Our arthritic retiree isn’t happy

[Springersrock]

We had to retire DD’s pony at 20

We had to move her to a different yard as the old one really wasn’t suitable for her and moved to a really lovely small, private yard.

She has a fellow retiree and DD’s new pony as buddies, she’s out as much as possible but we still have a stable for her - she’s never fully lived out and was absolutely knackered with more than a couple of nights out last summer so at the moment she’s still coming in at night

Initially she seemed to take to it like a duck to water, but over the last few weeks she’s not happy.

We’ve had the vet out and health-wise she’s fine. She’s on 1 Bute a day and a joint supplement and is doing really well with regard to the arthritis

She’s always thrived on work, we’d reduced it to almost semi-retirement but came to a complete stop just before Christmas

Vet thinks she’s missing work but is adamant that she 100% cannot ever be ridden again, so when DD is hacking out I take her out on a lead rein, DD has done some very gentle lunging with her, if DD is riding in our sand school we tie her up outside with a hay net and groom her, we’re going to a showing show in a couple of months so she’ll come with us and DD will do some in-hand classes with her, stuff like that.

Any ideas please?

Thanks!

When you say she's not happy, how do you mean?

Long reining? Lunging isn't a good idea as there's too much strain on the joints but you could free school her or just let her have a hooley in the school every few days!

Babyfoal she’s withdrawn, stands at the back of her stable facing the wall, or stands in field by the hedge, she was always affectionate and quite cuddly but she doesn’t really respond to fuss, etc. She’s a bit bitey

She’s been totally checked over by the vet, including ulcers and he can find nothing wrong. Her teeth have been done in the last month as well

Sarahlou sorry, I meant long reining rather than lunging. 🤦‍♀️

She enjoys free schooling, will have to get DD to do that again with her, she hasn’t done it for a while thinking about it

Thanks!

Maybe the move stressed her out. It can take horses ages to settle in new places.

Maybe. She seemed to settle really well to start with though. Was in her element

From what I know of her history, she’d had a lot of owners and was then removed by the RSPCA. She was then with her previous owner for 4 years and with us for 5.

She was at our old yard a long time, but as the arthritis has worsened, the previous yard just wasn’t suitable anymore - the yard was rough and pot-holey and she hated walking across it, the fields weren’t great, etc

It shouts ulcers to me. Change of yard could do it. What did the vet do to check for ulcers?

She was scoped and was all clear

DD free schooled her last night and she had a whale of a time.

Quite stiff this morning though

Will have to try and get her in there for 10 minutes every day I think

Depression and facing the wall can be a sign of liver failure - a blood test would’ve well worth doing . My chap was like this , his bloods showed severe hepatitis related to being neglected rescue pony , he lost 60% of his liver function but is still with me 8 years on, in rude health and all I have to do is feed him milk thistle daily which keeps his bloods just about normal.

I too would be a bit suspicious something physical is going on somewhere with the sudden behaviour change with no obvious cause, not saying your vet is negligent or anything, it's just so hard with horses to work out what is going on when the horse can't communicate its symptoms! Any recent change in diet?

But if you are 100% positive it's not a health thing, it sounds like she could be missing the mental stimulation of having a job to do - how is she with her food? If she's a good do-er/food motivated can you look to keep her more occupied in the stable with things like a trickle feed hay net, a ball/puzzle for any hard feed she gets or a lick? Won't work of course if she's the type to just not eat if it's not easy for her! Any possibility she's lonely in her stable, would she appreciate a mirror (keep some horses fascinated for hours!)? If her joints are really bad I probably wouldn't want to do anything too strenuous with her exercise wise but keep up with the free schooling and see if you can clicker train her, teach her tricks, do some horse agility maybe? Again this tends to work best if she's food motivated so you can reward with food but just as a bit of fun it might keep her occupied even if she never learns anything!

What's her position in the herd pecking order, it could be that as she slows down a bit/is less mobile, she's dropping in status and the others are bullying her a bit, this can really affect mares in particular if they were always the dominant one? Particularly as you've relatively recently added a new horse to the mix? Hard to know what to do about it though as presumably you have limited flexibility in changing the herd around?

Thanks!

Vet did give her a really thorough going over and checked everything (thank the lord for insurance!) and could find nothing wrong physically. He is as sure that she’s just finding it hard to adjust

Diet-wise - nothing has changed. She’s never been greedy but a steady eater, her appetite hasn’t changed and she hasn’t lost any weight

She has ad lib hay over night, lots of grass in their field.

She has a handful of chaff and half a cup of micronised linseed for breakfast and dinner - only really as something to put her supplement and pain relief in. Head goes in the bucket and you could set a rocket off next to her and she wouldn’t lift her head until she’d licked the bucket clean

She still seems to be boss of the herd - her fellow retiree is a 27 year old gelding and then there’s DD’s new pony. There’s 4 horses at the yard in total, the other 1 is in a field on his own next to our field

They all seem to get on fine, but yes, we are limited in what we can do with them. Dividing the field up with electric tape is about it.

She shouldn’t be lonely in her stable - it’s a converted cowshed type thing, 4 stables - 2 each side, they all tend to go in and out together so she’s very rarely in on her own

She’s got a treat ball, we buy her lick-its but she’s worked out how to slide them along and up against a wall and demolishes them in about 2 seconds. We hang up swedes for her as they seem to last a bit longer.

Will try a mirror though

She does like treats - DD plays Grandmother’s Footsteps type games with her, and taught her how to bow and stuff like that with cubes of swede.

She’s always worked, she was a carriage horse in the past, hunted and blood hounds with her last owner, did cross country and blood hounds with DD so it’s going to be a huge adjustment for her

Thanks!

I wonder if it would be worth asking your vet for a Cushings test (if you haven't already done so). In our older gelding's case (then aged 18) it was the stress of moving yards that seemed to trigger him - he had no symptoms previously. A change in temperament and seeming a bit "down" can be early indicators.

It does sound physical. Hind gut ulcers don't show up in scopes and can be difficult to diagnose because symptoms can be inconsistent. You could try a treatment for that and if she improves that is indicative that it's hind gut ulcers. How much was she blood tested as that would show up things a physical exam would miss.

Otherwise, put her in a routine where she has something to do, if that's what she misses. Lead her out, do the agility. Have a look and see if this organisation will give you some ideas www.thenonriddenequineassociationuk.org/

She sounds painful. If she's Stiff after free schooling it sounds like it’s her joints despite the bute. Maybe talk to your vet about laser therapy or other analgesics that you could trial?
Also double check her shoeing and make sure she’s not carrying any extra weight

My pony got withdrawn and bitey because he hated his field buddy. Sadly the field buddy absolutely loved the pony. Once we put pony in a field on his own he has had a complete personality change - is now the most chilled, happy pony you could wish for. Field buddy was a bully we think, he is slightly less happy now he doesn't have anyone to boss about.

I’d try a Cushings test too. The main symptom in my mare was anxiety - she stands at the gate all day neighing and doesn’t seem herself. (she’d always been Miss Independent previously). Prascend takes her back to normal.