Equine bipolar

[katykat]

Hi. Does anyone know if horses can be bipolar. My 5th old warmblood has severe mood swings. He gets angry if anything changes in his routine. Stands bucking and rearing in his stable and kicks out at the wall. He also gets angry about work and rears. He can also then go into himself, eyes glazed and not really with it. He gets turned out all day and in at night. Some one has suggested he may be bipolar. I have tried st johns wort but it doesn't seem to be helping. Any ideas?

 

[flintfootfilly]

What did your vet think?

 

[StarcatcherWilliam]

Hi. Does anyone know if horses can be bipolar. My 5th old warmblood has severe mood swings. He gets angry if anything changes in his routine. Stands bucking and rearing in his stable and kicks out at the wall. He also gets angry about work and rears. He can also then go into himself, eyes glazed and not really with it. He gets turned out all day and in at night. Some one has suggested he may be bipolar. I have tried st johns wort but it doesn't seem to be helping. Any ideas?

Sounds just like my 5yr old warmblood! She is like buckaroo in the stable and very fiesty. The walls of her stable are all kicked and damaged as is the gate in her field!! She has been terrible this winter and I won't go in her stable to do rugs etc now unless she is securely tied up. She is much worse when she is cold, so I make sure she is always toasty warm. She also has an excess of energy atm as I can't exercise her as much as she needs. I have joked about her being bipolar as she can be really calm and well behaved (ocassionally!). Will be interesting to see what other people think.

 

[cyberhorse]

My KWPN was nothing like this extreme, but he would become noticably depressed in winter. He stood at the back of his stable and was not interested in interacting at all (he is extremely friendly and nosy), he also became very reactive to shadows and started stopping when jumping (again not like him). He would always improve by April and then be completely fine until January again. I thought he might have some element of seasonal affective disorder combined with general boredom of not being able to go out and interact with the herd. I moved his stabling into a much airyier block with more natural light and a position where he could see other horses more easily. Touch wood he has not gone this way for the past two winters. So I do believe they can suffer from mental illness if we change their more natural environment and it does not suit them.

Have you spoken to the vet about it?

eta: the actual description of his behaviour sounds more like my nephew who is autistic...

Maybe look at some blood tests to see if there is something out of balance? is he gelded?

 

[katykat]

Thanks for your replies. The vet is my next port of call. Had his back/teeth/saddle checked and all ok. He is slightly better when he can go out all summer. He wasnt broken till last spring and has never enjoyed being ridden, so don't think the lack of ridden exercise bothers him! I will see what the vet says. Thank you

 

[Birker2020]

Thanks for your replies. The vet is my next port of call. Had his back/teeth/saddle checked and all ok. He is slightly better when he can go out all summer. He wasnt broken till last spring and has never enjoyed being ridden, so don't think the lack of ridden exercise bothers him! I will see what the vet says. Thank you

I would suggest getting him scoped for gastric ulcers as they can cause significant mood swings due to the build up of the acid in the stomach and the pain associated with this. If he is fed hard feed, haylage, and gets stressy or he is not getting much in the way of roughage or isn't fed ad lib or has had a change in routine (i.e stabled more) all these are factors which can cause this condition.

If you don't want to go down the scoping route (and lets face it you are looking a nigh on £700 for scoping and a course of gastroguard) then you can always see if feeding alfa a/readigrass rather than molassed chaff, giving a herbal supplement such as meadowsweet and slippery elm and cutting down on haylage and swapping it for hay or keeping on hay but using a haylage balancer (NAF haylage balancer neutralises the acid build up).

I'd also give a net or small feed of Alfa A before riding as this will buffer the stomach acid.

 

[katykat]

I was just reading up on gastric ulcers on this site and had wondered about that. He has never been fed anything with sugar or molasses. Being on baileys lo cal, fibre cubes and top spec alfa lite but does get ad lib haylage. I have tried giving him a small feed before riding but will try alfa a and haylage balancer. I think a visit from the vet is imminent.