Horse tucked up

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TheRedMare

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Hi,

When my mare arrived (early Jan), she was tucked up for a few days, which I assumed was stress. It also went very cold at this time! She settled and looked normal after exercising at the weekend.

There was a great deal of excitement late last week (hunt went past on main road) and she was tucked up after that too, though not appearing stressed, just excited. I stayed with her that evening until she settled, had a drink and had her hay.

Since then, she's been tucked up on and off to varying degrees. I've noticed that she's looked tucked up for about 48 hours now again, though everything else appears normal. Droppings fine, drinking a good amount of water in stable but not in field , eating hay (though won't touch her net - eating from floor and rack as I spread it around a bit), left a little feed from dinner last night however. She's happy going around the field grazing and eating hay in the field, has been calm and is not seeming stressed. She is not showing me any signs of pain and her belly is gurgling as normal. She's not pacing, pawing (except when impatient / tied up to the O-ring on the yard), but she has been eating the wood in her stable. We've curbed this by putting anti-cribbing gloop and spicy sauce on exposed wood.

I'm taking her for lessons this weekend and was planning to ask the more experienced people there about it and if they would recommend seeing the vet. If she was still tucked up, then I was going to pop her in to the vet next week, for a once over.

Is there something I'm missing? Would it be an idea to pop her in to the vet this week instead? And are there further warning signs that I should be keeping an eye out for?

I appreciate your insight! :)


Side note: one of the other horses on the yard did colic last week and the vet said it was due to eating chilly grass. I have been keeping a close eye on her since then.
 
yeah, feeling the cold would be my first thought. I had one that had a 350gm rug on previous winters and he started looking tucked up. Switched him to a 420gm and he was fine. I had the 420 rug there and had never used it in my life before, but he just seems to need the extra!
 
I did also wonder about the cold as it was coldest at her arrival and time of initial stress.

With this in mind, I've already put her from a 300g rug to the 400g this morning. She is high chaser clipped and grows...very, very little winter coat. Only clipped as she was sweaty and uncomfortable during exercise. She was not showing any other signs of being cold, however.

I guess sometimes we do perhaps worry about over rugging too! :)
 
Yes, I prefer to under, rather than over, rug but being tucked up is a classic sign of being cold. As with everything else, we have to be guided by the horse, imo. Does she have ad-lib forage? This is the best way to keep a horse warm but it isn't always enough for every horse in every circumstance.
 
Yes, she always has plenty of hay in the field and stable (grass still in field also). Noticed her picking at her straw bed too but turns away from it pretty quickly and goes for hay instead.

I'll try her "one up" in rugs for a while and see how she goes!
 
Swapped from 300g to 400g rug and yay not tucked up anymore!

So I just have a wuss of a horse that needs the heavyweight. I can stop worrying that I've over-rugged them. THanks! :)
 
TheRedMare said:
Swapped from 300g to 400g rug and yay not tucked up anymore!

So I just have a wuss of a horse that needs the heavyweight. I can stop worrying that I've over-rugged them. THanks! :)
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That's good news! It's always nice when the 'cure' is simple :D. It has been dreadfully cold today, so it's great that you've found the answer
 
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