Caslick to improve bahavior?

[winter]

I am asking this here instead of one of the other forums since it seems many more posters in the breeding forum have experience with Caslick'd mares. If you think it might be better in horse care then I will try it there.

I am wondering if anyone has had a performance mare who they caslick'd and noticed she was more comfortable, happier, easier to ride afterwards? I found the abstract to an interesting article in the January 2007 issue of the Journal of Equine Veterinary medicine that described this very issue. The conclusion was that %84 of mares had an improvement in behavior after receiving a caslick. I would like to purchase the article I think since it sounds very interesting, I could only read the abstract online.

I have a mare with some serious under saddle issues and am trying to investigate every option for her. She is about to go to the vet to get a full reproductive/urinary work up since I wonder if she has a chronic infection there that is causing her pain. I am going to discuss a caslick to the vet and am wondering if other people have tried this? She has had chiro and massage and new farrier work and very good riding but has shown no improvement. Now we are off to the vet and I am trying to be optimistic.

Any experiences would be very helpful.

[jilltx]

Do they perform caslick procedures for anything other than pregnancy? Just trying to figure out if one thing is related to another.

[Janet]

It is very common to do a Caslick's procedure on high performance mares (mostly racing and eventing).

Without the Caslick's, the action of galloping can suck air into the uterus (windsucking) which can cause quite severe discomfort, which may lead to behavior problems.

We thought my sister's ***mare, Sportscar, had a back isssue. But it turned out it was from windsucking, and the Caslick's fixed it.

In addition, my mare Music (who is not a high performance mare) has a Caslick's because the conformation of her vulva encourages the manure to fall into it. The Caslick's prevents that. She has never been bred, and probably never will be. It was done when she was 2, and she is now 23.

You can also do a search. There have been several threads on this.

[winter]

Janet, encouraging to hear this about your mares.
I did do a search and didn't come up with anything, I will try a few more, thanks!

[Janet]

http://www.chronicleforums.com/Forum/search.php?searchid=4848471

[winter]

Thanks again Janet!
Funny, you got different results than I did. There are so many about the procedure in breeding mares, I just wanted to delve more into mares other than broodmares and race mares and the specifics of their before and after procedure behavior.
I did read many of those threads about regumate and depo and the marble. Interesting for sure. My mare does not appear to be worse when in season so I am hoping that we can solve this without trying a hormonal solution.

[PNWjumper]

I had a clinician (Greg Best) comment that my mare was windsucking when she jumped big oxers. He suggested a caslick to help her focus a little more when the jumps get over 4'3". I had always noticed that she felt oddly discombobulated when she made a big effort, so I took his advice and noticed an immediate difference. She's MUCH more focused over the big fences.

She came into season right before our horseshow last week and I did notice that she was a little less witchy than usual. But she was never bad under saddle, so I can't comment on whether it helped her attitude while being ridden.

[stacey ellis]

I have a mare that was experiencing intermitent hind end "off-ness". It would come and go and we could not put our finger on the issue. Did two flexion/lameness exams and vet found nothing. After second exam (which included stellar x-rays), we did the caslicks and started her on long acting progesterone shots. She has been perfect since we started this - yeah!

Good luck!

[chrissymack]

How can you tell when a mare is windsucking? Is there a noise involved?

[PNWjumper]

Nope, no noise. And I'm always the one sitting on my mare's back when we're jumping, so I've never watched. I would assume that if you watch a mare jump away from you (one of the fences in the clinic pointed directly away from where Greg was standing), you would see the vulva open as the mare took on air....or maybe just a lift of the tail?

Once Greg commented on it, it was obvious to me that she's always had that problem. It's pretty easy to feel from the tack as basically just a momentary loss of attention (not something I like to feel in mid-air!). And she feels like a different horse over big fences now. We did a high jump class at a horseshow over the winter and she was as focused as can be even when the fence got BIG.

Seems to be a pretty common procedure for track mares. I'm kind of surprised that it's never become a more routine procedure on other sport horses. I just sold a mare who used to get really spooky and witchy when she came into season. I wish I had thought to try a Caslicks on her, because I suspect she would be another one who could have been helped by it.

[crosscreeksh]

You may not hear the air going IN, but you often hear it coming OUT - sort of like vaginal "farts". We used to do caslicks on almost ALL of our racing mares. One mare needed a caslicks - BADLY, but there wasn't time enough before a big stake race to use the tranq. and lidocaine, so we did the next best thing...a super duty adhesive patch. As she made her big move to the front at the head of the stretch we were all counting the purse money...until the patch came off!!! She still finished second, but the day after the race she got her caslicks!!! It usually makes a big difference in performance!!

[LivviesMom]

My 4 year old was displaying some very bad behaviour undersaddle last summer. At one point I had a vet tell me they felt she had broken her pelvis. Turns ot she was having some issues with the follicles being produced and we put her on Depo Provera. BIG difference the next day. She is far more comfortable and even stands better. Before the shot she would constantly shift back and forth trying to get comfortable. She has gone back to light work on the longe and I see an improvement theres as well. Far more focused and consitent. She is going through another growth spurt and it was recommended we wait until she evened up a bit more to get on her again..
For my mare Depo has been a god send...

[winter]

PNWjumper, that's very interesting about your mare and her focus. It has been so disapointing with this mare because she very talented and I have high hopes for her jumping career. I also find it interesting that you see this so much less in sporthorses but that it's so common in racehorses.

After the first vet appointment the vet felt that she might have ovarian cysts or a unrinary tract infection (which is what I think it is) but he wants to do more tests and the ultrasound. I am going to get a full repro work up on her then potentially give her the caslick.
My trainer is not on board with the caslick, but even if it doesn't help, will it hinder???