Horse off colour but not sure why - need your views.

[LeneHorse]

My mare's not been right for the past few days. Earlier in the week I thought she might be starting laminitis as she was uncomfortable standing on a hard surface for any length of time. The vet came out on Tuesday and she did not react to the hoof testers and he decided not laminitis but might have some bruising to the soles due to turning her out in the snow and ice we had at the weekend. (she went out last winter in all the bad weather with no ill effects) He didn't think there was anything to worry about. However she's still very subdued and just not herself. She is eating but prefers her hay to her hard feed (she only gets chaff and supplements but its usually gone in a flash before she will look at hay). She is passing dung and urine as normal. Not showing any obvious signs of colic. Her behaviour is odd too. She usually chases the other horses at the gate, but last couple of nights has stood back and let them out first - totally not her. Its as if she is really old and exhausted. She is 13 years old, possibly 14. I'm thinking virus but none of the other horses are affected.
I am going to phone the vet in the morning but just wondered if anyone had experience of symptoms like this and what it could be.
hot mince pies & mulled wine if you've read all this!

 

[PitPony]

Sounds rather like she is depressed...first thought was Cushings..my mare went a bit 'off' (for want of a better description!) but just went fine again after a few days...
Hope it is something simple and she is ok...be interested to know what happens with the vet.

 

[LeneHorse]

I am also thinking Cushings or more likely EMS. She is a very good doer and its a constant battle to keep her weight down so prime candidate for EMS. Hope not as my last horse had this without us knowing and succumbed to devastating laminitis aged 14 and had to be pts. At the time vets had said she was too young to have Cushings so it was too late by the time we realised - thankfully there is a lot more knowledge nowadays.