Odd behaviour - Am I missing something?

[JellyBeanSkittle]

So.. I arrive at the stables this morning in horrid weather, the lad is quite happy in his stable, munching hay and watching the horizontal rain when I spot the mare doing laps and barging her door. Not normal for her but she does do that sometimes when she is in season and her field mate goes out before her.. not so on this occassion. Anyway, I get her rugs changed and she promptly leads ME to the field and gallops off straight up to the far end when let off, and stays there grazing after a buck or two. Fast forward to this evening and she was brought in fine. Then straight into the box walking, low nickering and kicking the door. Not colicy, checked HR, etc. So gave her her feed and went in to sort the others out. Everytime I appeared from a stable, she'd have her head out, mouthful of food and still nickering and looking a bit stressed.

I spent alot of quiet time with her tonight and she eventually settled. Is this just a really horrible season?! It isn't totally uncharacteristically unlike her as she is known to flip if something annoys her enough. I was wondering if the sudden change in weather has unsettled her?! Was awful at the yard and very bitter. Felt a bit helpless at the time and I guess that's the reason I am posting hope you all don't mind! I left her tonight settled and munching hay, back to normal.

Any thoughts? How has everyone elses horses/mares been with the weather change/seasons lately?

 

[LynH]

One if my mares had a very painful last season of the year for several years in a row around October time. She would box walk more than normal and look colicky but kick out behind her rather than at her belly. It was very severe and she would lose control of her body when the spasms hit, lashing out front and back. The first time was terrifying to watch like a very severe colic but frantic at the same time. She just wanted to run from the pain. A scan the following day showed an enormous follicle has been released which must have been agony. As it happened each year we kept Sedalin and Finadyne ready which helped settle her and she was ok again the next day. All her other seasons were normal.

If you suspect it may be her ovaries I would get her scanned or checked by your vet as I had another mare who had a granulosa cell tumour on an ovary with no symptoms until it was huge.

 

[NZJenny]

Yes, I have had this behaviour from my mare, but I'm not sure I ever really got to the bottom of it. Am in NZ and my horses live out all year around. My mare went through a stage of being "stuck" in one corner of the paddock. It was like it was her secure area and she didn't feel safe anywhere else. She had company and it wasn't a new paddock and eventually she got over it. Becuase she was living out it wasn't a big deal, but if she wanted a drink she would gallop back to her safe area afterwards and it didn't matter where the others were. It was really strange.

The only other time she has done anything similiar is when we had some very unseasonable weather. Lots of rain from the north, instead of the south and that really threw her. She insisted on standing out in the middle of the paddock in the most exposed place and just wasn't going to move.

I have often wondered if it is some instinct that says she needs to be somewhere else and if it wasn't for the fences she would move her herd (she is the boss) to somewhere "safe". Back in 2011 we had a lot of quite serious earthquakes, I was only at the paddock for one of the big ones once and she had a foal at foot at the time. She kept her little herd (foal and two adults) moving for several hours after that. They could only go around the paddock, but the wern't allowed to stop for long. Not sure if that helps, but mares "know" stuff some times I recon.

 

[Rose Folly]

Nothing to offer on the thread itself I'm afraid, but was fascinated to read NZ Jenny's tale. Have always thought that mares are super intuitive. But unless there have been any earthquakes in JellyBeanSkittles' neck of the woods I can't think of anything, as I've never had mares with season/hormonal problems. Anyway, so glad she had settled a bit tonight.