whoops, i meant teeth, not feet, sorry! defo agree that she should have more fibre, hay/haylage, it might be that the grass isnt the best quality and she isn't getting any goodness from it!
 
The vet should do bloods, if she is drinking more and her membranes are pale it could well be her kidneys, possibly infection or at 18 it could be cushings as I said it was the only real sign with mine, he was drinking and peeing that everything was being flushed out and he dropped in a similar way to yours. It took no time to stabilise but a long while to improve his condition as he stopped eating enough even once he was stable he just did not eat well but now absolutely fine, 20 months on.
 
SusieT said:
She is very poor looking, she needs a blood test really. Isnt' this the same one who you thought was preggers? Lots of abdo movement etc? My guess would be something is going on. Please get your vet out to examine her-she really is v. poor looking. What are milk pellets? She needs to be getting adlib haylage/hay out in the paddock too as grass is obviously not doing anything for her.
Click to expand...

Susie, the same mare, she has always bloated in the summer and had a lot of rumbles etc, last year was a bit more than usual, normally her poo is like cow pats, although this year is has gone normal (first time ever in 11 yrs) Vet has checked this out and found nothing bad in past, although I have been considering that this history along with a stressy nature for years could indicate ulcers??, will be asking for full and thorough check tomorrow, bloods is high on the list, as is scope for ulcers. She isn't fussing with haylage, she hardly ate any last night and ignored the net hung out for her today and no, I agree the field she was in is not the best and needs YO to fertilise it (which he is arranging) that is why she is on the neighbours (farmers) land (for which I am very grateful) the grass here is full of goodness so I hope it will help. The grass cant be all that bad though because my youngster is blooming, so I know its more than just grass :(
 
yes teeth were done about 4 months ago but I have my edt coming for my youngster this month and I will ask the vet to have a peek tomorrow too, I usually use just edt, but with vet being here tomorrow I plan to make use of him because if I call edt to come early It probably wont be for a couple of days and I want to know now! BP, interesting what you are saying, there certainly seem to be similarities.

Susie T
Milk Pellets:
http://www.nutrecare.co.uk/Product-1269/Equivite-Body-Builder
 
Oh no poor you, you must be worried sick :( would deffinitely get the vet out to check her over and hopefully you can find out whats going on. Just a thought maybe try giving her some equi-jewel good for putting weight on and don't need to feed tons of it. Fingers Crossed for you.
 
Thank you missdarcy :) I was contemplating equijewel but went with equivite body builder which does similar only just started it though do yet to see results x will update tomorrow after vet been
 
how strange, hope the vet finds the solution. If I were you I would ask the vet to do a blood test as the rapid weight loss and lack of appitite could indicate a virus. sending good vibes ... !
 
Seems similar to one we had who had liver failure but im sure it wont be anything that serious with yours. Hopefully something nice and easy, fingers crossed.
 
Your mare is exactly how my mare was last year (Feb) while on loan so I feel your worry.
The vet did blood tests which came back almost below the scale, very poor counts. She was immediately wormed with Pramox in spite of having been on a strict worming programme and loads were expelled over a few days while we waited for test results but the vet was positive that worms were not the original problem rather that she had picked up something that weakened her system (she even had a strange hind leg lameness which disappeared as she improved and put weight on again); once they were back she was put on Myoplast to stimulate her appetite (it looks like ball bearings!) Blood tests were repeated every fortnight and they slowly improved until two months later they were normal again. In the meantime she was given four feeds a day and we had the best results with soaked grass nuts rather than with any chaff, along with stud nuts and soaked barley with totally ad lib hay and haylage plus some grazing and keeping her warm. She was well enough to travel home in early March and getting better by the day; after taking vet advice, she was covered 3rd May and produced a lovely colt on 20th April this year after looking as big as a bullock all year so there is hope on the horizon.
Regaining weight is never a quick thing beside the fact it is bad for them too but you do need to find the underlaying cause for the weight loss in the first place so that you can address that otherwise it will always be a problem.

Good luck and let us know how it goes with the vet.
 
She was wormed with equest pramox 2 weeks ago and nothing came out and I definitely didn't underside her :( its all just so sad and frustrating, she's got winter stable rug on, and tommorrow will have her med turnout on with full neck! I also want to deosect for any critters just in case although the only time she had mites she scratched the hair off her legs and none missing although she stamped a few times in her stable today so I'd rather be safe than sorry! Can't flipping sleep for thinking about it! Glad to hear your mare got better, the hard thing is horses can lose condition easier than they put it on :(
 
Hi all just to let everyone know madam ate only about a cake of haylage last night and didn't call when I walked into the barn so she must feel really bad :( she is however eating breakfast and vet will be here in half an hr so may have some answers soon.
 
Hope you do get to the bottom of it, the worst part is not knowing what is going on I think. I do think she looks as if she may have liver problems, but hopefully you'll know what is what soon and can take steps to rectify things. Fingers crossed it is something simple that can be put right. x
 
Nothing else to add, but really hope that is isn't anything too serious and very soon your mare will be back to norm!
Have a hug x
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top