feeding advice needed for lazy horse!

D

Danniigx

New User
Joined
11 February 2015
Messages
6
Visit site
Hi, i have a 11 year old 16.1hh Irish sports horse that is extremely lazy! i have him on Allen and Page calm and condition and molasses free happy hoof (he spooks a lot so trying to rule out sugar intolerance). Regardless of him getting this feed, hes still lazy! he spooks a lot, so i don't want to feed him something that will fizz him up and turn him more jumpy, but he really needs some sort of rocket fuel. any advice would be greatly appreciated, would be interesting to hear if any of you have the same problem and what seemed to work for you! i have contacted many different feed companies but they are all quite bias towards their own feed.
Thanks in advance!x
 
He may be intolerant to something he is eating which is causing the spookiness or he may be lacking something in his diet but without going into the great feeding debate in my experience most horses that are lazy and spooky are just not working correctly from the leg to the hand and are spooking rather than using their energy to work, almost anything you give him to add energy is more than likely to make him sharper and more spooky.

There is also a possibility he has low grade pain, being reluctant to go forward yet reactive and spooky can be a sign of discomfort or tension and is worth looking into.
 
thank you :) I only changed him over to the molasses free version yesterday, as (my own stupidity) didnt realise how much molasses and sugar content was in the original happy hoof. i have the vet coming for some injections on wednesday next week so tempted to get their opinion on things. We have ruled out pain, he's had an 'MOT' and is currently receiving chiropractor treatment for a dropped and rotated hip. also physio sessions for some back tension. once hes going well at home hes fine, and stretches down, keeps his mind on the job and gets on with it, but we took him to a dressage test yesterday and he basically threw the towel in at all the flowers and letters and just spooked all the way round, resulting in a 52.39% :(
 
Laziness and spooking are symptomatic of EPSM/PSSM. How soft are his bum muscles compared to other horses in the yard?

How can the vet/physio have ruled out pain when the horse has a need for treatment of his back tension? Kissing spines can't be ruled out without an x ray. His behaviour is also symptomatic of kissing spines.
 
Last edited:
It sounds as if you are no the right track, if he has been in some discomfort for a while then it takes time to get through it with them and as soon as you do something different such as go out they revert to being tense, the better he is at home the easier he will be out at comps, stick with it and you should find he comes right, don't forget to get the saddle checked as he is likely to change shape once he is using himself more correctly.
 
We have ruled out kissing spines as he used to refuse to go forward completely, so that was our first point to look at, no kissing spines, just a bad fitting saddle (which has been changed to one that fits) and some tension through his back, then we had issues in canter, which made me look into his hips, which we are in the process of correcting.

Saddle fitter is coming out in the next two weeks to check it :) hes always spooked, its not a dangerous spook, he just hops sideways a bit (stops doing it once he realises he cant get out of work by moving away from a tiny blowing leaf!)
 
Danniigx said:
We have ruled out kissing spines as he used to refuse to go forward completely, so that was our first point to look at, no kissing spines, just a bad fitting saddle (which has been changed to one that fits) and some tension through his back, then we had issues in canter, which made me look into his hips, which we are in the process of correcting.

Saddle fitter is coming out in the next two weeks to check it :) hes always spooked, its not a dangerous spook, he just hops sideways a bit (stops doing it once he realises he cant get out of work by moving away from a tiny blowing leaf!)
Click to expand...


That's good. Take a look at the symptoms for PSSM on the other thread that's running and see of any bells ring. It's a very under diagnosed disease, I think.
 
You have only just put strategies in place to put things right for him, so now you need to give these things time to work before thinking of trying to make further changes. Ime it can easily take 3 weeks for changes in the diet to take effect. If there is no improvement after ,3 weeks, the next thing to eliminate is alfalfa, which I expect is in your chaff.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top