Hey guys. This is going to be a long one but it’s an interesting case and I need all the help I can get. I used to work with BLM mustangs and have always trained my own horses.
I bought my horse a few years ago as a 9 year old and he was scared to be touched/worked with due to rough handling. I had a PPE done on him before buying him and there were no signs of neuro issues or lameness. After I trained him for a few months he became the best horse I could ever wish for. I ran him on barrels and he was a wonderful, trustworthy partner. I was riding him completely tackles for over a year because he was so wonderful and we got along well, even to the point of riding him alone and tackless in a 200 acre field without issue. He is now 11.
During the winter, I had not ridden him for a month because I wasn’t a fan of riding in -10 degree weather. The month he had off of riding he’d run up to me, excited to see me until the day he went “insane”. I only brought him in from his 300x500 foot pasture to brush and eat his supplements (whole oats, magnesium, probiotics, and gutx) during his time off.
He then suddenly went “insane” overnight. I could not catch him for hours and if I did catch him, he was shaking like a leaf scared of me. There was no swelling or signs of lameness at all throughout his entire body. There was nothing that had changed in his diet. I kept him on gutx and only used ulcerguard when I’d make any major changes (ex: moving to a new state) as a preventative. I kept him at a self care boarding property so nobody had handled or touched my horse except for me but he was with 3 other horses and was at the bottom of the pecking order.
Fast forward a few months later after letting him be a horse (only handling for supplement feeding, brushing, farrier/vet work) and moving to a new state, I started him over. On the ground, I could be working with him and he would be so relaxed with a low headset and very nice movement. Then he would just suddenly go crazy backing up like crazy or spook about something. Sometimes he’d spook about something as little as me touching any part of his body and he would nearly run me over. The behavior was consistently corrected during those episodes.
Because we built more confidence on the ground and wasn’t acting “insane”, I believed he was ready to be ridden again as he was calm and content. Within 2 seconds on being on him, without reason he blew up. Here’s how it went, I sat on him and he was calm, licking and chewing with his low headset. Then for no reason or movement from me, his head shot up and his entire body tensed and started shaking. When I leaned over to get off thinking he was going to lose it, he immediately went into a small rear/bucking/spinning fit and I was off. Once I was off he backed up like a bat out of hell approximately 4 feet then was back to his calm self looking at me as if he was wondering why I was on the ground, very calm.
For a few weeks later, we worked a lot on calming down, using the thinking side of his brain and allowing him to say “no” to things that got him worked up. I got him so calm he was lazy for weeks so I put a saddle on, did more ground work and continued working on using his brain. He was not spooky or reactive at all.
Because he was seemingly normal after about a week or so of ground work with a saddle, I hopped on, politely and calmly and began walking (for about 10 seconds) once I felt he was going to be okay. He was nice and calm then suddenly his head shot up, entire body tensed and started shaking so I jumped off before I got bucked. He then threw a buck once I was on the ground, backed up like crazy but then was back to his normal self looking at me as if he was wondering what had happened. He showed no signs of discomfort to the saddle and never said “no” to anything. I had a loping hackamore on him during this “ride”.
I had multiple vets come out to see him for blood work and lameness exams and everything came back normal. No signs of pain in any part of the body, and no ulcers or sand. Because there were no signs of pain or anything wrong, radiographs were not done. The only thing we did not do was a neuro exam because he never showed signs of being uncoordinated, no tripping, no falling, etc. so the vets felt it was not neuro. I also had a chiropractor out but there was no change in his behavior after that was done. Teeth were floated last spring and there appeared to be no issues with teeth when the vets checked him over. I’ve put so much money into this horse recently just to be told there’s nothing wrong.
How could this horse go from the best mount I ever had to suddenly losing his mind? Does this sound neurological? I have EPM treatment coming in the mail and if that doesn’t work, I don’t know what more could be done. I will no longer be riding him unless I can figure out if its a health issue, neurological issue, or if I need to consider euthanasia due to his behavior. I will NEVER sell this horse. I love him and I would never in the right mind sell a horse like this knowing he would end up in a kill pen or passed around to new owners in the USA because of his behavior.
![Image]()
![Image]()
![Image]()
I bought my horse a few years ago as a 9 year old and he was scared to be touched/worked with due to rough handling. I had a PPE done on him before buying him and there were no signs of neuro issues or lameness. After I trained him for a few months he became the best horse I could ever wish for. I ran him on barrels and he was a wonderful, trustworthy partner. I was riding him completely tackles for over a year because he was so wonderful and we got along well, even to the point of riding him alone and tackless in a 200 acre field without issue. He is now 11.
During the winter, I had not ridden him for a month because I wasn’t a fan of riding in -10 degree weather. The month he had off of riding he’d run up to me, excited to see me until the day he went “insane”. I only brought him in from his 300x500 foot pasture to brush and eat his supplements (whole oats, magnesium, probiotics, and gutx) during his time off.
He then suddenly went “insane” overnight. I could not catch him for hours and if I did catch him, he was shaking like a leaf scared of me. There was no swelling or signs of lameness at all throughout his entire body. There was nothing that had changed in his diet. I kept him on gutx and only used ulcerguard when I’d make any major changes (ex: moving to a new state) as a preventative. I kept him at a self care boarding property so nobody had handled or touched my horse except for me but he was with 3 other horses and was at the bottom of the pecking order.
Fast forward a few months later after letting him be a horse (only handling for supplement feeding, brushing, farrier/vet work) and moving to a new state, I started him over. On the ground, I could be working with him and he would be so relaxed with a low headset and very nice movement. Then he would just suddenly go crazy backing up like crazy or spook about something. Sometimes he’d spook about something as little as me touching any part of his body and he would nearly run me over. The behavior was consistently corrected during those episodes.
Because we built more confidence on the ground and wasn’t acting “insane”, I believed he was ready to be ridden again as he was calm and content. Within 2 seconds on being on him, without reason he blew up. Here’s how it went, I sat on him and he was calm, licking and chewing with his low headset. Then for no reason or movement from me, his head shot up and his entire body tensed and started shaking. When I leaned over to get off thinking he was going to lose it, he immediately went into a small rear/bucking/spinning fit and I was off. Once I was off he backed up like a bat out of hell approximately 4 feet then was back to his calm self looking at me as if he was wondering why I was on the ground, very calm.
For a few weeks later, we worked a lot on calming down, using the thinking side of his brain and allowing him to say “no” to things that got him worked up. I got him so calm he was lazy for weeks so I put a saddle on, did more ground work and continued working on using his brain. He was not spooky or reactive at all.
Because he was seemingly normal after about a week or so of ground work with a saddle, I hopped on, politely and calmly and began walking (for about 10 seconds) once I felt he was going to be okay. He was nice and calm then suddenly his head shot up, entire body tensed and started shaking so I jumped off before I got bucked. He then threw a buck once I was on the ground, backed up like crazy but then was back to his normal self looking at me as if he was wondering what had happened. He showed no signs of discomfort to the saddle and never said “no” to anything. I had a loping hackamore on him during this “ride”.
I had multiple vets come out to see him for blood work and lameness exams and everything came back normal. No signs of pain in any part of the body, and no ulcers or sand. Because there were no signs of pain or anything wrong, radiographs were not done. The only thing we did not do was a neuro exam because he never showed signs of being uncoordinated, no tripping, no falling, etc. so the vets felt it was not neuro. I also had a chiropractor out but there was no change in his behavior after that was done. Teeth were floated last spring and there appeared to be no issues with teeth when the vets checked him over. I’ve put so much money into this horse recently just to be told there’s nothing wrong.
How could this horse go from the best mount I ever had to suddenly losing his mind? Does this sound neurological? I have EPM treatment coming in the mail and if that doesn’t work, I don’t know what more could be done. I will no longer be riding him unless I can figure out if its a health issue, neurological issue, or if I need to consider euthanasia due to his behavior. I will NEVER sell this horse. I love him and I would never in the right mind sell a horse like this knowing he would end up in a kill pen or passed around to new owners in the USA because of his behavior.
