Thoroughbred with no energy.......

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xStephx

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Hi all,

I’m after some opinions as I’ve ran out of ideas myself (sorry its long it needs some explaining)………….

I have two ex-racehorses they are like chalk and cheese, Fred, my 19yr old is still very much like a 5yr old energy wise and is quite a forward thinking, sensitive spooky horse, probably your typical stereotype of a thoroughbred. Marley my 12yr old is the opposite, not really spooky, or as sensitive, and isn’t really forward thinking. He wasn’t a useless racer and has won / been placed in many races, I got him off the track right out of training. He had a little time off and I started working him, he was a donkey. He had some more time off with fracturing his pedal bone and he told me when it was time to start proper work as he started rearing coming in from the field and bucking on hacks.

Anyway he has been in work since and over the winter I started to worry about him because he was just so lethargic and lost weight. He just wasn’t eating the amount of hay he should’ve been at night and despite me shovelling food into him and trying numerous things nothing worked. I had been trying to get him to work more forwards into the contact and sit him on his hocks a little more. This just became a battle, I could have the forwards but not working over his back or I could have him working over his back but slow. He is well schooled and has done a lot of lateral work too, leg yield, shoulder in, travers, etc, but we have left this to get him working more forwards. Every time I had a lesson we found something that worked, keeping him forwards working over his back but after a couple more times of doing this he just went back to being either forwards or slow. So over the past few months i’ve ridden him in his halter and got him going forwards off light aids but as soon as I pick up the contact he slows, the difference is quite big, and he drops off the aids much more too.

He has the weight back on, I’m still shovelling food into him and he has good grass and a lot of it too. He is the same with jumping which I’ve had to teach him to do, he loves it but if it gets any higher than 70cm he just refuses as I found out on the lunge last weekend. I just don’t know if he can’t or won’t. Is he not able to go forwards and work over his back or jump high or is it just that he can’t be bothered. He hacks well and I’m getting so despondent and frustrated that I just think that maybe he would be better off as a happy hacker, he doesn't even care if someone overtakes us in canter, i hold him on the buckle and he does nothing! Or does he just need some time off. I was thinking of getting bloods done but I don’t know if this will really reveal anything. He doesn’t get schooled more than twice week and I try to vary his work to stop him getting bored but I just don’t what to try any more. Do I just accept he can’t / won’t do what I want at the moment.

He just seems bored with work and there is something niggling at me from when I got him, I asked the groom why they were selling him on, and she said he was just getting bored of racing. Is he now bored of doing what I ask of him, I’ve had him 5 years and we’ve just hit a brick wall that seems to have been going on for about 9 months…………

Any ideas much appreciated.

Thanks
 
I would absolutely get bloods done.

Re the jumping - I would expect him not to want to jump to be honest, and wouldn't jump a horse that had had a fractured pedal bone.

And what are you actually feeding him??
 
I was feeding a scoop of alfa a and half a scoop of calm and condition twice a day. Ad lib hay. I had tried various conditioning mixes, linseed, oils. I'm now feeding scoop of alfa a and half a scoop of saracen show improver mix and he is now out 24hrs. I was going to try equijewel over winter too along with sugar beet.
 
Well, you're not feeding that much really. Calm and condition (whilst it's not something I would feed) can be fed in quite large quantities. At the moment you're feeding very little of it.

I'd change to something like an instant response cube and Alpha A Oil.

I'd also get bloods run. But you may simply not be feeding enough (plus his general temperament may be a laid back chappy).
 
This sounds a little like a horse which belonged to a friend of mine. She had the vet out for a loss of performance work up, and long story short it turned out that the horse had a hole in his ddft, but was just not showing any lameness.

Bone usually heals very well, so not sure that would explain the jumping? My trimmer's horse fractured a pedal bone, and he's back out jumping better than ever. He is barefoot though, obvs.
 
I rang Allen and page and fed at the recommended rate which is why I changed feed as it wasn't really doing a lot. And feeding two horses on that stuff was costing a lot. I will try the response cube as I've now ran out of improvement mix.

I think he is laid back and does get stressy about certain things but for me I'm just not sure if he's too laid back in work for something not to be wrong.

I have had issues with his feet but with a good Farrier they have got better. He is shod in front bare behind. His hinder are very good but his fronts are thin soled proven by xrays.

I will try changing feed again and see if this helps. Otherwise I think bloods and a chat with the vet is on the cards.
 
My mums late racer turned into a lazy toad, exactly the same symptoms as yours, he had been a good racer as well.
Vet looked at him and did flexions and sound as a pound but my mum still wasn't convinced. Had him scanned and he had beginnings of artheritis in his hocks. Had them injected and bingo lovely and forwards and much happier :).
I would not rule out something like that.
 
Yes... Firewell's post is a very good point. Our Harry had arthritis in both hocks but appeared to be sound as he was lame on BOTH hind legs! Very hard to detect lameness on both sides or heaven forbid all 4 legs. I'd look into that if you can. Good luck.
 
Thanks for that Firewell, you may have a good point with arthritis in both hinds as he doesn't ever look lame but can never really seem to track up in trot very easy. I know bi-lateral lameness is hard to spot, Fred had quite bad suspensory ligament damage in both hinds but looked barely lame! You could only tell because one was slightly worse than the other.

It wouldn't surprise me if he had arthritis as he raced hard from the word go up until 7 years old and he wasn't in particularly good shape when i got him.
 
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