What could cause an otherwise bombproof horse to become wildly spooky and upset?

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maya2008

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Spending the evening thinking up things to check before it’s light again tomorrow and I can investigate.

Sent on loan, the perfect LR/novice pony. Week one: her normal perfect self. Ten days in: started running off away from the leader. Now she has NEVER, ever shown she would like to do that. She runs TO me (steadily, having caught the kid) with a wobbly off lead child, or to the parent so they can sort balance and off she’ll go again. Biggest problem I have ever had is her leaving the adult for the child to go alone if she doesn’t feel they are confident enough!

So she’s home now. Wired on the box, pawing the floor. Spooked when my son tried to rug her (she’s old, needs a LW in the rain). Jittery to lead. So anxious her buddies came and reassured her straight away.

Loan home was a farm. One kind but larger gelding companion in the field. One next door. Field had a river along one side and apparently had an end the gelding wouldn’t go in.

So my current thoughts are:
- She hurt herself (playing? But she’s not really the sort. Did the gelding mount her and hurt her back? Mine have been in season at home.)
- She couldn’t sleep lying down because of whatever scary thing lives in the end of that field (sleep deprivation hits between 7-14 days and causes anxiety, general jitteriness etc).
- I checked what they fed her but maybe she ate something and it didn’t agree with her? There were lots of weeds round the edges.

Any other ideas? Going to check every inch of her, trot up etc as a first port of call. If she is a changed pony by the morning then she just needed to sleep and didn’t feel safe to do so - but will still check her over to be sure.
 
Dave's Mam said:
Poor love, hope you get to the bottom of it. Did the farm have pigs? Feed would be my next question.
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No pigs in sight but Google says they have some in some sections (I saw and was told about cows only). She might have seen some/had them move closer to her while she was there?
 
What about her eyesight?

Deteriorating sight in a home she knows well with companions she trusts, may go unnoticed until a change of environment leaves her unable to cope?

Sounds to me like she's had a scare, could be anything.
 
Midlifecrisis said:
I’m guessing you ll never know and that she s just glad to be home.
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I do need to figure this out because she does at least need to go back to having sharers. I need to know both she and they will be as safe as in previous years. I also need to be sure nothing hurts - inside or outside - in case there is something I need to do to help her.
 
I hope you get to the bottom of it soon. I would suspect feed, ulcers, trauma (physical/emotional) in that order.
The loaner may not be telling you the whole truth about what she was fed, resulting in her now experiencing withdrawal effects.
Mine was very odd when we stopped feeding her sugars. With hindsight we should have reduced the sugar gradually but we weren't even sure that was the problem so the poor girl went 'cold turkey'.
 
I had similar once with a horse I loaned out locally. This horse has never been anything other than an angel. He started trying to run back to his field away from the handler, breaking a bridle and being uncharacteristically bolshy about it. Didn’t want to be ridden. This was in the first fortnight. I just took him straight back and he was fine immediately. My feeling is that he just didn’t want to be there, whether it was the people or environment (I don’t think they did anything wrong). Hope your pony is back to herself quickly.
 
magnesium? richer grass especially as it's had cows there could explain it. Something that lives in the corner of the field she didn't feel safe with. Cow, fox, badger, bird of prey maybe?
 
What a lovely pony, do hope she's better this morning. Most of the good ideas above would be solved by returning home. If not I'm thinking that tooth ache would make me spooky as heck.
 
maya2008 said:
So she has mounting marks either side and a VERY sore back. Reactive to anything above her also as would be expected. Has had cuddles and we showed her we understood then took her for a short walk in hand to check leg soundness (looked fine).

How do people not check?
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I hope you've got photos of the marks. What idiots!
Poor pony, hope that she quickly settles back in and the soreness goes x
 
maya2008 said:
So she has mounting marks either side and a VERY sore back. Reactive to anything above her also as would be expected. Has had cuddles and we showed her we understood then took her for a short walk in hand to check leg soundness (looked fine).

How do people not check?
Click to expand...
Do you think they tried to put her in foal?
 
maya2008 said:
So she has mounting marks either side and a VERY sore back. Reactive to anything above her also as would be expected. Has had cuddles and we showed her we understood then took her for a short walk in hand to check leg soundness (looked fine).

How do people not check?
Click to expand...
Omg that is just awful. Poor little mare, no wonder she was so upset. :(
 
Could it be simply as easy as she just didn’t like the new yard?

Ive had a horse that hated a yard he was on and he was a nightmare
 
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