5 year old TB. I’ve had him for 2 years now and I clipped him last year since he didn’t / wouldn’t shed out. Horse also got strangles last year and we thought we were going to lose him. Horse dropped a ridiculous amount of weight. Looked starved.
This year he is still not shedding out like my others. I have another OTTB who sheds out great and grows a heathy winter coat.
He is once again looking super thing, they have acess to an alfalfa roundbale 24/7. He goes off and on grain. He’s a picky eater but loves his hay.
Is it possible he could have crushings? Should I just have a whole blood work done on him? Fecal count? I’m sure they all need to be wormed now. When the green grass comes in and I pasture them he gains weight just fine.
He stopped eating beet pulp, I have him back on Purina strategy gx again.
Five is pretty young for Cushings-- ulcers would be my first guess, but for sure I would do a fecal and a basic vet exam (and teeth float if he’s been 6 months) and talk to them about baseline bloodwork. Some TBs are picky eaters, but IME it’s relatively rare for a healthy young one in light work. How long did you wait last year before you clipped him? It’s not that unusual for them to just be starting to shed now-- I have one that started in January and one that started this week.
Where are you? Mine are all still pretty Winter-shaggy, as appropriate for their Winter coat. It’s really strange here, as I have friends in the Lexington area, so farther W and a little bit farther N, and most years their horses shed out faster and sooner than mine, and this is comparing apples to apples in terms of relative ages and work loads.
IME, younger horses can still be “figuring out” Winter coats, and it can take 5-6-7 years before they settle into their adult norm. Not all of course, but I’ve seen quite a few who still have “baby” Winter coats (ie yak-like) into their 4th and 5th Winter or so, before backing off a bit. But, this doesn’t explain his weight issue.
He is once again looking super thing, they have acess to an alfalfa roundbale 24/7. He goes off and on grain. He’s a picky eater but loves his hay.
On and off grain screams ulcers to me, but let’s start with the whole diet:
what grain and how much (by weight, but at least by quarts)
what kind of hay and how much
any grass at all, even Winter nibbles, or is it entirely hay for the Winter?
Is it possible he could have crushings? Should I just have a whole blood work done on him? Fecal count? I’m sure they all need to be wormed now. When the green grass comes in and I pasture them he gains weight just fine.
If you’ve never done a FEC, do one right now, before you deworm. You should start getting a FEC history on him so you can get a handle on his shedder status. You’ll still deworm - need to target tapeworms and bots regardless, and whatever you use for that will also get strongyles. Is it possible to have Cushing’s at 5? Yes. Just not probable.
Some horses look worse coming out of Winter than they should if their Winter feeding routine is not supplying sufficient Vitamin E, at least 1IU/lb, preferably 2.
He’s due for a total vet work up honestly, teeth and all. He refused to eat beet pulp, refused to eat soaked alfalfa pellets. I just put him back on 2lbs of Purina strategy to start and he gobbled that down well.
Last year I clipped him in May/coming into June. He was still yak like and gross looking. He had just healed up from strangles. Finally got weight in him and rode him the rest of 2018. He has dropped weight both winters I’ve had him no matter what I feed… he has muscle wasting as well imo. Once he’s being worked he muscles up well and is generally happier the other two horses I have don’t muscle waste like him and don’t need grain.
He is originally from So Cal and we now live in Montana.
I probably should do a treatment of ulcer guard for him, I just haven’t bit the bullet yet.
I’m sure he is ulcer-ey. He is also a cribber. I haven’t seen him crib like he use to, if at all. He was like a year rehab when he came off the track and sat in a field.
We are in Montana, the nice warmer part. He’s only been here for two winters. It’s been getting up to the 60s everyday and he’s still not shedding out and is yak like. I clipped him super late last year but he was super sick.
We need round bales 60/40 grass/alfalfa. Have access 24/7 to hay. We have no grass in winter. As soon as the spring pasture comes in he fattens up.
I was feeding 4ish lbs of beet pulp and he wouldn’t touch it, wouldn’t touch the soaked alf pellets either. He did gobble his Purina strategy down today which was nice, he has spring fever going on. I at one point was feeding 5+ lbs of TC senior plus beet pulp and MSM, msm being the biggest mood changer for him. He went from being extremely muscle sore and trying to kick while brushing to being able to brush no problems, I should just go ahead and treat for ulcers.
He was like this last year too, going off grain in the winter time. He drinks well and eats hay well. Husband didn’t appreciate me asking him to see if this horses fecal matter was dry or not “honey did you pick it up and see if it felt dry or not?” Real words that came out of my mouth.
Would all the pickiness be ulcer related or could it be worms/mineral/vit deficiency?
Whatever vet that comes out will love my 80 questions. I don’t have a regular vet right now after the whole strangles debocale last year plus I moved the horses to a different county/we now have our own place.
Horse has also grown like a weed since I got him. Some days he looks obese but recently he’s been thin.
Thank you everyone for the insights and knowledge!
I agree that for where you are, which is much farther North than me, meaning your daylight hours are still less than here, he doesn’t look “wrong” in terms of hair coat. Temperatures do play some small role, but S1969 is right, daylight hours is by far the biggest factor. So while your warmer area of MO may mean shedding sooner than the colder areas (and really, what is “warmer” there :lol:) it’s still MO.
I think I would be testing him for PSSM, and test his Vitamin E and selenium levels.
I might also treat for ulcers with Nexium and see what happens. The cost is so little compared to UG/GG that it won’t break your bank and may provide you some good information. But I’d do the other tests first.
My horses had not been shedding much at all yet - just a few hairs while grooming, but yesterday my retiree was suddenly shedding in great volume! My ponies are just getting started with more shedding, but the 4th horse is holding onto her hair for a while longer. I wouldn’t worry about your horse quite yet.
Our grass is just starting to grow back. I actually need to do some cross fencing and kick them off so we have more grass this summer. They all live outside 24/7.
The ugly yak like hairs really threw me off haha. I guess it is a big adjustment from CA to MT. My other two have started to shed out well, this guy just makes me worry!
