Bec26
Active Member
I am hoping someone might have some advice or ideas why mare is acting so strangely.
I bought her in the summer and was told she was a cribber but ONLY in the stable and it was controlled with a collar also that she also would sometimes take off as soon as you took her head collar off in the field (but never when being led)
For the first 2 months she never cribbed in the field - she would occasionally when tied up outside the stable. I don't use the cribbing collar if I do have to stable her.
Initially she was out in the field with my other mare but in a separate fenced off area and then after a month they were in together.
She then started to occasionally crib.
I moved them into the winter field together and she was fine no cribbing and would graze around the field happily but then after a month she started to crib again.
She then started refusing to move past an 'invisible' line in the field when grazing even to the point where if her water or dinner was 1cm over that line she would leave it (she is a horse that loves her feed).
I tried leading her over the invisible line and she got past it and then bolted to the other end of the field. She then wouldn't leave that end of the field.
She has a huge field full of grass but will not move past a 40 meter circle which is now mud and she is obsessively cribbing(she grazes for a few minutes then cribs and continues like that)
I understand that this could be stress or ulcers but I don't understand why she was fine for the first 2 months when I would have expected her to be more stressed as she had just moved to a new yard and I don't understand how she has gone from moving round the field happily to refusing to move from the corner.
It makes no difference if my other mare is with her or not.
I did stable her when she hurt her leg but she was restless and was keen to go back out.
A bit of info about her:
She is a 12yr old TB mare, been out of racing since 2009 and keeps good condition.
I feed her Ad lib hay, grass nuts and fast fibre and she lives out 24/7 with other horses in paddocks next to her.
She doesn't show any signs of discomfort when being ridden and is very sweet natured and sensible.
I know this sounds a bit pathetic but I feel like she really isn't happy in the field and I accept that I cant stop the cribbing but I don't know what to do about her refusing to leave the tiny patch of field.
Any advice or ideas would be appreciated.
I bought her in the summer and was told she was a cribber but ONLY in the stable and it was controlled with a collar also that she also would sometimes take off as soon as you took her head collar off in the field (but never when being led)
For the first 2 months she never cribbed in the field - she would occasionally when tied up outside the stable. I don't use the cribbing collar if I do have to stable her.
Initially she was out in the field with my other mare but in a separate fenced off area and then after a month they were in together.
She then started to occasionally crib.
I moved them into the winter field together and she was fine no cribbing and would graze around the field happily but then after a month she started to crib again.
She then started refusing to move past an 'invisible' line in the field when grazing even to the point where if her water or dinner was 1cm over that line she would leave it (she is a horse that loves her feed).
I tried leading her over the invisible line and she got past it and then bolted to the other end of the field. She then wouldn't leave that end of the field.
She has a huge field full of grass but will not move past a 40 meter circle which is now mud and she is obsessively cribbing(she grazes for a few minutes then cribs and continues like that)
I understand that this could be stress or ulcers but I don't understand why she was fine for the first 2 months when I would have expected her to be more stressed as she had just moved to a new yard and I don't understand how she has gone from moving round the field happily to refusing to move from the corner.
It makes no difference if my other mare is with her or not.
I did stable her when she hurt her leg but she was restless and was keen to go back out.
A bit of info about her:
She is a 12yr old TB mare, been out of racing since 2009 and keeps good condition.
I feed her Ad lib hay, grass nuts and fast fibre and she lives out 24/7 with other horses in paddocks next to her.
She doesn't show any signs of discomfort when being ridden and is very sweet natured and sensible.
I know this sounds a bit pathetic but I feel like she really isn't happy in the field and I accept that I cant stop the cribbing but I don't know what to do about her refusing to leave the tiny patch of field.
Any advice or ideas would be appreciated.