Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Wow, without more detail it's very hard to say.  Did this come on suddenly or gradually?  Is it getting worse?  How big of a change from her normal behavior?  A sudden change in behavior without a sudden change in feed is unlikely to be a nutritional issue.   I would continue with the vet tests and see if you can find an underlying problem, which hopefully won't be too serious.  Did you determine a cause for and treat the anemia that was found?

I'm not a vet but my initial thoughts were some sort of metabolic disorder like hypothyroidism (would require daily meds but cheap), a lung tumor or other tumor (bad news), or possibly a poisonous plant she is eating out in the pasture (did you do kidney function tests with the bloodwork?)  Obviously your vet seems to be concerned about her heart,  which could also cause lethargy (hard to be peppy if your blood isn't circulating properly).  Good luck!

 have had problems this past summer and into fall in getting her energy level up, she falls asleep after 10 minutes of lunging, or saddle her up and she'll fall asleep tied to the  post B4 the ride. Stumbles a lot when she gets tired and just can't keep up,

doesn not act like an "Arab" acts moe like a Shetland Pony that is really for retirement! 

Have an appt Tues for an ultra sound on her heart...  Had the vet do a blood panel & exam on her  last week, when she did annual shots,  results came up with anemia and loss of proteins, than we checked for ulcers and that came up negative. She does have a heart murmer and originally didn't think that ment to much but all else has been ruled out. Her breathing is really strained during hills, has been that way for some time though but the fact that her energy is so low really concerns me she just acts like she doesn't feel good, hangs her head a lot and the spark on her eye is gone. :(:(:(

 This entire summer I have  tried to find the right mix of foods to give her more energy, It started out in June when I was going to do a limited NATRAC ride in August and her performance was really poor even though she was fit she just couldn't keep up and was so tired after rides. 

Someone that I talked to said I should do blood work in her and that may help find the problem, in case she was unbalanced  in her nutrition, so that's what I did a week ago and so will have to wait for Tuesdy's evaluation to see what that comes up with.

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