horse personality change in winter?

[dragonflys]

I have a four year old horse, so some allowance has to be made for his age, but I have noticed that winter turns him into a fire breathing dragon!

He goes from being pretty chilled out in the other seasons to bonkers and quite destructive

Today i got to the yard to find he had managed to get his rug and a bucket from the other side of the fence that i thought i had put out of his reach and had a jolly good game with them round his field!

does anyone elses have a personality change or is it just mine.....

 

[splashgirl45]

my 20 year old is lovely in the summer when she is out 24/7, once we start bringing in at night she changes to a looney who can be challenging both on the ground and ridden...keeps me on my toes!!!!! at least yours has the excuse of being young!!!!

 

[ChestnutConvert]

My last old boy who was 18 changed in winter. He didn't have any arthritic problems or anything but when it got colder he became a devil sometimes. Almost like he didn't want to go hacking, napping, spinning just being a ******!
On the ground he was lovely but riding out was a big no no.

 

[Megibo]

not really..summer-lazy sugar
winter-slightly less lazy sugar

though she has many mad days inbetween where you think someones snuck oats into dinner

 

[TigerTail]

My field mates horse is totally insane, I know its because of the hard feed shes on, being faaaar to sugary and too much for her.

Whats he fed on?

 

[loverly]

I have one of those!! Absolute darling in the summer - completely relaxed and loveable. Then comes winter and he always has his ears back, refuses to come out of the stable (even with a bucket of feed he won't go past the door!) and just generally a miserable so and so!

 

[dragonflys]

No dont think its food, he only has molasses free chaff for dinner and hay.

It seems to be worse when the weather changes, such as tonight. It was much colder than it has been. Perhaps he was trying to warm himself up...
He certainly did that!

I had hoped he might improve with age, but by the look of some of your replies
this may not be the case : /

 

[emma.is]

Yep! Been chucked off twice in two weeks this year round.

Seriously thinking about turning him away until the weather improves.

 

[Elsbells]

You can't fill them up in the winter and theres not enough grass to satisfy them.

They need hay/hayiage not hard feed. IMO the colder it gets the more they need it, they are programed to heat from what they eat after all.

My girl is a nightmare if she's hungry, so I don't let her be.