Unhappy Horse -- What Am I Missing?

[findthedistance]

I have a horse in my care (leased, owner is involved) who has been progressively less tolerant of handling over the past several months. This will be long, but I am trying to answer the usual questions up front. Horse is a thin-skinned TB gelding with a history of tolerating, if not enjoying, tactful grooming with appropriate tools. This was the case here for the first several months as well. He is not a cuddler, definitely a business-mode horse, but he is not a dragon at baseline. His owner sees him weekly and has owned him for 10+ years and concurs that this is abnormal.

Possibly unrelated history – He has always been a little immune funky & slow to heal. He also has a history of shedding his winter coat and then not really growing a summer coat, which may have a seasonal allergy component. He’s currently in a good place with having hair on his body and is not itchy or otherwise displaying allergy symptoms.

Since November he has been varying degrees of displeased with: grooming, blanketing, saddling, cranial-sacral therapy, and generally being touched. Right side is worse than left side, but anywhere from poll to tail and withers to knees can garner a reaction. He’s generally happy to have his face and lower legs groomed. Behavior includes ear pinning, snaking head/neck, lifting a hind leg in warning, and occasionally escalates to biting/attempted biting. He is well-mannered once the bridle goes on and he feels/looks very sound both on the lunge and under saddle. He’s in consistent light work, 5-6 days/week.

He’s currently on night turnout on grass. He eats 6# of Triple Crown Senior per day, split into two feedings, along with Equioxx and Heiro. He has free-choice hay in his stall and averages about 10# of hay during the time that he’s in. I would like him to eat a bit more, BCS 4.5, but the grass is starting to come in and he backed off the hay some. Routine vet work UTD including dental. Consistently clean fecals, last dewormed with Equimax in November. Vet saw him for a physical & labs related to this issue and could find nothing wrong. Negative to palpation, all physical findings WNL, sound when jogged/lunged. Saddle was professionally fitted in the fall and he has not changed shape.

Things we have tried: Lyme titer (Cornell test, negative across the board); CBC, chemistry, ACTH (all WNL); Succeed test for fecal occult blood (negative); 5 weeks of ulcer treatment (Nexium) followed by 2 weeks of tapering (no change); 2 weeks of doxy just in case (no change); loading dose of Quiessence (possible very mild response?).

Any suggestions for what to try next?

[blitzkrieg]

How long had he been with you before this change began?

This probably isn’t helpful since I’d imagine you’re the only one that rides him but I knew of a lesson horse that temperament-wise, matched what you describe almost all of a sudden after years of being a lesson horse. He was a barn favorite that actually became flat-out aggressive to handlers on the ground, biting and injuring a few people, but remained a gentleman under saddle. After he sent someone to the hospital, the stable gave him to an interested student who gave him a few months off to decompress out in a field, then started to re-establish a relationship and eventually returned him to work without issue. He’s an old man now, still with the student, still in work but just with one person.

I’m sure others will have ideas for additional things to check medically. Hope you get to the bottom of this quickly!

[RedHorses]

I have a horse with absorption issues. We see it most in vitamin E. He was not deficient, technically, as his test came back at the bottom end of the normal range. But his skin issues improved hugely in the first six months of 2000i.u. per day supplementation. After a couple of years I saw some other minor changes.

Have you checked vitamin E and selenium levels?

How long did you try Quiessence for? I just recently decided to give it a try and I am convinced it has helped my horse be less obsessively anxious about things he finds scary. I started him on it March first, and gave the full scoop for the entire month.

I have another horse who will fall asleep during grooming, except for the time he ate something that caused a layer of edema under his skin everywhere except his head and lower legs. He couldn’t stand still and was clearly unhappy about being touched. I gave him some antihistamines and he was fine, edema gone, the next day.

Have you tried a few days of antihistamines to see if there’s an allergic reaction causing extra sensitivity?

I hope you figure it out for him. It can’t be pleasant for him.

[PKP]

We had a horse in our barn who was just NQR, but all tests came back WNL. He was body sore but not lame, cranky, sour about being handled and about work, and generally unhappy. Our vet suggested a vitamin E supplement, but without selenium. (Depending on where you live, your soil may or may not be rich in selenium.) The results were truly remarkable. It might be worth starting your horse on E, as he will excrete what he doesn’t need & his coat and skin will thrive!

[akdraft77]

Another vote for checking Vit E levels, also ask the vet about Magnesium levels.

https://www.horsetalk.co.nz/2012/09/27/feeding-magnesium-to-horses/

[WNT]

One thing to note with Quiessence, the loading dose is one 1-oz scoop per 250 lbs of weight; you can cut it back to 1/2 a scoop per 250 lbs as needed. I’d had my skin/muscle sensitive TB on it years ago and didn’t see a change, but I’d only done 1 scoop twice a day. When I tried it again later, after reading the directions, I had him on 5 scoops a day and saw improvement. He was also on 4000 iu of vitamin E.

He he was very skin sensitive: hated being clipped, mane pulling and braiding, fussy if I was too rough grooming. He even nearly injured a massage therapist and threw an absolute fit when we tried a vibrating massager on him (rearing to land on us and kicking a hole in the stall wall, respectively). A barn manager recognized some of his symptoms as PSSM, so while we never tested him he reacted so positively to the low starch, high fat diet with Mg and vitamin E supplementation, we just ran with it.

[singletreestable]

This sounds very similar to my horse! He isn’t a thin skinned TB but he general feeling about being groomed and handled sound the same! I am going to be checking/trying all the things you listed as well (Lyme, ulcers, vitamin E, magnesium…) Interested to see if you find any other answers! My horse is also very good once hes in work and obedient under saddle! Just as a seemingly off topic question but how is your horse to actually bridle? Just curious!

[IPEsq]

I’d also suggest Vitamin E. And maybe MagRestore instead of Quiessence (I’ve seen a better response from it but YMMV).

I saw saw you did Nexium but did you opt not to do Succeed because of the fecal test? My horse reacts like this when his GI is flared anywhere. Although he also acts up under saddle, but he is very much not workmanlike in personality. I did Equishure and other things for years but switched to Succeed when I had trouble weaning him off ulcer meds last year, and he seems to have the best results from it.

I do wonder though about the allergies. Mine also has seasonal allergies, and he is going through a similar phase. I’m primarily treating his gut, but sometimes he gets like his whole body is wound up. Last time we got to where we were just banging our heads against the wall, a 6 week course of Prednisolone seemed to get him out of it. I understand this is also given in allergy cases but perhaps at different dosing. It might not be ideal for a horse who already seems to have a compromised immune response, though.

[findthedistance]

@blitzkrieg He had been here about 5 months before the behavior changes started. I’m not ruling out that this just isn’t his happy place for some reason, but he is SO good when he’s working. It’s a little hard to put in words, but I’m familiar with burnout and I don’t think that’s what we have going on here.

@RedHorses I’ll ask the vet about testing Vit E & Se levels. In absolute terms his needs are getting met (my hay has been tested), but his absorption could be poor. I have not tried antihistamines, but that’s an easy thing to try.

@WNT We did Quiessence at the full loading dose – 4 scoops a day – for about three weeks. It seemed there was something there, so maybe I’ll try MagRestore and see if a different form of Mg works better.

Thanks everyone! I hate to see him like this, so we’ll keep trying things.

[findthedistance]

@singletreestable He is totally polite and reasonable to bridle. And strangely enough, he’s fine with having the girth tightened in the arena before mounting, despite acting flamingly girthy 30 seconds previously when being tacked. (Behavior is the same loose in his stall vs single tied vs cross tied)

@IPEsq My vet didn’t recommend Succeed at the time due to the negative test, but perhaps we should try it anyway. We do avoid steroids with this horse, but I can do a round of generic Zyrtec and see if that winds things down. That’s his go-to for hives and the like.

[findeight]

Could he have hurt himself somehow? Cracked rib, pinched spinal nerve or something? Don’t say he’s 100% sound, none are and it takes a really sharp eye to pick up any irregularities.

Pain can make horses just plain uncomfortable, something that is causing pain without showing specific symptoms that might help identify where. Including ulcers, which I am the last to blame for stuff like this but…he could have a bad case the one course of Nexium did not clear up. Pain can cause this type behavior yet defy being located so it can be treated.

Seriously, ulcers are a handy hook to hang issues on in hope of a quick and easy resolution but this is one of the rare cases that, IMO, could be related to the way he’s acting.

Another thought is what is the story on the “cranial-sacro therapy”? Has he had x rays of his spine? He could have some arthritic changes in the spine making him pretty uncomfortable and that could easily explain the “don’t touch me” attitude. That’s the kind of thing a chiro adjustment might make worse if there’s no x rays to really pinpoint the condition. And it’s the kind of thing that often progresses over time getting worse instead of better due to bone reshaping impinging on nerves.

And how old he supposed to be? His age and physical condition might be catching up with him. He wouldn’t be the first to get cranky due to increasing age and decreasing comfort.

[findthedistance]

@findeight He’s verifiably 21 (OTTB with a legible tattoo and papers to match), and he has the expected arthritic changes, hence the Equioxx. I am not ruling out a pain issue, but he jogs out evenly on concrete and feels great under saddle, and the vet agrees. I wouldn’t know where to start with diagnostics. Old films, including back x-rays, do exist.

Cranial-sacral therapy is a very light-touch bodywork technique. There is no spinal manipulation involved. A couple people at the barn are trained in it and it’s a regular part of the routine, not a response to a specific problem. (I’m a skeptic, but it’s free and noninvasive and many of the horses find it relaxing.) He has opted out and that’s fine, it was just an example of something disconnected from work that he is not currently tolerating and used to enjoy.

[IPEsq]

@findthedistance

@singletreestable He is totally polite and reasonable to bridle. And strangely enough, he’s fine with having the girth tightened in the arena before mounting, despite acting flamingly girthy 30 seconds previously when being tacked. (Behavior is the same loose in his stall vs single tied vs cross tied)
.

This made me think of something to try…can you lightly longe or free longe prior to grooming and tacking up? Is he any better about grooming after riding?

[Bluey]

One more question, I assume his sheath has been cleaned?
Just one more oddbeat possible reason, an ulcer caused by a bean could make him very grumpy.

I would think also unresolved digestive system ulcers could be part of all that.

[findeight]

Besides stubborn ulcers, he could also have tumors or something acute going on in stomach and/or gut. Seen that in my retirement barn. nice old horses just suddenly hate to be messed with. What has changed for him is he is getting older and something is going on. perhaps the owner could seek a visit or consult with an Equine Internal Medicine or Geriatric specialist?

As I said before, I normally don’t throw out ulcers as the cause of misbehavior or symptoms like this but these symptoms fit something going on in the digestive system. Within the last couple of months, we had a thread on here posted by a gal who had been given an old mare. Poor, previously nice mare wasn’t holding weight well, not acting right, didn’t care to be touched, cow kicked at somebody beside her touching her. Can’t remember the specifics but a careful exam revealed a cancerous tumor restricting gut motility.

Its not something that manifests as lameness or anything you can feel from the saddle. Also something many farm vets and general practitioners don’t have additional training or experience in as horses only recently started living long enough to reach the geriatric stage and allow internal cancers to develop to the point they interfere with normal function. Even today, many bid them farewell when they start to fail and don’t necropsy. Vets look for what they know and are trained for, which is structural, concussive “treadwear” common communicable diseases and simple digestive trouble.

OP and owner need to consider this with the sudden behavior change in a geriatric horse.

[theresak]

For allergies and skin issues - I dose at close to 8,000IU natural Vitamin E each day (grain + hay or pasture + HorseTech supplement). In the winter when there is no grass, I have to increase the HorseTech. It has helped a ton with weird skin issues and overall allergies. I can also help with neuro issues dosed up to 10,000IU per day. Both of these dose levels are much higher than the recommended daily minimum requirement for horses but have been shown to help with the issues described. From my understanding, Vitamin E is not something you need to worry about overdosing as the horse will just excrete excess in the urine.

[findthedistance]

Update: Darling horse has lost an incisor. His level of unhappiness is somewhat scaled back – we’ve gone from hating everyone who looks at him to only hating people who actually touch him – so I suspect dental pain played a role in the recent escalation.

Vet comes Monday, so she’ll check out his teeth and we’ll talk about testing E/Se levels. Test driving Zyrtec now, and MagRestore has been ordered. I’ll update again if/when we sort things out better. Thanks for the ideas!

[Fillabeana]

A bit more food for thought…

In the human digestive tract, PPI drugs such as Nexium and Prilosec, taken long term, interfere with magnesium absorption.

So if he never had an ulcer, and did have a slight magnesium insufficiency, the ulcer drugs could have made his situation worse.

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