Horse in a bad mood :(

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dizzyf

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My horse has always been known as the grumpy one on the yard, he hates having things done to him, being groomed, rugged up, clipped etc.

His teeth & back are fine & he's fine to be ridden.

At the moment he's being very grumpy when I go to bring him in, ears flat back & threatening to turn & kick.

Any ideas what his problem could be??? And any solutions?
 
Hungry? There's probably not much to eat in the fields at the moment. Know how you feel though as have one like it - he was named Miseria when I bought him, which means misery in Spanish!
 
Ours is the same although he had a bad start in life and has always been grumpy .It takes 2 0f us to rug him and pick out feet etc and he can't stand being brushed ,when he has hay he is vile !!!!It is quite obvious to us that at some stage in his life someone has taken his food away.Our turn out is restriced at moment and he is very fit so think his just a bit fed up although he seems quite relaxed when in . My daughter is sporting rather a nice bruise right on her elbow where he took a lump out of her couple of eves ago ....
 
dizzyf said:
My horse has always been known as the grumpy one on the yard, he hates having things done to him, being groomed, rugged up, clipped etc.

His teeth & back are fine & he's fine to be ridden.

At the moment he's being very grumpy when I go to bring him in, ears flat back & threatening to turn & kick.

Any ideas what his problem could be??? And any solutions?
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I would be scoping him for gastric ulcers.
 
Is he TB by any chance? My TB's have always been mega-cranky when not in fairly constant work. If he is in constant work and its nothing medical, he might just be a grouchy git and hates the winter. I had a mare like that - she was right cowbag but there was nothing wrong with her.
 
Waits for the torrent of "bad horse for biting - evil, pony, smack the hell out of it . . . " brigade ;).

Yes, it's unacceptable for a horse to bite (or kick), however OP is (to her credit) trying to get to the bottom of the behaviour rather than just punishing him for what is probably an expression of something that's bothering him.

Of COURSE it's possible that he's just a grumpy moo . . . it's also true that he should be corrected when he bites . . . but all credit to OP for wanting to figure out WHY he is grumpy so she can make his life a little more pleasant and prevent some of the grumpiness rather than punishing it. It's like our jump trainer says - be proactive rather than reactive.

P
 
chrisritch said:
Does he get told off for biting and turning to kick?

Would get a right slap if mine bit me or went to kick me.
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and what if he was in pain???
would you really hit a horse that was in pain??

sorry your reply infuriates me. Horses don't just kick and bite they do it for a reason and that is usually pain.

OP
I had similar, in my case it turned out to be a hind gut problem that was causing him so much pain. I would be looking at stomach ulcers, hind gut ulcers and hind gut acidosis. Any can make the horse very uncomfortable and all he is doing is asking you to keep away because it may hurt.
 
paddy555 said:
and what if he was in pain???
would you really hit a horse that was in pain??

sorry your reply infuriates me. Horses don't just kick and bite they do it for a reason and that is usually pain.

OP
I had similar, in my case it turned out to be a hind gut problem that was causing him so much pain. I would be looking at stomach ulcers, hind gut ulcers and hind gut acidosis. Any can make the horse very uncomfortable and all he is doing is asking you to keep away because it may hurt.
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They also kick and bite as its a natural thing to do in a herd, putting others in their place. Its not always pain. Obviously id be checking everything first, but if my horse kicked or bit me he'd get a telling off too. As the weaker, smaller human animal it would be dangerous not to be 'top' in their herd.

Honestly, IMO even if the horse is in pain, the horse should respect you enough not to go for you. A warning, like a swish of the tail or ears back is all i would accept from him.
 
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Thank you for your responses. He is ISHxTB.
He is always a bit swishy with his tail, and just generally a grouch- even when looking & doing well.

If he had stomach problems would there be other signs or symptoms?

It's worth me finding out, but I think he is just a bad tempered character (we call him Beast!)
 
dizzyf said:
Thank you for your responses. He is ISHxTB.
He is always a bit swishy with his tail, and just generally a grouch- even when looking & doing well.

If he had stomach problems would there be other signs or symptoms?

It's worth me finding out, but I think he is just a bad tempered character (we call him Beast!)
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If you think he's just grumpy then why did you ask for advice? I don't believe any horse is *just* grumpy, I think there's always a reason, but some people are happy to put up with the grumpy behaviour whereas others want to make sure horse is happy as possible. If you suspect ulcers, treat him for ulcers, or get vets to run blood tests, or get a physio out. Or just carry on having a grumpy horse!
 
we thought Harry was grumpy until we discovered he had arthritis in both hocks (aged 8) and was in pain. Worth checking out the pain angle I would say.
 
I was interested in what others think, and if other horses are doing similar things. I am going to look into stomach ulcers but not sure at the moment that that's what it is. I wondered if anyone was going to tell me it was the bad weather or similar!
 
dizzyf said:
I was interested in what others think, and if other horses are doing similar things. I am going to look into stomach ulcers but not sure at the moment that that's what it is. I wondered if anyone was going to tell me it was the bad weather or similar!
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Grumpiness, not wanting to be groomed/touched etc... Are all symptoms of stomach/hind gut ulcers. Some horses show hardly any symptoms, some show a lot. I would be investigating them to rule them out.
 
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