Could it be the grass?

[rose bud]

Hi all,
I am still trying to work out what is causing the new pony's change in behavour from the bombproof, placid little chap that i bought and had for the first two weeks to the spooky, coiled spring that feels like he is waiting to explode, and i'm wondering could it be the grass?
What is everyone else's grass like at the moment? Is it high in sugar?
He lives out (and has to) is having no feed and is ridden 3 times in the week and at weekends, but he seems to have so much energy!
And, if it is the grass, what can i do about it?
Any help gratefully received!!

 

[ThePony]

I think it is the grass - still mild and v wet here, and my lovely calm girly is in full on knobber mode! I am just hoping this cold weather knocks the grass growth on it's head. Ours are in at night now with soaked hay, mineral balanced tea, and I have put mine on a calmer too as she is being such a madam and I needed a hand tbh! (days off have taken a back seat too!).

 

[rose bud]

I think it is the grass - still mild and v wet here, and my lovely calm girly is in full on knobber mode! I am just hoping this cold weather knocks the grass growth on it's head. Ours are in at night now with soaked hay, mineral balanced tea, and I have put mine on a calmer too as she is being such a madam and I needed a hand tbh! (days off have taken a back seat too!).

Hi,
Thanks for your reply! "full on knobber mode" is a good way to describe mine too!
just out of interest, which calmer do you use?
I have started mine on magnitude (only about 4 days ago) but haven't seen any difference in him as yet!

 

[belle31]

FRUCTAN. This is what is causing the problem. My horse has a fructan allergy, she cant eat any hay as this contains high levels (can be soaked which reduces the levels) so she eats horsehage hi-fibre, slobber mash and no grass at all if the night temperature is below 4 degrees c. The cold weather actually makes fructan worse, as I said if it is cold on a night then warms up through the day the sun casues photsynthesis which produces fructan which accumulates throughtout the day with dangerous levels on an afternoon. If i leave my horse out on days like these her body cant cope with the higher levels and ends up with gassy colic as the un-absorbed fructans move into her hind gut and ferment. This is also the cause of laminitis in some horses. The fructans go back into the stem throughout the night so grass is safe overnight. Summer (lush) grass doesnt hold a lot of fructan, so turnout in the months where the nightly temps are over 4 degrees I dont have a problem. This has took several years and bouts of colic and 10 days in an equine hospital to identify, she is now on a 'fructan free' diet with restricted turnout on 'dangerous' days and touch wood all ok.

 

[ThePony]

Hi,
Thanks for your reply! "full on knobber mode" is a good way to describe mine too!
just out of interest, which calmer do you use?
I have started mine on magnitude (only about 4 days ago) but haven't seen any difference in him as yet!

She has mangesium anyway as we have had our grazing analysed and so have mineral balanced their food to take this into account. We have also put her on Topspec Calmer as it contains L-tryptophan which seems to make a big difference to her (even on a lower than recommened dose). I wouldn't normally bother with calmers, but she was being such an absolute arse that I just needed some extra help until the bloomin' grass goes!

 

[rose bud]

She has mangesium anyway as we have had our grazing analysed and so have mineral balanced their food to take this into account. We have also put her on Topspec Calmer as it contains L-tryptophan which seems to make a big difference to her (even on a lower than recommened dose). I wouldn't normally bother with calmers, but she was being such an absolute arse that I just needed some extra help until the bloomin' grass goes!

Thankyou!
I might try him on topspec aswell, i need to find something that helps!