hock injury, sand colic, weight loss

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Chrissie_Hamilton

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Hi, my name is Christina Hamilton. I have had my Arab gelding for 12 years, he's 23. He has always been an easy keeper, on like 1/8 scoop of feed, otherwise he would blow up. Recently in the past 2-3 months he had what we thought was sand colic. He lost a lot of weight quickly, wouldn't stand a lot, wouldn't eat a lot or drink, acted super tired and let his private hang pretty much all day every day. We upped his senior feed to 2 scoops a day, and all the hay he wanted. He's also had a fat supplement added to his food and he's been on phsyillium since he got sick. He stays out in the pasture 24/7. He has not gained any weight back, but he's acting fairly normal, eating and drinking.

A few years ago I went out one day and his hock was SO swollen - the vet looked him over thoroughly and said it wasn't anything but swelling, it wasn't causing him to limp, but it may never go down. It eventually did over a few months, it was never hot or tender to touch. Well a few days ago the lady I'm boarding him with said she went to go feed in the AM and he was limping so badly it took her a long time to get him to the barn and in a stall. There was no swelling or cuts or anything but it was the same leg that had the swollen hock a few years ago. He is prone to having bad abcesses, so I thought this was one building up to burst and it was causing him pain. Nothing happened and he's now back to normal. It was the weirdest thing.

I'm really not sure what is going on with him, his weight loss and now this. He's completely retired and has actually been for a few years. He was a rescue, so he was always a skittish guy to be on. I worked a lot on the ground with him but not a ton of riding. I'm currently looking to move him closer to me as I just moved, he perks up when I come to see him so I'm wondering if some of this isn't him just wanting his momma around. I have been around horses for most of my life (like 17 years) and I have never met a kinder, quieter, sweeter horse (until you get on him, lol, then he's scared of everything).

Any suggestions?
 
she wants to wait a little longer to see about his weight, but it's been a few weeks now, and he's had his teeth done in the last 2 years. I held out grain several occasions for him to eat out of my hand and he doesn't drop a single piece. He's 23, but before this he was in perfect condition. His old hock injury the vet said it would probably never go away, but unless it looks like it's bothering him don't worry about it. It never did, but now he's not limping anymore and no abcess came up, but I'm still worried something is going on internally as he hasn't gained weight.
 
Chrissie from your language you are American. Are you in the US? If you are, I hope you are also posting this question on US forum ? Because I have come across some pretty big differences between the attitudes of US and UK vets, mostly because there is a lot of insurance cover in this country, and because vets and specialist hospitals are much closer to us than they are to many US horses.

In English terms, you seem to be describing a bog spavin which doesn't usually cause lameness. The weight loss needs investigation by a specialist or experienced horse vet.
 
Yes I am American. I believe I also posted it to the US forum, I will double check. I was thinking bog spavin, but I wanted to get some other people's opinions first before I asked her to make sure it sounded like that to others as well. Thanks.
 
ok, I was thinking about having someone look at his teeth again just to be sure even though he's not dropping anything, he may not be chewing very well. His vet is the one that did his teeth, I may ask around for an equine dentist, and I'll ask another vet friend of mine if he can come out.
 
In the UK I've seen vets pop horses on a course of steroids with unexplained weight loss. Depending on how they respond determines next course of treatment.
 
Has the vet run a range of blood tests? could be a fair few different causes for weight loss, decreased appetite, tired/poor demeanour as you described.
My lad had sand colic, it was an acute colic that came close to needing surgery, the xrays showed the layer of silt/sand lying in the lower abdomen. After the acute problem passed we treated with psyllium ("sand-out") and checked his poo regularly by getting a fresh "nugget" of poo in a plastic bag/bucket/latex glove, adding water to mix it all up, then let it settle out as the sand sinks. After 3 months on psyllium and a change of yard for different grazing we had no silt/sand.
I hope you find it is something treatable/manageable, horses can be a worry.
 
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