The mare I have been working on has lying down after I have ridden her again. She did this twice in the summer where she would just lie down as she was walking around after I got off. She was not dehydrated or overheated so I just put her on electrolytes with minerals. She has started this again now that she is off the electrolytes though and has been eating poo also. Could she have a mineral deficiency and if so can anyone recommend any good products. I got her apple finish line but she is picky and doesn’t like it.
This horse needs a vet and a diagnostic.
No amount of supplements can help if we don’t know the cause of the problem.
Agree. A friend of mine has a horse just being broken to saddle and it lies down once it feels the pressure of the saddle/girth, but we figure that’s a disobedience as this horse also used to lie down while she was being trained to be lead with a halter. She doesn’t want to do the task, she lies down.
There is a big difference between collapsing and lying down.
Yes, please call the vet.
COTH is full of knowledgeable people but there are times when the vet is the only right answer.
sorry my mistake she would not collapse just lie down as we were walking in the ring. And I will get the vet out asap
Definitely the vet needs to come and do bloodwork as well. My mare did this and she was tying up. That possiblitity hadn’t even crossed my mind-she was a big lazy warm blood and I had only heard of TBs tying up( this was the early 90’s-before full internet access!!). Keep us posted and good luck.
When ever we took my daughters horse to a show or a clinic…the mare would start to get mildly colic…so daughter would dismount undo the girth and the symptoms would dissappear after about 30 minutes.
The mare had been showing and going to clinics for several years with no issues…what we figured out after about 2 shows and 3 clinics later was that we had a new girth…very soft but had a stiffer narrow piece of leather running down the middle…we think it was pinching a nerve.
Once we stopped using it she stopped acting colicy.
We went back to our original stiffer wider girth which I think displaced the pressure better…never had another issue after that.
We have this mares daughter and if you do up her girth to quickly she will also gets colicy symptoms.
Something you might want to look into.
Dalemma
I was also thinking that it might be an issue with the girth beeing too tight or somehow pinching her. Does she act the same way if you ride her bareback? That would be a good way to test the girth theory.
But as others have said, if in doubt, get the vet out.
I have talked with my coach today and we have come to the conclusion that she may have been colicing mildly as she has just went out onto the fresh green grass. There also seems to be a small saddle fitting problem which may have also contributed too it. The incident was last week and after giving her a week off I rode her today and she was fine. thanks you all for you input
Grass is not going to cause colic. Founder, maybe, but not colic.
tinah, I think you may want to do a little research. Grass, especially spring grass and grass which has been touched by frost, can most definitely cause colic. Some horses handle the change to their feed intakes just fine. Others end up with gas colic or worse (founder).
Yes - they can DEFINITELY colic off new grass!!!
I was going to second/third/fourth the girth comments…sometimes if their girths are too tight it makes them uncomfortable and they can lay down. I had a mare that I had to girth up halfway, walk her in hand a lap or two around the arena, tighten another hole or two, walk a lap, then get on and tighten the last hole. Otherwise she would dramatically throw herself to the ground.
[QUOTE=tinah;7567966]
Grass is not going to cause colic. Founder, maybe, but not colic.[/QUOTE]
Green grass can certainly cause gas colic.
I’d still get the vet out to pull bloods. Is she tender over her back or around her girth area?
