Equine Anxiety

[Ramona]

Any experiences with such eg; panic attacks and any treatment?

[ElPrado]

Personally, the only experience I had with a horse in a real panic was when a guy I knew drove up behind a 2 yr old filly I was breaking. It was only her first ride out of a corral. He was the grounds manager of a golf course, which was across the street. The filly had had a real problem with some monsters that were golf carts and the 2 drunks in them looking for the balls they had lost in a canal. I had just gotten her calmed down from that. He got right on her tail, stopped and blew the horn. The filly did the 4 legged splits, came down at a full gallop and went through the canal, a ditch leading to it, a field and lost me on top of the only rock in the field. Dummy in the truck drove off looking at me over his shoulder. I got up, took the filly from the nice guy that had grabbed her before she ran into house trailer tongues, remounted, rode 1 1/2 miles back to the barn, fed her, untacked her, arranged for someone to finish getting her settled for the night and drove myself to the hospital. I needed one, too. I landed on that rock and blew up my left kidney. I've had kidney stones like clockwork, since.

[Tappiano]

I used to ride an OTTB mare and before the riding school got her she had been owned by a drug dealer whose idea of fun was letting her run at full steam up to her truck and making her jump over it. When I would ride her it was critical to keep the hands very soft, light contact with the mouth (I would use my pinkies) and stay incredibly still or she would tense up and spring forward. Since she was always willing to please she did not refuse to go over a fence UNLESS you made some slight movement on her back in which case she'd just slow down and veer to the right.

For others who rode her and who were not that soft she would start out reasonably slow and as she made her way around the course, she had gotten so "hot" and was not jumping as much as leaping over fences.

In order to keep her calm I would actually sing to her and while I did that I would always move my hands just a bit so that she'd be paying attention to what I wanted her to do and not what was approaching. I would have her at a pace that was scarcely faster than a walk because she had such powerful hindquarters that even at that speed she would always land with such momentum it would take me five or six strides to get her to slow down.

Since animals have that fight or flight instinct it might just come down to how much the horse trusts you. You can't control sudden and loud noises but if it's something visual you might be able to desensitize.

[zinn21]

I have one who I believe fits the "anxiety" label. This horse broke his maiden in his first start then subsequently became more anxious each start following. He has yet to duplicate an outstanding first race performance with those he defeated moving forward including wins in first condition allowance events and stakes placings. I turned him out last summer when he freaked out in the paddock, running a terrible race. Last winter I switched trainers to eliminate his shipping anxiety. His first back after the layoff, he charged into the paddock stall wall, scraping his knee and nearly injuring the groom. Since then we have schooled him in the morning (he's perfect) and saddled him on the walk. We've tried to make things as simple as possible, tying his tongue it the receiving barn etc. Last race we removed his blinkers and ran his best race so far this year. He has been a source of great frustration in that he has tremendous physical talent but compromised by what we believe are anxiety issues. Again, he has progressed markedly in his last several starts and we hope that a win might put him over the hump. A very frustrating horse.. Hopefully, patience will reap dividends..

[Ramona]

We have a horse that runs horrendous fractions for 4f and the jock says he forgets to breathe, he's anxious and won't relax in the race. His works show no anxiety. Had him scoped and no issues there. Dropped him in class...no change.

[Crystal]

I think anxiety also has to do with the stress of the environment and conditions around them.. i.e. horses being herd bound having abandonment issues stemming from the past.. horses that can be aggressive with feed having a complicated past about feed and herd dynamics, etc.

But others can be nervous by nature. But I think it can be traced to something in their past that made them that way.

I had an arab mare that was foaled and raised by the farm I bought her from. Nice horse, but soon after I bought her and the farm owners moved the barn was under new management.. poor management to say the least.
She became very food aggressive. The man working there in the evenings was telling me she would pin her ears and charge at him when he hayed, rear and almost struck him when he would dump grain...

Found out from another boarder who rode her horse in the early am before work that management had often "forgot" to feed all but their own horses and often times send their son out to grain.. hence horses just not being fed.

It took several years to get her over this behavior even after just a month or so of this treatment.

I have also had horses, particularly young horses that were in stables at the track where he was a lot of yelling and rough handling. So often times they would wash out or charge around before a race because of nerves.

Stressed horses are not hard to spot. Often times they will exhibit the lunatic behavior but more so they are under weight, or won't keep weight. Flip their bottom lip nervously, pace, stall walk, their coats just always look poor and they won't eat/drink like a calm relaxed horse. Weaving also signals some stress.

Just my observations.

[louis finochio]

Valerin will calm those panic attacks, & stall walkers. I sell it to trainers who know it works. You can buy it buy the pound, at herb shops.

[Ramona]

Dose?

[TJ]

Dose?

Hi Ramona,
You will need more than the dosage...better find out the withdrawal time as well, it is illegal in most racing jurisdictions. Ask your vet about B-1 (thiamine) injections. TJ

[madelyn]

Valerian tests. It is the root ingredient in Valium. You can't use it on race or performance horses. You CAN use it on pigeons.

[ratherrapid]

anxiety, nervousness--many causes from genetics to the horse once upon a time saw something on the track that scared it and everything in between. helps to know horse, and certainly avoid giving any sedatives prior to exercise unless u want to contribute to a heart attack.

all u really posted was that the horse runs slow furlongs and the jock claims the horse is failing to breathe. in general u take pin head comments with a grain of salt since they're usually excuses. exception would be if jock tells u something u've observed urself. also possible that horse has some kind of breathing problem. most with breathing problem will indeed experience anxiety.

I'd be talking to my trainer. what does he/she think. breeze in company, helpful maybe? Is the horse seeing the race track etc. link cause with effect instead of unfounded assumptions, possibly?

[Ramona]

Perhaps I used the wrong word "horrendous fractions"...in one race he was in the 1-hole, the ground broke out from under him and he went down on his nose in a MSW, he still went to the front and set fractions of 21.4 & 44.3 and then poof.

[ratherrapid]

who'se having the panic attack, u or the horse?

[louis finochio]

Valerin dosent test positive, i aske the vets tons of times & they said no. Use 1 scoop in the AM feed, 1 scoop in PM feed. If those tbs dont like the taste, mix some honey with it.

[ElPrado]

It most certainly does. Are you the only person that knows a vet? You'd be in jail in Florida. My vet says you have no clue what you're talking about. Do you sell coca leaves, too? Think of the energy levels the horses would have, and that would be a natural product, too.