some usefull info, if your horse is a bit.. mental!!

ticobay831

ticobay831

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Just thought you'd be interested to know about a friends experiance with her horse.
He is a dressage horse a very good one at that, one minute he can be a little angel then the next he just loses the plot.
His behaviour got worse about 8 weeks ago to the extent where she had just had enough and was going to sell him, but after getting our heads together we decided that that there must be somthing wrong somewhere, he was becoming dangerous to be bought in from field he was nappy backing up just being what seemed to be very very naughty.

Anyway we got him blood tested and he had a calcium deficiency, she did give him a magnesium calmer at one stage and apparantly this can be quite bad, cant remeber the physics exactly :-/

Once on the limestone he became a different horse altogether, it was amazing really, he was then moved to another feild with more grass and strted to leave his foot hence not getting the caicium and litrally within 48 hours he became a monster again!!! so she made sure he ate his food and next couple of days a sweet little angel :-)

Just thought this was very interesting wonder how many horses have had a hard time because of thire behaviour when all along they couldve had the same problem.. :-(
Apparantly it muffles the signals to the brain telling the horse what to do and the horse gets confussed and has a total panic.....
 
he was blood tested agian after 2 weeks and it was stil llow then tested again after a month and he was back to normal, vet has said to keep him on it and have him retested again in a few months... hes having a heaped scoop of the baily's lime stone.
really odd, have never come across this before..
 
Snowy and another member I was talking to had a horse who also had a calcium deficiency but just to clarify he also was low in magnesium so has to be on both calcium and a magnesium "calmer". Both have now leveled out and hes chilled again so not sure if the magnesium would lower the calcium on its own (no idea the vet didnt mention it!). He is on two scoops of what the vet gave us (some limestone thing used for racehorses normally) and magnitude for the magnesium.
 
thanks a lot for posting this ..... so many people dont look at these sorts of things with reference to "naughty" behaviour , the more infomration we have the better. When my mare some years ago changed behaviour it was found to be ovarian follicles.... both the pain and the hormone upset alone would have caused the altered bahaviour ..

... always worth a check with a vet :cool:
 
Makes me wonder what's in Pro Kalm - within a few weeks of starting on it, my 5yo has suddenly had a huge growth spurt - 2 inches upwards, then added the length to fit her new height. She's calmer and more rational, and there're no ingredients on the tub - just a white powder within. Our speculation is that there's a mineral in there in a bio-available form that she just wasn't absorbing from her diet before.
 
Before you all rush out to buy limestone flour!! THE BAD NEWS. The reason a horse may temporarily run into Calcium deficiency ,is often due to giving them TOO MUCH ,over a period of time. Excess calcium is stored in bone and can be drawn on as a reserve.The hormone Calcitonin causes the calcium to be stored. When Calcium is required to top up the blood level, the Parathyroid hormone causes calcium to be taken from the bone.If over an extended period ,there is excess Calcium ,and no call on the reserves,the ability to produce Parathyroid hormone becomes supressed. The buffering capacity of all that Calcium in the bone ,becomes impaired ,and your Calcium rich horse suddenly shows a deficiency.So yes , Calcium may get him out of his immediate problem ,but the true cause is possibly TOO MUCH CALCIUM.
 
i never feed limestone flour. a good balanced diet should be enough for most horses. work and manners should supply the rest. youongstock should be on a good youngstock diet, grazing should be good and soil testing done. so that the horse is not deficient from a paddock lifestyle.
 
yes i agree a well ballanced diet should be enough for most horses but it abviously it wasnt in this case, the horse is on well maitaintained, good grazing and also has 2 small feeds so its not that hes being deprived of anything or having too mauch of anything

I dont really get what yor saying Mike and i too wouldnt expect anyone to rush out and put their horses on lime stone flour or anything come to that unless the horse has been blood tested and its confirmed by the vet.
I will mention to my mate your comment and she can speak to the vet, i agree its not solving the problem and theres a reason why his calcium levels are or have been low,
just mereley pointng out the effect it had on her horse and hopefully might help someone out there. :-/
 
tazzle said:
thanks a lot for posting this ..... so many people dont look at these sorts of things with reference to "naughty" behaviour , the more infomration we have the better.
Click to expand...
Ditto.

Anyone know how common calcium deficiency is? By the way I have no intention of giving limestone flour, I think I'd want a test first if any of mine were having problems. As has been said it's so useful to have ideas in the back of your mind. Stories help them stick better in my head too.
 
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