Horse with arthritis possibly due to obesity -- how to exercise?

[RockyMountainMare]

Hi all,

Recently I’ve inherited a 12 yo horse from a friend who was pretty neglected for several years. Just pasture, over fed, and little interaction. Got the vet to come out and take a look at her and was told that’s she’s obese, and has mild/moderate arthritis that makes her currently unridable (she’d have to be restarted anyway so nbd), and that she needs to go on a diet and lose a lot of weight.

So of course the vet said I needed to start working with her on a lunge line for exercise. Unfortunately she’s sore as hell, trips often, and resists wanting to canter at all. I can at best get her into a light trot. After our first session of 5 minutes eat direction I could tell she was hurting. The vet thinks that she’s not too far gone to be helped, that perhaps diet and exercise can get her feeling better and will recheck in 60 days to see if she needs injections/long term supplements, but I’m concerned the work will make her too sore. I’ve seen her haul ass in the past few months, playing with a dog, being lunged, so I know she can move but I definitely don’t want to cause her unnecessary pain.

Any supplements or exercise tips to help her get started on her road to recovery? I don’t want to give up on this horse since she’s a sweet thing and doesn’t deserve to be just a pasture pet. She’s so willing and smart I think she’s probably depressed and bored on top of it all so she deserves help.

[joiedevie99]

IMHO, there is a ton you can do here. It’s not all easy.

First, stick with walking only for at least the first few months. Trotting or cantering is just unnecessary strain. Likewise, circles are a lot of unnecessary strain.

Go back to plain old hand walking. She should be walking at a brisk pace like she’s heading in from the turnout to eat dinner, not dragging her feet. If you can, start with 15 minutes twice a day. If not, do what you can. When she seems like she still has some pep left, add another 5 minutes - but don’t increase her time more than once per week.

If the vet believes she can tolerate an NSAID, I’d get her on Equioxx/Previcox now so that walking is more comfortable. Ultimately, if you can get some weight off and isolate the arthritis to a particular joint or two, I’d stop the systemic NSAIDS and inject those joints. But for now, systemic seems preferable.

Make sure her feet are properly trimmed - since she’s putting extra strain on everything just by being overweight.

I’d also want to confirm that she isn’t insulin resistant or Cushings. If she is, you’ll want to get her on the right meds ASAP which will also help with her weight.

[RockyMountainMare]

As far as I know she’s not insulin resistant or showing any signs of cushings, but it may be something we check for if she’s not improving. We will have a hell of a time getting her off alfalfa if she ends up with either, I’m told she turns her nose up at anything semi-healthy. My other horse is on Timothy and I’d love to put this new mare on it if she wasn’t so picky.

That sounds good to me, she mostly stands all day so I imagine even having her walk would help somewhat. Though I imagine most of the initial weight loss help will be diet. Her feet are up to date and I like her farrier, as far as I know she doesn’t have any issues but i have yet to meet and talk to the guy so next time I’ll ask him how her feet look. She doesn’t have any issues giving her feet at all so I’m hoping that’s a good sign. I’ll see what I can do about the supplements, I think right now my vet wanted to not go with equioxx yet on the off chance she can recover without it. If she remains this lame after light work I may have to revisit that sooner than later.

[ThreeWishes]

Obese 12 year old would make me think sore feet/ laminitis. Any X-rays to show where the arthritis is?

[joiedevie99]

If you want to try a supplement first, you could try something like SmartComfort. Just realize that Devil’s Claw is essentially a natural/untested NSAID. It can cause stomach upset/ulcers just like an Equioxx can. It also contains Yucca, Boswellia, and MSM, all of which can help reduce inflammation and might make her walking program more comfortable.

Don’t underestimate how much you can do at the walk either. Once you get up to the 30-40 minute range, you can always add some cavaletti to walk over, some hills, etc.

[PaddockWood]

I just brought my horses home - 27 yo w Cushings and numerous soft tissue issues in his front legs and my rescue mare - 14ish. Both out of shape and overweight but not obese. Started them both on just hay pellets soaked and adding in magnesium, 1/2 TBL loose salt, Flax from Horsetech, Microbiome (butryic acid) and peppermint oil drops to block the odor from the Microbiome. Hay has been sent for testing and will balance minerals from those results.

AND, hand walking - one in each hand - min 30 min a day - brisk and doing halts and take a step back and serpentines and switching directions etc. We’re having FUN. Doing + reinforcement. Cluck and give hay pellets and they are into it all and paying attention. Two weeks in we’ve gone to 30 min twice a day.

I’m already seeing an improvement in their body shape and weight

[RockyMountainMare]

No X-rays yet, vet says that’s what we will do in 2 months if she isn’t looking/moving any better. It very well could be though, this horse has been pastured (on dirt) with a sugary diet and no work for 4 years.

[lenapesadie]

I think this is solid advice.

[JB]

For starters, there’s no way I’d be lunging any horse who is obese, has arthritis, and is out of shape. And I definitely wouldn’t be asking an overweight, out of shape horse to canter on a lunge circle. That’s asking for trouble.

Start hand walking. You’d be surprised what 15-20 minutes of MARCHING, 1-2 times a day, 6-7 days a week, can do in a few weeks.

Then get on and walk u/s for another couple weeks, starting at 15 minutes, and work up to 30-40.

But first, look at her diet. What is she eating? List it all.

[mmeqcenter]

100% JB and Joie’s posts.

I’ll add - legumes (Alfalfa) are typically lower NSC than cool season grasses (Timothy, Orchard). I would usually prefer an IR horse to be on Alfalfa, not Timothy.

[RockyMountainMare]

She was on 1 1/2 flakes of alfalfa in the morning, and a tub (yup) of Purina senior feed, a scoop of oats (not sure what kind, they smell very sweet though) and scoop of soaked beet pulp with a scoop of msm. Sorry it’s so vague, this is what I was told by her last owner, I think she eyeballed everything. I just planned on changing her over to only hay since I’m not a fan of having a horse on this much processed bag feed without a good reason.

I agree with everyone here about starting with the handwalking. After our first short lunge session today and how sore she was, I realized it was probably not good for her, hence this thread. Just wasn’t sure if walking would be enough! Unfortunately there won’t be able under saddle walking, this horse hasn’t been ridden in 4 years and may require a restart of her training, and she has a habit of bucking unless she is warmed up for 15-20 minutes before a ride. Even our 5 minute lunge session got some bucks out of her. She used to have a huge engine and I think she still does–just is too sore to use it.

[RockyMountainMare]

Good to know, I’ve only dealt with cushings before so I’m not too aware on IR horse diets but I’ll keep this in mind. I’ll ask my vet about this when she comes out to recheck my mare.

[S1969]

What kind of vet exam was done to identify arthritis versus anything else? I agree that not wanting to move at all sounds like sore feet, especially in a 12 year old horse (not a 25 year old). I would be checking for IR/Cushings now, rather than exercise first. There is no sense in fighting a diagnosis you can’t change with exercise, not to mention it will hurt her.

I don’t disagree with switching her to a mainly forage based diet rather than concentrate, and given the fact that she may be IR, removing the concentrate entirely for now will probably help. Long term, though, hay by itself is not enough without at least a ration balancer.

As for exercise, I don’t think you should exercise her until you know that she is not laminitic. That’s cruel. Change her diet and turn her out where she can move. Test for Cushings/IR and rule out foot pain before you ask her to work.

[Posting_Trot]

As many posters above have noted, handwalking over all kinds of terrain (after you’ve built up to at least 15 minutes at a go). Up hills, down hills, etc. But, if the horse begins to seem uncomfortable, back off and return to the flat. After a couple of weeks, add in ground poles or low cavaletti.

It’s a good idea to talk to your farrier about the horse’s hooves. Any problems? Bruised soles? Old signs of laminitis? etc. You want to make sure that the horse hasn’t developed metabolic problems.

Good luck.

[candyappy]

Many horses who are used to getting alfalfa hay turn up their nose to grass hays at first. The stuff you can do at the walk for exercise ( as mentioned) is good for both of you and will also build your relationship with this mare.

I would think a pound of RB would be a good fit for her along with the right amount of grass hay. My horses love the RB and to be honest if you have good quality hay most horses won’t starve themselves for long.

You want her to get the proper nutrition as she loses weight slowly.