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I have a 15 year old Arab that I have owned and ridden for 10 years.
He always has alot of energy and has never had any metabolic problems.
His problems are with his legs and a bout of pneumonia several years ago
that compromised his breathing. He is a "me first" horse and will never
quit. That's the background.
One month ago on a ride with two friends (walking) he stopped, stretched
out his front legs like he needed to pee and dropped his head. His nose
was wrinkled and his ears half back. No pee just stood there. We let
him stand for about 5 min. then asked him to go on. He grunted, shook
himself and went on with his bouncy walk. This happened several times
that day as we turned around to go home. Did not have the oportunity to
ride for two weeks, then I took him out alone. Were doing great- walk,
trot, canter - lots of energy then he just stops and stands with his
front legs out and his head down - after a while he just walks on and
picks up wherever he left off. Yesterday I took him out again with one
friend that was training for a ride and tie. We were behind his horse
when he was jogging so the horse would not lag behind. We walked up a
steep hill and at the top my horse did his thing again but this time I
thought he was going to go down. His head was almost on the ground, his
ears back and his front legs sort of camped out and locked. His heart
rate was 64 and the other horse of similiar fitness was 40. After about
15 min he snapped out of it and was back to bouncing again. He did not
snap at his belly or flanks. His hindquarter muscles were loose. He
had dropped normal looking manure earlier. No feed change.
Any thoughts. I am clueless. What should I watch for. This horse is
very special to me and this scares me as it is so atypical.
All comments will be greatly appreciated. Sorry this is long - thanks
for reading it.
Donna Tillmann and Shamire, who needs some help, we just don't know what
kind!
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