# Mental Disorders In Horses



## Cowgirls Boots (Apr 6, 2011)

Subbing.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## New_image (Oct 27, 2007)

I would think that mental illness in horses falls under neurological conditions. It is relatively normal for a horse to “have it down” one day and not speak the same language the next. Or to be fine with something and then all of a sudden decide that its scary. But I am interested in what others have to say regarding this. There are plenty of smart horses, not as sharp horses, hot headed horses, dull horses and everything in between. 
On a side note we’ve joked about my twenty five year old mare becoming senile in her older age. Molly might need a padded cell soon. She has just started to pick up some real stupid thoughts to run with… Shes a stocky little Quarter Horse and just the other day she thought she’d jump the 5’6” fence? Of course that didn’t work and she looked completely embarrassed. We’ve owned her for fourteen years and I have always turned her loose to “mow” the yard, especially now that she is older and could use more grass time. She has taken to running off lately. I let her out and she will run around the yard, over to the field, down the field for about a quarter mile and run back home. Uh? She is also beginning to think that she fits places she actually doesn’t, seems to forget what she was asked mid question, has stood untied to be tacked up for the past ten years but requires being tied now because she’ll forget and walk away, always rode out alone great but lately acts like a clueless four year old who tries to run home. This is a brilliant horse that’s always been treated a little differently because of how smart, sweet and sensible she is but lately…. Sigh.
Curious to hear input on anyone whos noticed an aging horse change. People do, I’ve never looked into it but I guess I have no good reason as to why she wouldn’t be ageing mentally too.


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## Fringe (Feb 29, 2012)

At the barn where I take lessons, we used to have a horse who I was always told wasn't completely mentally stable. She was as sweet as could be, but a really nervous at times under saddle. She would always be weaving in her stall. She wasn't a good lesson horse, so she was sold to a place that had gotten a horse from us a few months earlier. These two knew each other, and they ended up turned out together. Ella got super, super attached to the other mare to the point where she wouldn't eat at all when they were apart. She lost a ton of weight in just the first month, so they couldn't keep her. Now she "babysits" weanling thoroughbreds and has been retired from riding and last I heard she's a happy healthy horse 
But there obviously is something not right in her head.


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## Sinister (Nov 28, 2011)

New_image said:


> I would think that mental illness in horses falls under neurological conditions.* It is relatively normal for a horse to “have it down” one day and not speak the same language the next. Or to be fine with something and then all of a sudden decide that its scary.* But I am interested in what others have to say regarding this. There are plenty of smart horses, not as sharp horses, hot headed horses, dull horses and everything in between....


Yeah I understand that horses are like that, I've owned horse all my life and most of them were spooky and/or unpredictable and I've ridden/trained young horses before. But with her it's different. I don't really know how to explain it really you'd have to see it, she just forgets where she is, not what she's doing. Like yesterday she was "sleeping" on the cross ties [we have it so the cross ties are hooked with baling twine so if a horse rears/spooks the baling twin breaks] and all of a sudden she reared straight up and launched forward and just kept rearing for 4 or 5 minutes and looked like she had no clue where she was. Not really spooked, just confused and scared. Like I said I can't really explain what happens that greatly.




> At the barn where I take lessons, we used to have a horse who I was always told wasn't completely mentally stable. She was as sweet as could be, but a really nervous at times under saddle. She would always be weaving in her stall. She wasn't a good lesson horse, so she was sold to a place that had gotten a horse from us a few months earlier. These two knew each other, and they ended up turned out together. Ella got super, super attached to the other mare to the point where she wouldn't eat at all when they were apart. She lost a ton of weight in just the first month, so they couldn't keep her. Now she "babysits" weanling thoroughbreds and has been retired from riding and last I heard she's a happy healthy horse
> But there obviously is something not right in her head.


I knew a horse that was like that, but she was in her late teens and had been severly abused for most of her life. A friend of mine has an amazing gelding, one of the most gorgeous horses I've seen. But she's the only one that can ride him [for safety reasons] because he has what her vet said was a "mental tick" cause he couldn't find anything physically wrong with him and she's owned him since he was a yearling. He just starts bucking uncontrollably and shakes his head, rubs it like he has a bug in his head [best way I can really explain it]. He has to stay outside all the time because he had an "episode" one night in his stall and almost killed himself. He's 9yo now and retired from showing and is just a pleasure horse now and is getting better with age and supplements and a strict diet.


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## oh vair oh (Mar 27, 2012)

We got a mare that went crazy (I think so, anyway). She didn't catch her breeding at the same time as her pasture mate, so we eventually had to separate them when the baby came. I don't honestly know what's wrong with her, but she does the same thing the OP's horse does. Paces the fence, constantly, freaks out at nothing, runs around like an idiot for no reason, and will just generally have a panic attack out of thin air. We thought it was separation anxiety, so after we weaned the foal we were able to put her and her mate back out together, but then she just began driving that mare insane. Not literally, but the little thing would spook and run around and then the other mare would get paranoid because it was wondering what the hell was going on... It's a shame because she's a Zippo daughter that we haven't bred yet, and want to, but are too afraid for the foal. She might abort because of all that imaginary stress. We're still trying to get rid of her as cheaply as possible.... 

Worst part is my mom wants me to start breaking the broodmares (including her) so we can sell a few. x.x We got her checked out at the vet and she is fine by him, gets fed good food and never puts on weight. I really don't know what I'm going to do when I get on her.


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## Sinister (Nov 28, 2011)

oh vair oh said:


> We got a mare that went crazy (I think so, anyway). She didn't catch her breeding at the same time as her pasture mate, so we eventually had to separate them when the baby came. I don't honestly know what's wrong with her, but she does the same thing the OP's horse does. Paces the fence, constantly, freaks out at nothing, runs around like an idiot for no reason, and will just generally have a panic attack out of thin air. We thought it was separation anxiety, so after we weaned the foal we were able to put her and her mate back out together, but then she just began driving that mare insane. Not literally, but the little thing would spook and run around and then the other mare would get paranoid because it was wondering what the hell was going on... It's a shame because she's a Zippo daughter that we haven't bred yet, and want to, but are too afraid for the foal. She might abort because of all that imaginary stress. We're still trying to get rid of her as cheaply as possible....
> 
> Worst part is my mom wants me to start breaking the broodmares (including her) so we can sell a few. x.x We got her checked out at the vet and she is fine by him, gets fed good food and never puts on weight. I really don't know what I'm going to do when I get on her.


Actually your mare sounds like she's having anticipated separation anxiety. My mare doesn't pace the fence like yours and is actually sane 90% of the time LOL.  It's like separation anxiety but she's anticipating being separated. I had a pony that I bought and had to take back because it was so herd bound to the other pony [they were a driving team for years] and I guess the pony would never leave the other pony alone once it got back and would just freak out like your mare. :-|


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## oh vair oh (Mar 27, 2012)

I know, but she's been doing this for the past two years... She just stands in the pasture, not eating, staring off into the distance, then runs away and bucks. And she is still freaking out even with the mare with her. x.x


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## BlueSpark (Feb 22, 2012)

yes they can. Worked with a quarter horse gelding like this, He would be fine, then loose it, then fine again. Definately a mental issue. I've heared something about horses with lyme disease getting like this.


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## Kawonu (Apr 24, 2011)

Wow, this is a very interesting topic, and I'm curious about it as well. But why not? Just the simple fact that if animals can have diseases similar to ours at all, why on earth not mental health problems? Now, remember that there are many species out there that don't have certain parts of the brain like us, or have something a little more. Because of these things, animals won't and cannot function anywhere close to us.

A fine example of this is cats. They don't have the frontal lobe like humans, and therefore cannot make a decision as we can - everything a cat does is based completely off of instinct. Period. 

I don't know much about the equine brain, but I hope to learn a lot when I start training to be a veterinary assistant (and I'm hoping an equine vet will take me on as a practicing student). I'm going to assume, for the moment, that horses do have the possibility to suffer from mental illnesses, possibly such as anxiety and depression. We all know horses can flare up their instincts and run away from a blade of grass any day, but if I've learned anything from watching groups of horses, one usually doesn't freak out by itself - usually at least one other will stare at the scary thing or flip out as well. And surely we all know depression can reach it's affects on horses. I know my old mare Princess seemed a little less giddy for awhile after my other mare, Goldie, had been given away and moved.

I'll be watching this thread.


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## BlueSpark (Feb 22, 2012)

> possibly such as anxiety and depression


Seen these two many times, have a horse on the farm thats suffered from both.


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## Sinister (Nov 28, 2011)

BlueSpark said:


> yes they can. Worked with a quarter horse gelding like this, He would be fine, then loose it, then fine again. Definately a mental issue. I've heared something about horses with lyme disease getting like this.


I used to ride a school pony that had lyme [he was obviously not used by many people because of this!] best pony ever, just when he'd have his episodes you couldn't get near him [literally].

But I thought the same when I first got her because I knew of the pony mentioned above and thought they acted the same, but the tests came back negative but I'm going to be getting her retested when she has her yearly shots just to make sure it really isn't that.



Does anybody know of any vets or vet techs/soon to be vets on here that might know the answer to what's going on with my mare?


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## Sinister (Nov 28, 2011)

BlueSpark said:


> yes they can. Worked with a quarter horse gelding like this, He would be fine, then loose it, then fine again. Definately a mental issue. I've heared something about horses with lyme disease getting like this.


Sorry, posted twice!


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## LValentina (Jan 25, 2012)

I've also heard of horses that were deprived of oxygen during the birthing process that are just "not right", (obviously there is probably a medical term and condition for this, but i'm not sure of it haha). Do you know the mares history previous to when you bought her?


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## Sinister (Nov 28, 2011)

LValentina said:


> I've also heard of horses that were deprived of oxygen during the birthing process that are just "not right", (obviously there is probably a medical term and condition for this, but i'm not sure of it haha). Do you know the mares history previous to when you bought her?


Her owners [that bred her] were...well I don't know how to put it other then snobby-know-everything-know-nothings that didn't get her broke till she was 5yo and mostly just let her sit in a pasture at a fancy boarding stable because they didn't like her color [they wanted a Paint like her dam]. She had hunter/jumper training when I bought her [but she'd never cantered under saddle before :-|] then they gave her to a friend where she stayed for a few months with a "natural horseman" woman [also my mares sires owner] until she decided to sell her because she wasn't registered Welsh [what she breeds]. I've been talking with the people from the stable where she was boarded at but no one really wants to talk. :?


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## damnedEvans (Jan 23, 2010)

I know a horse with a very strange behavior. He was an abused horse when he was rescued. He was very aggressive and would attack anyone. When he was tied if more than 2 persons were in the same room with him he was very stressed and would bite the lead rope, a metal bar near him, anything. He still does this when you are grooming him or when he's nervous. He had a couple of months when he was a saint, he ended his aggressive behavior. After some time he started again to be as aggressive as he was. 
Now only his trainer can work with him. Sometimes he is calm and very obedient and next day he could try to kill his trainer. He does this for over an year now. He is with the same trainer, under the same training and under the same methods as always. Can't understand why sometimes he is obedient and sweet and after a moment he tries to kill someone. You can be near him, grooming him as always, praising him etc and suddenly he freaks out, squeals and then attack you. After the incident he is back to his normal self as nothing happened. 

He can be just an aggressive horse or he can have some mental problems.


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## BlueSpark (Feb 22, 2012)

for the op, i wonder if she is deficient in some mineral?


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## Sinister (Nov 28, 2011)

BlueSpark said:


> for the op, i wonder if she is deficient in some mineral?


I've had all kinds of tests done on her and everything comes back normal. I even checked if she might be pregnant because over the summer she started getting rounder, and a little moody. And since her old owner had two stallions on her property [one was a coming 2yo, the other her sire] you never know.


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## CCBella (Jul 6, 2010)

My friend had a gorgeous paint filly that she bred and raised. This filly had something wrong with her mentally. She would act similar to the abused horse describe above as she would be standing there meek and mild most days and then suddenly have teeth or hooves coming at you with no warning at all. She was handled the same as any of my friends horses and was not the first difficult horse or first baby my friend had owned/bred and trained. She was assessed and tested by 3 separate vets as well as 3 different trainers and all came back with "she's just got a screw loose". They ended up putting her down as she was a danger to herself, other animals and people.


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## WesternBella (Jan 7, 2012)

Subbing because I am wanting to learn more..
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## ohmyitschelle (Aug 23, 2008)

Anxiety and depression are DEFINITELY conditions I have personally seen in horses before. My mare has been miserable since losing her gelding friend over a year ago. Whilst she copes with day to day actions, she is dull and yearns for other horsey socialising. We have two other horses on the property that "roam" and visit her from time to time, at least two times a week... and she goes back to normal, but when they leave her, she becomes depressed again. Financially I haven't been able to afford a second horse for her as company, but have recently looked into this for her.

As for anxiety, my gelding (that I sold) suffered from it. He was very sensitive to change. Even if you shifted the water tubs five inches from where they had just been, he'd refuse to drink for hours on end, snort fire at them, run up to them, then realise they still weren't where they had been, freak out, run away over and over until he finally accepted this. He did it with many other things too, except in the saddle - what a relief! He was an apprentice drivers horse (ex racing Standardbred) for 7yrs before I got him, so he had wound himself up and windsucked - though he never latch onto anything, simply twisted his lip to the side and sucked in air whenever he felt uncomfortable. He was healthy as apart from this issue (which had affected his teeth and thus he needed to live on longer grass and supplemented feeding). The anxiety episodes did slow down the longer I owned him, as he became accustomed to having one solid person in his life. But he still did suffer over the most random things... one thing I disliked was rugging him... he'd make SUCH a fuss on some days, on others not even a blink in recognition. Horses eh?!

I'm interested to see what comes of this interesting topic and to the OP, I hope you can get an answer soon... I'm sure it can be very frustrating and worrisome!


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## fromthismoment (Feb 17, 2012)

I have an OTTB with a few unique issues. Anxiety is the main one. Right now I've got him on a supplement called calm and cool by Riva's Remedies. We seem to be having some success with it. He has many other special accommodations as well in order to prevent him from hurting himself or me. He's a great athletic horse with a few unusual reactions. 

Also I recently watched the documentary Buck. They had a stallion that had been absolutely ruined by some lady. The lady said that the horse had been cut off from getting air for a while at birth.


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## GeeGee Gem (Oct 14, 2011)

I'd be tempted to get every full examination that you can first to rule out any cause of pain. horses can often be seen to react as if they're trying to 'run away' from pain.

After that... I don't really know. Maybe try some join up? Be her leader and build her trust in you. Hopefully she'll eventually accept that she's safe with you. x


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## Sinister (Nov 28, 2011)

GeeGee Gem said:


> I'd be tempted to get every full examination that you can first to rule out any cause of pain. horses can often be seen to react as if they're trying to 'run away' from pain.
> 
> After that... I don't really know. Maybe try some join up? Be her leader and build her trust in you. Hopefully she'll eventually accept that she's safe with you. x


As I stated before, I've gotten every possible test done [vitamin deficiency to physical pain/problems] and they've all come back normal. 

She trusts me 100%, will do anything I ask her, fallow me anywhere. We've do join up all the time and everything. :?


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## BlueSpark (Feb 22, 2012)

i used to work with disabled childeren. she sounds almost like the kids who have small "silent" seizures. Suddenly they dont know where they are and some lash out.

either its something mental or she has an unpredictable streak. knew a thoroughbred mare that was really unpredictable, she would throw fits, check out mentally and run through things, break lead ropes, etc. It was a combination of being really mentally immature(she could not deal with being trained, did not handle extra stress well) and an old injury in her hip making her uncomfortable. Gave her some extra time, backed up her training, got her hip treated to releive the discomfort, and she has become a fantastic horse to ride. With her she would be stressed and uncomfortable,but she would still work without much fuss for the trainer, seemed normal, there wouldn't be much warning before she hit the point where she went crazy.


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## Sinister (Nov 28, 2011)

BlueSpark said:


> i used to work with disabled childeren. she sounds almost like the kids who have small "silent" seizures. Suddenly they dont know where they are and some lash out.
> 
> either its something mental or she has an unpredictable streak. knew a thoroughbred mare that was really unpredictable, she would throw fits, check out mentally and run through things, break lead ropes, etc. It was a combination of being really mentally immature(she could not deal with being trained, did not handle extra stress well) and an old injury in her hip making her uncomfortable. Gave her some extra time, backed up her training, got her hip treated to releive the discomfort, and she has become a fantastic horse to ride. With her she would be stressed and uncomfortable,but she would still work without much fuss for the trainer, seemed normal, there wouldn't be much warning before she hit the point where she went crazy.


I'll get her re-checked for seizures too [already getting retested for lyme].


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## Sinister (Nov 28, 2011)

I've been speaking with my mares original owner [the one that bred her/owner of her dam] and she said she was never "quite right" and would do the same thing I'm describing when she was younger. She too thought it was just her being young and spooky, but also said she too thought she might have been/be having seizures.
Even if she isn't having seizures and we never really find out what's wrong with her it makes me feel better knowing it's nothing I've done. 

Also, does anyone on here have a horse that has seizures? And does anybody think this could be caused by oxygen deprivation when she was being born? I just thought of that today because I remembered the "Buck Stallion" and the women claimed that the colt was deprived of air when he was being born which cause his neurological problems. :-|


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## Ripper (Apr 1, 2012)

One winter my stud horse just did not look as good as normal.

Not the gloss he had......he was 14 and retired.

No more horse shows, I never bred many mares with him.

I had the vet tube de-worm him...that is they way I always de-wormed by horses.

We decided if he did not start straiting up the vet would take some blood.

The horse was 15.3 hands and 1300 pounds...at least.

He has won many big western pleasure classes.

I put him out for exercise.

When I called him he had an awful look on his face....that is all I remember.

He went right through three wide 2" boards.

I put my arm over my face...he bit me under the arm...then shook and drug me though the field.

A guy saw it from the road and ran into the field.

The horse let go.....I got 3500 stitches and a few days in intensive care.

When the horse was put down about a month later, it was found he had a brain tumor.

This was the only time the horse bit but, after that day he was never right.

He would for no known reason just flip over bacwards in his stall.


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## BlueSpark (Feb 22, 2012)

Good greif Ripper! Thats crazy.


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## Ripper (Apr 1, 2012)

BlueSpark said:


> Good greif Ripper! Thats crazy.


Yes, it is.

He had a huge tumor pressing on his brain.


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## Kawonu (Apr 24, 2011)

Oh my gods, Ripper. Wow, ****, that's the last thing on most people's minds.


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## Ripper (Apr 1, 2012)

Stoddard said:


> Oh my gods, Ripper. Wow, ****, that's the last thing on most people's minds.


I never dreamed my beloved pet would try to kill me.

Vets told me it was not personal.

After I was afraid of the horse......the farrier told me it wasn't worth it to work on his feet.

The vet all did not want to deal with him.

But, the worst part......so many WELL meaning neighbours offered to shoot him.

In the end he was put down bt my vet.


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## WalnutPixie (Oct 15, 2010)

I haven't had time to read through everything but I wanted to share.

I boarded my mare at a horse rescue for a while. They had a gelding there who was definitely retarded. I don't know what was wrong but I suspect that maybe he had been a dummy foal, deprived of oxygen for too long when he was born, but was just functional enough to live. He was probably pretty lucky to wind up at the rescue.

He would spend the whole day playing with his tongue. Just...playing with it. He'd chew on it, stick it out and generally move it around constantly. He almost acted like he didn't know what it was, like he was confused about why there was such a strange thing in his mouth. I know that some horses will do similar things with their tongues when they have tooth problems but I don't think that was why he acted that way.

He was sweet enough on the few occasions that I tried to pet him through the stall. The barn owners told me that he was an absolute monster to handle, though. They said that he was extremely dangerous and would rear constantly. Hs behavior wasn't necessarily aggressive; he acted like he didn't really know what he was doing. He couldn't be led and it would take hours for him to learn anything. Unfortunately he seemed to completely forget anything that they did manage to teach him by the next day. He lived exclusively in a stall because of his behavior, which might have had something to do with his craziness, but they were fairly good horse trainers. They trained some of the other horses on stall rest without an issue, and retrained problem horses, so I don't think his behavior was simply bad training or management.

He was an interesting horse, that's for sure. I haven't seen anything play with its tongue like that before or since.


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## WalnutPixie (Oct 15, 2010)

Okay, now I've read everything. xD

OP, It must be nerve wracking to not be able to figure out what's going on with your horse. I hope you can find some way to help her soon! Ripper, I think I stopped breathing for a second when I read your story. I just cannot imagine how awful that must have been. I agree with Stoddard, something like that would never even cross my mind.


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## Sinister (Nov 28, 2011)

Ripper said:


> One winter my stud horse just did not look as good as normal.
> 
> Not the gloss he had......he was 14 and retired.
> 
> ...


:shock: Wow, that's terrible! People around here would just say, "that's a perfect example why you can never trust a stud." And just blame it solely on him being a stud.

I'm glad I know my mare doesn't have one [she's been like this since she was a little baby in case you hadn't read the previous posts]. 



> I haven't had time to read through everything but I wanted to share.
> 
> I boarded my mare at a horse rescue for a while. They had a gelding there who was definitely retarded. I don't know what was wrong but I suspect that maybe he had been a dummy foal, deprived of oxygen for too long when he was born, but was just functional enough to live. He was probably pretty lucky to wind up at the rescue.
> 
> ...


He does sound like an autistic human, poor baby. :?


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## Ripper (Apr 1, 2012)

Sinister said:


> :shock: Wow, that's terrible! People around here would just say, "that's a perfect example why you can never trust a stud." And just blame it solely on him being a stud.
> 
> I'm glad I know my mare doesn't have one [she's been like this since she was a little baby in case you hadn't read the previous posts].
> 
> ...


Yes, around here it was just because he was a stud.

Oh, and it was also according to rumor because I was on my period.

Not true BTW.


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## Sinister (Nov 28, 2011)

Ripper said:


> Yes, around here it was just because he was a stud.
> 
> *Oh, and it was also according to rumor because I was on my period.*
> 
> Not true BTW.


That's extremely immature.


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## Ripper (Apr 1, 2012)

Sinister said:


> That's extremely immature.


Yes, just something some people believed to be true.


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## Kawonu (Apr 24, 2011)

Ripper said:


> Yes, around here it was just because he was a stud.
> 
> Oh, and it was also according to rumor because I was on my period.
> 
> Not true BTW.


That's stupid, and now it's downright proven to me. Why? Because half of the male horses in the barn I now work at are very studly stallions, and the week I started, I was on my cycle. So, huh. I guess it shows people will look for any reason to blame the horse.


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## 2SCHorses (Jun 18, 2011)

ohmyitschelle said:


> Anxiety and depression are DEFINITELY conditions I have personally seen in horses before. My mare has been miserable since losing her gelding friend over a year ago. Whilst she copes with day to day actions, she is dull and yearns for other horsey socialising. We have two other horses on the property that "roam" and visit her from time to time, at least two times a week... and she goes back to normal, but when they leave her, she becomes depressed again. Financially I haven't been able to afford a second horse for her as company, but have recently looked into this for her.
> 
> As for anxiety, my gelding (that I sold) suffered from it. He was very sensitive to change. Even if you shifted the water tubs five inches from where they had just been, he'd refuse to drink for hours on end, snort fire at them, run up to them, then realise they still weren't where they had been, freak out, run away over and over until he finally accepted this. He did it with many other things too, except in the saddle - what a relief! He was an apprentice drivers horse (ex racing Standardbred) for 7yrs before I got him, so he had wound himself up and windsucked - though he never latch onto anything, simply twisted his lip to the side and sucked in air whenever he felt uncomfortable. He was healthy as apart from this issue (which had affected his teeth and thus he needed to live on longer grass and supplemented feeding). The anxiety episodes did slow down the longer I owned him, as he became accustomed to having one solid person in his life. But he still did suffer over the most random things... one thing I disliked was rugging him... he'd make SUCH a fuss on some days, on others not even a blink in recognition. Horses eh?!
> 
> I'm interested to see what comes of this interesting topic and to the OP, I hope you can get an answer soon... I'm sure it can be very frustrating and worrisome!


My gelding reacts the same way when I take my mare off to rides (we do endurance riding). He gets very depressed and my husband notices he stands in his shelter and won't really eat or drink much. It has always been a bit of a challenge to keep weight on him, but this made it worse. However, we recently rescued a mini horse gelding from a nearby farm. It has made ALL the difference. When I packed up my mare in the trailer today, he didn't even neigh like crazy at the fence. He and the mini just kept right on grazing together, and he was still out there eating when I got home (it's also nice because the mini barely eats any hay compared to my others!).


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## Lins (Nov 8, 2011)

When I get on a computer, I will tell everyone about my boy Mason (RIP). he was thought to be brain damaged, and I had to ride him and handle him very carefully. We got banned from a barn once due to a staff member not listening to my warnings. He was beyond weird, and taught me so much about life. He is also the reason why I have the ability to retrain problem horses.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Bridgertrot (Dec 2, 2011)

Sinister said:


> I've been speaking with my mares original owner [the one that bred her/owner of her dam] and she said she was never "quite right" and would do the same thing I'm describing when she was younger. She too thought it was just her being young and spooky, but also said she too thought she might have been/be having seizures.
> Even if she isn't having seizures and we never really find out what's wrong with her it makes me feel better knowing it's nothing I've done.
> 
> Also, does anyone on here have a horse that has seizures? And does anybody think this could be caused by oxygen deprivation when she was being born? I just thought of that today because I remembered the "Buck Stallion" and the women claimed that the colt was deprived of air when he was being born which cause his neurological problems. :-|


I don't own a horse with seizures but I know it does happen. We had a girl boarding her horses at our place before. Her mare also never seemed quite right. Although, she did have a slight dent in her head, which we believe is from getting kicked when younger and she also cribbed. 

She was pastures with another mare who I kind of felt bad for because the mental mare would never leave her alone and displayed odd behavior. She was always glued to the other horse. We constantly found mane and tail hair in her cribbing collar cause she always had to be touching the other horse. 

One day I noticed her running around violently through the field. Circling and circling like she was a racehorse. She eventually stopped and glued herself to the other mare again so I thought nothing of it. I left and came back a few hours later and noticed her laying down but sitting up. Once again I thought nothing of it. I looked a little closer and noticed she was moving funny and was covered in about a billion flies. When I went over I noticed her eyes moving around rapidly, making funny noises and weird twitches. Tried to get her up but she wouldn't. That's when I knew something was wring and she was seizuring. 

Got the vet out and she eventually got up. Walking around drunk and almost falling over. It was very weird looking into her eyes because you could tell nothing was there. She just mindlessly walked around the pasture, and was very sensitive to everything. Normally was easy to catch but we couldnt get her. We have a large irrigation ditch that we thought she was going to fall in but we were able to push her away from it ourselves which was pretty scary. She bounced off the fence a few times too and cut herself up pretty badly. Vet poked her with a knife in very sensitive places with no response. 

We think she had an aneurism of some sort. Very hard to watch. She was put down when we finally caught her. That's my experience so far with horse seizures. 

On the other hand, we have what we think is a bipolar mustang at our place. You can do the most random things and he'll turn aggressive. Like one day I was jumping up and down just outside the fence and he immediately pinned his ears and pawed in an aggressive way. His owners did tell me he was abused by his first owners. He can only be ridden English as he turns aggressive when he even sees a western saddle.
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## Sinister (Nov 28, 2011)

Bridgertrot said:


> I don't own a horse with seizures but I know it does happen. We had a girl boarding her horses at our place before. Her mare also never seemed quite right. Although, she did have a slight dent in her head, which we believe is from getting kicked when younger and she also cribbed.
> 
> She was pastures with another mare who I kind of felt bad for because the mental mare would never leave her alone and displayed odd behavior. She was always glued to the other horse. We constantly found mane and tail hair in her cribbing collar cause she always had to be touching the other horse.
> 
> ...


I've never really watched my mares eyes when she has her moments, but I don't think her eyes twitch like that?

I would freak out if that happened to one of my horses, I don't think I could deal with seeing that. :-(


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## Bridgertrot (Dec 2, 2011)

Yeah it was pretty rough on me. And her eyes were definitely twitching. I'm sure there are different symptoms with different seizures. Part of me wonders if she would have come out if it eventually. But it had been quite a long time before we could catch her. And quite honestly...the best way to describe her was that she just looked soulless...walking around mechanically. I even brought that up with the vet and he said he believed I was correct and that she was already mentally dead and her body was running on pure instinct and adrenaline.
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