I think my horse has been abducted (or gone crazy overnight)!

claire1976

claire1976

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I took Maggie out for a 'nice' hack on Sunday and I swear someone has been in the night and swapped her for an imposter. Either that or she's gone slightly mad. After 8 years of ownership I thought I knew her pretty well - how wrong I was!
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I rode for about 1/2 an hour on the roads quite uneventfully. Got to a nice area for a 'steady' canter and all hell broke loose. She went beserk, spinning, po-going, reversing and generally not going forward. The grand finale after a minute or so was a nice set of rears
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. She has never reared in all the years I've had her - didn't even know she was capable of a rear!!
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I finally calmed her down and tried for a canter on a different stretch ended up cantering sideways most of the way.
I can only presume she's hormonal as she seems to be having a late season.
Also, have to feed her lots of hard feed to keep weight on, might have to alter that!
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Bloomin horses - you think you know them but....
 
There must be something in the air! went to catch boys in last night and Ben went mental!! His owner was in shock!! she's owned him for 20 years and he was like something possessed. rearing bucking, spinning, charging etc. she caughthim and he reared right up at her and then Bondi proceeded to do almost exactly the same.
 
I won't ride mine without an exercise sheet while it's like this - spooks at everything! have you clipped her cause that can make a lot of difference can't it
 
Nope- not clipped because she drops weight so easily. She's not spooky at all - in fact she's the lead horse who gives the others confidence. I have no idea why she went banana's, I can only presume she was full of energy. I wasn't going to let her bomb off into a gallop and I think she was having a tantrum basically.
 
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Nope- not clipped because she drops weight so easily. She's not spooky at all - in fact she's the lead horse who gives the others confidence. I have no idea why she went banana's, I can only presume she was full of energy. I wasn't going to let her bomb off into a gallop and I think she was having a tantrum basically.

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Blimey - sounds like fun!
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Nope- not clipped because she drops weight so easily. She's not spooky at all - in fact she's the lead horse who gives the others confidence. I have no idea why she went banana's, I can only presume she was full of energy. I wasn't going to let her bomb off into a gallop and I think she was having a tantrum basically.

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Blimey - sounds like fun!
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NO!!! I have to keep reminding myself this is meant to be a relaxing hobby!
 
Sounds like your mare has been taking lessons from my 22 year old anglo-arab - he rears until i let him gallop and will canter sideways bucking along the roads. Not for the faint hearted! I never get bored riding him though
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Is it possible she heard a very high-pitched noise which you didn't hear?? This can upset animals and because we don't hear it ourselves we can't make out what has set them off.

OR - Her behaviour shows symptoms of an excessive build-up of natural endomorphines which your vet may be able to explain to you. This happened to my horse when I had to twitch him to clip his head and he turned himself inside out, eyes bulging and squealing. It took about an hour for him to calm down and it was very frightening for both of us. Needless to say I didn't clip his head again.

I do hope, for your sake that she doesn't do it again. I should definitely change her diet - Convalescant Mix & of course, sugar beet is good for keeping weight on without hotting them up.

Please let us know how you get on, on your next hack.
 
Spooks has also gone barking mad at the moment - when i arrive at the field he is normally grazing quite happily, but as soon as I call him to come his a gawps at me like I have just arrived on the last spaceship!

It isn't like he hasn't been coming in since the beginning of september!!
 
Mmm, sounds like something fishy is going on! I'm glad its not only my horse who has gone a bit bonza.
Bl**dy mares, they can be so funny at times.
Thanks for the advice re:feed,
What is convalescent mix?
Unfortunately she hates sugar beet so can't give that a try again.
 
Dodson & Horrel make Convalescant Mix which is ideal for keeping weight on without sending them loopy. Very good for box-rest etc. as well.

You could also try adding a good few glugs of oil to her feed. start off with just a drop to make sure she likes it first. Don't spend a fortune on Cod Liver Oil - ordinary cooking oil is just as good and puts a lovely shine to their coat and prevents scurfy manes and tails. Fancy your mare not liking sugar beet!!!
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Dito, had exactly the same problem a few weeks ago, with my mare. such to a point that she reared and caught my chin and my front tooth went though my lip....
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I'll try the mix - thanks. I already put vegetable oil in her feed, I don't like using fish oils on horses!
She's been on spillers senior conditioning mix as I thought that would be non heating. It has glucosamine so good for her joints. Will give the convalescent one a try. Cheers!
 
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