Horse lacking joie de vivre?

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Ranyhyn

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Does any have experience of a horse lacking life?!

My 7yo mare is a little, dare I say, depressed looking at the moment. She's recently moved to livery and been brought back into work after time off. She has always been laid back and it's not that which is bothering me. It's a distinct lack of interest in things, and a definite lack of joie de vivre!

Today for example, as I brought her in, her fieldmates all went blazing past her, and she didn't even flinch. On the walker she's walking so slow that I think if I stopped the motor she'd go backwards..

Under saddle she's dreadfully behind the leg unless I really get ontop of her, at which point she steams around with her ears flat back and in a temper. To me, the best way I can describe it is almost, a depression.

She's had physio, vet, dentist all prior to starting work and is coming in at day 4-5 times a week and out at night every night.

She gets fed two haynets of haylage while in and two mugs of fast fibre and a mug of calm and condition.

She's recently been wormed in line with the yard worming and I'm considering doing a worm count after to check perhaps if there are worms the wormer hasn't hit? Because that's me out of ideas then.

Body condition wise I'd say she's a 2.5.

Any ideas welcome, thanks :)
 
Low grade infection, ulcers, sore feet (grass related) hormones (Cushings)?? Just some ideas you probably don't want to read. :cool:
 
She's not running a temp, as I might have expected with an infection. And I definitely don't think it's got anything to do with her feet (I pay a LOT of attention after laminitis and a good period without shoes!)

However my friend mentioned ulcers, I'll admit I don't know anything about other symptoms/causes and same with cushings. But this is a total change from the horse say, 3 months ago.
 
was going to say low grade infection or possibly anaemia too, but you'd need blood tests for those. Could she be cold? the temperature has really dropped round here this week, especially at night, and if she's in and cosy during the day could she be cold and fed up going out at night?
 
amymay said:
I'd be suspecting low grade virus - picked up since she moved.

Is she getting enough grub?
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She's getting a whole lot more than she's ever had before, being as I have always watched her wait, she didn't actually GET fed until she moved as our grazing at home is good. Then again, her grazing at livery is, inevitably less good, however the horses in her field all look good, can't comment on their hard feed but they are getting the same grazing.

She's fed under the recommended amounts on the FF and C+C atm, which I am slowly upping, but again, I am thinking about this worm count before I go upping her food because it may be that she's not getting it, maybe?
 
Same as amymay.

Also my horses have been a little off, the tb really lacking in energy. Spoke to vet and we changed feed. Vet said that they have had alot of phone calls describing the same. The vets think the weather is affecting them as its been so up and down the horses don't know which way they are coming or going.
 
Bigginge said:
was going to say low grade infection or possibly anaemia too, but you'd need blood tests for those. Could she be cold? the temperature has really dropped round here this week, especially at night, and if she's in and cosy during the day could she be cold and fed up going out at night?
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She is growing out a low chaser (half head half neck) and in say 150g so possibly with the temp drop as you say. I will try upping her rug, thanks for the suggestion.
 
slightlyconfused said:
Same as amymay.

Also my horses have been a little off, the tb really lacking in energy. Spoke to vet and we changed feed. Vet said that they have had alot of phone calls describing the same. The vets think the weather is affecting them as its been so up and down the horses don't know which way they are coming or going.
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That's interesting to read, thank you.
It sounds very similar, it's like she just can't be bothered.
 
My mare's been the same this month. Really dull and flat (quite unlike her) and the spark is gone from her eye. She is still eating, drinking, pooping and peeing as normal, but there's definitely something amiss. Had vet out 2 weeks ago to investigate and they found nothing. Blood came back normal, too. She picked up after a 5 day course of Trimediazine Plain and Danilon, but I don't think we really know what the problem was/is.
 
Mine is usually low in Autumn, but picks up if fed some Propell Plus, oil and vitamins. Propell Plus seems to be pretty good when they're a bit run down or recovering from a virus and need a pick me up so if all else is ruled out it could be worth a try (I think it's the high levels of iron in it that help??).
 
In all fairness, she has had a looooot of time off recently, with various foot/leg problems, and you've only just started bringing her back into work. Add that to the fact that she's recently moved from being at home to being in a livery yard, and she might just be feeling a bit... 'meh.'
I would definitely go down the road of having her checked for a virus, and since the lami scare you've been trying to keep her 'light' so maybe ulcers might be worth considering too, but in general I'm pretty sure once she's got back into the routine of being worked and being at livery again, so long as she's getting enough grub she'll pick herself up. X
 
Would be worth getting a full blood test done though. We thought mine might be a bit anaemic initially but it turns out her Fe levels are fine and she's far from anaemic ATM. Last autumn though she was (blood test confirmed) and we put her on Equistro Haemolytan 400 for a spell. Be worth double checking what's up though, before assuming.
 
BH has glumps like this periodically. They don't coincide with anything I can work out and I think they are just him!

Could be a virus, worth getting white cells counted just incase but I would almost be tempted to say it's just that time of year.

I am feeling as flat as a fluke myself at the moment. I'm sure the lack or warmth, driving rain and darkness affects other animals besides humans!
 
Interesting thanks all. With ulcers what other symptoms would I be looking for?
Will definitely look into doing some tests if she doesn't pick up after worming, it's really odd. But also thinking about it she's been very reticent to go out at night so maybe cold, so I'll up her weight in rug :)
 
BoolavogueDC said:
Interesting thanks all. With ulcers what other symptoms would I be looking for?
Will definitely look into doing some tests if she doesn't pick up after worming, it's really odd. But also thinking about it she's been very reticent to go out at night so maybe cold, so I'll up her weight in rug :)
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Usually girthy, cold backed, bad tempered etc, but really it varies from hoss to hoss, some just don't seem themselves. It's always worth considering but I would rule out everything else first in your situation tbh.
I'm pretty sure its probably just a combination of a long time off, a move to livery, and like Jess says, the weather. If she doesn't improve with a warmer rug, some extra grub and an extra wormer (if its needed) then maybe start thinking about having the vet out.
 
Agree with the grass.
Vet has said to me with all the rain, all the trace minerals are /have been washed away from the surface and the horses are suffering because of it. Once a worm check is done etc, I see nothing wrong with using a reputable general purpose or multi vitamin supplement to ensure they are getting all the right balanced nutrients.
 
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