I loved hearing all of your answers about horse costs! I can say it varies a little but in general seems to be about the same overall. Very interesting indeed :)
Now I have another question, and this is a new concern of mine. I would love opinions/help/etc on the matter.
As of 2 weeks ago, Yankee has been incessantly twitching/nodding his head. It is a mystery and very peculiar. He has never displayed this kind of behavior before and I have changed nothing in his routine. Nothing. Turnout, grain, rides, stall time, etc are all consistent and he gets out from 8am-4pm everyday so I know he is not bored. Ponyface is very used to (and prefers) partial turnout.
Its starting to bug me since I'm begining to think its neurological. The twitch is weird- he will be standing cross tied or out in the pasture and every 10-15 seconds he will jerk his head up. Like a nervous twitch...but he's standing perfectly still. No pawing...no nervous poops. Just twitching.
In addition, he will toss his head over and over and over. He just stands there, flipping it. Not only is it ANNOYING but I want to know WHY.
Observe.
So odd. He doesn't do it while being ridden, which is great. But he obviously does it while tacked up, and will do it when we are just standing (mounted) and in the pasture like a friggin retard.. It is DRIVING ME INSANE.
HELP preese. Anyone know why this is happening??
Other than that malarky we've had some good ride this week. It was exceptionally warm in the early par tof the week but then dropped to about 20. Missouri.
We've been on a few hacks...
And jumped a little bit...
....you know, the usual badassery.
And did one little dressage sesh. He's been mighty good, loose and responsive to everything and is jumping better than he ever has before. Longer warm-ups in dressage help him be perfect in our schools (stay connected, loose, relaxed). Wish I had time to spend 3 hours at the barn though. Our jumping practice has been absolutely fabulous. He's getting better at landing on his leads (thanks to my overexaggerated asking) and coming away from the jumps more balanced and ready for the next. I'm also getter better about waiting for the jump to come and not overjumping. Too bad theres not another jump competition till January :(
I can't wait until the days stop warming up, so I can stop switching blankets from night to day. Its getting insane.
Are his ears clean? He may have crud in them that's making them tickle and causing the tossing. Otherwise, I would call a vet. It does sound like it could be neuro, and if that's the case you'll want to catch it as soon as possible.
ReplyDeleteI ride a horse called Gatsby hes a 16.3hh Irish Draught and he does exactly the same thing but more so when being rode. He tends to throw his head back like you described, he got it when he was being aggrivated by flies and it just became a bad habit that he got in to, we are now getting him out of that habit by when he does this half halting and pushing him forwards. Not sure if that helps?
ReplyDeleteSteady does the exact same head flipping thing but he had done it for as long as I have had him. He doesn't always do it but definitely does it when he wants something. Wants to go out, wants fed, wants flies to leave him alone... But you know him best and if you something may be wrong then I would get him looked at.
ReplyDeleteGogo did that briefly... it was a weird head twitch thing. We never did figure out what it was or why she did it, but we suspected that she was sensitive to the synthetic footing dust whenever it wasn't watered well. Other weird possible causes included: ticks deep in ears, some sort of weird sore on her gums that wasn't bit related, allergies, photosensitivity.
ReplyDeleteThe ONLY other thing I can think of is his crib collar is pinching now that hes shaved. I take it off for turnout though.
ReplyDeleteTooie has done that ever since I've owned him. I've asked numerous people, vets included and the answers I've gotten are: boredom, sinsitive to light, allergies, "its a tb thing" and he's just weird. I have noticed that he does it more when he's excited or happy. He thinks its really funny when the cross ties flap around. I have no idea why he does it but I think it has become a habit now.
ReplyDeleteThat's weird on the head flipping thing. My first thoughts were ears and teeth too... :( Let us know what you figure out.
ReplyDeleteAnd how is Isis??