This isnt normal!!!

N

NicoleS_007

Well-Known Member
Joined
5 February 2010
Messages
2,084
Visit site
Is this normal?? Right I put my horse out over night and it rained quite heavily,(had waterproof rug on). Went to get him in and he was walking really strangely, like a penguin i like to describe it as :p basically he cant bend his knees (so walk without bending knees and thats what he looks like), swaying his neck from side to side, and sometimes rolls in the stable and lies down! I have to put on a heavy weight stable rug and bandage him for hours until he goes back to normal!! Its happened twice in two years (the two only times hes been out overnight in rain) but its really strange, iv never seen another horse do this! The reason i ask is that he is out getting drenched with no rug atm so is likely to come in like this :S ... I am baffled by it?!!!

ps he goes out during day in rain and it doesnt happen!!
 
no didnt want to bother them incase it was nothing, as hes fine after a couple of hours!! Its really weird, his joints and everything go stone cold. Was thinking he was tying up but iv never seen a horse tie up so i honestly wouldnt know!!
 
Doesn't sound like tying up - that's more muscle based whereas this sounds like joints.

Does it always happen when it rains at night? does it ever happen at any other time?
 
Sorry, but I would have got the vet, regardless of whether it might have been 'nothing', it could just as easily have been 'something'.

What is his weight like? Maybe he was just cold? Cold horses can display odd, colicky symptoms.
 
Yea only when it rains at night. Last time it happened he was quiet tubby and rugged. I dont usually leave him out overnight if its raining but was lovely and warm last night so put him out with no rug and its been raining quiet heavily so he will likely come in like this! ... His weight would be good atm (theres a post on here from a couple of days ago showing his weight). So you think i should get the vet if it happens again?
 
I would get the vet if i were you and not worry about wasting there time because it might be nothing, it dont sound right to me . the vet wont mind if you are wasting there time as long as they get paid.

If my horse couldnt bend its joints and was walking like a penguin i would of had the vet the first time it happened.
 
Me thinks the vet shall be getting a little phone call if he comes in like this! I cant even get to the yard until 4ish so hes stuck in the damn field in the cold wetness until then :( grrrr .... When this happened he was also very reluctant to move and stood with his front legs out like a laminitis stance without the back legs under, or just lay down! I have actually never seen anything like it in my life!
 
It sounds as though he was cold. Sometimes a lightweight rug does more harm than good, as it gets wet, stops the horse's hair 'fluffing up' to help it keep warm, and then stays wet, long after the naked horse would have dried naturally. Was the rug wet on the inside?
 
Pearlsasinger said:
It sounds as though he was cold. Sometimes a lightweight rug does more harm than good, as it gets wet, stops the horse's hair 'fluffing up' to help it keep warm, and then stays wet, long after the naked horse would have dried naturally. Was the rug wet on the inside?
Click to expand...

It was a heavyweight and bone dry on the inside was about last june time as i havent allowed him out overnight since due to that happening and injury etc It was only his neck and legs that were wet that time, and hes not usually one that feels the chill although he hates being rode in rain lol atm hes in the field with nothing and its still raining :( oh poooo
 
Was it particularly cold when you turned him out overnight in the heavyweight? You mention that he doesn't normally feel the chill - perhaps he was far too hot and got dehydrated? If it was dry underneath the rug it doesn't mean that he wasn't too hot, he just could have sweated earlier in the night and then got dehydrated and so stopped sweating. Horses are pretty pants at cooling themselves down as they have a relatively small surface area to their size, they can't pant or anything, so all they can do is sweat - which under a rug is pretty useless at cooling them down. Unless it was unusually chilly for June, then a heavyweight rug would be very very warm (as a comparison, my mare is a v similar build to your chap, and runs reasnobly warm - most winter days are too warm for her to be out in a heavyweight! Needs to be under 0 with rain and wind before she would have a heavyweight on as she just sweats up under).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top