Lethargic Horse

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emma0

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My 16 year old TBxISH mare has been recently lethargic when ridden. She much prefers the verge to the road when she can anyway, but is usually forward going and full of energy.
Recently though, she will do a fast trot instead of canter, doesn't really respond to my leg and would probably prefer to stop and stand still instead of walk anywhere!
She is shod on her forelegs but not on her hinds, and is on grass 24/7. She is ridden 2-4 times a week, usually hacking for about 40 minutes to an hour and a half. She is of a healthy weight, and has no problem with temperature, heart rate, coat looks healthy, etc. She is eating normally.
This is really out of character but I wondered if anyone had any suggestions before I called the vet for advice. Thanks!
 
Have you changed anything to do with her feed at all recently. I have had a huge problem with this - the vet did blood tests as it was so out of character for my horse to behave sensibly that I knew something was wrong. He had massively raised fibrynogen levels which is an indication of the blood trying to contain inflammation. We think he had a bacterial/viral infection possibly ingested from a change of feed. We won't ever know for certain, but I have changed him back to his old feed, allowed him to rest as the vet said he would be feeling rubbish and he is much improved although not absolutely back to normal. I think he lost a lot of fitness through it. You might want to feed a course of Global Herbs "Restore". It is a blood detox and it's a good time of year to do it, it really perked my boy up.

Also you might want to do a check for cushings........
 
I have had a similar problem with my 20 year old pony for more than a year now. She has Cushings and EMS which she is on medication for and also has Summer Pasture RAO which she has a supplement for. Despite numerous vet visits and a visit to horspital to be scoped for ulcers we still haven't discovered the reason for her lethargy. Her diet has been analysed and she is at the correct weight for her conditions (i.e. slimmer than she is in the photos on here). The latest theory is arthritis and she is on one sachet of Bute per day with no exercise for a couple of weeks as advised by the vet. Strangely, she had a period when she returned from horspital of looking really good - bright and energetic - however this gradually disappeared and she became lethargic again. She is a bit of a mystery - an expensive mystery!!
 
The most common cause of a change in behaviour in an older horse is pain, followed by other illnesses/conditions, so I would get the vet.
 
Just a thought - but my horse was extremely lethargic, particularly when ridden. He has Cushings. He was lethargic, had a glazed look and one day actually fell to floor when something made him jump. Quite coincidentally, I googled salt because the weather was becoming warmer and I wanted to know if I could just feed salt instead of electrolytes.

I got a huge shock. I didn't know that horses can be given up to 2 tablespoons (2 oz) of salt a day. Symptoms of salt deficiency were 'a zonked look, lethargy and 'the staggers''. This fit my horse exactly. So I started giving him just two teaspoons of salt a day in his feed and within a week he was back to normal.

One of his main symptoms of Cushings was excessive sweating so I think he just sweated his salt out and it hadn't been replaced.

I had no idea!!!! :)
 
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