# Depression in horses



## iluvashy3 (2 December 2010)

I'm worried my horse might be depressed. I'm at college at the moment so my mums looking after her, and she's about 19 but she keeps being lame and we're not sure why. We always mollycoddle her and give her loads to eat and she always wears loads of rugs, and she normally goes out in a big field during the day. We always want her to be slightly fatter than thinner. I"m worried that she might be gloomy because she never gets to talk to other horses. My mum always thinks she doesnt want to because she has always been really aggressive and tense around other horses and she has cows in her field, and we talk to her a lot. She's not being ridden because she's lame and my mum doesnt have time. When I'm at home I try to give her lots of attention and groom her properly everyday, but I'm worried that she might be depressed because she keeps being lame for no reason. My dad's horse is 17 and he's still really jolly, although he is more pony ish. I know my horse really well but I'm worried I've become so used to her being gloomy I don't know if it's normal. She had a really abusive owner before us, and I just read a thing about animals getting depressed.


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## Box_Of_Frogs (3 December 2010)

Ha ha. This is a joke right? Bored because of the snow and needing a little trolling? If this is real, pin back your ears poppet because you have a lot of learning about horses to do.

1. Horses CAN get depressed. I had to move my horse from his previous yard because he was banned from turnout (easily popped the sagging barbed wire fences and got into good grazing). He started standing at the back of his stable, not even bothering to call when all his mates went out. Lost weight. I moved him.

2. Being depressed does NOT make a horse lame. It can cause things like weaving and box walking and weight loss and grumpiness and, eventually, even colic (which can be fatal). But NOT lameness.

3. So you need to get to the bottom of the lameness. Get the vet out and go from there. The new Welfare Act means that you have to give adequate health care to your horse by law. Google the Five Freedoms. Whether she's shod or not, make sure her feet are regularly attended to by your farrier as uncared for feet can also cause lameness. 

4. Horses are best kept on the slimmer side rather than the fatter side. Being too fat can indeed cause low grade lameness in a veteran horse. Giving her too much to eat won't help her at all so stop it right now and ring one of the Feed Helplines for guidance or for heaven's sake ask a knowledgeable friend for advice.

5. Over rugging a horse will make them stressed and hot - NOT happy. You try wearing a thick fur coat then 3 more fur coats on top of that and see how it makes you feel. I have to monitor my veteran's breaths per minute for reasons that needn't worry you and let me tell you they shot up to a staggering 65+ per minute when he hadn't had his thick turnout rug taken off when he was brought in. And stress can lead to depression - see (2) above.

6. All horses need company. They are herd animals and they need the safety of lots of pairs of eyes watching for tigers. Some horses are better than others at living solitary lives but it's something I wouldn't dream of, to deny a horse company of its own kind. Cows won't do it. And it can seem to the novice horse owner that horses meeting for the first time are aggressive when in actual fact it's just the normal introductory squealings. Why can't she be in with your father's pony?

7. Even if your mother is short on time, you OWE it to your horse to provide at the very least a daily check, looking for injuries, feet, lameness, warmth, weight, feed, etc.

8. As a horse owner you should know most of the above stuff. If not, you shouldn't be looking after a veteran horse, pardon my bluntness but not that you are anyway. Honest to god, if this is a wind up which I'm sure it is, I hope you've enjoyed making me spend 10 mins trying to teach you some rudimentary horse care because I'm worried for your horse. If it's genuine then for gods sake get out there and find some local experienced advice before you kill your horse.


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## iluvashy3 (3 December 2010)

It's not that bad, my mum is very experienced, she worked for Jinks Bryer for many years and we're not completely ignorant. I think I wrote it a bit wrongly. She's not fat, she often looks a tiny bit tucked up. we don't stuff her with food we just make sure she has enough. She doesnt do anything like weaving, and she is out during the day. She doesnt wear hundreds of rugs, and I always check wether's she too hot or not. I've come across as really ignorant but me and my mum are both really knowleagable, except i've never thought that horses can get depressed that easily. i knew they do things like weaving and being grumpy. I think i was just worried because she's not with other horses. you do have a oint about the fatness though. she's not that fat at all, but the vet said she might get laminitus because she's old. It would be nice for her to live with another horse and I'm going to try and see what do about it, because it's very complicated for her to live with another horse (my dad lives really far away) I take her walks to see some horses over the hill quite a lot.  She is always very calm and chilled and relaxed, and she lets off steam in the field like any other horse. I will look at her breathing when she comes in and ask the vet about it, but don't worry yourself too much because its not as awful as i made it sound. I've been readin my pony club manual (that makes me sound even more ignorant) and i've become very conscientious about treating her like an old lady now. I think her age crept up on us. Thanks for helping. we've really not that bad, at least we can bandage properly and we dont leave half the horses hoof hanging out to get trodden on like most people do when they travel bandage.


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## siennamum (3 December 2010)

I think they can get depressed. I also like see them a little rounded, especially if they aren't working and are a little older.
I would try and get her an equine companion. You really can't tell how horses will react to other horses till you try but I've never met one that genuinely didn't like other horses around. Sometimes they can be short tempered with a particular horse or they may have a personality clash, but they will learn to rub along.


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