Concern and curious over older gelding lying down

[Sandee]

My "old" guy is 23 this year. He is a bit overweight but not real heavy. The first thing he does after he's let out in the gravel dry lot is lay down. He stretches full out and lays in the sun.

I haven't had a really old horse before and I'm wondering is this normal for older horses or do I need to be concerned. I seldom (can't remember ever) finding him lying like this in his stall. I've seen my mare ( only 7) lying in the gravel but up on her sternum. This isn't rolling. This is just I' gonna nap now!

Do I need to start watching him for other signs???? and what? He seems to have a good energy level and doesn't have a bad attitude about working. He can trot for 15 to 20 minutes exercising behind the golf cart with my others. He does complain (grunt, grunt) about pulling me around in a cart but not my granddaugther.

Is it just "sunning" himself?

 

[disneyhorse]

Yep, sounds like he's just sunning himself!

 

[suen]

We also have a 23 year old horse and I have never seen a horse lay down as much as he does... and he enjoys every minute of it too! He's done this for years, but lately has been more often. They get old and lazy like we do, lol

 

[REO]

Older animals (like people) have trouble regulating circulation and heat. They feel cold more and love feeling warm. I say he's loving the warmth of the sun!

If it's a little chilly in his stall, maybe a "shall", I mean soft blanket?

 

[shorthorsemom]

I had a young gelding that used to lay and sun in the gravel in my dry lot. He looked dead and would give me a heart seizure every time I went out and called to him and he would just lay there. He loved to sun. Young or old, some just love to lay out in a sun spot

 

[mdegner]

I think he is just enjoying the sun. Our older horses and mini donkeys do the same thing......

 

[Sandee]

Thanks, all. I was sort of wondering if this was what they did prior to passing or something. It's not something I'm looking forward too but I've also never been around a horse that just died of old age. Was sort of worried since this is the third time he's been "pulled out of retirement" to show. He was already 15 when we bought him and he was "out to pasture". Then my daughter wanted to learn driving and out he came again at about 19. Next my granddaughter wanted to show so we pulled him out again last year. He's just very reliable.....well, when he wants to be. I have pictures of him dumping the 6 yr old just before leadline class.

Shorthorsemom, I know just what you're saying as I've often called to him or just stood and watched to see if he was breathing.

 

[Carolyn R]

Yes, older horses and broodmares seem to love to sunbathe. Nothing gives one a scare like seeing half a dozen broodmares laying out flat, looks like a horse morgue.

 

[KanoasDestiny]

My six and seven year old will lay down flat and sun bathe when it's 115 degrees out. Seeing them sprawled out and unresponsive used to scare me half to death but now I think something's wrong if I see them under their shelter for too long. Lol

 

[REO]

We had an old mare that would sleep out flat for 3-4 hours without moving at ALL!

I'd freak out and go running out there and she'd go, "WHAT???" I'd feel bad for waking her up!

Finally I quit running out there to check her. I figured, if she's sleeping, she's enjoying herself, if she's gone, nothing I could do about it. So......I let her sleep. And her daughters and granddaughters do it too! Nice legacy huh? It's *bleep* during foaling season and they're wearing their transmitters LOL!

 

[shalakominiatureshowhorses]

My best friend has quarter horses, and the other day she was over at my house and she started freaking out about my minis sunning themselves in the pasture. She was yelling at me to get them up and get them walking because they had colic! I started to laugh, even though colic is not funny, but just the fact that she didnt understand that sometimes minis just sun! Mine sun everyday! sometimes i join them

 

[Marty]

I have gravel all over my dry lot. They love it! They roll in it because I guess it itches them. Then they sunbathe in it. Reminds me of those day spas that offer hot rocks on your body........

 

[MajorClementine]

Both my minis are always laying down when I get up in the morning. They will stay that way until I come out to feed. They just like to soak up the sun. They do it even more in the late fall or on a nice sunny winter day. All that standing can get tedious.

 

[rubyviewminis]

I'm glad I am not the only one the neighbors see running through gates screaming with my arms in the air. At least until I got used to all of them laying flat out in the heat and sun. I had to actually shake Lily before she even opened her eyes, lazy lil butt!

What's funny is watching them have a dream and their little legs move while they run in dreamland. And I just know the new neighbors behind our pastures think I am spying on them since I use binoculars to check on my lil' ones all the time

Is that obsessive?

 

[Renolizzie]

Wiseguy likes to lay down. He doesn't lay flat, he lays on his stomach with his legs kind of curled under him. The first day I brought him home I was worried that he was sick but he seemed fine and got up when I went out there. I fussed all evening and into the next morning but he really did seem fine.

After a few days of worrying about my new little horsey, I realized, Wiseguy just likes to lay down like that for a bit every day. He is only 10 years old so its not because he is old. He even lays down for awhile when it is hot out, like it has been all summer, although one day I saw him napping right up against the fence where there is a bit of shade from the mulberry tree.

Both he and his goat friends stand with their sides toward the sunrise waiting for the sun to come up so they can warm up in the morning. It's kind of cute.

 

[Little Wolf Ranch]

Ironically, none of my minis do it but I'll be darned if I look out of the window into the pasture and there's my 19 y/o QH gelding laying flat out - used to scare my family half to death and I'd get panic text messages and phone calls at work and college thinking he was sick or dead! Nope, just a big 1200lb lazy butt!

 

[Margo_C-T]

I have a mare who will be 30 in a couple of months. She routinely lies down as soon as she eats breakfast, and usually again one or more times during the day. She doesn't as often lie out flat as she lies up on her breastbone, but rests her chin on the ground and is clearly 'asleep'. On the rare occasions I can let them out to 'graze'(drought has about killed everything that tried to grow; it's pitiful...), she will roll vigorously in the DIRT, as the dry lot runs at the barn are covered in crusher fines, no 'dirt-dirt'), and often will still gallop around for a time w/ her friend, a smaller, younger mare.

I worry only when she lies down repeatedly, or for VERY extended periods of time...as she does occasionally, but then seems to 'perk up' again. She is in very good flesh and condition for such an old lady!

Margo