Sunday, May 31, 2015

Heavy questions

Good news, my art was selected to be in the show next month! I'm very excited!

In other news, my mare is a nut. You remember those pastures I worked my butt off to clear so they'd have more grass to eat? She's scared to be in them. She wasn't even in one of them for an hour when, in an anxiety fit, she raced around the pasture and then blasted through the fence. Unfortunately there are still remnants of little trees that had been cut off a little above ground level in there- she stepped on one and punctured her foot. She seems to be mostly healed now but it took two weeks of soaking, booting, wrapping, and topical treatments to get it there.

That's not normal, right? Most horses, when moved from a pasture with little grass into a pasture with a lot of grass are normally happy, right? Look at these pictures, this was an hour after I put her out here. Notice the grass, lots of grass, and she still made herself into a sweaty mess.




Is there an anti-anxiety med for horses that actually works? I need to find a way to take her down a notch, especially since my family keeps telling me to get rid of her. Get rid of her how? I can't sell her, I'd fear for her safety and the safety of anyone who took her. Ugh.

After her foot is completely healed I'm going to make an effort to work with her every day, get a routine started, and see if that doesn't help her mind get in a good place. If that doesn't work, I'm not sure what I'm going to do...


14 comments:

  1. For calming, some people use magnesium (magnesium oxide is the best form to use), some use vitamin B1. Different horses seem to respond to different things. Some people use passionflower, chamomile, and/or chaste tree berry.

    Sorry she's so stressed out about things.

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  2. I second Kate's suggestion.

    Magnesium has worked wonders for my guy. A while back a vet shared a study with me that measured mg in 10,000 hay samples from all across the country. It came out to an average of < 50% of daily requirement. Even with what feed adds to the mix most horses are still not getting enough.

    Good to hear from you and good luck! :D

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  3. Thanks ladies, they're on a vitamin supplement that has 3600 mg of magnesium, maybe that's not enough?

    After a tiny bit of research I found that some people are feeding Inositol, vitamin B8, for anxiety. It seems to work for people.

    It probably wouldn't hurt to try both.

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  4. I'm sorry to hear that she's anxious about the new pasture. I'd would try what the others suggested too. I don't know much about it because my horses never needed anything like it. Hope she's feeling better about things soon and her foot heals.

    I'm sure you won't have to sell her she will acclimate with some time. She probably just needs to get used to new surroundings. I wonder if you hand walked her on a lead around in there and let her graze if that would help. Or maybe had a few lunging lessons in there. It might help her get used to it. I'm not saying it would work but it might be worth a try. Good luck.

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    1. I could definitely take her around the pasture in hand for a bit and see if she'll become more accepting of it. I just have to remember that she's a horse, and even though she was okay with that pasture last fall doesn't mean she sees it the same way now.

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  5. When we brought my mother's new mare home, she was a lunatic. She was so stressed that she spent almost a week running the pastures, wouldn't eat, lashed out at the other horses and even tried coming after us. But on the 6th day, she finally settled in, and now she's an angel. Most well-behaved mare I've ever met. Give her time, you won't have to sell her, she'll settle in. :)

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    1. When I brought her here, over a year and a half ago, she spent a MONTH pacing the fence line. She lost a ton of weight but I didn't have to trim her feet for a while :\

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  6. Some horses don't handle change well. Hope the supplements work, and I like the suggestion of hand walking her through the pasture and maybe working her in there.

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  7. Maybe there is something really important to her in the other pasture that she is stressed about leaving. Too bad she is not food motivated. I doubt Harley would come up for air in that lovely pasture.

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    1. I'm starting to think that this is related to her herd-boundness. She's become "attached" to the main pasture and just plain doesn't feel comfortable leaving it. I think it's time for some serious CAT work again, hopefully I can do it without Handsome freaking out about her leaving the pasture without him...

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  8. FWIW: SmartPak has a nice (generic) calming blend in pellets that seems to help. Hope you get her situated soon. Congratulations on your art!

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    1. Thank you for the suggestion, I've been working with her a lot more lately and it's had a really positive effect on her, but it's always good to have a backup :)

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