Horse has major tantrums and bucks.

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Victor11

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Hi.
I bought my horse 4 months ago, he is a 12 year old Gelding with (as far as i know) a pretty abusive backround. He had some riding problems, but nothing crazy or non fixable. so the last month, he has started throwing tantrums and acting nuts. What he does is, when you start riding him he is fine, and verry wiling, needs no pressure at all, and when he desides he has had enought he just rears and bucks and spins like crazy, once he even fliped over. He just gets a newsflash and off he goes, rearing really high (almost falling back) and kicking like crazy, while staying in one place. He has thrown my trainer of 4 times and me 3 and i am desperate. When rearing we do nothing, and just give him rein, so we dont encourage him. He has had a full vet check, any tips?
 
I think a horse with an abusive background will potentially have mental issues and may revert to bad behaviour when it thinks something is going to hurt or be too challenging but most horses do not throw tantrums just because they feel like it, it is not in their interests to overexert themselves in the way you describe for no reason other than because he wants to at that moment in time.

A vet check is normally to look for obvious soundness issues and is not very thorough in reality unless you ask for specific tests to be done or something gets picked up easily on palpation, many vets are fairly useless at even finding basic back issues and no vet can rule out KS or ulcers without further investigations so I would want more tests to be done before saying this is purely behavioural, if he has had a tough life it may be that he has been treated badly because he has been difficult due to an underlying problem that has not been looked for or treated appropriately, ulcers often develop in stressed horses and the fact that he starts off ok then suddenly goes off on one would tie in with him having a build up of acid that just becomes too much for him to cope with any longer.
 
be positive said:
I think a horse with an abusive background will potentially have mental issues and may revert to bad behaviour when it thinks something is going to hurt or be too challenging but most horses do not throw tantrums just because they feel like it, it is not in their interests to overexert themselves in the way you describe for no reason other than because he wants to at that moment in time.

A vet check is normally to look for obvious soundness issues and is not very thorough in reality unless you ask for specific tests to be done or something gets picked up easily on palpation, many vets are fairly useless at even finding basic back issues and no vet can rule out KS or ulcers without further investigations so I would want more tests to be done before saying this is purely behavioural, if he has had a tough life it may be that he has been treated badly because he has been difficult due to an underlying problem that has not been looked for or treated appropriately, ulcers often develop in stressed horses and the fact that he starts off ok then suddenly goes off on one would tie in with him having a build up of acid that just becomes too much for him to cope with any longer.
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This.
 
Exactly what the vet check? Did he come out to your yard, see the horse trotted up and down, poke and prod him, and say the horse is fine and nothing wrong with him. Or did you take him into the surgery?
 
amymay said:
Is it only in the school he does this, or out hacking too?
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Yeah, in what situation does he do it? In a particular place, being asked to do something in particular etc.? I rode a horse for a friend a while back, he would buck and rear etc. sometimes - turned out he had back problems which ended up with him being retired. Definately I'd get the back checked (not by a vet, but by a proper specialist), also checked for ulcers, get a second opinion on the saddle (or try a totally different one), get teeth checked by a specialist etc.
 
I agree with the others that it is an extreme pain response. As most jumpers' problems start in their front feet I would x ray and mri if necessary. I had a navicular horse that passed all vet checks but used to explode me off after about 45 minutes, he appeared totally sound at all times. I insisted on x rays and even told the vet that I thought it was navicular as the horse started off stuffy and then loosened up and worked well and then exploded from nowhere. What I would say is that if he has ejected you 7 times in all I would not be riding him again until I found out why. In all the fifty years I have had horses and been involved with them I have never known a horse with erratic and dangerous behaviour that did not have something wrong and in most cases usually severe arthritis of some sort - the problem is finding it.
 
Victor11 said:
Saddle and back have been checked repeatedly, teeth too..
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Checked or xrayed? KS will not show up on a standard vet exam because it is immediate mechanical pain, not 'soreness'

Blimpy said:
Did you try a bute trial? And does he still do it then? Could be a way to confirm a pain response.
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A bute trial often doesn't work, especially if a standard back exam shows no pain. KS pain is that intense that bute doesn't cover it up.
 
I agree it often doesn't work to cover up the pain but if he did became happy when on bute then you can be fairly certain that there is a pain response. For the worth of a few sachets of bute it would be worth trying in this case. But I certainly wouldn't assume that just because the bute doesn't stop the behavior thats its not a pain response! I've had two KS horses, one where a bute trial showed no change and one where he worked like a dream on bute.
 
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