Vet back out tomorrow - positive vibes needed!

[emfen1305]

After a couple of months of the niggling feeling that Toby is still not right and with it coming ever closer to my time to claim on my insurance for "poor performance" running out, the beloved vet is coming back out to look over him. Tomorrow is blood tests and cushings test to try and get to the bottom of the lethargy as well as look over at him to see whether he thinks he needs another hock injection (i really hope not!) so positive vibes needed! Fortunately I am away at Equifest all week so hopefully won't be worrying about the results too much!

I really hope we can get to the bottom of this, I've never known a horse walk on and around a stubble field on buckle end without even getting a little bit excited! I lunge his 24 yr old field mate once a week to help keep the weight off and he blasts around like a spring chicken and despite being retired, he sweats less, puffs less and looks better than Toby!

Anyway, I can't sleep as I am worried so posting for some moral support!

 

[Birker2020]

Just wanted to wish you good luck today.Probably cheaper and more efficient in the long run to consider chemical arthrodesis (hock fusion) as it is very effective on some horses.

 

[emfen1305]

Just wanted to wish you good luck today.Probably cheaper and more efficient in the long run to consider chemical arthrodesis (hock fusion) as it is very effective on some horses.

Thank you yes it was something i had looked into but it is so mild at the moment that we thought we'd see how we get on with the steroid injections. The vet came today and doesn't think it's his hocks, he is moving fine behind, flexing and tracking up well so is reluctant to do anything else with the hocks at the mo so blood tests and upping his work to get him to lose weight!

 

[SEL]

Is he on grass? My friend popped her lethargic gelding into a diet paddock (for weight loss reasons) and very, very quickly found he had a spring back in his step again. The weight hasn't had time to shift, so all we can think of is he couldn't manage the sugar spikes in the grass.

Given I'm completely anti-grass (PSSM horse) I sat around feeling very smug and planning world domination of diet paddocks with robots doing the soaked hay for me!!

 

[emfen1305]

Is he on grass? My friend popped her lethargic gelding into a diet paddock (for weight loss reasons) and very, very quickly found he had a spring back in his step again. The weight hasn't had time to shift, so all we can think of is he couldn't manage the sugar spikes in the grass.

Given I'm completely anti-grass (PSSM horse) I sat around feeling very smug and planning world domination of diet paddocks with robots doing the soaked hay for me!!

Yep out on what we thought was quite a bare field but actually we've had a couple of issues this year - his field mate needed muzzling and then got colic from too much grass and Toby looks like he's about to drop a foal! I go by how his field mate is and he is fine now but maybe Toby isn't coping as well as I thought.

I'm at a bit of a loss, the vet recommends either turning out for just 2 hours a day or if not possible, keep in every other day or move fields to a bare patch, none of which are great options for Toby. We don't really have any other fields that are suitable and although keeping him in will keep him off the grass, i'm worried he will be a bit miserable being in on his own without any of his mates, he is very routine driven! But on the other hand if I don't keep him in will he be continue to be fat and miserable!?

I could look at sectioning off a small section within his current field so he can still go out with his mates but he can't have free rein of the entire field. Otherwise I just stick it out for another month until Autumn when the grass starts to disappear and then think of a plan for next Spring. I just want him to be healthy and happy and I know his current management isn't the best but I don't know what to do for him.

Apologies SEL for offloading this on you! It's just so difficult. I have the equitop myoplast from the vet to help rebuild some lost muscle (not over keen due to the sugar but vet wants me to try!) so I guess I just need to reduce the hay and up the exercise to see if that helps!

 

[Casey76]

I have the equitop myoplast from the vet to help rebuild some lost muscle (not over keen due to the sugar but vet wants me to try!) so I guess I just need to reduce the hay and up the exercise to see if that helps!

The Equitop myoplast is nothing but marketing hype unfortunately. You get more protein from feeding a handful of oats. If you really wanted to feed spirulina, then buying the straight stuff from a nutrition/bodybuilding website will be a heck of a lot cheaper.

For more info check this out : https://www.facebook.com/DrDavidMarlin/posts/594424007428491

 

[SEL]

Apologies SEL for offloading this on you! It's just so difficult. I have the equitop myoplast from the vet to help rebuild some lost muscle (not over keen due to the sugar but vet wants me to try!) so I guess I just need to reduce the hay and up the exercise to see if that helps!

Offload away! I found electric fencing a godsend and soaked hay. Plus some form of exercise every single day...... In the end though I had to move to a yard with less rich grazing to see an improvement. I can't even use a muzzle because it just triggers her ulcers. I dream of a horse I can just chuck out in a big field.

You can buy straight amino acids from bulk powders if you don't want to use the myoplast.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

TBH, I would change my vet! This one seems to want you to spend an awful lot of money for not much use. Sugar is not going to help your horse and the vet should have taken blood for a Cushings test today.

 

[ester]

Few questions, sorry if you have answered them before.
How old is Toby?
what type/breed is he?
is he shod?
Will he wear a muzzle?
How much work does he currently do?
I assume the lethargy is new for him?


Fwiw I have one who would happily walk round a stubble field without being excited. He is has always been relatively flat in summer too compared to winter. stabling in the day always helped, mostly because I think it meant he got some decent kip, something else to keep in mind.

I would be inclined to experimentally take him off the grass for a week/stable him part of the time just to see if you get a difference.

 

[emfen1305]

Few questions, sorry if you have answered them before.
How old is Toby?
what type/breed is he?
is he shod?
Will he wear a muzzle?
How much work does he currently do?
I assume the lethargy is new for him?


Fwiw I have one who would happily walk round a stubble field without being excited. He is has always been relatively flat in summer too compared to winter. stabling in the day always helped, mostly because I think it meant he got some decent kip, something else to keep in mind.

I would be inclined to experimentally take him off the grass for a week/stable him part of the time just to see if you get a difference.

I dont think i have

He has just turned 10

He is a cob x something finer (possibly an appy/knabstrupper as he has spots and the attitude of one!)

He is shod in summer and barefoot in winter, his hooves crack rocks but the hacking round us is quite stony in summer so feel more comfortable if he is shod

I've never had him in a muzzle so I don't know, he is a dab hand at getting his fly mask off though!

He is currently in work 6 days a week - 1 hour lesson once a week, 1 lunging session over poles, 2 x 30-45 minute schooling sessions and 2 x 1-1hr30 hacks. I have tried decreasing the days, increasing the hacking, decreasing the schooling, dropping the lunging etc but nothing seems to make a difference

Yes relatively, I mean he's never going to be a racehorse but at the moment it is a battle for the entire lesson to get him moving forward and i have had different people ride him who are quite frankly much better than me and he goes the same for them. He absolutely will not stay in front of the leg regardless of what I do. Transitions are sharp but after 2 strides he drops into this sort of shuffle (but still tracks up if that makes sense?) As soon as you apply leg he shifts forward but will not maintain. This is for an entire hour regardless of the gait and what we try and do to make things interesting.

Yeah my vet recommended taking him off grass but I am worried it will make him miserable not being able to go out and be a horse! I may try keeping him in for a few days but I am also going to section off a diet paddock in his current field to see if that helps.

 

[emfen1305]

Offload away! I found electric fencing a godsend and soaked hay. Plus some form of exercise every single day...... In the end though I had to move to a yard with less rich grazing to see an improvement. I can't even use a muzzle because it just triggers her ulcers. I dream of a horse I can just chuck out in a big field.

You can buy straight amino acids from bulk powders if you don't want to use the myoplast.

We didn't think we had any grass but apparently we do! I think it's because our fields were sprayed this year and we rested the back half for much longer so they've had a lot more to go at! Plus coming out of winter fat wasn't ideal!

I thought a while ago about buying straight aminos as I'm still a member of the PSSM Facebook group but I was experimenting with a couple of different things at the time and didn't want to add anything else into the mix!

The girls I am in the field with have said it's OK for me to fence off a little starvation paddock for him so I am going to do that when I am back from Equifest!