My pregnant TB mare started losing weight in the winter and had suddenly turned into a picky eater. I gave her tons of quality hay and any grain she wanted to eat. She was eventually diagnosed with lymphoma. She foaled uneventfully but wasn’t able to produce enough milk to raise her foal. I let her live out her days until she had more bad ones than good.
Are you in an area where Lyme disease is prevalent? I had a horse loose a lot of weight when she had Lyme. Once we finally got it diagnosed and treated she picked up weight quickly.
WOW. I am overwhelmed with all of these responses, thank you all so much! Our local vet is the one who “checked” her teeth a few months ago, but I honestly don’t trust him and I’ll definitely take my mare up to the specialist this week. I only hesitated because his practice is several hours away, and my mare hates trailers. It’ll be totally worth it though, and I wish I had done it sooner!!! I want her back in good health. Teeth check, blood tests, and new blankets are all on my list. (Thank you to all who mentioned the blankets…the cold didn’t seem to bother her, but I should have been more responsible.)
EPM is a new one I hadn’t thought about, thank you for the suggestion! I will definitely ask the vet about it. I believe that could be a strong possibility, as we have armadillos in the area as well as coons, skunks, and cats. (which apparently are carriers of the disease! yikes.)
Thank you for the feeding tips too! While I do not think that feed is the problem at this point, if the vet figures out what is wrong and gets her on medication, these are all really good foods to get her back on her feet and running again.
Once again, I really appreciate all that you guys are saying! Thank you for the help, it is so awesome to get such rapid and helpful feedback. Off to the Equine Clinic I go! :winkgrin:
Good luck, and keep us posted!
Is she trying to graze when there really isn’t enough grass out there to graze from?
My old gelding has been a pain this spring. He stayed fat all winter, but has been dropping weight because he’s been trying to “graze” since the grass came in. The problem is–we have a little better than a drylot, with only tiny patches of grass. Not nearly enough to sustain an older, harder keeping horse. He’ll turn away from his hay to find tiny little niblets of grass instead.
If she’s trying to graze on dead grass instead of eating hay, she might not be getting enough calories during the winter months.
Lots of good advice here. At the very basic level, I’d blanket this horse in the winter, with an extra insulator on the days/nights you’d consider extra cold. This horse just cannot afford the winter calories used in keeping itself warm.
Update! Blood test showed that she has anemia. Will continue to run tests and try to find the underlying problem. My vet thinks it’s cancer. Very depressing. 
So sorry to hear. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you and your mare
Bummer…so sorry to read this.
[QUOTE=Mesa2010;8649333]
Update! Blood test showed that she has anemia. Will continue to run tests and try to find the underlying problem. My vet thinks it’s cancer. Very depressing. :([/QUOTE]
It might be a small comfort to know that many horses with cancer sometimes pass swiftly and often peacefully. Lost Mr Fussy this way - free feed of good hay, beet pulp and oats once a day and he kept losing weight. Was going to phone the vet to do something, made tentative arrangements for the guy with the back-hoe to come and went out one day and he was gone, just laid out like he was sleeping. We have a spot to dispose of dead stock called the boneyard and we just took him there, sounds harsh but we can only bury animals that have been chemically euthanised
I am so sorry to hear that. Going to jingle for both of you.
[QUOTE=Mesa2010;8649333]
Update! Blood test showed that she has anemia. Will continue to run tests and try to find the underlying problem. My vet thinks it’s cancer. Very depressing. :([/QUOTE]
I would get a fecal sample if you haven’t already and scope for ulcers. Anemia is very rare in horses unless they have active bleeding.
