When is lying down a bad sign?

[sublimequine]

[QUOTE=Lieselotte;4807395]
Well, there’s only so much you can tell another horse owner…
She was out all afternoon, grooming and walking around with her mare who seemed better. But when owner told me she found her horse lying down again, I couldn’t help but tell her to just get the vet… But she had already asked another boarder (experienced) to take her mare’s vital signs and there was no elevated temperature, P & R fine, no sweating… She also said her horse was rolling around in the sandy round pen and got up and down easily today. (Should have asked her if the horse shook off the sand but I just learned that bit of information by reading one of your posts!)
I think everyone is just settling on signs of old age now.

goeslikestink: The horse is not turned out, just lives in her stall and large (dirt) paddock and gets fed some sort of senior feed and alfalfa.

I felt it wasn’t my place to keep pushing for the vet beyond what I had already said but I’m certainly learning a lot from this experience. I’m a fairly new horse owner myself but have been around horses long enough to trust my instincts and they are yelling for a professional to come out! Even though I trust most of the other boarders and value their opinion, incl. BO and BM (BO’s daughter), none of them are veterinarians so there’s too much guessing for my taste and too little action. I bet some of you have been in situations like this before. It’s so hard to keep quiet…[/QUOTE]

That is the lamest excuse for not calling the vet ever. Old age isn’t a sickness! I’ve been at barns with horses over 30 years old and you’d bet if any of them were acting that way a vet would be called. :mad:

Not angry at you OP, it’s out of your control. I’m just mad at the owner!

[goeslikestink]

so why let the old girl have a prolonged death - and suffer if thats there excuse
as bo she has a duty to her clients and to the horses within her care

she should call the vet - out before someone goes out and finds this horse dead

[KSAQHA]

[QUOTE=goeslikestink;4807159]
…but ones is skinny was the other mare that died skinny aswell[/QUOTE] Nope, this mare certainly was not showing her age, and perfectly fine earlier in the day. No change in hay, pasture, and hadn’t been off farm in almost 5 months.

[shawnee_Acres]

Less inclined to think colic and more inclined to think organ failure is beginning. They should have bloodwork panel done to check liver and kidney functions, very likely she is beginning to fail. Also would have vet check her heart

[betsyk]

Until you said she’s not really turned out (stall and paddock which I assume means drylot) I would have suggested the possibility of a gassy spell/mild colic from spring grass. We see a lot of those at our barn at this time of year, when we get some rain followed by sunny days and the grass explodes. They typically present just as you described - a horse lies down at a time and place when he doesn’t usually do it, maybe looks a little punky, is off feed or listless, but no overt signs that scream “colic!” Usually resolve with banamine, sometimes need some walking around, follow up is less time on grass and older, grass hay for a couple days. My 28-year-old has 2 or 3 of these every year because he can eat more grass than hay (quids the hay, swallows the grass) so he overdoes it. He responds to banamine and I keep a sign on his stall that says “Am I acting colicky? Call my owner. Am I choking? call the vet” because his chokes don’t resolve without vet intervention, but I know from experience that his grass/gas colics do. The sign comes down by summer, once the spring grass is gone, because a summer/fall/winter colic for him would be a different situation and need different intervention.

[urcountrygirl]

My horse is almost 31 and she has been laying down a lot more also. I was starting to get worried about her. She has very bad arthritis as well and when she odes get up it takes her a long time to do so. The vet has been out a few different times and they say she is just old and sometimes that is what they do. She is on stall rest most of the time due to the fact she over eats hay in the fields which makes it even harder for her to move. She does go out and get exercise here and there but she runs like a fool then hurts herself and we are back to square one with her. Wish there was something else I could do for her. I rescued her almost 3 years ago and was only told she was 18-19 at the time then i got her home and realized they lied and vet confirmed she was 28-29. I feel bad for my poor baby girl.

[Scribbler]

There are two separate questions here.

When is lying down a sign of trouble? Answer: when it’s out of character, when horse won’t get up if prodded, if horse wants to get up but can’t, repeatedly gets up and goes down ( except obviously for exuberant hsppy itchy rolling in turnout), or is showing distress in other ways as well.

The second question is, what do you do with a horse that is clearly unwell, whether or not lying down is a symptom?

Do you treat at home, call a vet, or do benign neglect and hope for the best? The decision here is often iinfluenced by local practice, owners knowledge, past history of the horse, finances, and perceived value of horse either monetarily or emotionally.

People can also be reluctant to call a vet or go to the doctor if the expect very bad news.

Anyhow I would be calling a vet right away if that was my horse. But I am also capable of seeing through my own horse’s impaction constipation colic without a vet.

And from what I ve seen of older horses yes this does sound like it could be the beginning of the end.

[Tagli]

Countrygirl—my 30+ mare has done well on Equioxx for arthritis. Comes in tablet form as well as paste

[jetsmom]

@urcountrygirl

My horse is almost 31 and she has been laying down a lot more also. I was starting to get worried about her. She has very bad arthritis as well and when she odes get up it takes her a long time to do so. The vet has been out a few different times and they say she is just old and sometimes that is what they do. She is on stall rest most of the time due to the fact she over eats hay in the fields which makes it even harder for her to move. She does go out and get exercise here and there but she runs like a fool then hurts herself and we are back to square one with her. Wish there was something else I could do for her. I rescued her almost 3 years ago and was only told she was 18-19 at the time then i got her home and realized they lied and vet confirmed she was 28-29. I feel bad for my poor baby girl.

Have you tried previous for arthritis pain relief? Or if that doesn’t work, daily Bute with aloe juice or gastroguard to protect stomach? If not, talk to your vet about it.