Violently kicking out whilst eating.

paulineh said:
Before going down the lines of getting a vet ,you could try a week of adding some Sodium Bicarbinate to cut down the acid.

This week I have had a new Osteopath come and treat my horse. He did a very interesting thing. He took a strip of litmus paper and tested my boy (My boy was always a bit grumpy,scoped but no ulcers) although not Acid he felt that he would benifit from making it more alkaline, so he now get some Sodium Bicarb in his feed. In three days he is less grumpy so it must be working.
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That is very interesting. What did he test with the litmus paper?
 
One of our livery horses, a 17.2 TB who came out of steeplechasing 2 years ago, kicks out ferociously (always with his near hind) when eating.

It was worse when he came. Two years on he still does it, but more as a token. We just say, "PUT it down please" and he does. He had very bad ulcers when he was racing - they seem to have cleared up now - but we were told by a 'racing' vet that this is quite common behaviour with horses who have / have had ulcers.

Basically he just not like to be disturbed when he is eating, and we respect that. If I am doing his rugs etc and am short of time, I leave re-rugging until he is almost finished, at which time he may just wave the leg in the air a little but never strikes out. till the tub is nearly empty though - watch out!
 
By all means investigate for possible health issues and consult the vet first but if that turns up nothing it could just be that this is a learnt stressy behaviour. If you're worried about possible injuries then I'd put something like cheap rubber matting on the inside of the walls (could always insulate with foam as well for extra protection.) A yard I used to be at did this for a few horses who used to boot holes in the walls at feeding time (a lot of stables had bars between rather than a solid wall so some of them did used to wind each other up a bit when feeds were being given out) and it seemed to do the trick and wasn't horrendously difficult to put up
 
Although she doesn't kick out with hinds, my mare is very stressy eating, paws, ears back ect.

I emptied and spread the food in a line on the floor.
All of the behaviour stopped, including her not being comfortable with you standing at her head when she's eating.

It's messy, but it's at least worth a try once or twice to see if it makes a difference.
 
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