What do people feel these symptons could be?

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Leanne1980

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Hi all, my horse has a numerous amount of symptons and is currently under the vet. However the vet is coming up with blanks as the horse is not lame, so reluctant to perform any investigations. I am wondering if anyone has had simple symptons with their horse:

Groaning when stood in stable and walking around field.
Stretching out with legs in front - like a dog would.
Yawning a lot
Low (was high) worm count which is being treat.
Dislikes being groomed
Walks away and turns back/bum to you when you enter stable with tack.
When riding and then stands, horse looks round and nibbles at my right stirrup.
When riding horse is tight on left shoulder, and neck, doesn't soften or work round.
Dry mouthed, no salvation or mouthing of the bit.
Hangs tongue out to left of mouth when contact is taken up.

To date we have had a lameness check where vet confirmed she is not lame and passed flexion tests (only done in front). Xrays done on front feet showing no issues.

The mares overies have been scanned due to the mood swings (and attacking horses in the field). No issues but put on regumate for trial. No major changes, not enough to say its down to hormone issues.

Any suggestions where I should look next?
I desperately want to find out what is going on as she looks so down. She is ridden willing but flat and not forward. Her dry mouth is also causing the bit to rub.

Any ideas?

Thanks Leanne
 
Hi Leo, yep I realise that :( just don't know where to start to find the pain. The vets cannot find lameness so it's like finding a needle in a haystack at the moment. Can they not be bought on by just stress?
 
I am wondering if it is stress and diet. I purchased her in January from a yard that stabled the horses a lot and they were feeding them grain at 26% starch. She is a sensitive horse with a low pain threshold. She in a worrier but tends to be inward with it, gets depressed rather than explosive.
 
Definitely worth checking for ulcers
But also have you had a chiropractor or physio check for any soreness? Molly will look at stirrup and go to the back of her stable if her saddle needs adjusting - so I'd also check those things too.
 
Hi yes I have had Chiro 3 times who has confirmed she is sore on her left shoulder and neck. She recommended seeing a vet which I have done but vet couldn't find anything. Vet would not investigate further as there is no lameness and looks well. Saddle has been checked 3 times and was new, also dentist has been 3 times. This is over a 8 month period x
 
Read your opening post and thought ulcers too.

Worth getting a scope in case the insurance company argue that the first symptoms were the lameness work-up.

I have one who gets them with stress. She needs constant feed to nibble on (despite being fat - I soak a lot of hay), and if I know something is going to cause her stress then I get in with the omeprazole quickly now. Couple of supplements in her feed also seem to keep her pretty stable.
 
Leanne1980 said:
Does your horse show the stress or is it more inwards? My girl is sensitive and worries, but doesn't show it by being spooky etc x
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She's a chunky mare - draft x - so people tend to think they come with a calm, placid attitude and its on TBs that suffer stress. She has had a difficult time and has other underlying health issues but I tend to spot the stressy, my tummy hurts symptoms quickly now. She will get very snappy, hates the saddle going on (teeth come out), and is generally irritable. Grass flushes can set her off and recently new horses being turned out in the field next to her - with a dominant mare who was being a bit of a cow over the fence.

Its worth a scope. I only ever did it once - to prove a point to YO and vets that my horse was hurting - and now that its on her record the vets are much more amenable to prescribing drugs if necessary. She got ill a couple of months ago and although the infection wasn't stomach related, the stress led to a flare up. I think it will always be a problem with her sadly, but at least I can try and manage it.
 
Leanne1980 said:
I am wondering if it is stress and diet. I purchased her in January from a yard that stabled the horses a lot and they were feeding them grain at 26% starch. She is a sensitive horse with a low pain threshold. She in a worrier but tends to be inward with it, gets depressed rather than explosive.
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When I bought my horse, she had been fed a high starch, high sugar diet (cheap pony nuts) and haylage and been kept in every other day in winter, so I'm pretty sure that although she was massively overweight, she had been standing in with nothing to eat for hours. She was very grumpy in general and difficult to tack up, partly because the bridle didn't fit properly, (i bought tack with her). Obviously I changed her tack but also changed her diet to high fibre, low sugar/starch and added Aloe Vera juice to her feed. The AV definitely made a difference, if I ran out, she became grumpy after 36 hrs. I never had her scoped because the changes sorted her out but I am sure that she did have ulcers.

ETA, after reading SEL's post; My mare is also a Draft horse and she was sold to me as a biter! If she has a problem of any kind, she is very good at letting me know but is no longer a biter.
 
Classic ulcer symptoms.
Have her scoped to prove it, put her on a high fibre, low sugar diet, (we used Thunderbrooks base mix and fast fibre with TB's Ulca-gon and Liquid Gold).
Our horse also had a tiny wolf tooth that two different dentists and the vets missed; once it was removed she improved dramatically.
 
Yeh vet can come out but trying to reduce costs. If she scopes clear then I would not put it through insurance as it would be excluded. Good quick about flexion. She has one hoof smaller than the other so vet was more interested in the reason for that than the other symptoms :(
 
Leanne1980 said:
Yeh vet can come out but trying to reduce costs. If she scopes clear then I would not put it through insurance as it would be excluded. Good quick about flexion. She has one hoof smaller than the other so vet was more interested in the reason for that than the other symptoms :(
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Ulcers will probably be excluded even if she scopes clear this time so worth putting in the claim although they may not pay out if she does scope clear, I had one scoped at home, it cost a bit more than going to the vets but by the time you cost in transport and the overnight stay it is probably similar and far less stress for a bad traveler.

Regarding the foot the one we had scoped, that I was convinced had ulcers, had counter rotated pedal bones when xrayed, his feet looked fine from the outside, the vet found him sound when examined but xrayed to humour me as much as anything, the results shocked him as he felt the horse was fine apart from the "behavioural" issues he showed, so it would be worth xraying yours just in case something is going on inside one of the feet, it may be that it is getting smaller, or the other one bigger, for a reason and that trying to avoid using the foot properly is causing the tension further up, mine had always been tighter in his neck and shoulders than ideal, fully resolved once the feet were treated.

Sorry just seen the front feet have been xrayed so please ignore some of the above.
 
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:) yep hooves xrayed
It's evident at some point she has been avoiding using the left foot, but not sure why as she came to me this way. She pass flexion tests on all four limbs when purchased so nothing was picked up then. I'm going to ask for flexion tests behind again to make sure and scooping x
 
Leanne1980 said:
Yeh vet can come out but trying to reduce costs. If she scopes clear then I would not put it through insurance as it would be excluded. Good quick about flexion. She has one hoof smaller than the other so vet was more interested in the reason for that than the other symptoms :(
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Exclusions are nothing to do with claims but to do with conditions investigated.
Starting a new insurance policy without declaring a scooping to check for ulcers will invalidate the whole policy leaving the insurance company a massive loop hole to get out of any claim for any condition if they choose to.
 
Leanne1980 said:
So technically any vet visit and investigate needs declaring? Even if they find nothing?
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Not sure about modern policies but when I used insurance, many years ago, in the small print you were required to notify them of any condition requiring a second vet visit. Which was the trigger for them to exclude that condition from the policy - insurance? Pah!!
 
Leanne1980 said:
So technically any vet visit and investigate needs declaring? Even if they find nothing?
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Technically yes, you would not get a vet out if there was no reason so from the point of view of the insurance company they need to know so they can decide whether to cover the risk in future, you can sometimes get exclusions removed if they are put on following investigations that found nothing but if you fail to inform them that they took place you are risking all of your insurance cover being void.
 
Based on that I probably should never insure my horses lol horses always need vets or mine do 😱 never mind. Thanks for the heads up.
 
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