Splash was a rescue and a very poorly one at that when i got him 4yrs ago. Now we've struggled through and today he's a happy little pony.
We do have some medical problems but one of the big ones that seems to be getting worse is he cannot keep himself warm.

In the winter he is well rugged and stable, last winter since he was fit and health and a now a good weight i tried leaving him out, with rugs on... he ended up with 3 rugs on to try and keep him warm as i had no stable at that time and had to rent another one when he turn into a hat rack! He lost all weight and vets were doing blood tests etc to try and see what was going on, he was refusing to eat, was shivering in the stable dispite having rugs on and at one point i really thought i might lose him, but we pulled though.. my idea of him living out is simply not going to work as he can't keepself warm and last winter was ending up tucked up in a stable with 3 big rugs on and leg wraps!
So i resign to the fact i'll have to rug him and stable him in the winter.

However i'm having problems now with this wet summer... i'm finding i'm having to rug and stable him now as he is getting cold... nobody else is getting cold only him... i'm going to try and speak to my vets as no sure what they could do for this one... one thing i have noticed is when he is cold he stops eating all together and there have been several time he's not eaten his tea or his hay this summer. At the moment his weight is ok, but then the grass would be doing that one i think.

I'm just not too sure how i cope with this... i've never had to rug a horse in summer to keep it warm! (and there was a time this summer when he was shivering and it wasn't even raining.. just a bit cold and blowing a gale!)

Perhaps one of the vets who lurk on here could shed some light? If i take him down to the vets not sure what they could do...


RIP Halo - 1998 - 2006. Miss you always.

My little horrors darlings.

im no vet, but could it possibly be some infection/underlying condition that is affecting his ability to regulate his temperature? i would ask another vet, if yours are unable to shed any light, or see if they can refer you to a specilist who may have come accross it before?

Hi Jodie

I sympathise totally, my welsh B was diagnosed with cushings this year. He gets cold very easily because of this. At the moment cos of the weather he is rugged and was still shivering the other day.

As he is a houdini he has his own little paddock so his main food is hay of which he has adlib. At the moment this is working but before winter is here I am planning on converting the field shelter into 2 stables so can have the option should I need it.

I know I keep saying it but I promise to get over to see yours soon, perhaps you might like to meet my motley crew (and have a ride on Monty if you like)

Paula

forgot to say, that by eating hay, horses bodies actually heat up. becuase it is digested by bacteria in their gut which produce heat as they break down the hay. cereals and anything the horse can break down with his own enzymes wont produce near as much warmth,

if hay is too much then maybe oat straw, as that would still keep him warm but not give as many calories (short term tips only sorry)

Well i spoke to vet today and she being honest has no clue, she is going to go off to do research to see if she can find anything...

Splash had an assortment of blood tests about 6 months ago when he has dropped all his weight off due to feeling the cold (dispite having 3 rugs off) and everything came back clear.. we were as confused then as we are now! I've often thought perhaps cushings but surely that would show something in the blood tests? (plus he's awfully young at only 5yrs old)

He gets adlib hay over night but he doesn't really eat much, in the winter when we were struggling to get him to maintain any weight he went off hay all together and was on hi-fibre cubes, but he also wouldn't eat them soaked... so he's very oddly to figure out.

In himself he's bright, perky and when i keep him warm with rugs and stable he's a very content little pony. This years winter feeding for him will have a good re-think and chat with the experts to keep him going in the right direction... i do not want a repeat of last year!

We know the poor mite had a awful start in life, from 6 months old to 18 months he was basically left in a stable to rot and its aways a wonder how he survived! Perhaps this poor start is something to do with the problems we have now...


RIP Halo - 1998 - 2006. Miss you always.

My little horrors darlings.

Hi Hawkeye

I am no expert. Normally you need food to give you energy and warmth. It seems that when he is cold he goes off his food - you would have thought that he would want to eat to keep warm. So he remains cold because he is not eating. It seems like it is a catch 22 situation. Horses/ponies tend to love the food in their buckets and cant wait for them and seeing that he has no interest in his bucket food something must be wrong as you know but cant put your finger on the cause of the problem.

Am wondering if the vet last year did any blood tests for thyroid problems. Sometimes they do blood tests but as owners you do not know what they are tested for - or we make the assumption that they have tested for everything. So may be possible to ask the vet what she tested the blood for last year and if it had included thyroid function tests. If not may want to repeat the blood tests as before and to include thyroid function tests. From a human perspective when you are hypothyroid you tend to feel the cold very easily and feel sluggish and gain wait (dont eat a lot). When you are hyperthyroid you are very manic/energetic, eat a lot and loose weight.

Am sure it is a worrying time and hope you sort it out. You could google the problem with the words, horse - pony - cold - not eating and see what comes up. Good luck with it all.

SJ

My first thought was thyroid problem too. Sounds like a high energy feed like micronised linseed might help.

I'll third the thyroid problem.

Hope they find what's causing the issue. Keep us posted.

Well i'm to ring vet back next week to discuss what she might have found out and will make a note of other things i want to ask her. Thyroid being one of them..

He's never really been a great food lover.. which for a pony who was starved you'd think he'd be manic over his feed! He likes grass but again everything in small doses...

Last year he was Reponse Slow Release Energy Cubes, mixed with a chaff (can't remember which), sugarbeet & soya oil.. everything in low doses and at once point he was on about 4 or 5 feeds a day, getting a feed every few hours. He was stabled with a choice of hay, haylage or hi-fibre cubes and rarely ate much, spent a lot of time stood in the field not grazing... and had a pile of rugs on him... now we have a rough idea of what to look for with him, trying to avoid that situation this winter! As he went from condition score of 3 down to 1.5 in a matter of weeks with no known cause... one thing i did remember was his lack of interest in forage which came first... can't say i thought much about it but this is now something i keep a close eye on, when he goes off hay i'm more aware and start trying to find out why he won't eat his hay.

At the same time i have to careful of the going the other way as he'd had a bad case of laminitis in the past! Can't win and a fine line! lol


RIP Halo - 1998 - 2006. Miss you always.

My little horrors darlings.

Humm, well just googled Hypothyroidism and i can certainly see some of the other clinical signs of it in him... certainly one i'll discuss with vet... although thinking back of what i was told beginning of the year something about thyroid problems is ringing a bell.. so maybe she had checked for that.. will certainly ask.

Will keep you posted... certainly this poor lad has an assortment of problems... just wanting to see if perhaps one problem might be at the end of several of them... especially if its treatable..


RIP Halo - 1998 - 2006. Miss you always.

My little horrors darlings.

Hmmm very odd! I hope you manage to get to the bottom of it for both of your sakes! I also agree that thyroid sounds likely so definately worth double checking that one.
Have you tried him on reedigrass? They're was an old horse at a yard i used to work at who found it hard to eat hay and wouldn't touch haylage but used to love her reedigrass, as you said your boy likes to graze it could be worth trying this if you haven't already?

hi, i know i keep going on about it but cool stance, copra is brilliant, i used to feed my arab everything!! I changed to copra and since then have not looked back, give it ago, good luck

The test for cushings isn't a straight forward blood test, they take blood, then inject steroid (I think from memory) then come back 24 hours later to take more blood then they get analyised. The results take a day or 2 to come back, for Wills they had to go to Liphook to be tested.

Paula

Hypothyroidism in adult horses is rare but a possible cause of hypothermia, weight gain despite decreased appetite and a coarse coat. It would be sensible to get your vet to blood test for this as it is unlikely it would have been done in a routine blood profile due to the rarity of the condition.
Hope you find out the cause.

Apparently ginger is very good for circulation. A ginger buscuit or 2 may help.

Also a vet once told me she used to put a teaspoon full of instant coffee in her horses feed to help with its circulation.

Well, you never know!

Good luck.

tbh jodie when theres so many good healthy ponies looking for homes i still cant understand why you dont do the best thing for him and have him pts, hes so many problems, prolonging it as you are really isnt the best thing for him....... sorry u may not like this or want to hear it but it is the best thing for him what ru going to do for him when it starts to get cold ??

Well he is healthy of a sorts and still has a good quality of life.... if i can improve that quality i will... as far as my vet is concern he is a happy little pony who isn't suffering so no need to make that decision yet.. if he only has another few years with me i'll make it the best few years... same if he keeps going for another 10... he gets well rugged up in the winter to keep him warm and that is one thing my vet has said that he may just be a pony who has to be well rugged in the winter... if i had electricity i'd get him a heat lamp! lol

Please no more on the subject of having his pts... as this is one of the quickest way for me to go on the defense.. having so many people in the past tell me he's expensive keep as a pet so pts... i refuse to put him (or dinki) down, if they have a good quality of life and my vet is happy with how they are doing they deserve to live out how ever many days they have left.


RIP Halo - 1998 - 2006. Miss you always.

My little horrors darlings.

Hi, I have a pony with a similar sort of problem, mine has had problems all his life, he was a forest orphan who got joint ill as he was also hit by the car that killed his mother. He then went on to have stomach problems and massive temperatures which even liphook were not sure what the problem was even after opening him up. On his return from liphook i noticed that his temperature control seemed to be switched off, he never gets hot and never sweats but really feels the cold and in the past could not get wet without really shaking, he has been problem free (touch wood ) for a few years now and gradually seems to be coping better with the wet and cold in summer but is really well rugged in the winter and i have found that he copes better being out 24/7. I thought i was doing my best for him by stabling and having hard feed, but he is problem free now he is out on grass without any additional feed all year round. He has always been a really happy little pony and is now 17 years old, I really didnt think he would get to this age. So really there is hope, I think we have two very special little ponies, expensive yes but so worth it.

Thats really interesting. Splash was basically left for dead in a stable for a months... problem is... he didn't die so when i rescued him he was in a real state and very poorly.

He has temperature control both ways, he is clipped in summer as he can't cool himself down very well.. if it was spring all year round he'd cope perfectly fine! lol

We tried leaving him out last year with rugs on and hard feed but he went rapidly down hill to the point he refused to eat at all.. as i had noticed when he's cold he stops eating.

So he's stabled when needed, he is on quite a strict diet really especially in winter, as needing to keep a laminitic ponies' weight up is a bit of a art i've found! So i keep him to what i know works for him and the feed company says is safe for him.

As you said very special but expensive ponies... but Splash does help earn his keep by working as a therapy pony... it amazes me that after all he went though as a youngster he doesn't have a nasty bone in his body.. not too sure he's a got a brain either but we love him the way he is... thick as two short planks who often walks into the gates if you don't purposely lead him round it! lol


RIP Halo - 1998 - 2006. Miss you always.

My little horrors darlings.