Somethings wrong with my pony

So Im a relatively new horse owner ( but ive been around horses my whole life) and I was wondering what some of you more experienced owners think. My horse sparky has been really stiff for the past few days and today he was laying down for a few hours his breathing was heavy and he wouldn’t get up or drink he didn’t want to drink even when I brought him a pail if water (i did eventually get him to drink) its not colic thankfully as he has been standing up for more then an hour without trying to lay down but his legs are still really stiff and I was just wondering if any of you guys have any idea of what might be going on 
Here is a picture of him he seems to be doing fine now but id just like some opinions on what might be going on. :) 

It could be a number of different things.... has he been sweating, rolling around or kicking at his flank at all?

No he hasn’t
Just really stiff 

That is good that he hasn't had any of those symptoms! - It could have to do with not having enough exercise... 

Ahh sadly that does make sense 

We keep him on my grandparents but aren’t able to get out there much due to covid
But will definitely try to come out more

I would just suggest more exercise. If he is getting older, he will get more stiff if he is just in a picture. Even if he's not old, he can still get stiff in the pasture. Exercise would probably be good for him ♥ 

Yes he does get time out of the pasture most definitely but I will try to get him more time out thanks for all your help :)

Being down like that can cause stiffness because their circulation isn't working the way it should. If he goes down again and you can't get him up though I would urge your family to have a vet out. 

Oh ok that also makes sense thank you all he does seem to be doing well now though 

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Yes of course sorry and of course I do I just meant if anyone had gone through something like that with there horses

Last edited on 2020-12-08 at 15:37:01 by sparky

I know of a dog that had a similar problem. He's a Rottweiler named Diesel. It turned out to be arthritis-related. However it wasn't as bad as he was making out, he was just milking it and being a huge baby.

If he does it again, I would suggest calling out your vet. I would honestly suggest calling him anyway just to have good look over.

yes i most definitely will

he lives on my grandpas acreage and my grandpa knows quite a lot about horses and he said that it was likley that he had just ended up lying there for to long before getting up. I juat wanted to check and see if anyone else has had a horse that this happend to.

anyway sparky all good now but thank you all for your feedback.

If he's stiff, I'm just going to say what everyone else has been saying and that's exercise.  He may have a fouder flare or may even be foundering (this has happened to me once when I got my first pony).  I personally would put him on a dry lot and work him on a lunge line if not ride him at a walk and possibly slow jog.  And when you work him, don't work him as hard because it could also be an arthritis problem and that'll only make the problem worse.

So good news we had a guy come out and look at him and he says that he looks like hes foundering. It sounds like a pretty easy fix we just need to change his feet to not be as rich (we use alfalfa but his old owners used timothy so were going to be switching him back to timothy hay)