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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 304
Location: Up and over to the right | Some background - horse was treated for lymes Jan 1 and is negative for ulcers (scoped) and had 3 weeks off when on doxy.
We've moved to an indoor for the winter (Feb 1) and suddenly he's gone feral. I've been out riding 5x a week at least (weather pending) and it seems like we lost our connection.
When I lunge him and the stirrups bounce or training rings begin to make noises he tries to bolt. I've lunged him for 4 years with a saddle, never had this issue and I usually have to push him, now I have to keep a tighter rein on him.
I get on his back and he wants to bolt with head in the air, chewing the bit profusely (3 joint snaffle). On the ground he's snorting and spastic and super flighty. All saddle fit, he does it bareback, western or english.
I was thinking about taking the month off to long line and work solely on the ground. Maybe work him in a surcingle for a while. I don't know if it's pain or excess energy or what. He gets 1/4 lb of a no-carb senior feed and probios with hay 2x a day.
He lives outside 24/7 next to a mare and a gelding. No doubt he's bored of the indoor already but I have no other option with -20* and 2 feet of snow.
Anyone have this happen before? I'm feeling like a crappy rider and owner and I think he can sense it. |
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 Midget Lover
    
Location: Kentucky | I have a mare that is going through something similiar. She is almost a wildchild when I lead her back and forth from the pasture to the barn in the AM/PM. Snorty, spooky, all ears. She'll stand in the pasture for hours staring at stuff. The wind will spook the crap out her.
I had her tested for EPM through pathogenes.com and she came back as a slight positive. I am currently treating her now, she is on her 5th day of treatment.
Something you may want to consider. Sudden personality changes are a symptom of EPM. |
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 Undercover Amish Mafia Member
Posts: 9992
Location: Kansas | Murphy - 2015-02-13 8:12 AM I have a mare that is going through something similiar. She is almost a wildchild when I lead her back and forth from the pasture to the barn in the AM/PM. Snorty, spooky, all ears. She'll stand in the pasture for hours staring at stuff. The wind will spook the crap out her.
I had her tested for EPM through pathogenes.com and she came back as a slight positive. I am currently treating her now, she is on her 5th day of treatment.
Something you may want to consider. Sudden personality changes are a symptom of EPM.
This. My gelding had a major attitude change, became spooky, lost a ton of weight, and starting showing the symptoms of EPM. I had the vet test him, he was positive for Epm. I've since started him on protazil. And he's making a slight improvement, but still has a few more weeks of the treatment left. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 477
Location: Lost in the swamps | Winter time, cold air, being cooped up will get one jumping out of it's skin! And feeling frisky. Although I have a gelding that,like they say, has a memory like an elephant! My cat jumped out of my horse trailer on the the fender and scared the sh*** out my horse about three weeks ago he set back and broke the lead. Now he is jumpy around the trailer,has pulled back numerous times since. I have been working on settling down and getting him to relax. I have used various desensitizing methods, he gets stuff thrown and swung around him. As when he relaxes he gets rewarded. This has helped a lot! learning that something coming at him fast ain't no big thing. I also believe he was abused before I got him, he was a drop out rope horse. And if you come at him a certain way he flinches.:/ he is mostly trusting but ever once in a blue moon something will set him off and then we get to working on it. Time and patience and I've learned that every horse will have an issue or "moment" they need get over from time to time.
Edited by imturnin3 2015-02-13 8:51 AM
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 Jr. Detective
Location: Beggs, OK | I agree with testing for EPM, but I think as horse owners we need to be more clued into our horses internally as well. I have committed to being more proactive about checking blood levels before making changes to their diet. The more I look into the current feed issue the more I see how much pulling blood and running a CBC can be useful in finding the things that they can't tell us themselves. |
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| It might be related to the Lymes. Sometimes it takes a long, long time to get that treated all the way. |
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 Hummer's Hero
Posts: 3071
Location: Smack Dab in the Middle | I will also suggest EPM testing. My mare was a total fruit bat super spook when she had it. She was ways very alert, but when she got exponentially worse instead of better as I was hauling her, I started thinking something was wrong. It took two years and three vets before she was finally diagnosed, but once she went thru treatment, she became a completely different horse. Easy to haul, pleasant to be around, and she was wonderful with my young son. Night and day difference.
ETA: my mare had other behavioral and physical symptoms, but super spooky was definitely one of them, and one of the more drastically observed changed.
Edited by RockinGR 2015-02-13 10:55 AM
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 Expert
Posts: 1857
| Lymes is known to cause neurological disease and even eye issues. Have you had him checked again after you treated for it? Have you had his vision looked at? I would go back to the Lyme Disease and rule out that it hasn't caused any damage or come back before I would start trying to diagnose something else. Lyme's has the ability to "recur" just like epm does. Start him on an immune builder and a probiotic and get him tested again. |
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 Porta Potty Pants
Posts: 2600
| I moved my horse to an indoor barn … he went nuts after about 30 days. The barn is constructed out of brick. The horses can look out the front gate and down the breezeway and that is the only way they can see another horse. I had him moved outside and he's much happier. Of course there were other things involved, I had to take him off his supplements. I went through a period where he wouldn't let me saddle him up. He's still wired, but much much better. |
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 My Heart Be Happy
Posts: 9159
Location: Arkansas | 4 of my 5 have the winter "willies"! One will find something to freak over and then pass it down the line. If they can't find anything around the barn to spook over, then they'll just scare themselves. . . . |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 1066
| Search my post from last weekend! My very broke gelding was acting feral too... He was terrified of his own tail brushing his legs, was acting like I had abused him, and it literally took me 2 days to catch him, and he was in about a 20x60 pen. I spoke with numerous high end vets and it ended up that he must have taken a hard blow to his head (wipeout maybe) which affected his nervous system... An equine osteopath had him back to himself within an hour. She figured every time something touched him (his tail, or me when I was finally able to get near him just for him to bolt again) it was causing sharp pains to go through his body which scared him, and the more scared he got the worse his nerves got. Your horse may not be quite that extreme, but it was a VERY easy fix, and made a miraculous difference in my boy. |
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 Chasin my Dream
Posts: 13651
Location: Alberta | Any subluxation to the poll, neck, head as Tys ol lady said can affect the nervous system and affect their eye sight..... |
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