Horse needing a pee - performance affected?

clevelandbay

clevelandbay

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Hi, we have a lovely 16.2hh sports horse who we've had for about a year and a half and her and my daughter (who compete at SJ) have built up a lovely bond. She's a happy settled horse in most ways and a pleasure to own.

When we bring her in from the field she always immediately pees in her stable which we put down to just one of her little quirks and obviously it's no problem. However, when we go out competing she will not pee in public she will wait to get in the trailer. Yesterday we were out from quite early in the morning and it was a long day. In her last class of the day (she only did 2 so was not overworked) she was definately not herself and they were eliminated for her refusals (I'm quite level headed and can usually tell if it's my daughter's riding causing any problems but yesterday it really wasn't).

Anyway as soon as we got back after that class and put her in the trailer she peed long and hard!

So my question is will it affect her performance if she's dying to pee and what on earth can be done to encourage her to pee?

Thanks for reading!
 
We have had the same problem with our mare, but have learnt to spot the symptoms. When we are at a show we now take her to the edge of the showfield in the longer grass and start whistling, sounds mad!!! but as sure as rain is wet she has a pee, If your horse is more comfortable with doing it in the box, I too would be tempted to stand her on, you just have to learn to look for the signs of when they are bursting for a pee.
 
Mine wee to a whistle, so I always take them to give them an oppertunity to have a good wee. I can usually tell anyway - one starts to get ansty and will scream & shout the place down!
 
Thanks guys glad it's not just us then! She's a bit of a problem loader so getting her to pee in the trailer might not work, but yeah long grass at the edge of a showground would work I think!
 
mine will not pee away from home.
not in the box, outside anything he has to be in a stable which is fine at stay over shows, or really local jobbys, but at an all day show it really takes its toll and he cant stand still.
 
xloopylozzax said:
mine will not pee away from home.
not in the box, outside anything he has to be in a stable which is fine at stay over shows, or really local jobbys, but at an all day show it really takes its toll and he cant stand still.
Click to expand...

It's a nightmare isn't it? The ideal solution (for us) would be to put her in the trailer in between classes but I'm not sure we'd get her back in at the end of the day!

Does it affect your boys performance do you think?
 
Yes I think it does affect performance. Just before we bought daughter's horse, he had 4 fences down at an event, which was hugely uncharacteristic, and the owners were quite upset as we were supposed to come and watch but fortunately for them we couldn't. Then as he came out of the ring he did the biggest pee ever, with lots of groans and much relieved expression on his face! They decided his full bladder meant he couldn't concentrate and blamed the fact he had been in an overnight stable and wasn't keen to pee on the different bedding.

Since then I have always made a point to unload him and walk him around the showground, ideally to a quiet spot with long grass, so he can pee. Sometimes if I stop and look at him once he starts to spread his legs, he will go off the idea and walk on again. So off we go again, walking and eating, sometimes for 20 mins. I always do this though, as I am convinced he can't concentrate or jump well with a full bladder - I know I can't!

I have heard of a good tip for those that won't pee away home - take a decent amount of bedding out of the stable with you, and spread it on the floor next to the trailer. It needs to be slightly soiled bedding so it smells of their pee, and it can teach them to go somewhere new. I can't see you being very popular though with the organisers :) so take a muck fork and rake it up after. People will think you are mad but it might work, especially as she doesn't load well!
 
I always think the more they go about in the trailer/lorry, the better they are at loading and hopefully she will end up marching up there and will pee quite happily inbetween classes.

We have a gelding who was not happy about going in public at shows/gatherings, he has got much better over the 4 years we've owned him, he now will make sure hes running on empty for hunting and couldn't care less about who sees him there peeing/pooing. He can still be a bit private about things and may sometimes go in the trailer which we know is a last resort (he hates splashing his legs). He also hates going with someone riding him again unless he is absolutely bursting...

It may get better of its own accord given time...

It definitely affects performance, I know how little i can concentrate when I'm bursting...
 
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it does affect performance = my gelding wont pee, not in the lorry, quiet area of the show field he will only do it at home or in a stable, he now when i take out the travel boots will do a pee in his stable i have tried everything whistling, kettle whistling in the living, took some of his bedding nothing works i just have to put up with it
 
odd1 thats just what we do- get there at crack of dawn to muck out so he has a pee just before we load and hope that does him unless we're stopping over.

hes always been the same, hes shown since a baby, loads fine is settled on the lorry etc he just doesnt!
 
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