Anyone else's horse going loopy? advice please VERY LONG, SORRY!

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katiehatie

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Daughter's pony is a tad highly strung at the best of times but nothing she can't handle, a bit spooky and sometimes jogs when she first gets on, excitable but NEVER dangerous.

That was til last sunday, she was clearly a bit full of herself when we were getting her groomed and tacked up but daughter knows just how to handle her silly moods so i didn't really think anything of it. daughter got on and we started down the path to hack round the farm, she was a bit joggy so when a horse came towards us daughter stopped to let them past. when she went to walk on pony had rooted herself to the spot, she gave her a kick, that didn't work so she gave her a stroke and said "come on, it's ok" ....still nothing. gave her another nudge on, still nothing....then all of a sudden the pony reared, completely vertical on the concrete path and then leapt up the 4ft grass bank! The ground started crumbling beneath her and she went over, somehow i have no idea how but daughter had her leg out before she went over and was thrown but she got up and out of the way quick as lightening. horse buggered off but we caught her quickly and by some absolute miracle daughter was absolutely fine if a little shaken.

i lunged the hell out of the pony for 45 minutes til she was exhausted before i would let daughter back on but really wanted to make sure she got back on that morning as i knew she would get more nervous if she didn't. have kept a close eye on pony all week and she has been good as gold, i was so angry with her last sunday i could have quite happily made her into pedigree chum if she had put another foot wrong! then this morning, one week since the disaster she is like it again. charging round the field when we went to catch her, so i thought i'd give her a good lunge to take the edge off. end up lunging for ages cos she's full of it bucking and charging round, eventually think she is tired enough to behave herself and daughter does some schooling but she is still rolling her eyes and daughter has to get off and hold her when the tractor and sheep come past because pony is getting herself in a state. she gets back on and finishes schooling but pony is still full of it after nearly 2 hours of hard work including lunging. obviously nothing like as bad as last sunday but if i hadn't lunged first it would have been.

daughter now doesn't want to risk hacking round farm as it involves going on concrete first and pony seems completely freaked out by tractors and sheep and everything she was fine with before. just doesn't seem to make sense why she is fine, even calmer than usual all week til sunday again, everyone said she was fresh from the lush grass at the mo but then surely it would be more regular than this. haven't let on to daughter just how easily the rearing episode could have been a serious injury but it terrified me and i just don't know if i can trust the pony with her anymore. she's a good little rider but she's only 11 and she lost all her confidence with a **** pony a couple of years ago and it took her ages to get to the point where she is now where she just laughs the silly spooky stuff off and tells pony to just get on with it but after the last couple of weekends it just doesn't seem like fun anymore and i would never forgive myself if the pony did that again and it didn't end so well, she adores pony though and so do i she is usually so loving despite her typical chestnut mare temperament, she is already on magic calmer and oestress for her hormonalness so i don't really know what else it could be? ..... any thoughts?
 
Sounds like she's full of autumn grass - can be as bad as spring grass :( Is she on any hard feed? If she is I'd say completely cut it. If not, have you considered having her in during the day and out at night? There's less sugar in the grass at night than in the day...
 
Well they can be super-hormonal at this time of the year for some reason, in which case Regumate might be the way forward.
However, as I was reading your OP, I was reminded of my WelshDxTB who turned out to be cereal and sugar intolerant. She became very unpredictable and even after we had worked out what was causing her problems and adjusted her diet, we could never be sure that no-one else had given her a 'treat' that she couldn't digest properly. As the pony is well-behaved mid-week, is there some-one who goes for a walk past the field on Saturdays who feeds her something that sends her loopy e.g. carrots/sugar cubes/something else?
I can quite understand your nervousness about allowing your daughter to ride this pony. I do hope you get to the root of the problem soon.
 
Grass definately effects my horse. I can feel his heart beating when sat on him and his eyes are on stalks. Saying that he is fine (for him!)at the moment touch wood. If we've had a lot of rain or change of seasons, I know about it.
 
she is out 24/7 at the moment as her best friend left the yard and consequently she box walks when she is in as friend is not in next door stable so we are trying to leave her out as much as possible. she only has a small handful of chaff just to mix her supplements with really, if it wasn't for that i wouldn't be giving her anything.

doesn't seem to make sense that she is calm all week though infact more laid back than usual but then freaks out on sunday and then the same again this week, calm as could be all week and then suddenly sunday comes and she is like a bag of nerves.

yard is not accessible to the public and the liveries are all grown-ups and very particular about their own horses so can't imagine they would give other peoples horses treats as they wouldn't want people to do it to theirs.
 
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katiehatie said:
doesn't seem to make sense that she is calm all week though infact more laid back than usual but then freaks out on sunday and then the same again this week, calm as could be all week and then suddenly sunday comes and she is like a bag of nerves.
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Then it must be that something happens on either Saturday or Sunday which upsets her. If you can't think of anything in your management of her, look into environmental factors. Does your daughter ride her during the week?
 
pearlsasinger- out of interest how did you find out about the sugar/cereal intollerance? she has had very loose droppings for a month or so which has puzzled me but its a bit on and off so haven't given it that much thought but as i said she only has a handful of chaff with her supplements and thats how i've been feeding her for months and months and she's been fine.

she rides her 5 or 6 days a week and like i said she has been really calm mid-week, never has 2 days non-riding in a row. theres nothing i can think of that is different that we do weekends except that she often rides in the morning instead of afternoons like she does on school days but this has always been the case.

really baffling, would happily pay good money to get her sort and safe but am wary of throwing money away as we did this on another pony who was a nightmare from the outset despite being highly recommended. completely destroyed her confidence and we ended up practically giving him away as he completely disgraced himself every time someone came to view him.
 
Must be something thats happening at weekends. Sorry just re read your post. We have someone who flys his hawk and it sends my horse loopy when hes arround. He is like a possessed demon when he hears the bells. I didnt know why my horse was whizzing round the stable at first then realised it was the hawk man. None of the other horses bother??? Hes fine the rest of the time.
 
I know this is a massively stupid question but what day does she have off? Its not saturday? lol only ask because that would be the sought of thing I would miss.:D
My mare used to buck me off when i was 11 everytime I rode in spring and autumn severly limiting her grass laminitic style helped. Good luck.
 
occasionally she does have saturday off but usually its always wednesday as daughter has other after school activities and she is always fine on the thursday.
 
Sounds very similar to my horse. I still haven't gotten to the bottom of it!

If she's having one of those days I could lunge her for hours and still when I ride she is a total idiot so tend to leave it.
She spooks at cars and literally anything when in one of her 'phases' but normally she's absolutely fine. She also bolts when ridden when in this phase and rears etc on the lunge.
She is a joy to own normally.

I have kept a mental note of when it happens and what it coincides with.
She did it with the fresh, lush summer grass.
She did it with this Autumns fresh grass.
And she did it last Winter after being clipped and whilst kept in for quite a long time.
She's calmed a little for now so I don't want to clip her incase it triggers this behaviour again!

I hope this may help a little and good luck getting to the bottom of it.
 
I have a Welshie that can be a bit spooky, silly and sharp at times, but when the weather changes in October/autumn time he becomes the beast from hell to ride...spinning, spooking in an exagerated manner at nothing. And if he sees something he is not keen on he turns from plod a long to raging demon in seconds and it takes him ages to calm down...at times like this you really have to tread carefully on managing him through it...if you get mean with him or pressure him too much he flips his little lid!
The thing that triggers this is the weather...as soon as he gets his rug on...the calm returns, as does my nice horsey...worth a thought??
 
It could be coincidence that it is has happened exactly one week apart, I think you need to see what happens next Sunday to know if there is a pattern. The only issue will be is that you will be tense next Sunday, which may affect the pony anyway.

As others have said, there must be a trigger, which may be:

environmental - something is happening between late Saturday (after riding) and Sunday when ridden again;

food - the Autumn grass does have an effect, as does cereals and high sugar content foods such as carrots. I know you say it's not accessible by the public, but is it possible that someone has got to the pony? As to other liveries not feeding, etc., I was at a yard where the most particular person was the one that was feeding everything else! Very annoying :mad:;

rider - is there something different about daughter lately? Is she staying up later, riding differently, etc.?

vet - given the calmer etc. that pony is already on, it might be worth speaking to your vet about it;

tack - anything different? Different saddle cloth/girth, etc.?
 
My chestnut mare lost the plot 2 wks ago. It was her hormones, for the first time since I've owned her (had her since June) she started bucking (big bucks!) and napping, wouldn't go over a pole on the ground and was very tense. Fortunately this only lasted 4 days and she's back to normal now but she was in season when this happened, previous seasons she had been fine. I put it down to maybe being the last season of the year, possible pms!! and she did seem in discomfort in her back behind the saddle area. My friends mare on another yard also was in season at the same time and was also behaving out of character.
 
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