spring grass? in season? gastric ulcer?

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kez1001

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from the first week in may til around mid june my horse becomes a horror!
she is a 10yr old tb chesnut mare and i cant work out exactly what is wrong. its like her personality completely changes, she is moody and agressive, very anxious to ride, spooks at nothing(when the rest of the year she is sharp but very safe, anyone could hack her out in the heaviest of traffic)wont eat a thing(except grass), droppings are very very loose and when i tack her up she is trying to bite me very snappily! i have tried nupafeed and gut balancer last year but i honestly feel like giving up! i have put everything into reschooling her and this is our fourth summer together and i feel this behaviour takes us back to square one when she has loads of potential and scope! help! i just want to help her, che seems stressed, i tried rescue remedy and managed to school her for 20 minutes but any longer and she cant cope!
sorry for the stupid ramblings, just desperate!
 
The loose droppings indicate a reaction to the spring grass to me. My TB scoured for 3 months last spring (our first together) and was very unpredictable to ride - spooky, spinning, power-walking/jogging all the time. Frankly I was dreading this spring. However, since last year he has spent his time barefoot (just been re-shod) so I've learned a lot about how diet, especially sugar affects them. With my new found knowledge, I also discovered that daytime grass raises his pulses so he now comes in to his stable for the day and goes back out in the evening. So far he's still a dope on a rope AND his poo is still firm! If you have access to a stable, it's gotta be worth trying for a few days.....
 
As yours is a mare I would say it could be any of these things. I have a TB gelding and this sounds just like him last spring. After the usual health checks I tried him on magnesium, the rapid growth in the spring grass usually means that it is deficient in mag and this can cause the anxiety that you describe. Together with a sugar free diet, absolutely no cereal and careful calm consistent handling, he changed back to his normal self within a couple of weeks. This year I have not had the same problems as I feed the mag all year round. Obviously with a mare, it could be her first season which can be particularly bad or if she is an ex racer, they are prone to gastric ulcers from their previous intensive feeding regimes. Assuming you know she is not in pain or discomfort can you limit her grass intake for a while to reduce the sugar intake and maybe speak to one of the supplement companies to see what mix of magnesium is needed (I can recommend someone if you want to pm me).
 
thanks for the replies. I think i will try briniging her in for a few days. she gets a bit stressed when she is in herself but she had been better this year so i will try that. MyboyChe: as yet i have not managed to get her to eat anything so if you have a suggestion for mag supplement that would be great, also any advice on how to get her to eat it too?? how long do you think she needs to be in during the day and what time should I have her in by? (as heard sugars higher in morning)
domane- you mentioned that your horse had to spend time barefoot, does he have typical TB feet? mine wee horse was on profeet til she stopped eating anything a week ago but i did have to give her time with no shoes when i got her, what do you feed your horse as his main feed?
thanks again
 
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Spring (fast growing) grass is deficient in Magnesium Dioxide. Mag Ox deficiency causes ALL the symptoms you have described.

Buy Mag Ox direct from ebay as Magnesium Oxide (heavy) and feed at a rate of 2g Mag Ox per 100kg weight of horse. Feed all year round as great for fat distribution, and hoof health as well as a calmer. Don't worry too much about overfeeding as excess will come out in urine.

This WILL cure all those symptoms you describe :D
 
Welcome to my world! :rolleyes: lol
We too have a (naturally hot-headed) chestnut mare, who at present is a complete nightmare!! She has always been pretty feisty, but has always been safe to handle, but at the minute she is a total beast... She is only a 14.2hh, but seems about 17hh at the moment the way she is lording it over us lol I too get days when I just think I could happily give her up, but riding wise she is such a fun ride and a talented jumper that my daughter would kill me if I let her go. I have cut out all her feed barring a small amount of chaff to mix in some Magnitude with, which I started a few days ago, to see if it will take the edge off :(
 
Excuse me for hijacking this post but I've read everything with interest. I'm sure there are loads of us on here with a similar problem so I won't go into details of mine, but I am very interested in feeding magnesium of some form as suggested.

Please could you advise (PM me if you prefer) how long the magnesium should be fed for if it is purely a deficiency caused by the spring grass ie. should I start in March and finish in June for example? And is there a preferred type of magnesium to feed?

Thank you
 
MagOx is supposed to be a calmer as well as excellent for hooves but unfortunately my boy didn't read the label and it sent him completely loopy! I've since found out that this a rare but not completely uncommon reaction. Typical! Any sugar also sends his stratospheric, even carrots. At the moment he is just on A&P's Fast Fibre but through the winter he was on Calm & Condition, Kwik Beet and Alfa A Oil. He also gets additional oil, BOSS and turmeric. He has plain hay too, rather than haylage. He had AWFUL hooves and I've spent the 20 months we've been together rehabilitating them. I feel that we've reached "the best they're ever going to be" now and he's a lot happier in them too.
 
Kez, I cant leave Che in by himself, he tries to kill himself throwing himself round his box, but I get round it by strip grazing within his paddock. I dont know your situation but could you either do this if hes in his own paddock or maybe fence him a bit off if hes in with others, so that he can still see them, Che is fine on his own as long as he can see his mates. I can put a bowl in his field, as he grazes alone, and let him eat it whilst I poo pick, just a tiny handful of chaff or HIfi with some apple juice to hide the taste does the trick for me. Sonja, I tried Equimins Serenity to start with, on the advice of kenzo on here, as it comes with a money back guarantee if it didnt work. It didnt work, but when I phoned them to ask for a refund David spent a good while talking to me about Ches issues, explained how all the different types of mag worked (there are so many variations that it is really confusing). He then made up a special mix for me and sent it FOC to try. I feed this all year round at a low dose and increase the levels slightly just before the grass comes through. Touch wood, this year he has been fine, I had about 3 days where he was slightly less relaxed than usual, but believe me, after last springs performance he was a doddle and I never had a day where I wasnt able to ride him. The cost (it works out between 25p-50p a day depending on the season) is well worth it to have a more relaxed horse.
 
Che- tried to leave her in today and she went mad after about an hour, she was so stressed. fine if i stayed in the stable but as soon as I was out of sight she went mad, box walking and whinning, and the worse bit was two other ponies were in for the farrier so she had company! i am at a livery yard so i will try asking for a paddock for her? they have been witnessing my struggles and were trying to make suggestions but they are farmers so helpful but not any further forward!
wizzybit- mag ox will google that and serentity! just have to figure out how to get her to eat it?
domane- my horse cant read the label either esp when it says no taste! and palatable! lol i was feeding her winergy senior(they recommended) for around four weeks and she seemed good on that, before she was on baileys condition cubes and alfa a oil and topspec but she was getting hyper hense the change following discussion with instructor tried winergy. argh TB's and there feet! i sympathise with you and your horses reaction that is the sort of thing that would happen to Izzy!
esselle- let me know how it goes with your horse, very interested to see people in ame situation. Izzy is the definate sterotype, the rest of the year shes good and can be very good, but when she bad she is rotten!
 
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If they are farmers they may understand the magnesium problem, cattle can suffer from grass staggers in the spring, caused by exactly the same thing, fast growing grass with no mag in it. At this time of year farmers will often feed hi mag concentrate to cattle. If they would let you fence of a small area for a while that should help and definitely try the supplement route. If this is what is causing her behaviour you should see a difference fairly quickly once you get the balance right. I know last year Che was almost beside himself at times, he would kick out behind at anything in sight, couldnt stand still for a second and was an absolute menace, bless him, he simply couldnt help it.
 
Thanks Che they did say about the cattle having that problem. they have a shetland so i will try and see if he could accompany her as we have a couple of smaller fields but they are not near the main field with the others. he is also an escape artist lol so will have to keep an eye on him! maybe better with one of the fatties in with her! thanks again for the advice, im going to phone equimins on monday!
 
Good luck, let us know how you get on. I found David incredibly knowledgable and helpful, supplements are so expensive and so complicated, hopefully hell be able to suggest something. At least it sounds like your YO will try and help.
 
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