What's wrong with my horse?

wellsat

wellsat

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I'm completely at my wits end with the beast, though it might help to type it all out and see what other people think as so far have only posted piecemeal about my stresses with her. I am that close to putting her on Project Horses and letting someone else have all the grief and frustration but she deserves better than that.

She was incerdibly difficult when I first got her but she gradually got better and we worked through it. Up until three weeks ago she was going beautifully. Just started to be really consistent in her outline. Soft, responsive and behaving well on hacks alone or in company. The last time I had a good ride on her was when this photo was taken, not perfect I know but I can't have been doing too much wrong.

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Two days after this photo was taken she was shod and thats when the problems started. three quarters of the way through the shoeing she had a tantrum when another horse was taken off the yard and had to be twitched so the farrier could finish the last foot. She was then put back in her stable by my friend until I got down to the yard. She is a bit stressy and weavy anyway but this night she really went for it, weaving like a crazy loon, ripped one of her shoes off, broke the stable door and generally got really wound up.

Since then she's been a different horse. Tense, snappy, anxious, highly strung and a very difficult horse to be around. Her ridden work has gone to poo, she's tense all through her back, won;t track up, won't soften and won't trot.

We had the chiro out to her on Friday who said that she was very tense in her shoulders, she did alot of work on her shoulders to free her up but Lil hasn't seen the benefit of this yet although apparently this is normal and the treatment can make them feel worse before they get better.

The only other thing thats changed is that her field companion was on box rest for the two months that she was being lovely and got put back in with her the day after the fateful shoeing. Surely she shouldn't be getting that wound up by another gentle mare being in with her?

Any thoughts gratefully received.

*Minstrels for anyone who got this far*
 
For her to change, something else must have changed I think. Some horses do get really stressy about changes of routine, so maybe it is the other horse coming back, or maybe she has hurt herself when she was stressing out.

If she's tense, maybe some time off being ridden would benefit her until she feels a bit better? Did the chiro advise either way on that? Can you work her from the ground instead?
 
I claim my minstrels. Have you thought of asking an animal communicator for help? I know some get bad press but many don't & I'm sure someone on here can personally recommend a good one. I'm sure you've already tried anything & everything I could suggest so maybe it would be worth googling 'animal communicators' & reading some info. Good luck.
 
I am no expert but I would want to exclude all of the following with a good equine vet before I saw a chiro or back person.... teeth, back, saddle, ovaries/seasons, front feet. Not sure what order it should be done in. If all that comes back ok from the relevant people then I would look at lifestyle/ulcers. If that is ok then maybe she is just a stressy madam but I bet she hurts somewhere.

I do think the photo looks not right but am not sure why - could just be the angle but her neck looks odd to me. I am, like I said, no expert so please ignore me if I am talking rubbish.
 
The advice of my chiro and RI was that gentle work was better than no work as she's a horse that needs to be busy. If I don't ride her she gets rid of her energy going at flat out speed bucking and farting round the field which cannot be good for her shoulders.

Unfortunately tonight's gentle hack had a number of interesting incidents including very nearly taking out a mini and a jack russell :(
 
I feel your pain and have experience of horses that change for no reason, or you can't seem to know what to do as you have tried everything, thats what it was like for me. As above, I tried an animal communicator that was highly recommened, she was brilliant! Lives in a different county so couldnt possibly guess the things she said.

I have nothing but good things to say about chiros so thats good you got one out, sometimes horses don't deal well with change at all. The only other suggestion I have is reiki or such as well as the advice above, I tried all of this on one of mine as so pleased I did, although I was dubious at first. its an odd situation wish I could help more.
 
misst said:
I am no expert but I would want to exclude all of the following with a good equine vet before I saw a chiro or back person.... teeth, back, saddle, ovaries/seasons, front feet. Not sure what order it should be done in. If all that comes back ok from the relevant people then I would look at lifestyle/ulcers. If that is ok then maybe she is just a stressy madam but I bet she hurts somewhere.

I do think the photo looks not right but am not sure why - could just be the angle but her neck looks odd to me. I am, like I said, no expert so please ignore me if I am talking rubbish.
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Thanks. I think you're probably right. I went for the chiro because I've had a vet out before to a horse that was "not right" and been told I'm a soppy hysterical owner who probably just can't ride.

I feel terrible, the poor horse is shouting at me that she's not happy about something, i just can't work out what it is to make it right.

You're right, the photo isn't perfect, she's leaning on my left hand and falling out through her right shoulder but we were working on that. She was just ready to do her first Prelim...
 
I know how hard it is. My daughter always knew when her boy was not right but it was only when he was nerve blocked you could see the problem. He looked completely sound and was out competing but had "issues". When blocked he was bilaterally lame. When blocked to both feet at the same time he regained his amazing paces. Because he had looked "pretty good" when bilaterally lame and had been placed in dressage at BD novice getting 70%:eek: no one believed there was anything except a behavoural issue.
I hope your girl is fine and is just a stroppy mare but if you think she is not right, then I suspect that she isn't. Stand your ground and ask for her to be investigated. Good luck.x
 
Hi,

Visit this website and call this lady - http://www.perfectmovementsolutions.com/eConsultations.php?osCsid=9ea9d4c8354966cfe2011dad1b46f470

She'll ask you some questions and to do a short vid of your horse moving. You send it off to her and she'll do a gait analysis from the recording.

I had some problems with my horse and she advised me to consider a history which previously had not occured to me - but when she pointed it out all the pieces seemed to fall into place and we are going a lot better now.

If I recall correctly the price for the whole process was £15 - might be worth a try:)

Good Luck!!
 
I would second getting her ovaries checked. My old mare was always moody right from the day I first saw her but the first summer I had her she turned into a complete savage in the stable (cornered a few people) and switched off riding to the point it felt like I was riding an ironing board!!!
It turned out she had an infection in her uterus, so I had her flushed and the vet recommended she go on regumate. She was still a misery but was no longer the savage ironing board I'd had for 6 weeks!!!
I'm not saying your mare will need regumate, obviously its one of the last things on the list of things to try and ideally you can get it sorted without that. But it was what worked for mine. She didn't need it in winter so it wasn't too expensive in the end.

Also, how long have you had her? Do you think it might just be the end of the honeymoon period and her starting to test her boundaries?
 
Roody2 said:
Also, how long have you had her? Do you think it might just be the end of the honeymoon period and her starting to test her boundaries?
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Possible but I doubt it. She was really awful when I first got her, to say she threw her toys out of the pram would be an understatement. She had just started to work really nicely when it suddently changed over night. She has a very clear understanding of where the boundaries are, she's not rearing or broncing like she was when I first got her, just deeply unhappy and tense.
 
blitznbobs said:
Is this too obvious... farrier put her shoe on too tight/ twisted etc? pricked her sole??? Something to do with the shoeing?

Blitz
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Thanks, I had wondered about having the farrier back out but didn't want to insult his handiwork as its the first time he'd ever shod her.
 
absolute diva said:
Thanks, I had wondered about having the farrier back out but didn't want to insult his handiwork as its the first time he'd ever shod her.
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sod worrying about upsetting him, if the horse is in pain that is more important than hurt feelings, just ask him in a tactful way and ply him with tea/coffee and cake/biscuits and i am sure he will be more than happy to have a look.

farrier would have been my first port of call.
 
My friend had a horse who was a little difficult, but could still do everything. One day he just flipped and became dangerous to ride and handle. He was sent to Newmarket for examination but they couldn't find anything physically wrong, so they pressumed he was under a lot of stress mentally. They saddly had him PTS. I hope this isn't the case with your horse and good luck with her.
 
Completely agree with the above suggesting problem lies with her new shoes - firstly because the problems started during the shoeing and secondly, because it was the farrier's first time shoeing her. Hopefully it's something very simple and she'll be right as rain in no time :-)
 
absolute diva said:
Thanks, I had wondered about having the farrier back out but didn't want to insult his handiwork as its the first time he'd ever shod her.
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First port of call then I think. No use worrying about offending him - if he is any good he will be happy to reassess her and if he is offended then he is probably not that good. Hope it is something this obvious:)
 
very first thing I thought too was the shoes. Get the farrier out (or another on) and have her shoes changed, or taken off. And possibly get the vet out to nerve block her front legs - 'tense through the shoulders' the chiro found can be related to front feet lameness.
 
Two days after this photo was taken she was shod and thats when the problems started. three quarters of the way through the shoeing she had a tantrum when another horse was taken off the yard and had to be twitched so the farrier could finish the last foot. She was then put back in her stable by my friend until I got down to the yard. She is a bit stressy and weavy anyway but this night she really went for it, weaving like a crazy loon, ripped one of her shoes off, broke the stable door and generally got really wound up.

Since then she's been a different horse. Tense, snappy, anxious, highly strung and a very difficult horse to be around. Her ridden work has gone to poo, she's tense all through her back, won;t track up, won't soften and won't trot.


I think the reason is somewhere in this paragraph, based on what you haven given us to go on, most probably triggered by the first bit!
 
I would also check the shoes, but I wonder if she is suffering from severe separation anxiety. She created when another horse went out without her, then she was shut in a stable minus companion = very stressed. If she improved when her companion was removed it was possibly because she wasn't as anxious about leaving her as she was used to being without her. If she is that stressy and weaving/pacing then that would contribute to her soreness. Just a thought!
 
Thanks everone for your thoughts. Have arranged for the vet to come and look at her, will see if I can get the farrier to have another look as well.

She does suffer from an extreme separation anxiety but I don't know what to do about that apart from hope that it lessens over time as she becomes more secure in her environment.
 
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