Help!!Cheeky doesnt seem right!!

[Cochise]

Hi there, I am really worried about Cheeky. I don't know if I am over reacting or not, and I have been looking over lots of horse books and driving myself mad with worry over what "ailments" he may have. Anyway, he is very dull at the moment almost depressed.......I think I have noticed little stages of this for the last 4 days. His thing at the moment is to stand in the corner of his paddock by the gate, kind of hunched up, resting hind leg and drooping head. I thought it may have ben a cold, yet there is no discharge from his nose but there is discharge from his eyes, however he always has discharge from his eyes, (his membranes are something or rather cant remember right now) so this is normal. However the thing that is really worrying me is that he is refusing food.....He normally gets quite bolshy and impatient for his food when I am mixing it up, but for the last 2 days he has stayed in his corner and only ambled over when I have encouraged him. I HAVE recently added sugarbeet to his dinner and I have noticed these changes since feeding it to him....the obvious answer is to stop feeding it, which I am....
However I am more paranoid now because a friend of mine has her horses down the road from him. One of her horses has a full blown cold and the other was showing signs of it.....silly girl still took her other one (Fabian) to pony club where he more than like spread his virus. THey are both well on the road to recovery now. I feel that Cheeky may be showing signs of it but I was wondering how long it would take for the virus to pass to him? HE had contact with Fabian a week ago, yet they did not touch each other.So just wondering if this may be it. He coughed once when we were warming up on our hack yesterday and did not cough again. He has been very lethargic lately, and I dubbed him 'Grandpa Cheeky"
But now Im reallly worried. His temperature is normal, no nasal discharge etc etc...oh and his droppings are a little hard and small pointing at constipation......someone PLEASE help put my mind at ease...Im going to check on him now and if he doesnt seem any happier Im calling my vet.

[galadriel]

Generally if there's anything off about a horse I call the vet--sorry to be of little help.

If he's not eating, he's possibly also not drinking, which would worry me more than eating. Harder droppings are often an indication of too little to drink. If you pull up a fold of his skin (like pinching him) it should not "stick" but should pull right back to its normal shape. If it sticks (takes a while to go down) then he's badly dehydrated and probably needs a vet.

To get him to drink, you can take some electrolytes or salt and rub them on his gums and tongue; that may stimulate him to drinking.

From your description he could just have a cold/flu--sounds rather like my Duchess last week, except that she also had a temperature of 103*F. Normally beats down the door for her dinner, wouldn't eat, stood on the corner, depressed. A series of antibiotics and she got well quickly--but I would definitely not recommend that you take my experiences over a vet's advice! He sounds like he *really* doesn't feel well, and should probably be looked at by a professional.

Hope he feels more Cheeky soon!

[Cochise]

Thanks for the quick advice!
He is still drinking plenty, I am going to check on him soon, and if there is no joy then I will ring the vet straight away. I will have to isolate him...(hard as no stables here) will have to fence him off.

[Cochise]

Well he seemed a little perkier yesterday, still not eating but his head wasnt drooping. He is drinking because I have a manual fill water trough so I know exactly waht he is drinking. He hadn't eaten his dinner from saturday night, but that had the sugar beet in it. I mad him a small feed of lucerne chaff, and horse and pony pellets and he seemed a little cautious at first but he ate most of it, didnt clean up his bowl like he usually does, but at least he ate. I took him for a little walk down the road for a graze and he ate this grass very hungrily and happily. He started grazing when I left yesterday. Do you think I was over reacting?
Is there such a thing as a winter depression>? Someone I know said that she knows of a horse doing almost exactly the same thing. I keep thiking that he is getting a little sour on the work we are doing and I am planning on turning him out for 2 weeks as soon as I can. For now, I have to keep him oin work as I am in the team for my pony club show jumping day on Augusy 25th. There is the last final one day event for the year adn its a big one, on the 1st of september, it was after this that I was going to begin roughing him off and turn him out then.
In the mean time, I will have to find other more exciting rides to do to very his work load....poor wee guys, same roads, same arena, same routine, same feed, same everything.