Very worried about my older horse :(

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Wheels

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I have a 23/24 year old TB who i've had now for 7 years. In that time he's obviously slowed down a lot, got a bit stiff in his gradually increasing age and gets swollen legs when kept in.
Over the last few weeks he's been getting even slower, he's stopped playing with his favourite pony and certainly in the last few days he's not moved very far.
I needed to bring them in this morning and he was very reluctant to move and when he did move it was a slow shuffle, seemed to be lame on all 4 feet and extremely stiff like he could hardly walk at all. A few minutes later he was quite a lot better but still very stiff and i'm really concerned that he has something badly wrong with him. Has anyone else come across such sudden stiffness that then cleared up a little so quickly afterwards?
 
Have you had the vet out? If not why not? No-one on this forum should be giving you any scenarios or advice with something this serious. Please call your vet immediately and make them come and see the poor horse.
 
Ditto the others about calling the vet. Hope it doesn't turn out to be anything too serious. Laminitis sprang to my mind immediately reading the symptoms but whatever it is you definitely need to get him seen this afternoon.
 
I did call my vet, straight away in fact. He said he could give some bute but I don't want to do this in case it covers something up. If it happens again i'm to call him back to come out. Was asking on here to see if anyone had any personal experience of a similar situation.
 
It maybe just his arthritis catching up with him, it went quite chilly around here the last few days and one of the older horses at my yard did go much stiffer, she was better today though as its warmer. She is the same with being stiff at first moving and then once he has "loosened up" she is fine. I would consider the idea of putting him on a few days of bute to maybe see if that takes the stiffness away if he is still bad. But I would be inclined to have the vet come anyway and give hima quick check to see if it is extra stiffness, he will prob have come out anyway if you want some bute,
 
I would change your vet then as offering bute without seeing your horse is crazy. Is the horse ok now? I have seen different cases similar to this, they have ranged from Laminitis - acute, ragwort poisoning and azoturia. I didn't want to mention any of these as they are nasty and carry some horrible side effects. One thing I would be doing is getting the vet to check the horse over and possibly take bloods before any medication is given. Good luck and I hope that they can sort him out.
 
Well it's highly unlikely rag poisoning as I always pull it on sight. Does azoturia have that effect on horses that mostly live out? He came in today for the first time in a week but I suppose if he's been standing still in the field a lot it could be.
 
Ragwort poisoning can be from years ago, it doesn't need to have been from the field he is in now and it could be in the hay he eats - again this is only the symptoms of one horse I saw with it. Azoturia can come on anytime, whether they are in or out. It could be lami, or it just could be his arthritis getting the better of him after the sharp spell we have just had, when all the horses were getting used to the milder weather. He may well have overdone it a bit at play whilst you weren't around and you only saw the after effects.

Is he ok now?
 
lochpearl said:
I would change your vet then as offering bute without seeing your horse is crazy. Is the horse ok now? I have seen different cases similar to this, they have ranged from Laminitis - acute, ragwort poisoning and azoturia. I didn't want to mention any of these as they are nasty and carry some horrible side effects. One thing I would be doing is getting the vet to check the horse over and possibly take bloods before any medication is given. Good luck and I hope that they can sort him out.
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Excellent advice.
 
Yes, sorry Wheels, don't want you to feel that you are being hounded but I agree with Too-Many-Nags, you really must insist on someone coming out. There are too many possibilities that this could be, some potentially very serious and every hour could really count. Sorry for sounding dramatic but get on the phone to your vet and demand someone comes to see him tonight.
 
i would be unhappy with a vet prescribing or diagnosing anything without assessing a horse . its dealing with the unknown and could be one of many things . i would definatley ask for a home visit or look at changing vets .
 
If the vet comes out now all he will see is a happy horse! Just been to check on him again as I will keep doing for the rest of the night. He's walking about as normal, being a grumpy old goat as normal and seems totally himself. My horses are at home and i'll keep a close eye. If anything changes I will get vet out but if he comes now he'll not see an ill horse.
Don't worry I don't think anyone's getting at me, know you're just all concerned as I am which is why I started the thread in the first place
 
I have a 24 yr old and over the last month or so he has been a bit of a grump too in the mornings - night time coming in fine and dandy.

Last week he to has started to move a bit different - quite short in front and more careful about his movement, been tripping a bit too, but my horse is shod all round.

I have spoken to my vet - who has known the horse for a very long time and well aware of every ailment the horse has had - and he suggested giving him bute for a few days to see if there is any change.

Sadly I think we are both in the same boat, are horses are affected by the same thing and that is age.

The recent weather has been playing havock with my 70 odd year old mothers movement too :D

Just one other thing - for those saying change your vet because he has diagnosed over the phone - I would disagree with that completely - but then I suppose that does depend on how knowlegeable you are, how much trust you and your vet have in each other and how well you both know your horse.

I do not think anyone who has a veteran horse would hesitate to call the vet if it was absolutely needed, but quite often when they are getting on a knock, tweek or bang is felt more by them than a younger horse, and if the vet was called everytime they looked a bit stiff you would end up with him moving in and/or being bankrupt:eek:

So after all my prattling on, if you question was has anyone else with an oldie noticed over the last week or so that they have gone a bit stiff and noticing their bones more - then my answer would be yes.

Bizarre really as I thought it was getting a bit warmer - perhaps the cold has really got into their bones now and its a bit of delayed reaction to the horrible weather ??
 
Our 26 yo TB who is out 24/7 gets really pottery on the hard ground, but gets fine again once the ground improves.

We bought him some boa boots to make poulticing and abscess recovery easier a couple of years ago. Now when the ground gets hard and he is reluctant to move, we put these on during the daytime just to ease it for him for part of the day, they seem to help him walk a bit better, and they didn't seem to make him slip anymore on icy rutted surfaces either :)
 
Wheels said:
Lochpearl, yes he's back to his usual level of stiffness but he's still not moving about very much
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And that may well be the problem.

However, for your vet to suggest bute without examining him is appalling (unless there is a history here that we don't know about - but your vet does).

So for me I'd be getting the vet out to give the horse the once over.
 
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