Hypersensitive Thoroughbred

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DaisyMae

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My Thoroughbred mare is so hypersensitive when i ride her out that shes becoming dangerous, i've spent hours and hours walking her on foot to get her used to everything and tryed despooking but nothing has worked, shes just as bad when im off as she is when im riding her.

She used to be great to hack until i changed her food about three months ago because i needed to get more weight on her, now shes on chaff, speedybeat and a couple of handfuls of calm and condition as well as living out but i can't get her back to normal. Put her on Global Herbs Thoroughbred Calmer last Thurs, 2 scoops twice a day although she missed Fri evenings and Sat mornings coz someone fed her and forgot to put it in, surely it should have kicked in by now.

Im really at my wits end, had a cry tonight when i got her back to the stables because i feel like i've tryed everything and shes never gonna go back to normal. Last weekend i took 2 of our horses for a walk leaving her in the field with one other, she went so mad that when i got back she had got her rug wrapped round her legs (it never usually slips at all) and she was dripping with sweat,s someone told me later that she was going so
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wild and they had to go a different route with their horses coz they couldn't get passed my field.

To give you an idea of how hypersensitive she is, someone sneezed while i was walking her tonight, they were approximately 20ft away and jumped out of her skin, thats only one example of what happened tonight i could go on for an hour.

Has anyone else had this problem before, any tips for me??? I love her to bits and we're really bonding in the stable and the field, really want my nice horse back.
 
get her off the calm and condition - Oscar reacted really badly to it and bucked me off on a hack!

If you want to put on weight, try alphabeet and hi-fi - sounds like she may need a high fibre diet and cut out the cereals....OScar changed almost overnight.

You answered the question when you said she was ok until you changed the feed!

Good luck.
 
She was on the calm and condition originally when she was good thats why shes back on it although shes only having a couple of handfuls because shes looking good on the summer grass. So shes back on her original feed but less of it and still behaving like this Arrah!!
 
It could be the spring grass a few of the horses on our yard have gone a bit crazy because of the crazy. Or you could try some other feed to keep weight on her, i was adviced to use a build up mix on my TB x when he lost some weight before.
 
If she's out 247 then cut her feed out completely - I've had to do that with Oscar....although his girth has gone up a hole on both sides in a week.....think he'll have to go back on something soon!
 
Think i'll stick a paper bag over each of her nostrols and tell her to take deep breaths ha ha. Shes had no Calm and Condition tonight and our grass is good so might just see how she goes with chaff, speedy beat and garlic for the time being thanks
 
Plain hi fi. I tryed alpha a and alpha a oil so put her on plain hi fi but nothing is working!! she still just as mad as before, wonder if the anxiety has just become a habit now
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Do you feed her any quantity of carrots? Also have you had her saddle and back checked recently??

My TB will react badly to carrots and goes off on a fizz with regular amounts of carrots. He also goes hyperspooky when something is "wrong" in his back or saddle. I had about 4 months of solid spooking and spinning out on hacks before I got the saddler out routinely. A growth spurt meant my saddle no longer fitted and new saddle cured the spooking!!

May not be the case with your mare at all, but worth a thought
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Hope you get it sorted out
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Had saddleman out, saddle was tipping back and her back was sore so shes had 4weeks off and seen a spinal therapist, theres no reaction when i push around her back now ok and new saddle being fitted tomorrow although im gonna have a job riding her when he fits it + she spooks whether im riding her or not. No carrotts at all. Really hope the calmer kicks in overnight ha ha
 
Ok so not that then. Could try a magnesium based calmer??

Or maybe a hormonal supplement like stroppy mare, regumate etc. Maybe her seasons are a bit up the creak?? Sorry I am clutching at straws a bit here but I really hope you get it sorted out!
 
Stop all feed for three weeks including the calmer and all treats, then introduce new feeds slowly one at a time, avoid alfalfa as it is a phyto-oestrogen and can have a dreadful effect on mares, avoid molasses in ANY feed ( read the labels very carefuly) Any horse, like any person can be sensetive to any feed stuff at any time. We had a WelshDXTB who was horrendously sensetive to any number of feed substances, to the point where she was nearly PTS at age 12 (before we worked out what was wrong) and went on to live to 24. She had had a bad episode before we got her and had then been fed up too quickly by the person we bought her from,. We found her weight stabalised when she was not fed any of the 'offending' feed stuffs. If you get very worried about weight loss, try making a mash of grass pellets.
 
Really appreciate your advice coz im really struggling and feel like i've tryed everything to no avail, i think i'll finish this tub of calmer and then try mag calm like you said and then.......really hope something works, i just want to go for a nice hack out, its been so so long since i've been able to do that.
 
Yes, cut out absolutely all feed except grass. That way you can find out what the problem is, just be warned that for the first few days she may actually be worse, but give it 4 or 5 days and it will settle down It's a bit like a person giving up smoking, she may be a bit irritable.
 
I'll finish this pot of calmer because i think i should give it chance to kick in but if it doesn't then i'll try to stop feeding her alltogether, should get away with this because the grass is quite good and shes looking well, thanks for the advice i really appreciate it.
 
Hiya, i'd stop the calmer RIGHT NOW!! My TB went mad last summer and it was actually the calmer that was doing it, he was so bad that the feed company asked him to be a guinea pig for a new calmer they were trialing - stupidly said yes and it made him worse again. My friend has had the same issues with her TB with various calmers. I'd take him off all feed and re-introduce as basic a diet as possible. If its any help, the only calmer we both found that actually helped was NAF Easy Going.
 
Please stop all feed now, the longer they eat something which they are sensetive to the worse it is and the less chance there will be of re-introducing it succesfully at a later date. If the bad behaviour/behaviour changes started when you changed her diet, then there is almost no chance of it being down to any other cause.
 
Similarly to what everyone else has said i'd cut the feed. First to go has to be the speedi beet, there's no need to feed it in the summer when you have good grass! Also stop the calm and condition. I doubt very much if the hi-fi would be causing any of this but to be on the safe side stop feeding that aswell. Once everything is settled and you want to start re-introducing feed start with just the hi-fi.
A good calmer you could try is Naf Magic.
Don't give up on her, you'll figure it out
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my tb mare can not have speedi beet or and off these conditioning mixes/cubes they send her bonkers.

I now have her on alfa a oil, topspec balancer & instant linseed.

You will only get results with a magnesium supllement if she is lacking in magnesium inside her (of which you wouldnt know unless you go her tested or tried supplement and got results) it didnt work on my mare. was advised to try the topspec clamer and wow the results are amazing, my mar was very much like yours but now is rideable and i'm enjoying her again.

Good luck
 
Have to say I always stop sugarbeet once the grass starts coming through as its sugar + sugar = crackers horse!!
My boy can be a bit tempramental but seems a lot better on Allen & Page Ride & Relax (no barley which send some of them giddy I believe). Equine America So Kalm is good but not cheap as a daily supplement, works out about £1 a day.
the other thing is how do you react when she spooks? I find the best thing is to just ignore it, smacking and shouting at them just makes it worse as it reinforces their fear. If I see something he's likely to spook at I give him lots of verbal encouragement and rub him just by his withers. I don't think there's anything I couldn't get my hose past now doing this....
Hope that helps!
 
my TB can be sensitive if over-fed too.

I have my girl on oat and barley free by falcon feeds, It piles on the top line while keeping her calm. My TB at the mo tho is a complete donkey, as its summer shes living out 24/7 with a handful of the oat and barley free morning and night with some stroppy mare herbs and magnesium calmer. I ride her most days and compete her off grass. She also had a 6 week holiday earlier on in the yr which really chilled her out.

I find when they get 'above' themselves, taking them right back to basics work best. Make sure shes in a routine and it could be worth giving her a supplement for her hormones.
 
The global herbs tb calmer caused my anglo to turn into an utter fruit loop. But I am also having the same problems at the moment as you - incredible hypersensitivity, including the reaction you described to a sneeze! He's become so upset that he wont eat outside of his field now. He is only on HiFi light, magnesium, seaweed and gluosamine.

xxx
 
Thanks everyone for all the advice i really do appreciate it, i've printed out all of the pages so i can keep them for reference. No more speedybeet or cubes will pass her lips! just feeding her a couple of handfuls of plain hifi, Bran and Thoroughbred calmer now, i'll see how she seems after a few days and if shes still bad then i'll try one of the other calmers you ve suggested. Its difficult to stop feeding her altogether as her 3 field buddies are being fed but plain hifi is just chopped up hay so a small amount should be ok i think.

If anyone else reads this post and has some more advice for me feel free to reply, i'll check it regulary just incase and i'll keep you all updated (if i survive) thanks again for all your help xxxxx:)
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we tried everything with out TB mare, calmers, different feeds, feed balancers, nothing worked......
Top Spec sent it do lally and she actually kicked someone while on it!
Although she is now no longer ridden we found that the best way to keep her calm is to keep her to a routine.
Turned out same time every day with same horses, brought in at same time, feed at the same time, and a neighbour next door!
What we did find that helped is Epsom salts, she gets a little most days with a touch of lineseed oil in her high fibre feed.
maybe she has a magnesium imbalance, I don't know but it seems to wok and it's cheap!
Good luck
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my mare came out of training/racing as a 3 year old when we bought her. We did a bit of everything with her although she did sometimes get stressed at competitions, we used to lunge her for half an hour before her class.
At the end of 2003 she had an accident in the field during a snow storm and was never the same again. Lights were on but no one was home!
We decided to give her some time off and have now bred two lovely foals from her, she was a great mum and very well behaved and unstressed while in foal.
We did try and bring her back into work but she became very stressed again so we stopped.
What I have found helps with her day to day care is using natural horsemanship techniques, I know everyone thinks this is a bit poncey but it works for her.
Good luck
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I have 2 exracers and one of them, Darcy, was like this for the first 2 years I had him. I was constantly having to change his feed to try and get weight on him, he was sluggish and lazy in the school and ultra spooky when off the yard. We discovered he has feed intollerances and cant have anything with molasses or barley in it, or that is high in starch. I moved him onto the Winergy feeds - www.winergy.com - and he is like a different horse. He is calm and settled in the stable, much more forward going in the school and not at all spooky, even with all the spring grass he has eaten. previoulsy I have had to put him on a magnesium calmer while the grass was coming through but this year he's been fine...! He is also as fat as a barrel for the first time ever.

Try cutting out all the sugar you can from your horses diet, C&C has sugarbeet in it so that combined with the sugarbeet you are feeding may just be too much for your horse to cope with. Feed lots and lots of fibre and oil and see how you get on. I'd definately recommend the Winergy feeds if you decide to go down that route - they have certainly changed Darcy for the better...
 
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