Horse Whisperer ... ? help please!

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GrumpyHero

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has anyone ever had an experience with a horse whisperer? ever had one out to see your horse or anything?

only asking because my friends horse moved yards a month or two ago, she was fine for the first few weeks but she's suddenly started weaving in her stable, boxwalking, trying to rear etc as if she suddently hates her stable.
she also sometimes tries to rear when she's tied up.

the vet came out to see her today, that's when she was weaving/boxwalking again, she wouldn't stand still at all for the vet, so they had to lunge her to get some of the excess energy out of her, they then took her back and put special boots on her and she reared up, and was trying to bite and kick out. this isn't her normal behaviour at all.

the horse is 20 years old, so it's not as if she's just being a baby/not knowing how to behave. all of this behaviour is very sudden.
also the vet says that she's acting like a stallion (she is a mare)

she said the vet doesn't really know what's wrong with her - said it could possibly be cysts on her ovaries.
vet also said if it is a cyst, and they operate to remove it, there's only a 50/50 chance that she'll stop behaving like this - so do you guys think it would be worth getting a horse whisperer out to come see her?

these are the current options my friend is faced with; (copied&pasted from her message to me)
1. operation (cost at least 5k)
2. regumate (£115 a week to try calm her down)
3. keep her for a bit then try to find a new home for her or sanctuary? the vet doesnt think anyone would take her tho, coz of her age and all her problems :\
4. put her to sleep [which is drastic to me tbh]
5. keep her and try to work through it but she may never calm down entirely so, would it be selfish to keep on pursuing?

ehh, i personally have no idea what could be wrong, so if you've ever had an experience with a whisperer/think it would help/have any other ideas, please let me know!
 
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It could be 1001 things - cant the horse be turned out, sounds like its the stable making her unhappy -that way she would get rid of excess energy too? Plus if she had been at previous yard a while it can take time to settle. Without knowing more, I would say turn her out and see what shes like then....
 
has the vet considered a brain tumour? x this may well be the case, pony i knew last year changed over night into a monster and that was what it was he was pts very shortly after diagnosis due to how dangerous he had become to everyone and himself (he smashed his self off the walls of his stables-very distressing) x
hope this is not the case but it may well be worth mentionin to vet xx
 
ive been asked to add a bit! : clarifying on the weaving - for the weaving its not around her door, its around her haynet but its not because shes trying to get to her food or anything, and she weaves so fast she reaches the concrete even though the bed is really thick, and starts to slip because shes going so fast

she's also turned out for most of the day :/
 
thanks for posting jess, my login works now yay! haha..xx

hey - i'm the owner - i dunno if it is a brain tumour because she is 100% fine to be ridden, lunged, walked in hand, in field etc, its just the stable shes suddenly developed a fixation about it. it could be because she's not by her fieldmates? it still seems extreme though.
x
 
Cysts - vet should be able to tell if there are cysts via a rectal followed by blood tests - if regumate works then the marbles should! That is if it is cysts. Sounds like you may need a second opinion as he appears to be guessing???
 
How is she in the field? Does she get on ok with her new field mates? Is she in the same type of herd as at her last place? Just wondering if she is maybe now turned out with geldings when previously she was with mares. A change like this could have affected her hormones and maybe the weird behaviour in the box is just her way of saying she does not want to be brought in away from her new friends.
 
If she has moved yards has she lost a special friend? Or was she at the old yard for a long time and hasn't settled down into the new one? She sounds rather distressed. What was the new stable like compared to the old one? What was the view, could she see all around, was it lighter?

I think you are going to have to sit down and think carefully about how her life has changed and what has made her behaviour change.It is a bit drastic to consider a £5k operation without a proper diagnosis of what is wrong.
 
anadain - they want her to go up to the vet hospital and have tests/scans done there

lenehorse - in the field she is well behaved, settles down to graze, she's on her own at the moment as she used to harass her ex-field mate alot so they have been seperated but she can still see all the other ponies. when we bought her she had previously been in a field with just a gelding and that was "all ok". she's okay with geldings but mares she just has problems with. and yeh you could be right, it just worries me because i don't know how to cope with it when she's going mad, like i don't know what to do..

orangehorse - yeah she lost three special friends, she was at her old yard for almost a year. she seemed to settle in at first, an absolute angel but now its all gone to pot. her new stable is alot bigger but has views into the stable yard, my last yard was a really big farm and now we're on a private, smaller yard.

booboos - i don't think changing the stable will make much difference really ..

letslip - we asked our vet about that but they didn't seem to approve and said we could only get it if we had the permission of a vet, which my vet won't give

i really don't know what to do. :\
 
this sounds like a mare of a friend of mine a few yrs ago the mare moved yards and was ok for the first few weeks then all of a sudden turned in to a monster she would rear, kick, barge, weave anything so she didnt have to stand still, she was fine out in the field and to be ridden vet gave her the all clear, she spent £100s on getting her checked out, anyway one day when the farrier visired she reared up and went over backwards then bolted to get off the yard in fear she was then turned out over the next few months and seemed to settle down a bit but still would not go near the yard or stable, to cut it short we later found out the stable that she was in was haunted there was a spirit of a air pilot there and after she had someone out to move it on (dont know much about this) she spent a few months with her just walking past and eventually she went in a year later she was completely back to her old self, could you leave her out 24/7 for a while to see if she settles down a while (ps im not saying this is whats happening with your horse its just is does sound so familiar)
 
If she is showing aggression towards other horses this could tie in with the ovarian cyst theory. Apparently one of the signs of an overain cyst can be mares showing stallion-like behaviour. Sounds like getting her scanned may be a sensible idea.
Hope you find the answer.
 
jensheff26 said:
this sounds like a mare of a friend of mine a few yrs ago the mare moved yards and was ok for the first few weeks then all of a sudden turned in to a monster she would rear, kick, barge, weave anything so she didnt have to stand still, she was fine out in the field and to be ridden vet gave her the all clear, she spent £100s on getting her checked out, anyway one day when the farrier visired she reared up and went over backwards then bolted to get off the yard in fear she was then turned out over the next few months and seemed to settle down a bit but still would not go near the yard or stable, to cut it short we later found out the stable that she was in was haunted there was a spirit of a air pilot there and after she had someone out to move it on (dont know much about this) she spent a few months with her just walking past and eventually she went in a year later she was completely back to her old self, could you leave her out 24/7 for a while to see if she settles down a while (ps im not saying this is whats happening with your horse its just is does sound so familiar)
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wow that's really spooky! where we are is supposed to be haunted (well, the surrounding area) i wish it was something like that haha..i really do..would be easy compared to everything else!! and i could leave her out 24/7 i suppose.. but she plays up when i tie her up to tack her up (tack, back, teeth etc are fine before anyone says lol) its just this fixation about her stable?! ugh :(

lenehorse - its just young mares really, she doesn't like them OR she does really like them and gets upset when they leave the yard to go hacking etc :/

will definitely get a scan sorted ASAP though..

booboos - maybe, i suppose theres no harm, but theres only a few stables on the whole yard and i don't think they'll be pleased if i swop with someone !!
 
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Try her in a different stable.
Try turning her out 24/7 with company.
Scan for ovarian cysts - a mare I had on loan had an ovarian cyst and she could be quite aggressive but only during her first season of the year. The rest of the year her seasons were all over the place and she was incredibly mareish. I fed her agnus castus (the seed that is the active ingredient in all of the moody mare supplements) and it really helped to settle things down.
 
Just ask someone else if you can pop her in another stable and observe her behaviour. It's an easy way of checking whether it's a behavioural issue or whether it is consistent in different environments. It's just a tad odd that she is only misbehaving in the stable, if it was a physical problem you would expect it to manifest itself all the time. I don't believe in ghosts but horses can certainly be extremely unsettled by different sights and smells. I've known many horses that preferred the quiet stables in the yard, while others wanted a view and excitment.
 
chestnut cob - where can you get agnus castus? is it prescribed by a vet or..? she's currently on hormonize :)

booboos - hm yes i suppose there's no harm in that, i'll ask my friend tomorrow if i can borrow her stable for a bit :) hmm yes i do see what you're saying, she's a VERY alert horse and listens out for the quietest things, if she hears a car or something or a bird her head will shoot up and her eyes will widen, but thats as far as it goes. out hacking shes alert, ears forward all the time, but she'd never ever be dangerous like she is in her stable/outside it.. x
 
MissyThea said:
letslip - we asked our vet about that but they didn't seem to approve and said we could only get it if we had the permission of a vet, which my vet won't give
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If you want to sort out what sounds like a very unhappy horse, forget upsetting humans and get something done! I'd change stable and stuff the possibility of annoying somebody - you pay the bills after all! If possible, try finding a box that's not between two other horses, say a corner one, as sometimes the constant pressure of animals they don't yet trust at either side can upset some horses, even if they aren't actually in sight. Kind of like me sitting on a bus touching your arm slightly all the time, you soon get ratty and want to move. Horses are just the same, though they have a larger personal space of course.

Secondly, the vet saying he doesn't like you getting a pig version of a drug is fine, but he cannot stop you asking for a prescription and buying it elsewhere. It will be cheaper on the net via your vet's perscription anyway - although I've a feeling he'll smell lost business and offer you the cheaper version if you threaten to not buy from him. I don't blame vets for trying to make as much money as they can, but it annoys me that they don't tell customers of the legal right to get a perscription.

Anyway, I hope it works out fine for the mare and you.
 
No, not prescribed by a vet. I used to buy it online from Barefoot Basics, about £5 for 500g (though that was a few years ago). I think I fed one 15ml scoop every day and then twice as much when she was in season. If that hadn't worked, I'd have gone down the Regumate route.

I really do think it's worth trying a different stable though. And FWIW, when I moved my horse to my previous yard, he was fine for a couple of weeks then became very unsettled. Ended up with him absolutely hating the yard. He couldn't cope with the turnout routine, the (lack of) company (all mares, all individual TO because the mares wouldn't be caught if he went out with them), having horses either side of him in American barn open stabling... I moved to where we are now and he settled instantly. He's much happier with the turnout arrangements (small groups or pairs, single sex), the routine, and he likes his end-of-row stable as he can hide in the corner being antisocial if he wants to (which he does!).

So maybe she just hasn't settled at the new yard at all?
 
MissyThea said:
chestnut cob - where can you get agnus castus? is it prescribed by a vet or..? she's currently on hormonize :)

booboos - hm yes i suppose there's no harm in that, i'll ask my friend tomorrow if i can borrow her stable for a bit :) hmm yes i do see what you're saying, she's a VERY alert horse and listens out for the quietest things, if she hears a car or something or a bird her head will shoot up and her eyes will widen, but thats as far as it goes. out hacking shes alert, ears forward all the time, but she'd never ever be dangerous like she is in her stable/outside it.. x
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Agnus castus (also known as chasteberry) is actually the main ingredient in hormonise. My mare had problems with her ovaries when she was younger and I have had her on hormonise for years. It's the only 'moody mare' supplement that has had any effect on her.
 
How do other horses react if they are put in that stable? I ask as friend had horses who would no longer go near the mounting block ( a bit of a problem as they were an RDA centre!) It transpired that the ground was giving them electric shocks, people couldn't feel it but the horses certainly could! The underground cable was repaired/replaced and all was fine again, worth putting a different horse in her box to see what happens.
 
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