Horse gone mad !!!

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lhamm

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My horse has been out on loan for 4 months. He was the most kindest sweetest, the most easy horse to ride and do. Beautifully schooled, not strong or sharp, infact he was a little lazy to ride.

The girl said he was fine at first but he got a really bad cold and cough and was off work for nearly 3 months, once he was better, she said she got on him and he bucked her off, so she lunged him everyday for 1 week and asked her instructor to ride him, he bucked off the riding instructor !

All this is VERY unlike him. So i have brought him home. He was like a deranged lunatic the first day he came back, snorting at everything, bucking and sqwealing and jumping in the air, ive been lunging him every day to try and get some of the freshness out of him, he is just so full of himself, ive been turning him out all day as well.

Today my friend rode him (she was very brave) - it was like he had never been sat on before, he was acting like a 3 year old, trying to buck, but after a little while he settled down. We left the riding on a good note and gave him a pat and he is now out in the field all night tonight.

My beautiful safe horse has turned into a crazy bucking bronco. I have the back man coming this week to see if his back is hurting, but if not, i am at a total loss of what to do next ????????????
 
Could he have changed shape, and the saddle causing pain/pressure issues??

What was she feeding him?

Sounds like (pain checks excluded) you might need to go right back to basics and build a bond again. So sorry this has happened, hope it works out.
 
Yes the saddle is what we thought, she was using her own tack which she said was fitted for him, but after such a long time off, he has obviously lost muscle, so it probably needed checking again. Not sure what she was feeding him, but he looks very well, so i think he was getting lots to eat !!!!!!!!!!!!

He has literally gone mad, i am so upset.
 
I would start by putting him on a Magnesium suplement ,while exploring all the other posibilities. They do get short of it at this time of year(actualy a few weeks ago)and yes it sends them nuts.
 
The other thing I would do would be to reduce feed to forage only. If the cough and cold was in fact an allergy, then it is possible that he has developed a secondary intolerance, to either grain or sugar, esp. if the girl has been feeding him excess amounts. We had a mare many years ago who was intolerant of sugar and grain and became unridable if fed them.
 
Yes the magnesium supplement is a good idea, i thought i would give him a tiny feed once a day with the supplement in and just feed him hay the rest of the time.

He hasnt got any allergies, he just had a very bad cold which he caught off another horse in the yard - i think the silly girl was probably feeding him loads and not exercising him
 
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Don't rule anything out, and don't take everything you've been told as gospel. It may be a reaction to an intolerance or pain, so just go through them steadily.
It may also be that something has happened you don't know about and he is reacting to that. Time out for him, work with him on the ground so he remembers you, and slow steps for a while. Lunge with and without tack, see if he shows any difference in his behaviour.
3 months is a long time to be off with a 'cough and cold', what medication and diagnosis did he have from the vet?
This is why a lot of people won't loan out, its so easy to spoil a horse in a short time. But most will come right given the correct treatment. Trusting things, these horses.
 
My gut feeling is pain in the back - he is lunging nicely with tack on and without, when he first came back he was absolutely bonkers on the lunge, but he is much better now. When my friend rode him yesterday and asked him to walk on, he was making sqwealing noises and trying to buck, but we never told him off, we were very calm and he eventually settled.

I think he has a sore back somewhere, so I am going to wait for the back man to come and see what he says. He was such a calm sweet horse before, he was a pleasure to ride.
 
Sounds like a reaction to pain of some sort.

How is his back, teeth and saddle?

If all of the above fine I would probably get him checked out for ulcers.
 
This type of thread really annoys me (well not the thread the situation); people have a horse on loan, manage to turn it from the well schooled quiet horse into a nutter and then hand back to the owner to fix

Its one of the reasons I won't loan where a horse is out of my control!

Hope you manage to get yours back to normal - its probably a feed & ill fitting tack combo.
 
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