Mare abducted by aliens

[Come Shine]

Background: 13 y.o. TB mare. I've owned her for 2 years. She is primarily my son's w/t trail horse. She is a lovely mover and has a huge, scopey jump.

I haven't ridden her much due to other committments, but have started to more in the last month. The plan was for me to put some dedicated training into her over the winter, to see if we can get her going as a 3' hunter. She can be a bit strong in the canter and after jumps, so we moved up to a rubber pelham. What a wonderful difference! She has been fantastic.

Yesterday, it was like she had abducted by aliens. Kicking out in the cross ties (NEVER done that before), jigging to mount, and felt like someone had a lit firecracker up her behind. Then she bucked and even reared a bit (NEVER NEVER done that before) riding outside at a trot. Took her back up to the arena, and ever after lunging, she could not settle.

Is it the weather? It is unseasonably warm right now.

Could it be the grain? She has started getting some grain when they come into the barn when it is cold out.

Could she be sore? Is there something that I could give her (something I could pick up at the tack store) if she is muscle sore from the increased work.

Is she too old for a new job? She is a lovely w/t horse for my son. He loves her to bits and does not have showing aspirations. While I would like to be able to campaign her because she is an absolutely lovely horse, it's not the end of the world if I don't.

Or was it an alien abduction or perhaps a Friday the 13th thing?

What do you think?

[shawneeAcres]

SOunds like she is possibly getting really fit for the first time since you have had her if you have been doing a lot with her. Or, she could be sore from you doing too much over past month. Then if warm, she could be coming into heat. A lot of possibilities come to mind.

[Come Shine]

The heat thing would make a lot of sense, too. I never even thought of that - d'oh! That would fit in with her kicking out in the cross ties being sensitive around her flanks. Do they make Midol for horses?

I haven't been doing a ton with her. She is also pretty fit, in general, due to the exercise they get on turn-out.

[Sing Mia Song]

In my experience, three out of five mares ARE aliens. :winkgrin:

It's a bit late for her to be cycling, although not completely unreasonable. Given her attitude about her back end, I would have her palpated by your vet to see if she has an ovarian cyst or a really big follicle that is giving her some pain. She might want some Regumate.

[Amchara]

How old is your son? Is it possible she is feeling horsey-resentment to actual work after bopping around of her own accord for how ever long?

[FiveBs]

I can't resist this one... First I want to say that my mare was a lunatic a couple of days last week. It passed! Now she's back to her sweet cooperative self.

Regarding the alien thing... I boarded at a place roughly 15 years ago. I had a different mare at the time. I left because the barn owner said all the bay mares were being abducted by aliens. This was even in the local newspaper!

[superpony123]

Regarding the alien thing... I boarded at a place roughly 15 years ago. I had a different mare at the time. I left because the barn owner said all the bay mares were being abducted by aliens. This was even in the local newspaper!

:lol::lol::lol::lol:

[superpony123]

It's definitely the aliens.

Anywho, I find that on unseasonably warm days (or unseasonably cold) my pony gets very jumpy. He doesn't usually do anything bad, but he's definitely got a spark to him. my first pony, whom was a saint otherwise, acted up quite a bit on unseasonably weathered days.

[Come Shine]

lol!! Kind of glad to hear I am not the only one suffering from alien abduction syndrome. FiveBs: If it's in the newspaper, then it must be real (or perhaps surreal). :)

On a serious note, it does sound like there are some very reasonable explanations for her behaviour yesterday. Whew.

Amchara: Yup. No doubt in the world that her favorite rider is my son, for exactly that reason.

[Posting Trot]

A couple of other possibilities: One is saddle-fit. if you've been putting some dedicated training on her, it's possible that she's put on more muscle, and that means that the saddle (even if it fit well before) might have started pinching. Acting up in the cross-ties could be anticipating pain.

The second possibility, and this is partly dependent on where you live, is lyme disease. Horse with lyme disease will frequently have significant personality changes, sometimes becoming hyper-reactive and sometimes very lethargic. They can become very sensitive to touch and object to grooming, and all over body-soreness can mean acting up under saddle. A lyme check is relatively straightforward for the vet.

A third possibility might be a sore back. If she's had some arthritic changes in the hocks and her work load has increased substantially, that could be translating into a sore back (a sore back of course can also be caused by an ill-fitting saddle or by lyme disease).

In general, if a horse suddenly acts way out of character, the first thing to rule out is pain of some kind.

Good luck.

[Come Shine]

Rode the mare today and, although she was amped, nothing out of the ordinary. My coach said a lot of horses are 'being abducted' these days and not to worry about it too much.

Spoke to a few people at the barn and their horses are also being a bit wiggy at the moment.

I was thinking of having the vet out to check her out, kind of like a person having a physical before the start an exercise program. It sounds like that would be money well spent.

Thinking about what everyone has written has made me realize this was a bit of a 'perfect storm' situation.
- An older mare starting more work,
- possibly pain issues with more work: back, hocks, overall soreness from increased work,
- possible saddle issues,
- unseasonable weather,
- change in feeding, adding grain due to season b/c tough to keep weight on in cold,
- change in t/o, in/out depending on weather,
- additional mental demands of more work,
and
- unusual heat cycle due to weather.

Also, we have a very active deer population here and the popping out of the bush yesterday didn't help things!

Thanks again.

[fourmares]

Aliens abducted my gelding yesterday and replaced him with his evil twin.

[gf]

My mare was replaced by her evil twin all last week. Because it's been such a problem with my mare, and has manifest itself in so may ways, I'll also suggest ulcers. The timing could make sense as her work/stress level has increased.

i think its a good idea to have her looked over and checked out by the vet, it will give her and you the best shot at success and may help you solve problems before they get worse or turn into a harder problem to solve.

I'll also mention that I have had saddle fit issues be the cause of my girl's evil twin. After she got sick recently she lost a lot of muscle and fat in a short time and turned into a spooky, reactive pain in the a** (or back in her case ;)). When we figured out that her topline was totally different due to loss of muscle and changed her padding set up the problem was solved- doh!