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N

Northern Rancher

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Feb 10, 2005
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saskatchewan
I've got two calls in the last week or so about horses that were turned out last fall going pretty good and are unrideable this spring-one mare that was easy to catch has about a 50 foot flight zone. The two people that phoned have started a fair number of horses but have never run into anything quite like this before.
 
How many kids have access to the pasture when no ones around? When I was a kid,someone rode a friends horse down useing barbed wire for a bridle
 
That would be kind of an aggressive bit wouldn't it... Youch.......

I would imagine something had to really spook them good.. I know our pasture ornament tends to be real wiggy the morning after the yotes run during the winter.. But that doesn't last long, of course, she is 18 years oldish..
 
NR: Had a similar situation with an excellent mare that I used on community pasture for years. Never had this happen before. She started doing stupid things and became untrustworthy around the kids.Totally out of character as I raised her from a baby.Turned her into a broodmare. Found out years later that the probable cause was either a lack of manganese or magnesium, can't remember which. One of them has to do with the nervous system. Also had a group of cows from B.C. that were known to be severely lacking in (manganese or magnesium). This was when I was at the University of Alberta research station.These little black cows were totally nuts.They'd start crawling the fence if you walked by the pen. Dr. Gary Matheson had us put them on a special feed (trying to build their bodies and blood levels back up. In about 2-3 months, their blood levels were back too normal and they started to act like normal cows again. Maybe a blood check on these horses wouldn't hurt if there are no other apparent reasons. Oh Yeah, this was before EXT'S time.
 
Thats interesting rainie...I was thinking when NR posted that....something scared the horses,but a mineral problam could be possible
 
Had a similar problem a few years back. A very well broke older horse all of a sudden went bonkers. Seemed like all his senses were super sensitive.
No local vets could figure out what was wrong. I finally took him to a vet who specialized in horses, he too was stumped. He sent a blood sample to the University Hospital Lab. the results showed that he was short of Potassium.
He had me put " no salt " ( available at any grocery store ) in his grain.
After a few weeks he returned to normal, & has been ok ever since.
This also works to help calm hyper/nervous horses.
 
We had our horses on kelp(seaweed meal) this winter. Has over 60 minerals in it in a balanced state. One older gelding does appear to be in a better mood than normal.
 

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