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High Strung OTTB!!

8K views 35 replies 17 participants last post by  Ashsunnyeventer 
#1 ·
Three weeks ago I got my second OTTB. Her name is Sunny and she is 4 years old. The first week and a half were great; my trainer loved her and she was being well behaved, but a little nervous (understandable).
Recently she has become even more "hot". I test rode her three times before I bought her and she was not like this. She has started bucking and bolting if I do anything more than a walk. When this happens, I just bring her back to a walk and do circles. Before she starts bucking and runing, she twitches her skin and kicks like she has flies, but she doesn't. It's like I can feel the explosion coming. The vet has been out and her teeth are fine, also the saddle fits too. If I lunge her she just gets more fired up.
I'm pretty sure this has a lot to do with the amount she is eating (10 quarts of grain/day and all you can eat hay). She is skinny and we can't cut back on her food. Also, she is stall boarded, so maybe being cooped up doesn't help. I don't want to feild board her because the other horses would eat her food.
Is there anything I can do to make her calm down?? I would ask my trainer, but she is in Europe for a month.
 
#3 ·
I agree. That would be like locking a kid up in a closet every day, while feeding him chocolate bars, then expect him not to go crazy when you let him out. :).
Turn him out, cut back his grain(its the hay that puts weight on best, and provide free choice hay(which you are already doing). Should solve all your problems.
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#4 ·
Any chance of her being drugged before you bought her? And the drugs have wore out of her system?

Have your vet check for ulcers. TBs are prone to them. Her being in a new place, stuck in a stall, and given high amount of grain isnt a great combination and will often lead to major amounts of stress and ulcers.


And i definitely would look into allowing her turnout for at least a few hours a day.
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#6 ·
Sounds like you would prefer to not put her on pasture. Solution? Arena time! She needs to go out two or three times a day to go play in the arena or area where she can stretch her legs. Being on a feed schedule like that and being cooped up is a recipe for a very stressed out horse and therefore, not very good riding experiences!
 
#7 ·
The only things my barn offers are stall board and Feild board. With Stall board the horses are in durning the day and then go in the feild over night (during the summer). With Feild board, she is always outside; even for feedings. She isn't dominant, so she wouldn't fight for her food.
It's possible that she was drugged, but we got her from a person with a great reputation and at the vet check the took blood and she came back negative for drugs. This was a week after my last ride on her though...
We are going to cut down on grain and try alfalfa cubes instead. My older OTTB (he's 15) had ulcers in the past, so I know what to look for. Vet was out last week and didn't think anything was wrong with her, but when she comes back out to do vaccines I'll ask her. Thanks for all your help :)
 
#8 ·
Good luck, OTTBs just have that "sparkle"! I would suggest more turn out time to get the craziest out. Also the kind of grain she is feeding her has a HUGE impact on her behavior. I've heard of a lot of people having good outcomes feeding senior feed to OTTBs of all ages, when they tend to be "hot" on other grain. But I am sure you will find all kinds of talk about what to feed OTTBs on this message board from knowledgeable poeple!
 
#15 ·
What kind of hay is she getting? We have 5 OTTBs in work right now, and they tend to be a bit more difficult when on alfalfa or bermuda, so we use a 2/3 timothy 1/3 alfalfa ratio of hay and give them all day access to it. Also for weight gain, have you tried corn oil? We add it to all of our OTTB's diets and they do well on it.
 
#16 ·
I`ve have had two OTTBs in my life so far -- loved them both. They key to our mutual happiness was full time pasture and minimal oats. When I needed to put weight on one of them, I used soaked beet pulp and vegetable oil (sometimes canola, sometimes corn) but still kept the oats to a minimum.

I think the other posters have offered some good insights and suggestions so no need for me to add the same. She`s a smart looking mare -- good luck with her.
 
#17 ·
She is getting a Timothy mix, but I don't know what it's mixed with. I didn;t know that corn oil was for weight- maybe we'll try that :) And the reason our vet suggested Senior feed was because it had beet pulp, and it was easier to feed than soaking it. We called our vet and she said that the grain we were giving Sunny was fairly low in sugar. The vet thought maybe she was coming into heat??
This is the first mare I've owned and I haven't even had her for a month so this could possibly be the issue
 
#28 ·
The vet thought maybe she was coming into heat??
This is the first mare I've owned and I haven't even had her for a month so this could possibly be the issue
That certainly could be it! A 4 year-old OTTB in heat sounds like hell on four legs!
Gosh, I remember when I owned a half-arab filly who I NEVER wanted to be around when she was in heat. Also, they cramp up like human women do so I wouldn't doubt that she is in pain a little
:)
 
#18 ·
I'd still try to cut out the grain. Low sugar or not. It's like drinking a diet soda that still has caffeine. Also I agree with getting her out as much as possible. If you can't ride that day then lunge her for sure. This will also help teach her you are in charge. She is a very pretty girl. Good luck. With mares, IMO, it's all about sticking with it and reminding them (a lot sometimes) that you are the new head mare.
 
#19 ·
She is being fed enough grain to keep her as a fit racehorse yet you expect her to behave as she was the first week she was with you!

Being enclosed all the time, fed to much and you wonder why she is acting like a lunatic?

You can cut back on her grain, plenty of good quality hay and about 4 lb of low energy pellets + a cup of corn oil and she will gain weight.

Preferably she needs to worked from grass so her excess energy can be expended in the field not when you ride her.

It is no wonder she is stir crazy and whoever is in charge of her feed regime would get a boot up the jacksy from me for being so ignorant of the rules of feeding a horse - one of which is 'Feed according to work, weight and temperament'

Feed her like a racehorse and she will act like one.
 
#21 ·
My TB is long off the track, but he still has incredibly hot days, especially in the spring. Try lounging her, every day, before you ride her. It especially helps with OtTBs as they were trained that way. Canter especially. What type of grain are you feeding her? Many grains and alfalfa hays make TBs hot, such as Omelene, sweet feed, and sometimes plain oats. Try feeding her Doybean meal or rice bran. It keeps weight on the hard keepers beautifully without making them hot, except I had one TB who got bad diarrhea from soybean meal. When you ride her, and she feels like bucking, get into two point and just let her canter forward for awhile...this more than anything will calm a TB down, as it allows them to settle into a rhythm. With greenies, though, don't let her go TOO fast or she will likely start running away with you or get too excited. Just do lots of
Canter work and lounging and transitions, and put her out to pasture or at least let her run free in an arena for an
Hour or so every day
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#22 ·
10 quarts of grain is A LOT! Unless she is going into some hardcore training program she doesn't need that. Cut back on the grain and free her more hay. Grain doesn't put that much weight on them, hay will. A TWH I was working with was VERY skinny. The moron at the place she was board at bumped her up to 8 quarts of senior grain. Even 200 pounds under weight she was a MONSTER to ride or handle. Your horse does NOT look very skinny, but she could use a few pounds. There is no reason to be feeding her like crazy.

She also needs room to move around, get her out in some kind of paddock/pasture. Tell the BO that's what you want, if not maybe its time to find a new barn. After all you are the customer! I would never except anything less then half day turn out in an area where they can move comfortably, even if its in a 200x200 paddock.
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#23 ·
She has one of those hay nets because she was spreading her hay around her stall and making a mess. I think some people misunderstood what I meant when I said stall board. She isn't always in a stall, just during the hot hours of the day. I rode her again today and she was much better, but she is in heat. I rode her for an hour and she still had lots of energy afterwards, but she controlled herself :) soon I'm going back to school and I can't ride her everyday. That should be fun...
 
#25 ·
Problem is that I'm the person who comes out to my barn the most apart from the owner. We would be charged for the owner to lunge her and my dad is done spending money on horses apart from board and farrier etc..
My mom might be able to go out to the barn when I can't and she would just be able to walk her on a lead rope and this probably won't help. As soon as winter is over she will be field boarded, but untill then-- Do you think it would be best to just let her get her energy out by cantering for a while and then get on with the rest of the ride?
 
#26 ·
I think you may be looking for a magic solution for your problem. By taking on an OTTB there are certain things you need to expect. Like having to lunge or turn her out every day so she doesn't get stir crazy. Also, figuring out what diet works to keep weight on but still keeping high energy foods out. Looks like you should just plan on heading to the barn once or twice a day, every day. Get up early before school and lunge her then ride her when you get home. Or lunge her again if you can't ride. An OTTB is a great horse but right off the track they usually need a little extra attention than if you went out and bought a QH.

I hope this doesn't sound too harsh but the reality is she will only improve with work every day. There is no short cut here.
 
#29 ·
I very strongly agree. If you don't have time to give her exercise during the school year, seriously the best option for her safety and health might be to sell her to someone who can. You really need to be at least lounging her at least 3-4 times a week if you expect her to be manageable. And yes, after a 5-10 minute walk warmup, if you haven't lounged, the best thing might be to canter for awhile. :)
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