Very spooky horse

[horsegirl]

My TB is getting more and more jumpy everyday it seems. He has always been a little spooky (well I've had him 10 weeks) but he now jumps at everything. Last night when I was lunging him someone was walking around in the car park and he took fright and galloped off. He is now on spillers conditioning cubes, alfa a oil and speedi beet, could any of these be the cause?

 

[EllieBeast]

was he vetted when you bought him? any signs of cataracts?
Sarah xXx

 

[AmyMay]

[ QUOTE ]
He is now on spillers conditioning cubes

[/ QUOTE ]
Heating........

Try him on something like calm and condition - or just plain old pony nuts, together with the Alfa and speedi beet and see how you get on from there.

 

[lisan]

Those feeds are non heating, but I know Alfa oil can send some a bit loopy! I would ring Baileys or another feed company for advice and see what they reccommend!

 

[lennysmith]

My usually very very placid girly went hyper on the conditioning cubes and alfa a oil, so did my friends. Josie is no longer on anything but vits and mins, but my friend put hers on allen and paiges calm and condition. Horsey looks fab, and is now (for him) quite calm and relaxed. Hope this helps xxx

 

[teapot]

Could be the feed, I read somewhere online that someone's horse went hyper on calm & condidtion - turns out it was an allergic reaction to the starch.

However, it could be that now he's settled in, he's trying to test the boundaries with you as his new owner

 

[horsegirl]

Yes he was vetted - no problems
He was on normal spillers nuts but was not gaining any weight and is quite ribby so moved him to conditioning cubes (4 weeks ago - ish) and still not really gaining enough weight so added the speedi beet 2 weeks ago. They are both supposed to be non heating and I'm worried if I take him off one of them he will start to lose condition again.

 

[connemaras]

try some feed which releases energy slowly TB's absorb energy quicker than any other breed of horse,

 

[AmyMay]

Sorry, but Conditioning cubes are definately heating for many horses. It was like rocket fuel for AmyMay.

I would suggest your horse is getting more energy than he needs, and if you are concerned about weight have you considered feeding a mug of blue chip and cubes instead??

 

[BuckingHorse]

Is he fitter now than when you first bought him? Just that I have a similar problem with my mare - when I start getting her fit she is fine to begin with then goes through a really annoying spooky stage but settles again when fully fit and competing.

 

[Benefice1]

My TB was on calm and condition and he is now on grass with pasture nuts, he is also very bad at keeping weight on so i have to feed him mountains of hay! He is also quite 'stressy' so that doesnt help.
He is also very very spooky, he will look and jump at anything. I recently put him on NAF magic and i can definately say that he became alot less tense, a lot less spooky and was a much more stress free horse, i took him off it a week or so ago to see if it actually made a difference and he has gone back to spooking at everything and anything!!! so am going to buy another tub at the weekend!
Im not saying you should necessary try this as you have only had him a short while so it takes time for them to settle and trust you, but if it carries on it may be worth a thought....

 

[katelarge]

Mine went loopy on Alfa-A and Calm and Condition was also a no-no - they all have sugar in too! Simple System is totally forage-based and has no sugar in, the feeds needs lots of soaking but if you are OK with that and have the time and space to do so, they are meant to be great, I know a vet who swears by them.

How much turnout does he get? Mine also was naughty as his turnout was so limited, when he can go outside he beomes sane again!

 

[horsegirl]

He is turned out from 8.30am to 6.30pm every day. I don't think he is fitter than when I got him as he was extremely well muscled just too ribby for my liking. He still looks like a racehorse although he hasn't raced for years. I will try the magic and perhaps the blue chip.

thanks for all your suggestions, any more greatly appreciated

 

[Benefice1]

Just another thought, my boy is alot worse when he gets bored as in if we do the same thing for too long and i dont make it interesting by varying what we do etc, he is also worse when we are doing something he doesnt like i.e. walking when he wants to be cantering!! he will then just start spooking at nothing and you can feel that he is just being stroppy and taking the mick!
So my advice would be to make sure you keep everything interesting, do lots of different things, always make him listen to you i.e. dont just dob along (which i can fall into doing!!

) and when he is being silly ignore it and carry on with what you are doing, i have found out the hard way that if you react to it it makes them a millions time worse!!
I obviously dont know much about you or your horse so you may be doing all these things anyway so sorry if i offend, really dont mean to, just sharing my experiences with you and what has worked for me

Good luck and stick at it, once he trusts you and respects you he should be better anyway...and like i said before the magic really does help.

 

[horsegirl]

Don't worry no offence taken, I do wonder as well whether he is doing it for fun. I do try to ride him as stongly and authoritively as I can but as I can't tell whether he is messing me around or really spooking it is difficult to know what to do. He has been fine until the last week or so which makes me wonder if it is the speedi beet.

 

[Benefice1]

I completely know where you are coming from! Is speedi beat supposed to have no sugar?! I think you should try taking him off it and seeing if it makes a difference! If thats the only real change you have made and he has got worse it seems like it could be the reason behind it.

 

[Louby]

I had this problem with the TB I used to own. She was so poor when I bought her but as she looked better I think her true nature came out. She was highly strung and once she put on weight (good grass was the answer for her) I fed her Hi fi and Hi fibre cubes but unfortunately it didnt make no difference.
My experiences of the feeds you use were. Alfa A-great and fattening, Speedibeet- sent both my horses loopy and conditioning cubes were also a no no.
Try emailing Allen and Page, they were fantastic with my new horse and got back to me the next day.
Good luck I hope you get it sorted.

 

[rosedewar]

My TB is more spooky if not ridden every day, so I try to only give him one day off a week (or at least only one day at a time ;-).

As someone else has said (and I've posted elsewhere) I found him much better on NAF Magic.

I too feed Alfa-Oil, a little leisure mix and speedi-beet (plus supplements :-/ and haylage when he's in at night, but I think he needs that just now as the grass isn't great due to lack of rain.

Oh - and he may well be doing it for fun ;-) I had a lesson the other week and he was fine for the first half then when we were trying something he obviously thought was a bit hard he suddenly decided the corner of the school was now very scary and started spooking every time he went past it...

 

[H's mum]

My mare H goes very spooky on any containing sugar and starch - she also goes loopy (and VERY spooky on sugarbeet - including non-mollassed ones) it's so prominent that I can tell if she's been fed it by accident - it changes her dramatically - it's as though it gives her indigestion or something

I'd feed high fibre nuts, alfalite or hi fi lite and oil if you wish to put calories on!
Good luck!
Kate x

 

[MagicMelon]

Have you tried putting him on a calming supplement? Might take the edge off him?