Do you know why my horse did this strange thing????

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myrtle1982

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Hello all,
I'm totally baffled.
I have a 4 year old horse, Welsh Section. I went for a ride this morning, excellent, he was fine.
All day he's been in field (he's out 24/7), he gets one small feed of low calarie chaff and a handful of nuts (a bit of a token feed since i have to feed other horse).
Anyway, tonight, I went outside with his feed and as usual he came trotting over, he started eating it and then i noticed he was playing with his bucket, kicking it upside down, THEN his legs started to give, he basically looked like he was going to roll but he didn't, he just stopped eating and went almost 'spaced', he looked disengaged and just stared into space at one point, almost trance like! He did a couple of circles around and just looked incredibly wobbily on his legs. It looked basically like he was going to roll, like i said...although a bit wierder.
Anyway, mid all this (which i witnessed for about 20 seconds), i then went and took his bucket off him. The moment I did, he was fine again, he just walked off. He's been in his field eating normally ever since.
I've seen him wee today and poo and both seem normal.
Do horses roll mid feed??? Could this be something else??

Confused.

Any ideas gratefully recieved!

Many thanks

Ps. I've only had him 3 months.
 
It could be nothing, it could be the bucket smelled odd, there is an outside chance of a syndrome that can occur when horses get overexcited about food or something similar that can effect blood pressure - can't remember the name but will look it up for you
 
My 5mth old foal sometimes does this. He will half kneel down and sometimes roll in the feed. Think he just gets too excited about it!
 
My mare always rolls in middle of eating her feed.
We have to watch were we put the bowl as she rolls with her head in it.
crazy.gif
 
Dont worry, loads of horses do it. I have a pony that rolls with his head in the bucket. He rolls right over with it on his head. Hes done it from a foal and hes now 11! I think its excitement because he does it if he gets a new bucket! He even did it in the lane once!

I now have a yearling that does it too.
 
I love you guys! I've been googling everything and couldn't find a thing. I thought it was something terrible! He didn't actually roll, just went jelly legged and trance like. Maybe he would have but after seeing him do it consistently for 20 seconds i'd had enough and took his bucket away! Normally he just wolfs his food down hense why i found it so odd....

so, perhaps i don't have to stay awake all night worring about whether he's okay! It's too dark to see him in the field now....

:-(
 
My pony (The Grey in siggie , doing xc fence )
used to do it when he had a particular feed , i got him apple chaff once and that made him crumple up his legs and roll on bucket / in bucket !!!
or when he gets a garlic scented feed he used to do it too !!!

must just be excitement or if you have gave him a new scented feed ??

dont worry , hes just enjoying himself . xxxxx
 
did your horse go almost trace like?!

I have been feeding him one handful of chaf and two handfuls of 'at grass' which is like nuts. The at grass ran out so i bought him some cool mix. Tonight he had his chaff and two cool mix (which is stickier than at grass). It's the 4th night he's had the cool mix though..

thanks for your reply xxx

ps. just went out to the field and he seems okay, quite frisky actually, a bit lively but then it is 10-30pm and dark, he was probably partly wondering what the hell i was doing.
 
Hello all,
Just to update you on this. My horse got worse and eventually stopped eating all together. I called the vet who found that he'd chewed a fallen branch and got a splinter through his tougue! Ouch. Some antibiotics later and he's absolutely fine! Thanks for all your help.
Olivia x
 
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