Kicking When Harnessed

[Eve Bostock]

hi. I have worked with miniature horses for most of my life. But I just bought my first miniature horse named Sox in August of 2019. She was great for the first month and a half. She was driving and giving me no issues. About a month and a half after I got her she started to kick me when I put on her harness and run away when I go to put her halter on. So I moved her to a different barn with less activities going on. And she's starting to do the same thing. I had the vet come out. Which led me to put her on guastroguard and the vet discovered that she's got a weak left stifle. She has always been the sweetest thing. She used to be my 4h project. I trained her to drive and helped her. She's just had a attitude change. I don't know what to do with her to help her?? Any ideas?? Anything that might help??

 

[MindySchroder]

I had a mare that went from sweet to mad, sad, twitchy and I finally figured out she was magnesium deficient. That may be your issue as well, if pain has been ruled out completely. Here is a blog post I wrote about my experience!

https://www.theessentialhorse.com/post/magnesium-deficiency

 

[user 44366]

There are certainly multiple things you can look at - you might try to really look at the first time she exhibited the change - try to recall any and all details possible. Magnesium can help in terms of body alone, but there sure could be additional things. As you dig around and investigate - of course, check all of your equipment - observe your past routine - look at everything you can. We recently brought a little horse back to driving after she had gotten stung by a bee, and took off with the cart - driver had stepped out, and she lost the lines. I documented the steps we took with her in video form on my Supertonk FB page. It was extremely rewarding to bring her back, and she is still doing well, as is her driver. This is one of the key elements we applied to her, as her body had taken a bit of a beating when she and the cart crashed into a fence - and of course, her mental state was badly affected as well. Have a look at the videos on the FB page - and here is a link to the Ttouch work. Search for the "body wrap" - it was very, very helpful to Button!! I include a photo of Button with the body wrap, and we also used our skijoring system to help her with the extreme tightness in her hindquarters. Best of luck to you!! https://ttouch.ca/horses/

 

[Cayuse]

The weak stifle could be causing pain and her attitude could be a defense mechanism to protect her from the pain. I have a mini with a weak stifle and we had it x-rayed and it showed arthritic changes in the joint.
Did your get do any x-rays? That is where I would begin. Then you can make a plan from the info the x-rays show.
In my case LOTS of walking in harness with short trot sets helped build up his muscles to support the joint. He is also on Adaquan injections as needed andan hyaluronic acid oral joint supplement given daily.

 

[Eve Bostock]

I had a mare that went from sweet to mad, sad, twitchy and I finally figured out she was magnesium deficient. That may be your issue as well, if pain has been ruled out completely. Here is a blog post I wrote about my experience!

https://www.theessentialhorse.com/post/magnesium-deficiency

Which magnesium do you buy? Where does it come from? When I get it how to I feed it to her? Should I just put a cup or so into a feed dish?

 

[Eve Bostock]

I had a mare that went from sweet to mad, sad, twitchy and I finally figured out she was magnesium deficient. That may be your issue as well, if pain has been ruled out completely. Here is a blog post I wrote about my experience!

https://www.theessentialhorse.com/post/magnesium-deficiency

Will electrolytes help with her magnesium deficiency or should I do something else?

 

[Willow Flats]

I use the Mag Restore for one of my horses which I purchase through Equine Nutrition. You can call them for a feeding recommendation which is what I did, being I was using it for a mini and wanted to insure I was giving a proper dosage. The woman I spoke with was really helpful. We started with a loading dose and then now he gets 1/2 of the scooper provided morning and evening with his supplements. He was touchy when brushed and nervous in general. It has helped him tremendously, as it helps with nerve and muscle function.

I am am thinking your Sox has pain as Cayuse has suggested and she is trying to tell you in the only way she knows how. I have a horse that when he was new to me started out driving just fine because he was willing to please. Then he started to act out and it took a bit of time to figure out what was going on with him. In his case it was an issue with his poll and neck. I had an Equine Massage Therapist work with my guy and he let her know where the pain was! She had me do stretching exercises for him and I also started him on a regular exercise program, taking it easy at first and building up his fitness as we went. Thankfully he is as good as gold now. I decided that if I expected my driving horse to be an athlete I was going to treat him like one. I keep up a regular fitness program for my two driving horses, weather permitting of course.

I hope you can pinpoint where her pain is and help her through it. If only they could talk and tell us what is going on! Keep us posted so we can continue to learn from each others experiences.

 

[Eve Bostock]

I use the Mag Restore for one of my horses which I purchase through Equine Nutrition. You can call them for a feeding recommendation which is what I did, being I was using it for a mini and wanted to insure I was giving a proper dosage. The woman I spoke with was really helpful. We started with a loading dose and then now he gets 1/2 of the scooper provided morning and evening with his supplements. He was touchy when brushed and nervous in general. It has helped him tremendously, as it helps with nerve and muscle function.

I am am thinking your Sox has pain as Cayuse has suggested and she is trying to tell you in the only way she knows how. I have a horse that when he was new to me started out driving just fine because he was willing to please. Then he started to act out and it took a bit of time to figure out what was going on with him. In his case it was an issue with his poll and neck. I had an Equine Massage Therapist work with my guy and he let her know where the pain was! She had me do stretching exercises for him and I also started him on a regular exercise program, taking it easy at first and building up his fitness as we went. Thankfully he is as good as gold now. I decided that if I expected my driving horse to be an athlete I was going to treat him like one. I keep up a regular fitness program for my two driving horses, weather permitting of course.

I hope you can pinpoint where her pain is and help her through it. If only they could talk and tell us what is going on! Keep us posted so we can continue to learn from each others experiences.

Hi. She usually has issues with me touching, grooming or outing a hurt around her belly. Which is why I originally thought ulcers. But thanks for the advice. I will try that. For the time being would it be acceptable to put her on electrolytes until I can get some magnesium

 

[Willow Flats]

It would not hurt as there is some magnesium in electrolytes. I have read several articles that say it will encourage a horse to drink more water in the winter when they normally drink less. People usually think of using in the summer months.

I just want to clarify something about the horse I was telling you about in my reply above.

He was new to me and my first driving horse. I was asking him to perform in a way that he was not fit enough to do so that is why he acted out. I have learned that fitness is key to having a happy driving horse.

 

[MindySchroder]

If you think this is a magnesium deficiency then I would put her on some magnesium powder, not just electrolytes. In the post I shared above there is a link to some magnesium powder that I like to use. I also put the EXACT kind of magnesium you should look for in that post. Did you get a chance to read through it?

I also shared exactly how I feed it in that post. IF it is a magnesium deficiency you will see a change in her within a few days. If it is not a deficiency then there will be zero changes. There can be so many things contributing to her behavior. This is just one of the many!