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Suddenly kicking in turnout.

Posted: Tue Nov 17, 2015 5:31 pm
by svvdressage
I have a 6 year old mare currently in private turnout because she is very bottom of the pecking order and is often picked on until she is hurt. She is currently turned out in a tiny outside paddock that is maybe 75 by 75. She has been in this pen for the last 6 months without any problem but about 3 weeks ago I got a note from the barn owner saying that they brought her in because she was constantly kicking at her neighbors and they didn't want her to get hurt. This weekend we went to a clinic and she was in a half acre private turnout and while there she would stand at the fence with a neighbor horse the entire time. But she would stand there pawing at them and if they looked in her direction she would either start kicking at them like crazy or rearing at them with her ears back. She has never been like this before. Right now she has been exiled to her stall all the time except for a few hours a day when she can be turned out in the indoor. Individual turn out without a neighbor is not a possibility. She has never had an issue with a neighbor before and I would really like to try to figure out what might of changed now and how to fix it because I can't change the turnout situation

Re: Suddenly kicking in turnout.

Posted: Tue Nov 17, 2015 5:35 pm
by digihorse
Its called hormones. Are the neighbours all male?

Re: Suddenly kicking in turnout.

Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2015 1:14 am
by svvdressage
No neighbors are not all male, we have rotated 6 different horses in the paddock next to her. At the clinic she was in a large paddock and still stood kicking at the fence anytime someone got near it, mare or gelding.

Re: Suddenly kicking in turnout.

Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2015 1:48 am
by onetrickpony
Ulcers? Ovarian cyst?

Re: Suddenly kicking in turnout.

Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2015 8:10 pm
by Quelah
Likely hormones. You could try putting her on regumate and see if it goes away.

Re: Suddenly kicking in turnout.

Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2015 11:21 pm
by svvdressage
Quelah wrote:Likely hormones. You could try putting her on regumate and see if it goes away.


Thanks. This is exactly the kind of advice I was hoping for, I figured it was hormones but it's been so long since I've had to deal with a cranky mare that regumate never even came to mind!

Re: Suddenly kicking in turnout.

Posted: Thu Nov 19, 2015 5:29 am
by Kyra's Mom
I would get a repro exam done on her.

I had a mare that got really cranky and savaged her pasture mate over the fence at least twice. I packed her up and took her to the vet to get her palpated and ultrasounded. They thought is was a retained follicle. Gave her the shot to shed it and I took her back in December...when nothing should have been going on. She had a mass on one ovary. It wasn't a granulosa cell tumor that secreted hormones but when she would come in heat, she was painful and it was all his fault. She also was not a fun ride during that time...think pogo stick WITHOUT springs :P. I did have her spayed and it totally returned her to her a nice cooperative state. Oh, it was still the gelding's fault but at least I never again found him with blood dripping down his chest from where she lit into him.

It could be many things but I would guess hormones have something to do with it and a thorough workup would be good before you start throwing things at the problem.

Good luck.
Susan

Re: Suddenly kicking in turnout.

Posted: Thu Apr 21, 2016 11:15 pm
by orono
Does she kick in her stall too?

I agree with everything mentioned above. Is there any possibility in having her in a paddock without neighbours, at least temporarily to see what happens?

Re: Suddenly kicking in turnout.

Posted: Mon May 16, 2016 4:11 pm
by Alex
There might be some truth to it's being hormones or a physical issue but if she's ISOLATED in this minute paddock you mention that on its own causes many of the same issues of aroused passions and intolerance of other horses. I'd try to find a horse or a few horses w/whom your mare can be turned out and see if that returns her to equine equanimity. Horses are just not meant to be in isolation. Even if they're bottom of the pecking order.

Re: Suddenly kicking in turnout.

Posted: Mon May 16, 2016 5:39 pm
by kande50
I had a mini mare who would do the same thing, but I think her problem was fear. She'd been chased and bitten and rolled by bigger horses before, and I think she was just trying to drive them off before they got to her. She was in with her mother so not isolated, but while the mother would run away if she felt that the bigger horses were threatening her through the fence, her daughter would back up to the fence or gate and kick at them.

I don't think horses feel that they're isolated when they share fence lines with other horses, because they certainly act like they think they're part of the herd.