The Horse

MAR 2018

The Horse:Your Guide To Equine Health Care provides monthly equine health care information to horse owners, breeders, veterinarians, barn/farm managers, trainer/riding instructors, and others involved in the hands-on care of the horse.

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60 TheHorse.com THE HORSE March 2018 So first, I would recommend a detailed veterinary workup including a neurologic exam. Some medical conditions can affect the brain and should be consid- ered when uncharacteristic and severe aggression occurs. For example, liver disease can affect the brain enough to cause aggressive outbursts. Also, a sud- den sharp pain or startling stimulus (e.g., static electricity spark) can elicit such a response. Another common cause in stallions and geldings is what we call displaced social aggression. When a horse is threatened by another horse, but not at liberty to attack that animal, he might lash out at a person or another animal that is easily within reach, especially if positioned between him and the other horse. This reaction is not widely understood, but it's important in such cases to appreciate that gelding a stallion will not necessarily re- duce the likelihood of further attacks. In fact, if this is socially provoked displaced aggression, triggered when the male is threatened by other males, gelding can result in an even greater insecurity and, so, a lower threshold for intimidation by other horses and for lashing out. One of the most serious attacks of what clearly looked like displaced aggression that I have personally witnessed involved a pony gelding being led near the pasture of a threatening stallion. It all happened so quickly, but a second before grasping the handler's arm, the gelding clearly showed signs of trying to submit to the threatening stallion. I have seen many cases of a quick nip or grab at clothing, but in this case the pony's open-mouth lunge and hold onto the handler's bare wrist resulted in considerable soft tissue damage. As is so often described, the little fellow was immediately docile, as if he didn't know what had happened. h Acting Up On the Road Q How do you deal with negative trailer behaviors such as kicking and paw- ing while on the road? Loading is not a problem. Hilary Florida A When loading is not a problem, and the kicking and pawing occur only when on the road, the first thing I think about is something about the vehicle's movement that is uncomfortable for the horse. Examples we have found over the years include balance problems and painful musculoskeletal condi- tions, particularly neck and back discomfort, that understandably get aggravated by the horse's nearly constant effort to adjust head height to maintain balance on the trailer. In this scenario it can be quite informative to use a trailer video camera or recorder. Try to posi- tion the camera so you can see the entire horse—particularly its facial expressions. You can have your veterinarian and/or a behavior specialist take a look to see if any causes are obvious. Observers can commonly associate the pawing and kicking with turns or starts and stops. In extreme cases, we've seen some horses lose their balance and scramble, sometimes falling whenever turn- ing, usually to one direction more than the other. We could see their worried expression and attempt to brace when experiencing even a slight turn. Some of these horses do better with an alternate arrangement say, slant load or open box stall. Or in some cases the horse appears more comfortable when not tied. Even diagnostically, different arrangements would be something to try. Discomfort can cause some horses to kick and paw while on the trailer. KEVIN THOMPSON/THE HORSE BEHAVIOR Horses' Eye Blink Rate Could Reveal Stress Levels TheHorse.com/40152 Is Sugar Beet Pulp Too High in Sugar for Horses? TheHorse.com/40143 Body Language in Horse and Human Interactions TheHorse.com/40068 Get the most-viewed content from TheHorse.com delivered in a convenient weekly digest with the FREE Reader Favorites Newsletter! Last Month's Most-Read Articles Sign up now at TheHorse.com/ ReaderFavorites on

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