Horse won’t eat off ground for a few hours after coming in

[JillJ72]

Hi all. My 9yo wb intermittently comes in from turnout and clearly has some sort of pain or discomfort as won’t put his head down to eat his hay or drink. He’ll happily have it from his manger or a haynet. By late night checks he is over it. He had it 2 consecutive days last week then fine for 5 days now it’s happening again. He is otherwise fit and well. He was in the same field last spring but we are having a crazy spring with temps and rainfall all over the place. I will be speaking to my vet but wondered if anyone else had experienced this and if so if you did anything that helped …

 

[meleeka]

Does he wear a rug?

 

[ycbm]

I think I'd want some neck x rays, sorry if that worries you.
.

 

[Lauraback]

The only horse I knew who wouldn’t eat off the floor had strangles but that was all the time not intermittent.

 

[Caski]

Can you check his glands, well all around his throat area? Any mysterious swellings might be worth investigation. Others on here will probably be more knowledgeable but I have had a similar case with one of mine, he had a tooth abscess which had tracked upwards.

 

[JillJ72]

Does he wear a rug?

Not at the moment as it’s warm

 

[JillJ72]

Can you check his glands, well all around his throat area? Any mysterious swellings might be worth investigation. Others on here will probably be more knowledgeable but I have had a similar case with one of mine, he had a tooth abscess which had tracked upwards

 

[JillJ72]

And the issue was intermittent?

 

[PurBee]

Considering youve mentioned high rainfall spring growth, i’d be keeping in the back of my mind magnesium depletion, and maybe add a bit of supplementation of mag ox due to grass spiking potassium levels after bouts/days of rain.

It wouldnt normally cause a horse generally to be reluctant to lower its neck down to the ground, but as magnesium causes in all mammals the ability for relaxing muscles, anything presenting as muscular stiffness i’d be considering magnesium levels in the horse and giving supplementation. Its non harmful at doses of a tablespoon, as excess is pee’d out.

 

[JillJ72]

Considering youve mentioned high rainfall spring growth, i’d be keeping in the back of my mind magnesium depletion, and maybe add a bit of supplementation of mag ox due to grass spiking potassium levels after bouts/days of rain.

It wouldnt normally cause a horse generally to be reluctant to lower its neck down to the ground, but as magnesium causes in all mammals the ability for relaxing muscles, anything presenting as muscular stiffness i’d be considering magnesium levels in the horse and giving supplementation. Its non harmful at doses of a tablespoon, as excess is pee’d out.

thank you - I had read somewhere about magnesium so will get him a supplement

 

[GypsGal1718]

You can buy magnesium from intra labs for a good price

 

[GypsGal1718]

But I would say more likely a neck/back issue that needs looking at

 

[Zoeypxo]

first thing that i would think of is some form of neck pain, vet visit to rule it out would be my first step