Pony lay down while being ridden today

Hoof_Prints

Hoof_Prints

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Hello, I have a 16 year old , grey Connemara gelding in my care. He is not particularly fit but has always coped with work fine and never shown this behaviour before.

His owner's younger sister has been riding him recently, and because of this he has been doing more work- today after a couple of hours being hacked- while we were walking, he suddenly lay down , rolled on his side then got straight back up :eek: checked him over and he seemed fine.. he then walked a few steps and had a wee.

He's never done this before! surely he couldn't have done all this just to get his rider off for a wee? It's worrying me a bit as I find it very strange. What could have caused it?
 
Hmm very strange, at first I thought the younger rider may be allowing him to take the pee (pun intended) but the weeing after makes me think he could have a UTI. Did he appear to be weeing normally? No discomfort, normal colour/concentration etc? You could check his temperature and check for any discomfort around the kidney area.
 
Does he ever get chance to roll without a rug? And is he at all footsore? (thinking possible first signs of lami). If he's unfit it could have been tiredness after a few hours hacking, how was he after?
 
He does have his rug on at all times unless ridden, sorry being dim- what its UTI? :o I think he has had lami before, but have taken precautions and he's on low sugar feed and muzzled grazing so should hope that would minimize risk..
Weeing behaviour and colour of wee seemed normal, as far as I can tell

Afterwards he seemed fine, led him about a bit then he was bright and was neighing and spinning for his food as normal- my immediate thought was 'oh my god he's having a heart attack' as he'd been run about quite a lot today. I can only think he wanted to roll- but he'd been stood in the school for ages (his favourite rolling spot!) so thought if anywhere, he would have attempted it there
 
Uti is a urinary Tract infection. My friends pony did this once on a reasonably long hack. But it was cuz she was sweaty and literally just wanted a quick roll. Very unsettling to see. We all thought she had colic! But no. Just on need of a good roll...but that was when the weather was a bit warmer......
 
My 1st thought were had he got hot and wanted a roll - Know the sun came out when I rode and mare got a bit warm as clip has grown out. Also as a child my pony rolled in the ford on a mild Feb day as had a full coat and had got a bit warm. No harm done except to my pride and a boot full of cold water!

UTI = Urinary Tract Infection
 
I knew of a riding school pony that was also kicked out for rolling with the kids on ! Well it was particularly warm, it had cooled down by this point but he'd been sweating . Clips have all grown out now and after 4 clips on each horse this year, I couldn't bear another so they are a bit hairy right now.

He made no attempt to roll at all though, just got straight back up and stood there minus one rider
 
Hoof_Prints said:
He made no attempt to roll at all though, just got straight back up and stood there minus one rider
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Nor did my pony all those years ago, though I think she hit the cold water and decided it wasn't the best idea she had ever had! I manage to jump back and as she got up, so only got 1x boot full of water!:D

Keep an eye on him, sure he is fine and had just got warm/itchy.
 
piebaldsparkle said:
Nor did my pony all those years ago, though I think she hit the cold water and decided it wasn't the best idea she had ever had! I manage to jump back and as she got up, so only got 1x boot full of water!:D

Keep an eye on him, sure he is fine and had just got warm/itchy.
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Well now that you mention it, this pony also seems to like water.
My own horse is obsessed with water- can't keep him away from it, when we had a lot of rain the place flooded and he found a very deep 'puddle' (horse paddling pool) and lay down in all his rugs in it :rolleyes:

This pony then copied and they both lay there in the water like idiots.
I will keep a close eye on him, will just give him a couple of days off just in case and make sure he's feeling himself
 
My pony did that once at pony club camp years ago. We were having a show jumping lesson with a top rider and stopped for a drink. Just as I was about to dismount she lay down. Stood up straight away. Had a break and carried on no problems. She was a quirky little sod but no idea then or now why she did it. She was sound and continued with the lesson no problem.
 
My old pony years ago used to lay down, shut his eyes and pretend to be dead whenever he saw the farrier. He'd do it at pony club rallies too when he'd had enough of going round in circles. He never rolled, he'd just lay there with his eyes shut doing a marvellous impression of a pony who'd expired from overwork until everyone got bored of shouting and pulling at him and wandered off, then he'd get up. He never did it at home, or on hacks or at shows, he loved both of those so I'm sure there was nothing wrong with him, he was just, um, a bit clever.
 
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