Gelding aggressive and moody in winter, is he lacking vitamins?

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cherryblossom02

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My gelding gets extremely moody in the winter, ears always pinned back, he gets nippy, pushy and kicky and occasionally lashes out at people. In the summertime he is the sweetest horse ever and i was wondering if he could be lacking anything in his diet like vitamin D etc.
 
Is he stabled a lot more?

Behavioural: if he's stabled he may see this environment as more to do with 'confinement' than to do with security and warmth. To a certain extent he may see his stable as slightly stressful. As you interact with him in the stable, he may associate you with confinement and stress and therefore, exhibit aggression towards people - such as the nipping, biting and general 'moodyness' you describe. Can you turn him out more with his companions?

Diet: I wouldn't assume he is lacking but rather taking on too many calories which only mean his energy levels override any signals from the rider/handler. This combined with the stress of confinement produce these behaviours. If he's lacking anything, I would imagine it's more to do with a lack of fibre/forage/roughage, as this can produce some odd behavioural changes, not to mention, physiological ones too. So, I would check this - work out the lbs by work done and weight.

I may be wrong, but that would be my guess.
 
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In the olden days:o when I first got my horse, he used to get bad tempered, especially when I was putting his rugs on and off. I was very novicy then but eventually I realised his heavy new zealand was pressing on his very high withers. I adapted it by stitching two thick foam pads either side of his withers to try relieve the pressure.
A mare I knew with high withers used to be foul in winter, then one day a big lump of skin came off over her withers where she had a pressure sore:(
Has yours got high withers? These days, you have to take care to buy rugs that have enough depth at the neck so that when they put their heads down to graze, it isn't pulling down on the withers, or get nylon lined rugs so it slips forward when they put their head down.
My other suggestion is - my boy is 24 now and has health issues and seems to get very grumpy in winter. I put it down to cold making his old bones ache more. He is a sweetie in summer and since I've been rugging him warmer and bringing in every night when it was wet weather, he seems much better.
If non of these apply, try a course of bute for a week to see if it improves or not. If not perhaps he is too warm? Can he manage without a rug?
 
A bit of added info:
He stays in 8pm to 6am, he begs to come in if i leave him out(with a companion)
Stalls have bars so he can interact with the horses beside him
He doesn't wear rugs unless EXTREME weather(don't like to keep him inside all day because no horse used to being outside likes it)
He is older so it could be that he is getting achy from the chill will definitely try rugs for a bit, will keep in mind to get looser fitting ones because he is high withered. Thanks everyone for the suggestions so far!
 
My boy gets like this he has Arthritus he's on 1 bute a day now, he's 14 had him since he was 4 he wears a rug with neck and under that at the moment he has a rug with half neck so they are not sitting on his withers when like today its sunny the top rug comes off this is in the field he is out 24/7 but this year he comes in day before hunting to stand in and I bought him a william funnell magnet rug to wear when he do's this he loves it, also at night when he's out he wears a pair of NEW (New Equine Wear ) boots, every 3 months he has the McTimoney out he falls asleep. We have to keep our boys happy as he has given me everything and is a little superstar, you could say its a bit like us when we get older we get aching joints, I would speak to your vet.
 
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