Advice Please! Increasingly Difficult Mare!

[esselle]

Hi there, I am looking for some advice re my daughter's 14.1 CHESTNUT MARE! Any thoughts would be really welcomed

We have owned this stunning pony for 18 months now. She has always been the forward going, rather hot-headed type (she is a bsja pony), but she is normally only fizzy etc. when being ridden and then nothing my 12-yr old can't handle, doesn't buck, rear, bolt etc. is just very sensitive to hand and leg and VERY forward when jumping.

She has always been v good to handle on the ground....until just recently
We love her to bits, but, for instance, when she is tied up to be groomed, she will barely stand still for two seconds, she swings her quarters around and looks sullen. I can no longer smarten her up i.e. trim her feathers (tried to do her fronts, she flicks her legs up - daren't even attempt her hinds!). Last summer I could literally sit on the ground and trim away...
Her tail was pulled when we got her and although we gathered fairly quickly that she hated both her mane and tail being pulled, she has always let me razor comb the top to mimic the pulled look to keep it smart.... at the moment if I even so much as try to take hold of her dock she looks VERY threatening and I am sure if I kept hold she would kick me, something she has never done thus far

I cannot get a tail bandage on her to travel her, which is resulting in her messing her tail up from resting on the back bar...

She IS however good to load, turn out, catch and she adores me generally as I am very gentle with her and always have been..

Most recently, she has been getting even hotter under saddle when she is jumping, she just wants to belt round, making my daughter have to work REALLY hard just to keep her steady....she is a v bold jumper and will tackle anything, but she is just wreckless.

Just yesterday, we went out to a bsja show and from the minute we got her out the trailer she was very difficult... tacking her up she stamped her front legs when we girthed her, she was extremely difficult to get on (which was a pain when my daughter had to get on and off for course walks!)...

I know she is fine health wise, ie back, teeth etc...

She is out during the day and stabled at night, fed chaff and cool mix....

Thinking of trying a calmer, currently swaying between NAF Magic, Blue Chip Kalma, American Equine So Kalm Plus and Nupafeed - can anyone recommend any of these, or indeed any others, as I just want our 'normal' pony back! lol

Thanks x

 

[YorksG]

I would take her off all hard food and alfalfa (if that is part of her diet) We had a mare who became unridable until we stopped all sugar and cereal in her diet. This helped enormously (unless some fool fed her in the field). She was a delight when we bought her as a four year old but gradually became more and more dangerous. Once the diet was sorted out she reverted to her former lovely self. It may not be the oproblem with your mare, but try it for a weel and see what happens. We use grass nuts as feed for ours rather than cereal, as we find it does the job without causing problems.

 

[esselle]

Thank you yorksG, I will try that...

Do I literally cut her feed out altogether then (or substitute it for something else)? Our horses are allowed to live out from this week at the yard I am at.... do you think she would be better living out without hard feed, or would the adundance of spring grass be too much?

She is driving me mad!! lol

 

[Graciee]

brewers yeast ... has worked very well on both my hot 148cm and 16.2 bsja mares!!! can get it from simplesystem and is very cheap ... £5 for 3 months o think!! we tried loads of others which had no effect, this stuff really does work

 

[YorksG]

Spring grass never seemed to make much difference to ours (thank goodness ) We stopped all hard feed and sugar in one fell swoop, but would not do it again, the poor mare went into withdrawl, for three days. If I was to do it again I would reduce hard feed by 1/2 the first day, then 1/2 that again and possibly 1/2 again, then stop it. If she is going out 24/7 then this is a good time to give it a go. Do let me know how you go on, we have had quite a few expoereinces of food problems over the years. The original mare could cope with alfalfa, but the current Appy (with a lot of Tb and Arab ) cannot cope with it at all, and I can't cope with her if she has it! My spooky creature, becomes a total loon and jumps around on the road in a most uncharcteristic manner.

 

[esselle]

Thank you again yorksG, I will def give it a go... gradually. Just conscious tho that if I do decide to try 'calmer' then I will need to feed a little SOMETHING to mix it with? hmmmm lol

Graciee - thank you funnily enough I was just reading about Brewer's Yeast as do not really know much about it, but at this stage I am willing to give anything a go!! lol Nupafeed was becoming my preferred choice to try, but its VERY expensive so maybe I will read up a bit more on Brewer's Yeast. x

 

[debsflo]

had similar problem with daughters 15hh mare who weve owned for a year.we dropped any coarse mix .she now just has ad lib hay ,hi fi lite carrots and top spec calmer.is worked 3- 4 days a week and is becoming the lovley horse we bought.she will always be hot headed at times but im sure the calmer and cutting hard feed has helped.

 

[YorksG]

We put suplements in soaked grass nuts, works a treat. We usually use about 1/8 to 1/4 of a scoop of grass nuts, a decent 'dose' of water and any supplements well mixed in. Works a treat. (can you tell I have done this a few times before ) It is the first thing we think of now if there are any behaviour changes, and in fact we avoid cereal feeds in general, as we have had just too many problems over the years.

 

[JanetGeorge]

I know she is fine health wise, ie back, teeth etc...

When a mare who hasn't previously been 'mareish' starts exhibiting signs of low grade pain when ridden and general grumpiness when handled you have another potential problem to check out. I would suggest you get her ovaries scanned before chopping and changing feed or starting her on expensive (and generally useless!) supplements. There are a number of possibilities that could explain this change in behaviour - from a haemorrhagic follicle to the start of an ovarian tumour. A haemorrhagic follicle can hang on for weeks of even months if not dealt with - or it might go on its own. An ovarian tumour - particularly a granulosa theca cell tumour - won't -the behaviour will continue to get worse until it is removed.

 

[tangoharvey]

Agreew ith getting some test done with the vet first - if all ok, could you turn her out at night too, just to let her get rid of her energy a bit more?

 

[Luci07]

Just something to add - don't underestimate the sugar in the new grass. I currently have a very forward and OTT horse who is behaving as if someone has been sticking oats in his feed and he hasn't done any work for months. Hence another reason for restricting his grazing atm. Oh well I have provided the yard with my share of laughs recently with his behaviour and general spookiness..

 

[MrsMozart]

Ditto JG - get the vet out to check. The other thing that sprang to mind is stomach ulcers. Definately get her checked.

If it isn't a vet issue, then as others have said, try feed changes. I have Dizz (six year old Dutch Warmblood who can be a bit special at times!) on Releave (sp!). I needed low starch with energy to put on weight, as she drops at this time of year. So far it is working nicely, with no silliness other than the usual spring in her step .

If it is a case of feed change, call the manufacturers and ask for low starch feeds .

Forgot to say, Dizz is also on Equijewel to help add weight, so we're not using just the Releave for weight gain. She won't eat a lot either in one go or in a day hard feed wise, so is currently on half what was recommended, but I can't do anything about that. Daft horse.

 

[Alexart]

I'd get the vet out and check her over, get her scanned etc to rule out any medical reasons for her behavior. I'd also take her off hard feed and turnout 24/7 on restricted grazing if she's a good doer, the spring grass this year does seem to be very rich even with so little of it about - well here anyway. All ours are daft as anything at the mo and full of beans, was going to get my 2 youngsters going in long reins again but I think I'll leave it for another month until the sugar content has gone down and they focus for more than 2 mins!!!!

 

[esselle]

Thank you for all of your helpful suggestions, I will take them on board I will try simple things, one at a time, to see if there is any improvement.

 

[JanetGeorge]

Thank you for all of your helpful suggestions, I will take them on board I will try simple things, one at a time, to see if there is any improvement.

In theory that makes sense. In practice it is harder as there are other 'variables' that have an effect; such as her coming in/going out of season,cold weather (more energy needed to keep warm), warm weather (faster grass growth and less energy to keep warm) etc etc etc You need to keep a diary and record EVERYTHING if you are to get an accurate picture of what's going on.

But I WOULD stress that if her behaviour worsens, get the ovaries scanned. I know of 3 horses in the past year that were FINALLY diagnosed with granulosa theca cell tumours after 12 months or more of deteriorating behaviour which was put down to other things. Ovarian tumours generally start with grumbling pain - it gets worse as the tumour grows (and they're almost always benign tumours so NOT life threatening) but the GTC tumour produces testosterone which can make the mare quite agressive and even lead to her mounting other horses!

 

[esselle]

OK JanetGeorge, thank you, will bear that in mind if her behaviour gets any worse....

Funnily enought, there is another pony on the yard who is also suddenly becoming problematic...good to handle on the ground but totally resistant to being ridden, bucking badly, throwing her young rider off....

Think we will get a gelding next time! lol

 

[Pearlsasinger]

OK JanetGeorge, thank you, will bear that in mind if her behaviour gets any worse....

Funnily enought, there is another pony on the yard who is also suddenly becoming problematic...good to handle on the ground but totally resistant to being ridden, bucking badly, throwing her young rider off....

Think we will get a gelding next time! lol

Do the two horses share feed at all? I ask because we once had 4 horses who suddenly ALL started behaving really badly, even the very sensible bombproof Clydesdale, who usually did nothing to expend any more energy than absolutely necessary. It turned out (after vet visits and goodness knows what), to be caused by a dodgy batch of seaweed. Fortunately as soon as we stopped the seaweed the symptoms decreased and they were soon all back to normal