No energy at all.....

[[59851]]

Anyone have any experience of a horse with no energy? I am worried about one of mine. he has always been on the lazy side to ride but can have very short bursts of sudden energy followed by being very tired and lethargic, if he does two dressage tests he will go very nicely in the first and be totally laboured in the second.

He has had physio,teeth check etc, next step is to run some bloods, he's fed a high fibre diet of Alfa a lite, handful of oats, vitamin and mineral supplement and is out 24/7 on good grazing, his weight is fine and he is ridden 5-6 times a week for an hour to an hour and a half, there is definately something wrong and I was wondering if anyone had a similar problem and what was the outcome?

 

[BethH]

Yep, my horse is like this but I can only ride for 20mins before he zonks out - let me know if you find a solution! Try testing for cushings. My horse had high fibrynogen levels in his bloods at one point which indicated bacterial/viral infection. Bloods were clear 4wks later but a year on he still isn't right and overall I've been struggling with this for a long time. Does your horse have any joint problems?

 

[ester]

I would also suggest a cushings test, there are free vouchers available until the end of the month.

 

[Tnavas]

With the amount of work he is getting you just might need to up his oats some more.

 

[Zuzzie]

Sounds like a virus. Needs a blood test to confirm. Mine had a virus, took months to come right.

 

[splashgirl45]

one of the reasons I had my mare tested for cushings was lethargy, once she was on the medication she was back to being her usual looney self...

 

[[59851]]

Thanks people - I have got a code for a free cushings test - thanks for that suggestion, might as well explore all avenues, He had a lamness issue 2 years ago that was actually tracked to a torn muscle in his back, all sorted now and he is sounder than ever, but there is some muscle wastage which leads me to think something is deeper underlying and whether it is metabolic or not remains to be seen, I will give the vets a ring on monday to arrange tests and keep you all updated, just hope I can find out what's going on....

 

[Equi]

I had this issue. My mare was just SO down. Cushings was neg, feed didn't really help, tried a few other things. Turned out she had pain in her hips and a chiro fixed her! Can't touch her half the time now, shes all zoomie.