Mare-o-pause: not sure what's happening with my mare

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

OK so "mare-o-pause". Am I crazy, or is my mare crazy, or what the heck is going on.

My little coblet pony mare is rising 12. Always been a real sweetheart, have had her since she was just-backed at 4 so I know the vast majority of her history.

She's the sort who's a forward-going "fun" ride, but always a safe one. Never silly or scatty. Has excellent manners on the ground, I've made darn sure of that.

Over this last winter her behaviour and general demeanour has given rise for increasing concern: something that she has started doing is spooking at traffic. This is not typical for this mare; we live beside a busy country lane with a haulage depot just down the road. She's used to meeting traffic in the lanes without an issue. But lately she has been really silly about having to pop up onto the grass verge to for e.g. meet an oil tanker or a telehandler - both things which she wouldn't even have noticed at one time.

She is ridden by myself and two different people: recently I took her out and went on a ride parallel to a busy main A-road around here: there were noisy motor bikes on that road - something which OK admittedly she doesn't like - but she started trigger-stacking and got more and more agitated. We met a jogger and then a cyclist, both things she'd have dealt with OK, but she got more and more stressed. Normally when she gets unsettled, I can just tickle her neck & she'll come "down" in a couple of minutes, but on this occasion my coping mechanisms were not working for her and she was getting more and more stressy. Other people who've ridden her have also found this, plus she apparently blankly refused to go past a vehicle when she was out.

This is just sooh not like her!

Which leads onto my question: is there such a thing as a "mare-o-pause". I really really want my pony back! This is just not like her, and its getting to the point where I just don't want to ride her. Like I say she's always been such a sweetheart, so this is really hard to know what to do about.

Anyone else suspect they've got a "mare-o-pause" on their hands? And how did they deal with it?

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

Have you had her vet checked, particularly her eyes?

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

Have you had her vet checked, particularly her eyes?

She has regular physio and the physio is happy with her as far as that goes, including the saddle she is currently ridden in. She is up to date with dental.

She was seen by the vet in January when she had her jabs. Nothing of note picked up.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

It sounds to me as if she is in pain somewhere. I would want the vet to take bloods and check heart rate/eyes etc

 

[cloverlea]

You say she is ridden by two other people. Could something have happened when you were not there. Perhaps she had a fright, or a near miss in traffic. Perhaps they thought nothing of it, but it has made her worry about the traffic now.

 

[misst]

My first thought was eyesight. She may be struggling if her sight has deteriorated?

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

You say she is ridden by two other people. Could something have happened when you were not there. Perhaps she had a fright, or a near miss in traffic. Perhaps they thought nothing of it, but it has made her worry about the traffic now.

mmmhhh....... I know the people who have ridden her really well and trust them implicitly (mother & daughter). She likes them and has always gone well for them, and they are both always scrupulously honest about their feedback. If something untoward had happened, they would have certainly said. The behaviour is "consistently inconsistent" if that makes sense: we are looking for patterns/reasons, but finding none. This is the baffling thing.

 

[Beausmate]

Is she worse in certain light levels? I would also be getting her eyes checked.

 

[dixie]

Has her feed changed at all ?

 

[Pearlsasinger]

It sounds to me as if she is in pain somewhere. I would want the vet to take bloods and check heart rate/eyes etc

I had a lovely, sensible Clydesdale mare, she once joined in with a charity bed-push, just because we set off as they came past the yard, without turning a hair.
Several years later, she became a bit more jumpy and less willing to walk out downhill but with no other obvious symptoms.
Then she started leaving some hay and eventually (long story, shortened) had to be pts because of what the vet thought was probably a ruptured internal tumour. She became ataxic. She was only aged 11.

 

[Trot_on]

Agree with others RE eyesight. I’d also book in a lack of performance work up… as prey animals, horses can become extra aware and spooky if they think they can’t escape quickly (due to pain, for example might make them slower) - so are more on their toes in case they need to dash.

 

[TheMule]

The horse needs a vet visit, she’s clearly indicating something physical is amiss

 

[rabatsa]

I had one go like this and it turned out to be feed related. I took the high spec feed away and he went back to being his usual laid back self. It took a few months to twig the cause as he did not become traffic shy overnight and it was damaging his knee shying at a dandelion and needing rest, so the feed pared back, to discover the cause.

 

[lynz88]

pain or eyesight would be my guess. Mine gets very spooky and can throw a tantrum completely out of the blue when his arthritis is acting up.

 

[Trickywooo]

Get the vet! I would echo what others have said about eye sight. Also it might be worth getting a lameness work up and scope for ulcers. A sudden unexplained change in behaviour is very often pain related in my experience.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

I had one go like this and it turned out to be feed related. I took the high spec feed away and he went back to being his usual laid back self. It took a few months to twig the cause as he did not become traffic shy overnight and it was damaging his knee shying at a dandelion and needing rest, so the feed pared back, to discover the cause.

Yes, I had one react badly to glucosamine, as it eventually turned out.

 

[HopOnTrot]

Another vote for the vet. If nothing has changed in management I would be asking for a full work up.

My mare is 21 and we've had a lot of niggly things sorted out under the vet in the past couple of years and she is moving and feeling better than she has in years.