spooky mare help!!

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serena2005

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Hello, hope you can give me some advice.
The mare I ride is increadibly spooky at the best of times, but the last week or so it's progressively worse!
Not sure if it's the grass coming through, or that I think she's in season or the fact she's doing more work than she's done in the last 5 years!! Maybe all of the above!
She's currently fed a cool and calm mix and alpha A with linseed oil.

What about adding a powder to her feed? But I know nothing about this! She's not a moody mare just on edge all the time!
Most of the time it's bearable but it's getting ridiculous!

Please help!
 
If she is in good condition, then I would cut out the feed and see if that makes a difference. If you feel that she needs a feed, then maybe cut it back to just a chaff and a bit of speedybeet and cut out the alfalfa and mix. Or feed a low starch cube like the spillers slow release cube. The sugars in the grass, combined with the mix could be sending her over the top.
 
lhotse said:
If she is in good condition, then I would cut out the feed and see if that makes a difference. If you feel that she needs a feed, then maybe cut it back to just a chaff and a bit of speedybeet and cut out the alfalfa and mix. Or feed a low starch cube like the spillers slow release cube. The sugars in the grass, combined with the mix could be sending her over the top.
Click to expand...

She's had a really bad winter and was terribly under weight, all though she's much better she hasn't got much on top, so I'm weary of cutting her feed out too soon, it's taken months to get her where she is.

Will look in to spillers feed thank you x
 
I have always found "cool" mixes have the opposite effect on my horses!
If she is very poor I would be tempted to swap her onto calm and condition (soaked)
Some mares are intolerant to Alfa a (mine is it sends her very stressy) so I would perhaps try hifi or spillers conditioning fibre
 
Before reducing or changing feeds add this mix to her feed, the grass is most likely making her spooky as the magnesium levels in the grass will be out of balance. Fast growing grass is unable to take up sufficient magnesium, the horse doesn't receive enough and then becomes highly reactive to any stimuli. The mix below will sort this out pretty quickly. Feed while the grass is growing fast

1 level tablespoon each
Epsom Salts
Baking Soda
Yeast
Dried Thyme

If you can give in a small feed around 1hr before riding
 
Which brand cool and calm, allen and page one tends to make horses on their toes, go for fast fiber instead. Also other poster re magnesium.
 
Echo the magnesium, a deficiency can make them incredibly spooky as though they are permanently running on adrenaline (which they are, as magnesium blocks the over production of adrenaline). Always worth a try when a horse spooks for no good reason, cheap enough to get hold of (ebay?) and you will see a difference in a couple of weeks if that is what the problem is.
 
I seem to be having the same problem - our mare seems to be wired to the national grid at the moment! Referring to Tnavas' post - would you feed these dried supplements ONCE PER DAY? Many thanks!
 
Tnavas, that is very interesting, my ISH who is a nervy sort has become a total stress head about everything! Not spooky, but he never is, but if you move in any way he thinks you are going to kill him.
 
Tarandes Bear said:
I seem to be having the same problem - our mare seems to be wired to the national grid at the moment! Referring to Tnavas' post - would you feed these dried supplements ONCE PER DAY? Many thanks!
Click to expand...

While the grass is growing fast or you are experiencing the problem feed the same amount twice daily if you can. If not try to feed an hour before you ride - Magnesium is utilised very fast so you will often see a response to it if fed before a ride.
 
Another vote for switching form Fast Fibre to Speedibeet. Fast Fibre is a low DE feed which mainly consists of straw designed to feed to fatties, not horses in need of condition.
I would go for Speedibeet, linseed & a complete balancer either in pellet form, or the cheaper option is a powdered Vit/min supplement.
 
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