Was a happy horse,but not now, and I am having trouble with day to day handling. Anyu

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teasle

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For 2 years my cob and I were happy. He was quiet to ride,contented and easy to handle. He had lots of turnout with friend,and was a contented happy horse. All this changed when he became lame. He b ecame anxious, and spooky to lead at first, probably due to pain. Then he was confined to a small pen on his own in the day and stable at night. Now I have trouble inmy day to day handling of him. He is strong to lead and not paying me aany attention . He cannot stand still to be groomed, its hard to pick put his feet. He is frustrated, and has lost his trust in me. Also he has had unpleasant experiences with the investigai-tions that have been done,he is having an mri scan today as the lameness is puzzling my vet. I dont know if this horse even has a future, I have not wanted to do groundwork with him as he is lame, but has anyone any ideas what I can do to improve things? Thanks for reading this.
 
Was he out 24/7 before? If so, could you make him a tiny paddock inside the field with the others? I have done this whenever horses are on box rest through the summer and find that this keeps them sane. I expect that much of his tension comes from being separated from his friend.
 
i do think pain,lack of normal exercise,box rest or restricted turnout affect horses emotionally and may be the cause of change in his temperament. My worrier of a mare had to go to Newmarket for a weeks investigations and although she was quiet there on her return which involved seperation from her friend and very restricted turnout became a nightmare to handle esp the walk from stable to turnout. i resorted to small dose of sedalin and as shes recovered and been able to resume very gradual walking in hand the ridden exercise she has improved. i agree it can be tough but this is not your horses normal behaviour.
 
He started out in a pen in the field, placed in the shade with shelter, but he quickly ate all the grass and when it rained it was SO slippery. Then wee hasd the worst time as he was so desperate or grass. I grazed him in hand for about an hour a day and he was hard to deal with. Now he is in a pen in a paddock that I can move for grass he can see other horses and is not too bad. But he has lost trust uin me, and any respect for me and i am having trouble handling him. Although he had hay in the pen, he just was mad for the grass.
 
imo he needs pain relief. Can you not give him Danilon or Bute? My WB had a serious pain issue and he was such an aggressive horse he was nearly pts.

I put my horse on a good calmer and pain relief - the difference was amazing! Make any groundwork handling pleasurable and minimal ie. maybe let him hand graze, groom him, massage him, give him a haynet/feed whilst you are doing this.

If he is in pain he is trying to tell you so and asking you to back off as it hurts. My boy was rearing, kicking, biting full on, striking with his foreleg. In the end he did this just when you tried to lead him from the field. We got to the bottom of my horse's pain, but the interim measures really helped at the time. Good luck! :)
 
i know its a pain,i have to move the area every other day,also second a calmer but until lameness is adressed hes not likely to be happy. stay safe with hat and bridle and try to keep things low key.. what do the vets suspect is the problem..
 
debsflo said:
i know its a pain,i have to move the area every other day,also second a calmer but until lameness is adressed hes not likely to be happy. stay safe with hat and bridle and try to keep things low key.. what do the vets suspect is the problem..
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That's good advice.
 
teasle said:
He started out in a pen in the field, placed in the shade with shelter, but he quickly ate all the grass and when it rained it was SO slippery. Then wee hasd the worst time as he was so desperate or grass. I grazed him in hand for about an hour a day and he was hard to deal with. Now he is in a pen in a paddock that I can move for grass he can see other horses and is not too bad. But he has lost trust uin me, and any respect for me and i am having trouble handling him. Although he had hay in the pen, he just was mad for the grass.
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I always feed ad lib haylage when I do this. He might be happier to go without grass if he has haylage? When it rains heavily then the horse is brought in, but at this time of year it dries out again really quickly.
 
You say he's having a scan today, so take it from there, if he's on restricted grazing I take it the lameness is in his feet
See what the vet says, but I would give him a larger grazing strip and widen it a little each day.
 
He is on a magnesium calmer,and I AM SORRY IF i have given the impression he is acting outrageously, its not that bad. Its just that he is anxious (cant stand still) and towing me about the place, and has a tense look on his face. When I arrive, instead of saying , oh good mums here, something good will happen, its heres my jailer, take me to food and dont get in my way.
 
The lameness is in his fetlock. He was found on ultrasound to have a little bit of tendon/ ligament damage, but he has got worse not better with rest, and the lameness is disproportionate to the damage seen on an earlier ultrasound, so my vet thinks that something else is wrong, will know the result by the end of the week.
 
TBH teasle reading you later posts on the thread it doesn't sound as though he (or you!) is really doing that badly in the circumstances.

Loads of good advice above from ppl more experienced than me above so I'll just add that, as much as possible, try to put aside your feelings (disappointment that it isn't working perfectly right now, guilt abt being jailor, anger at him for being less nice to handle, uncertainty abt lameness, etc, etc) when you're with him. They are all perfectly valid but he will pick up on tension in you at an already tense/pent up/painful time for him and you can end up both making each other worse.

So, a little smile and feel the HHO support behind you when you handle him :-)

Good luck.
 
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