Very strange behaviour

C

Carlanassau

New User
Joined
6 September 2015
Messages
9
Visit site
My pony has severe sweet itch and usually, when we bring him into the stable, he itches like crazy on the walls. We have recently changed his bedding to shavings and since then he has stopped itching on the walls of his stable all together and instead spends his time digging a shallow hole in the shavings and standing in it until he goes back out into the field. The hole is always in the same back corner of the stable. It's very very odd behaviour for a pony that usually spends all of his time itching and I'm terrified that it could be laminitis. If anyone has any advice I would be very grateful.
 
I think I would ask a vet to come and check him out, really it could be Low Grade Laminitis, or a number of other things, if he is not a youngster, you might test for Cushings, but I would be inclined to keep him off grass for six hours per day at the moment [the autumn flush], the a.m. hours, when grass is highest in sugar.
Ask the farrier to look at him this week.
Give him soaked hay when stables for six hours, so he does not rush out and stuff himself full of grass.
I would check over his digital pulses twice a day, and feel for heat in the hooves, and as I am a natural worrier, I would hose the hooves for 20 mins every day if they are at all warm.
 
Last edited:
Thank you. I'll make sure to keep him in for longer and to give him hay. My first instinct was to feel his feet and they're not warm at all. I've had a pony with laminitis before so I know what the heat feels like. But maybe this could be a sign that he might get it? He also walks in continuous circles in the field, enough that there is a circular track embedded into the ground where the grass will not grow. At first I chalked this up to him getting away from the flies but could it be a sign of boredom
 
Carlanassau said:
Thank you. I'll make sure to keep him in for longer and to give him hay. My first instinct was to feel his feet and they're not warm at all. I've had a pony with laminitis before so I know what the heat feels like. But maybe this could be a sign that he might get it? He also walks in continuous circles in the field, enough that there is a circular track embedded into the ground where the grass will not grow. At first I chalked this up to him getting away from the flies but could it be a sign of boredom
Click to expand...

Is he on his own in the field? It makes me worry that he is stressed out........ boredom is not really a thing that horses get out in a field where things are going on, things that horses can see and humans cannot., but some do not like to be alone, so they do get stressed, which is evident in stereotypical behaviour.
 
Last edited:
No, he's in a field with two other horses. He's very close to both of them and gets very stressed if they leave. He paces and snorts and shows that he's obviously stressed. This is very different. He's relaxed and calm, just focussed on the circles. It's odd but it could just be to do with the flies as it's not as bad in winter
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top