Very Grumpy Horse - buy why??

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I currenlty have a mare at my yard who is very grumpy.

She is fine to be handled and ridden

she would bite humans, horses if they walk past her door so is in the last stable at the end of the yard. She kicks the walls at feed time even though she cant see other horses

you have to be very careful putting her rugs on she will lash out (back straps have been removed from all rugs)

She is just never happy, she is only a young horse too and passed a 5 stage vetting not long ago

Anyone have any idea why?
 
*whispers* is she chestnut :p
(only joking, I'm a 'chestnut mare' too)

How long have you had her and what is her routine (turnout, exercise, feeding)?
 
rhino said:
*whispers* is she chestnut :p
(only joking, I'm a 'chestnut mare' too)

How long have you had her and what is her routine (turnout, exercise, feeding)?
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ha ha no she is bay !!!!

She is not mine, girl has had her since beginning of the year.

She is turned out at 8.30 on good grazing with 3 other mares, she comes in now at about 5pm - in the summer later.

she is ridden 4/5 times a week in the evening then at the weekend too

She is fed on Alfa A, calm and condiditon with a lot of hay (all grown at the yard)
 
rhino said:
*whispers* is she chestnut :p
(only joking, I'm a 'chestnut mare' too)

How long have you had her and what is her routine (turnout, exercise, feeding)?
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I was thinking this ;-)

I have a chsetnut mare that is a grumpy thing at times and snappy with rugs etc ... been like it since I had her
 
My mare is the same. Very grumpy and protective of her personal space especially when she is eating or being groomed.

I thought that gastric ulcers were only associated with competition/race horses.

My mare has never been in very hard work and has not been fed concentrated feed. Is it worth me thinking about getting her scoped for ulcers?
 
bored.com said:
I currenlty have a mare at my yard who is very grumpy.

She is fine to be handled and ridden

she would bite humans, horses if they walk past her door so is in the last stable at the end of the yard. She kicks the walls at feed time even though she cant see other horses

you have to be very careful putting her rugs on she will lash out (back straps have been removed from all rugs)

She is just never happy, she is only a young horse too and passed a 5 stage vetting not long ago

Anyone have any idea why?
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There was a horse like that at my old yard.

Total bitch, and no reason for it.

Some horses, like people are just not very nice.
 
Ulcers are diagnosed by a scope.

Personally I would start by cutting out all feed and just give a vit & min supplement in a bit of speedibeet or unmollased chaff and soaked hay (even if just for an hour) to reduce the sugar and see if that makes any difference.
 
Sorry OP for hijacking slightly, but this sounds similar to my horse, she gets very distressed when eating her feed and often kicks out at the stable wall at the horse next to her.

I always assumed this was due to her living in an open, barn style stable (bars between the horses, but no walls) and feeling like the other horse is encroaching on her personal space when she was eating. But I'd be interested to see what people think, could this be ulcers?
 
Erin said:
Ulcers are diagnosed by a scope.

Personally I would start by cutting out all feed and just give a vit & min supplement in a bit of speedibeet or unmollased chaff and soaked hay (even if just for an hour) to reduce the sugar and see if that makes any difference.
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that is what i said earlier she isnt fed any sugar or starch in her feed i made sure of this.

does anyone think she could have had a bad accident or something maybe - she just always looks very sad
 
Joeyjojo said:
Sorry OP for hijacking slightly, but this sounds similar to my horse, she gets very distressed when eating her feed and often kicks out at the stable wall at the horse next to her.

I always assumed this was due to her living in an open, barn style stable (bars between the horses, but no walls) and feeling like the other horse is encroaching on her personal space when she was eating. But I'd be interested to see what people think, could this be ulcers?
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thats ok im guessing quite a few people may have this problem !!

has your horse always been like this or changed in the last few months??

Answer some of the questions people have posted here - is he/she kept in or turned out?? do you feed a hi starch feed??
 
C&C is 12% starch and will have some sugar in there too probably.
Alfa-A has mollases in.

It doesn't have to be a lot of starch/sugar to make a difference.
 
Sorry if this is dumb but the reducing the sugars idea, Is this because it will help comfort levels if an ulcer is present or incase of a sugar intolerance unrelated to ulcers?
 
bored.com said:
thats ok im guessing quite a few people may have this problem !!

has your horse always been like this or changed in the last few months??

Answer some of the questions people have posted here - is he/she kept in or turned out?? do you feed a hi starch feed??
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I’ve only had her a few months and I think she’s always been a bit grumpy, although the wall kicking seems to have got worse recently.

She’s out during the day, on fairly sparse grazing and comes in around 6pm to a haynet (although its last year’s stock and not the best quality, she needs it soaked as it’s so dusty and coughs otherwise).

She dropped weight very quickly when the rain stopped and the grass diminished so is fed two good sized feeds (morning and afternoon) of calm and condition, chaff and pony nuts. On a side note she had a high worm count so was wormed with Pramox a couple of weeks ago – not made a massive difference to weight gain though yet. She is also on the Oestress supplement which seems to have calmed her seasons.

She tends to kick at the wall/lunge at the horse next to her, its worst when she is being fed, but will also do it if the horse next to her stands next to her stable. She also has a habit of randomly kicking out with her back feet (at nothing) if she is in a strop!

She is always lovely to me, never any issues handling her and she doesn’t lash out at people, although will pull faces if they stand over her when she is having her feed.

What do you think? Just personal space issues or ulcers?
 
What do you think? Just personal space issues or ulcers?
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Am guilty of not having read the last few replies but as a more general response and as others have said, if you've any reason to believe it could possibly be ulcers (the one bit that stands out in your post is kicking out in a 'strop'. Her previous history should also be taken into account), the only way you can get an answer to that is with scoping.
 
if a horse has ulcers only way of getting rid of them is gastrogard, then its just keeping the maintance to stop them coming back i.e totally high fibre feed,no mollases,sugars ect, make sure they have constant access to forage so they do not run out of food, as if at times they have eaten all there hay ect acid builds up and causes ulcers. my horse started getting grumpy being groomed very girthy tacking up, cribbing then it obviously got worse to the point he was very reluctant to work. some horses dont show all the signs some dont show any atall but can still have them very bad. I ould advise getting scopped as that is the only way to find out. My horse has total high fibre diet he has a ready mash, hi fi light, and saracen relieve, he also has brewers yeast, and coligone powder, before i ride 30 mins before he has a a chaff feed and i add a suringe full of coligone liquid this acts as a bufferer to soak up the acid. he also has hay and when he is in he has a couple of haynets full to make sure he has plenty and doesnt run out
 
Joeyjojo said:
I’ve only had her a few months and I think she’s always been a bit grumpy, although the wall kicking seems to have got worse recently.

She’s out during the day, on fairly sparse grazing and comes in around 6pm to a haynet (although its last year’s stock and not the best quality, she needs it soaked as it’s so dusty and coughs otherwise).

She dropped weight very quickly when the rain stopped and the grass diminished so is fed two good sized feeds (morning and afternoon) of calm and condition, chaff and pony nuts. On a side note she had a high worm count so was wormed with Pramox a couple of weeks ago – not made a massive difference to weight gain though yet. She is also on the Oestress supplement which seems to have calmed her seasons.

She tends to kick at the wall/lunge at the horse next to her, its worst when she is being fed, but will also do it if the horse next to her stands next to her stable. She also has a habit of randomly kicking out with her back feet (at nothing) if she is in a strop!

She is always lovely to me, never any issues handling her and she doesn’t lash out at people, although will pull faces if they stand over her when she is having her feed.

What do you think? Just personal space issues or ulcers?
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When she is out does she actually graze all day if it sparse? mine does grazes all day which is why i dont think it is ulcers - they say that competition horses get it more as they are in and the gut is not moving all the time. horses with ulcers need a low starch/sugar and be turned out as much as possible

you may find it is a bit a dusty but you are actually better off if she isnt having top quality hay as this will be rich (i know stuck between a rock and a hard place) !!

hmmm the only thing i would say is the random kicking out - now that is strange?

this one is lovely too and great to ride - its just a shame that everyone seems a little scared of her!!

I would say the main thing is either ulcers or pain related
 
I would say the main thing is either ulcers or pain related
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I would totally agree with this. Although it does happen, it is actually very rare for a horse to just be 'nasty' for no reason. In most cases there is a reason for this behaviour and the normal reasons are pain, ulcers or previous bad management/treatment.

A gelding that I had on loan was always unsettled in his stable, on edge, box walked and would snap at children walking past. I quizzed the owner about it and I was told that he'd been accidently smacked in the face with a mucking out fork by a young girl.

Grrrrr :mad: to the chesnut mare comments. :p
 
What do you know of her start in life? It's hugely important.

I had a mare who was sour to the point of being dangerous. I persevered, and then met her penultimate owner, who had known her from foalhood upwards but didn't own her until she was about 4. She'd been bought by some girl at 18 months, and turned away in a field, on her own, for two years! No humans, no horse companionship. She was a near nutter. She became a high quality showjumper, but nobody except this guy, whose daughter rode her, had been able to handle her on the ground.

She stayed with me till she died, and had a very close relationship. Nobody else cared to handle her, and I was always worried as to what would happen her if anything happened to me.

She was checked for ulcers etc. but we came to the definite conclusion that her behaviour was the direct result of her neglect as a young horse. See if you or the owner can find out about your mare's early life.
 
I shall check with her previous owner and see if it's normal for her!!

Also one other thing I just thought of, she has (twice now, about a month apart) almost gone down to roll after I've put her saddle on, both times she looked very sleepy, then her legs buckled. First time I went towards her and she stopped, second time she stretched out her front legs (both at the same time) then stood up. Was wierd!!
 
Joeyjojo said:
I shall check with her previous owner and see if it's normal for her!!

Also one other thing I just thought of, she has (twice now, about a month apart) almost gone down to roll after I've put her saddle on, both times she looked very sleepy, then her legs buckled. First time I went towards her and she stopped, second time she stretched out her front legs (both at the same time) then stood up. Was wierd!!
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I would be concerned about that as well- have you spoken to your vet about that? What if she did something like that when you are riding? You could both be at risk of injury.
 
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