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Horse Suddenly a maniac... any ideas?

Eventing
#1

Hi all!

Hoping someone one here can give me some insight… my horse has suddenly turned into a monster. There is no other way to put it. It started several months ago.

During turnout, he is running around like crazy pulling shoes once or twice a week. He has recently started rearing when we try to take his halter off for turnout.

Under saddle, he will do what is asked of him, but recently started refusing tiny jumps that he can step over.

He he rolled in his stall which is very unusual for him, and got cast about three weeks ago.

Vet, chiro, and dental work have all been done within the last two weeks and he checked out fine, with the exception of needing some lumbar and SI adjustments, which were done. Even so, He seems to be getting worse as time goes on.

Nothing has changed in his feed or supplements. He is on Nutrena Perform, SmartCalm Ultra, and a joint supplement. He is currently on a muscle relaxer as well due to soreness from being cast.

All of this makes me think pain somewhere, but again everything checked out with the vet and chiro…

any suggestions are much appreciated!

#2

Very odd - did the vet do blood work? Could there be something in his pasture - a weed or some kind of plant that is causing the behavior? Pain seems most obvious and lumbar pain can take a long time to heal. Depending on severity, one adjustment/massage might not do it. How long did you give him off work after his adjustment? he might need a series. What about saddle fit? If his back is hurting, the saddle is the most obvious reason. What do you ride in? Have you changed your riding style? Do you have an injury that is causing you to be balanced differently while riding that might change pressure points?
Any new horses on the farm? I’m still thinking pain though - can you describe his treatment plan in more detail?

#3

The vet did not think blood work was necessary. Saddle
fit is good, she thinks the lumbar pain was from getting cast.

His current treatment plan is to be lunged for 5-7 days, then slowly bring him back into regular work over the course of two weeks. The vet did not want him to have time off after his adjustment- she said movement would be better than sitting to keep those muscles moving, which is why lunging is the plan for the first week.

No injuries on my part, and nothing new in his pasture

#4

Are you in Lyme disease country? Lyme can cause major personality changes.

I had a young horse that went non-linear and came back a few days after we started the antibiotics.

5 Likes
#5

We do have Lyme here is western PA, but the vet didn’t think that was the case based on her assessment of him.

Forgot to add he will be readjusted in approx 3 weeks

#6

Could possibly be a change in his eyesight.

I agree that bloodwork should be done.

One possibility is that he has gotten too fit. I know that sounds odd but it’s happened to me once or twice, with TBs who got fit ridiculously easily. I did lots of hacking (for fun) and halfway through the summer they turned into monsters. I had to back off to riding every second day for a while. It partly had to do with the large amounts of grain needed to keep weight on. I hadn’t changed the grain, but as they got fitter they just acted worse!

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#7

Chiro is for skeletal misalignments. Massage is for soft tissue. Masterson Method addresses the nervous system in conjunction with soft tissue. If you’ve done only chiro, try these complementary approaches.

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#8

Get a blood test for lyme. It would have cost about $100 but since you now have to have the vet back out,you get to pay for another barn call. Good opportunity to have another vet out since yours sounds like a bad fit the problems you are having.

BTW, lunging after SI or lumbar adjustments is a really terrible idea. Just terrible. Take him out or a walk in hand instead.

4 Likes
#9

That was my thought too since it’s a tight circle… just doing what my vet suggested since I am at a loss.

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#10

Have you had his back X-rayed for possible Kissing spine issues. What you are describing are pretty “classic” signs of possible Kissing spine. Some horses can “deal” with the issue for a number of before it becomes “full blown”. Depends on the horse, how “bad” and its pain tolerance. The telltales can and do start very subtle and a lot of people and their vets, ciros don’t pick up on it. Instead people can and default to “saddle fit”, ciro, meds and rest etc.

Had a very tallented horses who’s “back” and other subtle things would bother him from time to time. Spend a lot of money on ciro, vet and “full body massage”. None of them ever suggested to have his back x-rayed. Then all of the sudden he went over the top. Took him to my Sports vet and had his back x-rayed.

Worst case my vet had ever seen. He knew the horse, had seen him compete and win Jumper shows was considering buying him as an event prospect. After viewing the x-rays he said the horse must have an incredible pain threshold to do what he was doing, 3-6 to 4’ Jumper shows and winning.

It can be a good idea in this type of situation to do the “standard Bute test”. Discuss with your vet.

Our farm is located in “Lyme center” with a population of over 50 at times. None have ever had, showed symptoms of Lyme. The test is VERY unreliable as is the treatment.

2 Likes
#11

Gumtree,

i agree wih your thoughts on Lyme. I asked vet about kissing spine, and she doesn’t seem to think that’s plausible, with the pain he showed in his back being more over his rump starting closer to the SI.

But as said above, she might not really know what’s happening at the moment lol. Thanks for the suggestion! I will definitely look into that!

#12

I live near Gumtree and I have had at least 2 horses show Lyme symptoms with correspondingly high titers. Although one horse became lethargic rather than crazy, but it was very noticeable both times he got it.

And the Cornell test is very good; it can distinguish between acute and chronic infections. It sounds like your vet is not very literate when it comes to Lyme. I would get him tested ASAP. (Although I agree with Gumtree and others that it could also be kissing spine).

4 Likes
#13

I was under the impression that kissing spine would manifest itself more with weight on his back than without. Am I wrong in thinking that? Most of the issues we are seeing are during turnout.

#14

The change could be the grass. You don’t see the grass grow as has eaten it. His feed needs to be adjusted accordingly.

As above with the person who said they got into trouble hacking out. Thoroughbreds need to be worked. Hacking is fun but not work. 20 metre circles and jumps are not work. If you do not work them you end up with a fit horse who wants to play. That is generally not good for the handler/rider.

2 Likes
#15

I think this is what’s happening to be honest, in conjunction with some soreness in his back attributing to the spookiness.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions, I’ll keep you all posted!

1 Like
#16

Just some out of the box ideas from first hand experience:

I had a gelding who became manic on MSM. Violent personality changes would begin within a few days of starting MSM and would persist until he was off it for another day or two. My usually dependable horse would begin rearing, bolting, and trying to savage any living thing around him. You mention a joint supplement, so thought it might be appropriate in case you have changed brands or formulas recently.

I have another mare who developed “snow blindness” in the aftermath of a big snow storm and lost her mind; rearing, galloping the pasture, etc. Obviously snow blindness isn’t going to be an issue this time of year, but I imagine any serious eye changes could elicit a similar response. Eye problems also might cause a horse to become atypically cast.

#17

If I am right he is in the realm of 'overfed and underworked '. It will take him as long to get out of it, as it did for him to get into it, even if you cut all grain today. Sorry to say.

#18

Horse has a change in behavior? Best to consider if there have been changes to his program; the changes you know about and the changes that you might not know about.

I know this sounds terrible, but if your fellow is suddenly behaving badly, could it be due to the staff at the barn? We sold an A/A horse to a nice lady who boarded at a respectable facility. Several months after the sale the new owner called to say the horse’s demeanor had changed. He was charging in his stall, bolting during turnout, grumpy during grooming and rides. Totally not him. Everyone was at a loss to explain his behavior. Finally, someone suggested the owner should drop in at the barn at unexpected times to see if she could detect anything in his routine that might be different and causing the undesired behavior. Owner agreed. Owner arrived at the barn one morning to find a groom waving a pitchfork at her fellow while the groom was trying to clean the stall. The poor horse was terrified. The owner changed barns right away and everything went back to normal.

1 Like
#19

Any change in turnout situation? I have seen horses change behavior when their place in the herd changed.

#20

Do you have him on MSM or product containing MSM? I put my horse on MSM and he went nuts I researched it and found that it happens to several horses. It took me several weeks to figure it out. After I took them off about two weeks later it was out of his system and he was normal

1 Like

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