My mare keeps bucking out in stable help!

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nahajola112

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Hi

I have a 16hh 4 year old dutch x thoroughbred mare she is out during the day and stabled of a night

But every day when we go down in the morning her bed is trashed where she has been running around the stable, and there are buck marks on the walls you can tell they are bucks from how high up they are!

She has even kicked holes through the partition (they are wooden stables) there is no reason for it at all we are at a private yard so theres no horses or anyone else coming and going, and she has plenty of haylage to last her for the night

It's just at some point during the evening or early hours of the morning she just starts creating and this is every single day she is doing this.
I bandage her legs every evening and she is fly rugged and fly sprayed so it isnt bugs causing her to do it.

But I am just so worried encase she kicks through and gets her leg stuck in the wall or something as she is going to end up injuring herself badly at one point or another, as this isnt any good for her legs at all keep doing this as she has typical spindly thoroughbred legs aswell.

Its not like I dont know her either as we bred her and sold her as a yearling and I recently brought her back as I something out of my mare, when she left us she was fine she wasnt doing any of this behaviour and the few years she was away from us she had a foal and was stabled there okay.

She is broken in and I am riding her also she is fine in her ridden work so it's not like she isnt getting any exercise either its just this stable problem!

She isnt on any heated food and I have tried her on equine americas calmer but that didnt work at all I cant think what could be causing her to act like this the only thing that I can think of is possibly hormones? as its almost like shes throwing a mega temper tantrum in the stable by the looks of it.

Has anyone got any suggestions on what I can do or any supplements to give her to calm her in the stable?

I have thought of maybe even trying marbles if it is hormonal does anyone know about them?, I am just so worried she will end up hurting herself

Please help!
 
Sorry if I mis understood. But is she at a yard alone? If she is she needs company! She sounds very stressed to me and Horses need other Horses. They are naturally a herd animal and have herd instincts.
 
Do other horses go out before her? I have a Welsh D who if anything goes out before him god forbid he will do exactly the same and has infact kicked the back flat out 3 times his reason is through fear though as he's been battered in stables before and as a result he lives out until I'm told by YM to bring him in. But the catalyst for him creating is others going out before him so is that s possibility?
 
Can you put her in a breeze block or brick stable? My horse was a serious wall kicker as a youngster and she moved into a breeze block stable, kicked the wall once and thought hmm that's not as much fun as I thought and it completely cured her. (it was an unexpected happy side effect of the move!)
 
FfionWinnie said:
Can you put her in a breeze block or brick stable? My horse was a serious wall kicker as a youngster and she moved into a breeze block stable, kicked the wall once and thought hmm that's not as much fun as I thought and it completely cured her. (it was an unexpected happy side effect of the move!)
Click to expand...

Can have serious consequences though. I had a flighty pony that double barrelled a breeze block stable wall & fractured both her pedal bones :-( she spent four months on box rest & a further two in a tiny paddock.

OP, could the mare not go out over-night? Maybe she is just in for too long, bring in later, turn out earlier?
Does she have company while she's in?
 
nahajola112 said:
Hi

I have a 16hh 4 year old dutch x thoroughbred mare she is out during the day and stabled of a night

But every day when we go down in the morning her bed is trashed where she has been running around the stable, and there are buck marks on the walls you can tell they are bucks from how high up they are!

She has even kicked holes through the partition (they are wooden stables) there is no reason for it at all we are at a private yard so theres no horses or anyone else coming and going, and she has plenty of haylage to last her for the night

It's just at some point during the evening or early hours of the morning she just starts creating and this is every single day she is doing this.
I bandage her legs every evening and she is fly rugged and fly sprayed so it isnt bugs causing her to do it.

But I am just so worried encase she kicks through and gets her leg stuck in the wall or something as she is going to end up injuring herself badly at one point or another, as this isnt any good for her legs at all keep doing this as she has typical spindly thoroughbred legs aswell.

Its not like I dont know her either as we bred her and sold her as a yearling and I recently brought her back as I something out of my mare, when she left us she was fine she wasnt doing any of this behaviour and the few years she was away from us she had a foal and was stabled there okay.

She is broken in and I am riding her also she is fine in her ridden work so it's not like she isnt getting any exercise either its just this stable problem!

She isnt on any heated food and I have tried her on equine americas calmer but that didnt work at all I cant think what could be causing her to act like this the only thing that I can think of is possibly hormones? as its almost like shes throwing a mega temper tantrum in the stable by the looks of it.

Has anyone got any suggestions on what I can do or any supplements to give her to calm her in the stable?

I have thought of maybe even trying marbles if it is hormonal does anyone know about them?, I am just so worried she will end up hurting herself

Please help!
Click to expand...
She is not alone either she has other horses stabled with her who do not react in this way at all its only her who is creating
 
s4sugar said:
Try setting up a camera to see is there is a specific cause -could be vermin or bats perhaps?
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Nope :( we have no rats or bats there at all its a really lovely quiet little yard that all our other horses have settled into its just her, theres a cat there who keeps away the rats and mice which is quite handy :)
 
nope :( shes running around the stable when we go down there as we are the only ones down there and its just our horses none of them go out until we arrive, and she goes out first out of all of them its such an odd situation ive never had a horse like this before that does it over no excuse at all
 
HazyXmas said:
Can have serious consequences though. I had a flighty pony that double barrelled a breeze block stable wall & fractured both her pedal bones :-( she spent four months on box rest & a further two in a tiny paddock.

OP, could the mare not go out over-night? Maybe she is just in for too long, bring in later, turn out earlier?
Does she have company while she's in?
Click to expand...
I know exactly what you mean about breezeblock stables she was in one before we moved and she was doing the same there but it wasnt as noticeable we only realized she was doing it there from the plaster chipping off the wall so we turned her out there of an evening instead I may have to try that turning her out of an evening there shes one of these really awkward horses that doesnt like being out either I wouldnt trust her kicking the fence down in a strop at this place thats the only thing but if this keeps happening I think ill have no choice but to leave her out
 
Can she just live out? maybe she's just not happy to be stabled? or even as its only your horses would you be able to put her on the yard but leave her door open so she can wander in and out? I do this sometimes with one of mine as he is a bit claustraphobic seeming. I find he actually spends a fair amount of time stood in the stable anyway but he's happier to be in if he knows he can get out! Not an option for most i realize.
 
LaurenBay said:
Sorry if I mis understood. But is she at a yard alone? If she is she needs company! She sounds very stressed to me and Horses need other Horses. They are naturally a herd animal and have herd instincts.
Click to expand...

She is not alone at the yard she has other horses there with her but they all are fine there pretty happy in their stables its just her, we've tried switching stables with her to but it makes no odds, I end up having to own the awkward one out the 4 of them :(
 
Maybe she doesn't like her neighbour? We moved yards this year,the stables are internal with barred partitions & my gelding was put nxt to another gelding & they disn't exactly hit it off! My horse would wind the other gelding up to the point where the other one was kicking his walls really high up & you describe & booting the wooden partion below the bars. It got to the point where the other one eventually kicked through the wood. Swapping with anyone wasn't really an option so we solved it by covering the bars with cardboard(soon to be done properly with wood) Completely stopped them falling out & the other one has never kicked his walls or the partition since.
 
One of our jumping mares did this all the way till she was pts at 25, recommend that you put rubber on the walls, if she is fine in every other way I'd just let her be!
 
My warmblood mare does this too. She does it a lot worse if she is cold, so I always make sure she is snuggly. She has smashed through the wood in the her stable and when she went to stay at a yard last year for a while she double barrelled the concrete block stabling causing her shoes to twist! She does it at her companion, but she also used to do it when she was kept alone.

I noticed her behaviour is a lot worse if she is fed sugar beet, so I have cut this out of her diet. Also, if she is not in regular exercise she does it more. She is out at night at the moment due to the flies, which also means she is out for longer periods and the behaviour has reduced. Magnesium calmers can help a little bit too I find.

For your own safety, don't go in the stable with her unless she is tied up!
 
whizzer said:
Maybe she doesn't like her neighbour? We moved yards this year,the stables are internal with barred partitions & my gelding was put nxt to another gelding & they disn't exactly hit it off! My horse would wind the other gelding up to the point where the other one was kicking his walls really high up & you describe & booting the wooden partion below the bars. It got to the point where the other one eventually kicked through the wood. Swapping with anyone wasn't really an option so we solved it by covering the bars with cardboard(soon to be done properly with wood) Completely stopped them falling out & the other one has never kicked his walls or the partition since.
Click to expand...

I wondered this as well. My mare recently had a gelding moved next to her and she hates him with a passion - she was kicking the walls, rearing, trying to get over the door and totally unapproachable. The farmer has had to put a full length partition between them so she can't see him at all and I have swapped her with my other horse so that she is a further stable away. It is the only time I have ever ever seen her react like this with another horse. Since her time there she has been next to three geldings who she adored. There is no reason that she shouldn't like this one, but she got so stressed that it was dangerous and she was acting just as you described....
 
Hey everyone

I have a 4yo dutch x thoroughbred mare to cut the long story short my parents bred her she was sold as a yearling and I got offered the chance to buy her back at the age of 18 which I jumped at as I never wanted to sell her in the first place

She is perfect in every way besides one problem that is stressing me out like chronic as she is now starting to make herself lame

She fly bucks in the stable! she never used to do this as a foal, but she is doing this every single day and night for no reason at all I do wonder if she copied a horse when she was away being broken in that bucked next door to her

They are unable to go out due to the fields being wet and we dont have much land where we are and the yard owners dont want their fields being turned to mud

But she is ridden every day I dont do the same things either I try to change it to make it more interesting, turned out in the menage every day sometimes with her mum (we still own her mum) sometimes on her own, if its dried out a wee bit she'll get turned out in the field while we muck out, she gets walked in hand for 20 minutes every day, I hack her out as much as I can, she has plenty to eat and drink and yet this behaviour still occurs

The yard owners have told us they hear her starting up at like 2am as it wakes them up, there is also an older man living in a house just in front of the stables and he hears her every night to and tells us when abouts it is he calls it the witching hour as it happens so often!
My friend is stabled with me and she has started when she is down there but now she ties her up for me which is effective but shes not able to do that when it occurs in the night or early hours of the morning! some days she's worse some days she better but there is not reason or any pattern as to why she is doing this its almost as if something clicks in her brain and she just well just does it!

We have caught her in the act sometimes and she stands with her butt against the wall and just keeps bucking and bucking but we told her off every time and now she just stands with her bum facing the door when we are there and she wants to buck as she knows she'll get told off.

The stable is aboslutely smothered in rubber matting and she is bandaged with pads, I have loads of lickets and toys about hanging in her way, and a mirror, she isnt directly next to a horse and she likes my friends pony and she has full view of him but all are make no odds shes doing it so much she has caused her back fetlock to become swollen she also has minor swellings around the hock and is now lame

She did do this before and go lame and she was off for a number of weeks, come sound again, and now we are back to square 1 again I feel like im going round in circles as her ridden work has been coming along great and now shes going to go back to having time off and all that ridden work we've done will be undone

Does anyone have any suggestions maybe something that when she bucks will scare her and cause her to stop?

Did anyone have a horse like this if so what did they do?

I've attached a picture of the stable she is in and a picture of the fetlock I love her to bits I just dont want and need her keep hurting herself :(

Please help!

Stable layout:
duffy_zps8b9e66e6.jpg


Fetlock injury from the kicking:
IMG_9901_zps0b3a728a.jpg
 
It sounds like something is irritating her or she is in pain/discomfort, check her rugs thoroughly for spikey things. Have her back & teeth checked it may be her way of saying she is uncomfortable, and when you have done all that if she is still kicking out call the vet to give her a thorough check up.
 
Poor you :( the only things I can suggest is boredom, in which get a likit or boredom breaker or have you got rubber mats down? Maybe her legs are aching ? Has she got neighbours when it happens?
 
Friends horse does this, he has punched holes at head height from his timber stables and had to be returned in a hurry from a top event yard who had brick walls. Having the radio on helped, radio 2 works best (I didn't believe it but he does start up again if you change the station).
 
Have you seen her kick out in her field? I know of a mare who recently started to belt her box with her hinds - turned out to be hormonal - ovaries were swollen and she was sore, uncomfortable, edgy and very PMT!

Regumate has helped. Worth asking your vet if they think it's a possibility?
 
My very hormonal mare started doing this when she was stabled next to a rig (we didn't know he was a rig at the time or obviously she wouldn't have been next to him). Could it be something like this which is starting her off? My mare was also quite claustrophobic and couldn't cope being in a American barn, I can see your stables aren't in a barn but if she is in a corner stable (I don't know if this is the case) could she be feeling hemmed in and like she can't get her own space? Just some ideas I hope you find the problem!
 
She is fed on barley rings, molasses free chaff, and a little bit of speedi beet along with oestress and magnesium I wont feed her anything that will heat her up she is on the barley rings and speedi beet to keep the weight on her without heating her up
 
She recently had her back done and her teeth are all fine to we have wondered if its hormonal but this kicking doesnt seem to have any pattern, she has an amigo lightweight rug under every rug its the silky material inside so nothing sticks to it, i honestly dont know whats wrong with her never heard or had a horse like this before
 
yep she has a selection of a hanging apple, random balls on ropes a mirror and a ball with 2 lickets in which i change the flavours in them to mix them up for her but she pays no attention to them she'll have the odd night where she'll eat half of one and she has rubber matting down and a thick straw bed her neighbour she can see at all times they get along great together it really is a mystery this bucking
 
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