Pony has zero energy when ridden but seems fine in field

[Bangagin]

(Please be kind/gentle when replying - it's not an emergency and the vet is booked in a few days, but because I lost my very special dog 3 weeks ago I am feeling ridiculously anxious about everything at the moment and finding it hard to cope generally.)

My cob mare has just turned 5 and I've only had her since May. Everything has been going super well, but this weekend she was just not right at all when ridden. Acting perfectly normally in all other respects in the field - eating well, and the usual amount of droppings. No signs of lameness, swollen limbs, heat in feet etc.

But out on our hack Saturday she felt very slow and as if she had no energy. So much so, that I hopped off for the last leg of the ride and walked her back. We tried again on Sunday, and this time she was really listless - head low, not really interested in much around her. She also kept stopping - for no apparent reason - particularly up a slight incline. Looking at her sides when we stopped she was breathing quite heavily. This time I got off half way round and led her home. I noticed she was chomping on her bit quite a lot when being led - but she seemed subdued and not anxious at all. She went straight to her hay and started eating. Took her temperature which was normal.

I feel really worried about her, because I've never ridden a horse that feels this listless. Even my mare who was 26 before she was retired had more get up and go. I can't believe it is behavioural, as she has been so forward going normally and has never stopped (apart from having a poo) - sometimes she wants to turn back and go home, but this was just stopping dead facing forward. It didn't feel like she was lame at all - just nothing left energy wise.

Has anyone else ever experienced anything like this with a young horse?

 

[SEL]

What's your grazing like at the moment?

 

[HeyMich]

Have you taken her temperature? Might be a virus.

 

[Bangagin]

What's your grazing like at the moment?

Very little grass - she's mainly on soaked hay.

Have you taken her temperature? Might be a virus.

Yes her temperature was normal. Will take again later today just to double check.

 

[dorsetladette]

Tack all fitting OK?

What is she like on the lunge without a saddle on?

Teeth OK?

 

[AWinter]

Do you have any sycamore near your fields?

 

[Rokele55]

I was going to suggest COPD. Have they been burning stubble around you?

 

[Equi]

Is she simply too warm? Cob coats are insanely insulating and it’s very mild.

 

[paddy555]

I had exactly the same with a 5yo. I don't really however have an answer. The things I would be looking at are is she clipped? Coats are growing quickly this year and a hot thicker coat can make them sweaty and lethargic.
If she is eating mainly hay where is she getting vit E from? next is obviously blood test when the vet comes, then I would test for PSSM1 which is only around £40 and you don't need a vet.
Mine dithered around like this for many years and by the time he was 12 presented with every physical sign of Cushings except for a positive ACTH test.
He responded very quickly to cushings medication and all the lethargy went. His first spell of lethargy was around this time of the year. Looking back after his diagnosis I suspected he had cushings from a very much earlier age which I appreciate some will think unusual in a younger horse.

This was many years ago and cushings testing etc was not so advanced. If I was in this position now I would do a TRH stimulation test. I'm sure the vet would think I was mad but I wish it had been possible with mine to rule out cushings and also PSSM1 at 5.

 

[Gloi]

Is she simply too warm? Cob coats are insanely insulating and it’s very mild.

Is she clipped at all, she might just have become too furry to handle work well.

 

[lynz88]

Has she had her feet done recently? Mine will be fine in the field having an absolute whale of a time but if ridden and his feet aren't right, he won't move and if the fronts are particularly bothering him, hills are the worst. Just because there is no heat doesn't mean he isn't feeling them (at least for mine).

Have you had tack checked? Again, mine will refuse to move if tack isn't 100%

Does she have sufficient energy/feed to sustain her work levels? You mentioned very little grass - have you been supplementing with something else (not sugary)?

 

[Bangagin]

No sycamore, no burning stubble, and really don't think it's an issue with tack (she was very sensitive to a new girth when I first got her, and she showed this by shooting forward). As well as soaked hay she has a small daily feed consisting of unmolassed sugar beet and chaff with a vitamin and mineral supplement. She hasn't got particularly hairy, and wasn't sweating after our ride - we were riding in much higher temperatures a few months ago. She's had her feet done several times since I got her and she sometimes favours softer ground (avoiding the stony tracks) but nothing obviously different after farrier has been.

I had exactly the same with a 5yo. I don't really however have an answer. The things I would be looking at are is she clipped? Coats are growing quickly this year and a hot thicker coat can make them sweaty and lethargic.
If she is eating mainly hay where is she getting vit E from? next is obviously blood test when the vet comes, then I would test for PSSM1 which is only around £40 and you don't need a vet.
Mine dithered around like this for many years and by the time he was 12 presented with every physical sign of Cushings except for a positive ACTH test.
He responded very quickly to cushings medication and all the lethargy went. His first spell of lethargy was around this time of the year. Looking back after his diagnosis I suspected he had cushings from a very much earlier age which I appreciate some will think unusual in a younger horse.

This was many years ago and cushings testing etc was not so advanced. If I was in this position now I would do a TRH stimulation test. I'm sure the vet would think I was mad but I wish it had been possible with mine to rule out cushings and also PSSM1 at 5.

I really hope it isn't PPID - I lost my mare earlier this year and she was on Prascend for many years. I know it can occur in younger horses, but I will be gutted if she has it.

 

[SEL]

Vitamin E will be short in soaked hay.

I'd also do an Equisal test for tapeworm (speaking from experience here!)

 

[paddy555]

No sycamore, no burning stubble, and really don't think it's an issue with tack (she was very sensitive to a new girth when I first got her, and she showed this by shooting forward). As well as soaked hay she has a small daily feed consisting of unmolassed sugar beet and chaff with a vitamin and mineral supplement. She hasn't got particularly hairy, and wasn't sweating after our ride - we were riding in much higher temperatures a few months ago. She's had her feet done several times since I got her and she sometimes favours softer ground (avoiding the stony tracks) but nothing obviously different after farrier has been.

I really hope it isn't PPID - I lost my mare earlier this year and she was on Prascend for many years. I know it can occur in younger horses, but I will be gutted if she has it.

I hope for you that it isn't but just mentioned it as, sadly, I'm sure it would have been relevant for mine. I think, unless a blood test shows a clear problem, you will just have to start testing for various things to rule them out.

 

[Fransurrey]

Is she clipped at all, she might just have become too furry to handle work well.

My cob tends to get too hot from July onwards. He is clipped all year round to help and definitely appreciates it. His coat is ridiculously thick!

 

[Lucky Snowball]

My horses are getting really hot. Coats have changed yet we’re doing second cut hay. I think she could be too hot. Fingers crossed for you both.

 

[southerncomfort]

Is she simply too warm? Cob coats are insanely insulating and it’s very mild.

Me and a friend hacked out this morning in the sunshine, and both our ponies (one Fell, one Cob) were like slugs.

They were very warm though, both have winter coats coming through, and Bo drank half a bucket of water when we got back.

Bo will be clipped if it stays mild as he just gets too warm.

 

[Bangagin]

I really hope that's the case but she's not looking particularly hairy right now, we were in the shady woods and there was a definite breeze.

 

[PurBee]

I’m very sorry for your recent loss. Could it be your grief and bereavement affecting you emotionally and she’s mirroring you? I mean this sympathetically. Our beloved animals tend to know how we’re feeling.
Some horses react to owners emotional states more than others. It aligns with her being fine in the field away from people, and her being flat energy only around your sustained presence riding her. Some animals are more empathetic than others.
It’s a leftfield suggestion of cause im aware, but ive experienced similar.

My gelding as a youngster was similar in mirroring me. We weren’t ‘bonded’ either at the time. At the time years ago i was exceedingly stressed, burnt-out, wired, anxious - and despite ‘masking it’ behaviourally when around the horses, emotionally i was in tatters - he particularly expressed my emotional state despite my attempts to behave chilled-out and okay! Erratic behaviour, inexplicable jumps and startles - only around me and only when i was feeling particularly emotionally frazzled. Every other handler and during field time he was a normal horse.
A vicious circle was created at me being on edge around him due to his sudden moves - he was never dangerous but clearly anxious.
It took me a while to put 2 and 2 together that its me not him! Despite me behaviourally being very calm, he knew my real emotional state.
I sorted myself out and he was a changed horse. No management of his feed/routine changed, just my inner emotional state.
My OH is radically emotionally calm almost constantly, so that was what alerted me to the horses behavioural change aligning with human emotional states. Without OH as a contrast ‘control’ in my study, i would likely still be trying every supplement under the sun to calm my gelding.
My gelding is simply a horse who particularly reacts to peoples emotional states as he has reacted also to the few rare times my OH is emotionally challenged. I call him an emotional barometer! He particularly loves kids as they dont have the stresses of adulthood and are naturally joyous.

My mare didnt react to me, she actually actively ignored me as if to say ‘youre energy is weird’ - once i got a handle on the dynamics at play, she became very sweet loving my company.

Of course its wise to consider all angles, diet, seasonal changes etc as anything is plausible to cause behavioural change. I was just struck by your recent experience of loss aligning with her changed demeanour when around you.
I cried for weeks, months after my heart dog died last year and my horses were both a bit flatter, but i was mindful to not be around them much affecting them. There’s no masking grief, but i find crying my heart out helps, really feel it and release it. I hate crying but i was so damn sad, and crying acknowledges the emotion mentally aswell as helps physically release it. Sometimes just roaring/yelling out (im very rural!) helps too.

If she is reacting to you, maybe you could try having your phone on you prior to riding and during, playing happy jovial songs you like to sing along with? See if a shift in your emotional state affects her energy?

Hugs to you, i hope youre both feeling better soon xx

 

[Dave's Mam]

If she is changing her coat that can affect them too. Growing winter coat & casting off the summer coat uses energy. Dave is often very sluggish around this time of the year.

 

[Lois Lame]

That's interesting, Purbee.

OP, when going through something really sad, it can help to get stuck into something - really stuck into something. And it doesn't matter what it is, just something that you want to get stuck into because it's been bugging you.

I pooh-poohed my partner when he suggested this to me after I'd been crying for 3 weeks over the death of a pony we had. I thought, that's not going to work. And I thought I'd prove it to him by doing it and having it fail miserably.

Since it apparently didn't matter what I got stuck into, I chose to get stuck into the wretched couch grass that was over-taking various parts of our front garden. So, three weeks after crying on and off about the pony, I picked up the mattock or pick or whatever it was and went and thrashed about in the garden. (Take that you *&^%$$#@ couch grass, I was thinking. Probably.)

I don't know how long I carried on like that, making a giant mess of things, but from then on I stopped feeling so sad about that pony. The couch grass was fairly unaffected by my carry-on, but I felt a lot better.

About a year or two later I used a different method on the couch grass with great effect (covered it with thick layers of newspaper that it couldn't grow through) and reduced it by about 95%. Occasionally I think about the pony I lost but without the awful sadness.

 

[Spotherisk]

As she’s young might she be going through a growth spurt? My cob put on an inch of bone between 5 and 6 years of age.

 

[dougpeg]

Coats changing can impact. Has her workload increased, turnout increased? It could be virus. Lots of factors can impact. Personally if she was mine and not herself, I'd have bloods run.

 

[Peglo]

Mine went quiet when an abscess was brewing. She wasn’t showing any lameness yet but must’ve been feeling a bit sore. A few days later she did go lame and it burst through.

PurBee made a good point too. I don’t ride when I’m feeling sad and heartbroken or stressed. I know I emit my emotions a lot and my horse has picked up on it before but she’s quite sensitive. My other horses would’ve been fine

Hope your appointment with the vet goes ok.

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

Could just be the temperature has dropped overnight and shedding time they sometimes just feel it more, I've noticed my 2 are wanting more hay now it's a bit colder at night they have come running over at 7pm when I go outside.

 

[sollimum]

Is she on a balancer, if you are soaking her hay - mine are on vitacomplete by equinaturals? My older cob always went sluggish around now with the change of the seasons and coats. My cobs went very quiet when I lost my dad last year - I always tried to present a cheery persona to them but of course they knew and were very protective of me and very gentle.

 

[southerncomfort]

Also, just to say that when we lost the children's lovely little welsh B, I felt extremely anxious about my other 2 ponies for a while.

The grief I was feeling made me worry myself sick about something happening to either of them and I was watching them like a hawk. I remember scrambling off my mare one day convinced she was having a heart attack.

Not saying this is what's happening to you at all, but I think its only natural that having experienced the pain of loss, we become desperate to avoid it happening again.

 

[CobsaGooden]

As everyone else has said. Get bloods run but I would think it’s the change in the weather. The sudden temp drops at night, the shorter days, changing coats, change to grass, it can all have an effect.

I really hope it’s nothing much more than that but try not and worry too much.

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

I had exactly the same with a 5yo. I don't really however have an answer. The things I would be looking at are is she clipped? Coats are growing quickly this year and a hot thicker coat can make them sweaty and lethargic.
If she is eating mainly hay where is she getting vit E from? next is obviously blood test when the vet comes, then I would test for PSSM1 which is only around £40 and you don't need a vet.
Mine dithered around like this for many years and by the time he was 12 presented with every physical sign of Cushings except for a positive ACTH test.
He responded very quickly to cushings medication and all the lethargy went. His first spell of lethargy was around this time of the year. Looking back after his diagnosis I suspected he had cushings from a very much earlier age which I appreciate some will think unusual in a younger horse.

This was many years ago and cushings testing etc was not so advanced. If I was in this position now I would do a TRH stimulation test. I'm sure the vet would think I was mad but I wish it had been possible with mine to rule out cushings and also PSSM1 at 5.

Probably no help to OP but I lost a 6yr old Shire to what I now think was Cushings, despite over 3 months of frequent vet visits and no diagnosis except laminitis at the end, which is why she was pts. I would test for Cushings if I was presented with similar symptoms again.

Eta, well over 20 yrs ago

 

[exracehorse]

If she is changing her coat that can affect them too. Growing winter coat & casting off the summer coat uses energy. Dave is often very sluggish around this time of the year.

Yes. Joker has been flat over the past week. Winter coat coming through. Mid twenties in temperature. Summer grass has gone. Feeding hay twice a day.