Hi, this is a vain attempt to pick your brains!

I have TB entering old age who we keep finding on the floor in the barn unable to get up. The barn floor is quite slippy (something we are working on), and I think this is half the problem getting up, but we don't know why she is going down in the first place. The vet thinks probably low grade pain / colic, but so far we have seen absolutely no sign of this beforehand.

We find her on the floor in the barn even though I may have left her 4 hours earlier with no sign of a problem. We put grippy matting on the other side of her, then roll her over onto it. She seems to rest for a while, then when she has more energy she tries to rise again until she eventually succeeds (so far). This has happened 4 times since the middle of January, with no previous problems at all.

She has had full blood tests done, which came back with no problems evident. She's also had a needle put into her stomach to check for fluid but that was fine. The only other investigations that can be done now would be to take her to Bristol equine hospital for further examination, but she would find this very stressful - plus the vet advised that anything found would ultimately lead to surgery which at her age (21) she shouldn't go through.

Her diet is high fibre with added vits / mins / herbal digestive help etc. I don't know what else I can do to help her. I don't even know the reason she is going down in the first place - I'm not convinced it's colic. I'd like to rig up a cctv type camera so I can see what is happening with her next time she goes down, but the vets bills have bled me dry and now I just really can't spend a penny more than I have to!

Between these episodes she seems fine - healthy and full of herself so I really don't want to give up on her and put her down.

Has anyone come across this before? Or does anyone have any new ideas??!! Any help is appreciated!! The vets bills are crippling me and I've run out of room on my credit card!!

Thanks
Sophie

Hi Sophie, give me a ring on 01994 241255 (leave a message and number if I don't answer) and I'll see if I can help you with this if I can.

ps. would have thought if it's colic then you'd have seen obvious signs like the horse had been sweating etc.

Hi Sophie good to talk to you tonight let me know how she gets on with the osteo and wishing you both lots of luck

Hi Holly, Thank you so much for your help - very much appreciated.

I'll call Julian tomorrow definitely.

Best wishes
Sophie

No problem Sophie just glad we got to the bottom of it

Just a thought.....if you could get hold of the moxa/moxi sticks in time before the Osteo comes he could show you how to use them. Its called moxibust(i)on if you want to look it up. You can buy them off the net, they usually come in a box of 10.