ASK HQ

Q: My horse bobs his head up and down if he is in the stable for a while. Most people laugh and find this funny, but my stable manager has recently said that she thinks his behaviour could be due to stress. Is this true?

A: Firstly, we would recommend contacting your vet, who can rule out any physical causes for the behaviour. If the vet confirms that there are no obvious physical causes, then it is likely to be related to stress or anxiety. There can be numerous reasons why your horse is stressed and showing this response. For example, he could be experiencing stress due to long-term confinement, or he could be displaying a form of abnormal behaviour (a stereotypy) as an outlet for his anxiety.

In order to address the issue, ensure that your horse receives sufficient turnout, forage and time with other horses. You can also look into enrichment sources for times when your horse is unavoidably confined to the stable. Some ideas for enrichment sources include hanging horsesafe vegetables like carrots from the ceiling of the stable, cutting holes in a cardboard box and filling it with different foods, or putting various types of hay in different stations around the stable.

It is best to find the cause of the behaviour and make changes to address the cause rather than attempt to fix the behaviour itself, as this could result in further stress. If the behaviour continues, it would be worth contacting a qualified equine behaviourist to see if they can get to the bottom of your horse’s behaviour.

Q: My horse has just been diagnosed with gastric ulcers in the squamous part of his stomach. He is in light work and has been fed a balancer. Do I need to change this?

A: Like all horses, those with gastric ulcers, or those prone to them, should have access to forage at all times. This keeps the horse chewing and producing acid-buffering saliva while also keeping a steady flow of fibre going into his stomach to soak up the acid produced to begin digestion. Any periods without forage allow acid to build up, which can then splash up and damage the vulnerable squamous mucosa.

If your horse is fussy about his forage, consider offering alternative fibre sources alongside hay to encourage natural foraging behaviour and to increase overall fibre intake. Options for this include different types of grass and hay, chaff or even hay pellets.

Starch from cereals increases gastric acidity levels, so it is important to ensure that any feeds given alongside the forage are low in starch. Your balancer is unlikely to contain much starch, but it is worth double-checking this. It is also a good idea to split hard feed across as many meals as possible over the course of 24 hours to support efficient digestion.

Finally, before exercising your horse, ensure that he has forage or fibre in his stomach to mop up the acid present and reduce the risk of splashing acid that damages the mucosa.