horse "in pain" when eating hay

H

hoof-it

New User
Joined
17 February 2012
Messages
7
Visit site
hello

New to the forum as i'm looking for some advice with a strange problem i'm having with my 4 year old gelding cob x dales.

Last wednesday he started violently shaking his head whenever he had a mouthful of hay. He would swing his head about and rub his mouth on whatever was nearest - a post or me. We had the vet out on the friday who sedated him and floated his teeth. Whilst sedated, we had a good look in his mouth, there was no sign of any ulceration on the tongue or gums. Teeth were slightly sharp but not untypically.

I was hoping that would have solved it, but he is still doing it, but only when he eats hay. We buy our hay in bulk at the end of summer, and have done for the past three years off the same supplier, so it is the same hay supply he (and three others, who do not have this problem) has had since early winter. He does not shake his head or act in pain when eating carrots, apples, herbal treats, feed, or grazing. Its only when he eats hay or haylage. Strangely, he doesn't shake his head if you roll the hay up into an egg sized ball and feed it to him, but if he eats a pile of it from the floor or haynet, he starts acting in pain. We've tried soaking it to make it softer etc, but no change in his reaction.

The vet gave us bute on monday, he has had one (1g sachet) a day for the past 3 days, then two sachetst today, and it made no difference to his behaviour when eating hay.

Any idea what the problem could be?
 
Sounds to me like there are sharp strands in the hay. I certainly have had a number of large round bales this year which, although haven't got any thistles etc in, are actually sharp - almost like needles when I am filling the haynets. The fact that the behaviour doesn't stop when on bute suggests that also. If it was a pain issue with your horse then the bute would stop that - but not if it's being caused by external factors.
 
Not surprised your at a bit of a loss thats a strange one! I'm guessing the skin around his muzzle is ok and isn't being irritated by touching hay. This is a long shot but have you checked his ears for mites? If you work it out do let us know!
 
sounds like he is teething. breaking his adult teeth, maybe trying to shed a cap. as long as he is of good weight and in good health i would leave him to it, but re check his teeth in 3 months, then 6 months!
 
My old horse got arthritis in his TMJ which is basically the jaw joint. he could not eat hay but could eat grass and feed fine. I appreciate your horse is younger but it might be a problem with his actual jaw rather than his teeth. Horses have to move their teeth different to chew hay compared to other feeds adn this specific action may be hurting him?
 
Thanks for the replies.

Moomin1 said:
Sounds to me like there are sharp strands in the hay. I certainly have had a number of large round bales this year which, although haven't got any thistles etc in, are actually sharp - almost like needles when I am filling the haynets. The fact that the behaviour doesn't stop when on bute suggests that also. If it was a pain issue with your horse then the bute would stop that - but not if it's being caused by external factors.
Click to expand...

There are definitely some sharp things in the hay, like little thorns that i get in my bloody hand and hurt like hell, it's possible he has got one of them lodged in his mouth somewhere, but surely after 9 days it would have dislodged or been disintegrated by now? Or the bute would have stopped him from feeling it if there was one digging in somewhere?

Oberon said:
Is there any swelling under his jaw?
Click to expand...
No swelling anywhere.

WandaMare said:
Have you tried giving him some different hay, he might be reacting to the taste?
Click to expand...
Echo Bravo said:
As above at 4 he's teething, could you try Horsehage for a couple of days or more it's softer.
Click to expand...

Not different hay, but haylage - same reaction.

Cupcakes and Horses said:
Not surprised your at a bit of a loss thats a strange one! I'm guessing the skin around his muzzle is ok and isn't being irritated by touching hay. This is a long shot but have you checked his ears for mites? If you work it out do let us know!
Click to expand...

The skin around his muzzle is fine - no sign of chemical burns, hives or any other irritation. Also should add there is no sign of quidding or discharge from the nose. Ears are fine, no bugs, scabs or signs of irritation.

ofcourseyoucan said:
sounds like he is teething. breaking his adult teeth, maybe trying to shed a cap. as long as he is of good weight and in good health i would leave him to it, but re check his teeth in 3 months, then 6 months!
Click to expand...

Think this is the most likely possiblity, but for how long must he go through this? It's horrible watching him. And if it was teething pain, would he continue to behave like this whilst under the effect of bute?
 
Well with teething babies (the human kind) pain killers aren't always effective and sometimes the most pain is from teeth being on the move in the jaw before they come through and as with everything some are more sensitive than others. Teething does go with his age but i'm surprised the vet didn't say that was most likely the problem. Could he stay out now on grass? So he doesn't have to have hay for a bit and see if it settles of its on accord...which it will if its teething.
 
This happened with my friend's mare. It was apparent when she put her head down in the stable to eat hay. Not in the field or when fed by hand. When watched closely in the field she did look a little bit lame. In her case the problem was that she had damaged her neck. Can you fix something up (not a haynet) that's higher from the ground and see if he carries on?
 
My horse sufferes from problems with his TMJ and last summer we had terrible problems with him choking and we thought it was connected. He only had problems eating haylage and he would rub his nose on everything when he was eating, sometimes he would choke and others just looked unhappy. I had my Osteopath out and she ruled out his jaw. We eventually discovered that it was because they weed killed the field (without me knowing) and he was having a reaction to it. He was seen by the denist and was scoped but nothing showed up. I only discovered the cause when he had stopped choking for a a few months and was eating normally when he had another episode and I found out they had weedkilled again!!

Could he be having a reaction to something and the hay or haylage aggravates it?
 
So after a long sleepless night of worrying about this situation our boy was in we decided not to give him his bute as it was clear to us it was not helping the pain he was in. We also went out today and bought yet another brand of haylage. Instead of breaking it up we left it as one big bale, brought him out of the paddock and let him have a go at eating it - 1st of all he began rubbing his muzzle into the bale, then rubbing his nose against his leg. After breaking the haylage up with his hoof he began to eat it with a little headshaking then out of nowhere he began to settle down and munch on the stuff as if he had not been through any pain whatsoever.

After about 10 minutes of eating the haylege he came over to say his usual hello and whilst he did i gave his muzzle a good rub. After that he moved over to his brothers haynet and started munching on that hay without any problems at all.

Rather than anything more serious we are hoping it was maybe one of those nasty little thin thorns lodged in his muzzle, maybe a few of them. Who knows, maybe him rubbing his muzzle into the haylage and me giving his muzzle a little massage dislodged a few irratating thorns? All we know is we`re so relieved that he is finally getting back to loving a good munch on his hay.

Last night we convinced ourselves it was the beginning of neuralgia and that he would have to be pts when the pain got too much-The outcome just goes to show that sometimes the worry horses cause their owners is absolutely neurotic!

Thank you for all of your replies!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top