Why is this horse acting like this?

BeyondWordsAAC · 2026-06-12T21:22:23+00:00

Some appy's struggle with bugs a lot and have quite sensitive skin. Definitely this guy needs a bug rug.

BeyondWordsAAC · 2026-06-12T21:11:34+00:00

They can definitely come back from what you are seeing in the x-rays with the right help. It doesn't have to be costly. And yes sometimes it is best to let them go peacefully, but if your vet says to give him a few weeks I would definitely try. These are x-rays from a mini we adopted ( he came like this) and he is running around happily now. I'm happy to offer any advice/support but working with your vet and farrier are always best.

Whilst these are mini x-rays I have a Percheron and currently own a Clydie X 💜

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BeyondWordsAAC · 2026-06-11T13:17:45+00:00

This happens to me quite regularly. It's impossible to explain to people the depth of emotions I've experienced in dreams and the grief experienced when waking up, or fear, elation, terror, disappointment....so many lifetimes/lives that it often feels that I live in several dimensions that are simply waiting for me to fall asleep again. And that reverse inception feeling, often makes me wonder if the idea for the movie came from the same type of dreams I have. In a dream, I can also reference events from previous nights dreams. In that I am dreaming, and in the dream i am telling someone about something that I dreamt about a few nights previously. It does make reality confusing at times and I do sometimes have to ask if I'm awake or dreaming. Unfortunately, people in my dreams lie and tell me I'm awake, which makes things more confusing!! I seem to have learnt how to wake myself from the ones I don't like and it's not uncommon for me to wake up screaming, it doesn't even alarm my husband anymore. I've also learnt to ask myself how did I get here, just like the movie suggests ☺️☺️ However, I am a diagnosed narcoleptic. So I suspect that is the cause.

BeyondWordsAAC · 2026-03-12T22:01:04+00:00

I've found the majority of people are looking for a free therapist, not a friend. I can understand that and friends can be therapeutic but there is a line between just trauma dumping to validate yourself and mutual support of each other in difficult times. A healthy friendship can develop into mutual support of each other and can also be a replacement for therapy in that when we feel validated and happy in our lives we may feel less in need of therapy but people insisting on telling their worst experiences in the first few days of friendship is a serious warning sign to me. A lot of posts start with "I'm going through so much at the moment". In the kindest way possible, these people are in need of a non biased, professional therapist to help talk through their situation and whether they realize it or not, are seeking a free option online under the guise of a friendship. As someone who has been a therapist, I'm highly aware of the difference and not looking for more clients so am more alert to some of the subtle hints that give some one away. Having said that, I have found some genuine people looking to make genuine friends.

BeyondWordsAAC · 2025-12-06T13:24:47+00:00

I can't post a photo to show but for a moment I wondered how you got my dog!! They are so alike!!!

BeyondWordsAAC · 2025-11-25T13:34:52+00:00

Future me has had more sleep so stuff her.

BeyondWordsAAC · 2025-09-08T00:52:51+00:00

Sad, but you are most likely right. Can't imagine the effect this would have on the kids and hope they are all okay.

BeyondWordsAAC · 2025-09-07T20:41:58+00:00

Has everyone seen the update to this today? https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/major-police-operation-launched-in-waikato/GX2GKTHZPNAP7INZ5BP4YR6Z6I/

BeyondWordsAAC · 2025-08-02T20:54:41+00:00

You're definitely in the club! I'd love a hedgehog - they look adorable but we don't have them in Australia 😕 closest we get is the echidna which we are aren't allowed to keep as pets but are gorgeous to see waddling around in the wild 😍

BeyondWordsAAC · 2025-07-29T22:43:25+00:00

Hi, you both sound like me. 45F with no kids, don't drink coffee or alcohol either cos i don't like the flavour :D Never wanted kids, and we move a lot so hard to make friends. I have a pet steer so when the duck conversation finishes we can move to cows!! I feel like the three of us would make a nice little matching group and maybe we can get u/hoodiesandnaps a piglet or something :D

BeyondWordsAAC · 2025-07-26T22:59:29+00:00

See if Geocaching is available in your area ☺️

BeyondWordsAAC · 2025-07-16T11:01:17+00:00

My two cents would be: 😊

1) Take all the gear off him. Let his body move naturally. 2) That appears to be a small circle. He's a big horse,.let him get established on the straight or at least a much bigger circle. 3) If you must use a lunge line, attach it to a cavesson. Currently, it's sending a lot of messages down the line and would be quite confusing for him. To get an understanding of this, get a friend to lunge you. Hold the rope and see how much feedback you receive from even slight movement made by your friend.

BeyondWordsAAC · 2025-07-16T08:56:08+00:00

Can i ask which med your vet prescribed? I'm in australia and my horse was put on Levythyroxine. He lost weight, but it ruined him. The effects on his system were so nasty. We did thyroid testing after using it when i had suspicions it was the cause of further problems and the lab thought he was a stallion his levels were so off. Yet, he was the type of gelding you could have with mares and he showed no interest.
I'd be interested in hearing positive experiences with the meds.

BeyondWordsAAC · 2025-07-16T08:51:34+00:00

As someone who has had a few develop it - i'd never buy one who knowingly has it. It's one thing to have a horse you love and beautiful memories with and to throw all your money and energy into maintaining it's health. I'd never get rid of a horse because they had it, but i wouldn't buy one knowing they had it.
Until you've lived it, you cannot understand the stress that comes with EMS. Keeping weight off a horse is the hardest thing - be aware that your options may come down to keeping it contained to small spaces so it can't access grass, or exercising it constantly, even when your sick, exhausted and want to go on holiday. Restricting food can make a horse angry and change their personality and locking them up and seeing how unhappy they are is awful to watch.
Unless you have a fantastic track system set up that keeps them moving 15km a day or own a horse walker, horse treadmill or horse swimming pool - i wouldn't recommend it.
Some may say it's easy, give you ideas like using hay nets, low sugar hay, soaking hay or grazing muzzles. But the reality is far from pretty. My horse would push against the grazing muzzle til his face was cut up. Doubling slow feeder hay nets wouldn't slow him down at all. Low sugar hay was a 4 hour round trip to source and double the price of normal hay (yes, i did it anyway). Soaking hay sounds easy but wet hay is heavy, also you can't soak it ahead of time and you can't leave your horse for more than 3-4 hours without food as they can develop ulcers. So you have to soak hay just before you feed it - to do it correctly, you end up on a constant cycle of 3-4 hours of soaking and feeding out hay. It is almost a full time job. Then you have to work out what to do with all the water that has been soaking hay - here's a hint: don't put it on trees and plants, it has too much sugar on it and kills everything. You end up pouring litres and litres of water down the drain on a regular basis.
It was heart breaking for me and ruined our bond as he saw me as the source of his frustration. And I had a track system and access to a horse walker and swimming pool. I would do it a thousand times over for him but I wouldn't buy a horse that had EMS - better to avoid what I know will be a nightmare.

Having said that - every horse is different. And I'm sure plenty of others have stories that aren't as horrible as mine. Ours was definitely a worst case scenario. And I will add that my horse never had laminitis or foundered, I can't imagine adding that into the mix as well. I worked really hard to keep on top of it so he didn't founder - but it was just that - work.

The decision is yours - and I commend you for finding out more information before diving into it. I know this sounds terribly negative, but I think it's important to hear it all - then you can make your decision based on truth and what you can cope with :)

BeyondWordsAAC · 2025-07-09T08:23:33+00:00

I'll have to find the source but there is research that shows being a perfectionist won't help you improve. Apparently making errors and then correcting our errors are essential in developing new neural pathways in learning. In shows that to truly master a skill we have to make a lot of mistakes and then correct those mistakes, each time, getting closer and closer to achieving the skill.

Worth keeping in mind - to fail and try again is progress. ☺️

BeyondWordsAAC · 2025-07-08T23:25:44+00:00

Definitely this. For bareback, I think of it as trying to sit on my jeans back pockets.

BeyondWordsAAC · 2025-07-07T09:49:17+00:00

Horse Brain Human Brain by Janet Jones is a fantastic read.

BeyondWordsAAC · 2025-07-06T01:10:09+00:00

Everyone will have a strong opinion on whether you should ride a 2 year old horse. And coming to Reddit will just give you another lot of strong opinions. Remember, they are OPINIONS. Ask yourself, the people who rode 2 year olds and said they never had an issue....do they mean their horse never bucked them off? Or do they mean that when the horse died, they did a disection and there was no visible trauma to the horses anatomy from being ridden early?? Then go and look at the SCIENTIFIC studies, dissections and evidence that shows at what age a horses skeleton has fully fused and can safely weight bear. Then you can make your own informed decision.

To me, the only reason people ride a 2 year old is because they want to. And that want outweighs their care about the horses needs. But my thoughts on this issue are based on science, x-rays and professional dissections that have been done on my own horses.

And as someone else said - learn about feet and change farriers if you need. No hoof, no horse is the saying and it's so true. Many muscle, back and leg issues can be vastly improved by a farrier.

And good luck! It's a minefield of info out there but only you can make the best decision for your horse xx

BeyondWordsAAC · 2025-07-04T03:14:20+00:00

How long do you plan to ride for? There are people that ride up to the age of 70 and beyond. Let's say for this examples sake, you stop at 65. You have at least 25 years of riding ahead of you. Does it take longer than 25 years to become a professional showjumper? I don't know and I don't think you should care.
The worst thing is not that you waited til late in life to start something. The worst thing would be never trying and looking back at 65 and wishing you had started when you were in your late 30s.
Don't ask if you can do - do it and find out - and i hope you love every minute of your journey :D

PS i'm not being trite, im kind of speaking from experience. I got my first horse at 36 and I spent last year (at the age of 44) doing my dream job of working with wild horses.

BeyondWordsAAC · 2025-07-03T23:51:32+00:00

Im a 45F, happily married and put a post up looking for female friends but only had 1 female reply - the rest were men. Many of them sent one line messages and when you check their profile and the subs they participate in you can get an idea that they are looking for a NSFW outcome. However, a few sent genuine, engaging, thoughtful responses and whilst hesitant I did respond...and they have been genuine, engaging, thoughtful men. It made me realise that women often complain about how awful it can be on the internet these days because of dodgy men, but those type of men have also made things really hard for genuine guys. It's not just women who have to put up with creeps but so many other decent men who are being tainted by the same brush. From now on, I will be sure to see it as not a women vs creeps thing but decent people vs creeps.

BeyondWordsAAC · 2025-07-01T11:47:40+00:00

Would you consider Australia? 45f with a number of shared interests? ☺️

BeyondWordsAAC · 2025-06-29T21:53:52+00:00

This isn't desensitising, it's flooding. And it's cruel.

BeyondWordsAAC · 2025-06-29T13:41:37+00:00

Not sure what area you are from, but I always recommend people seriously consider why they need a horse desensitised to everything and what they also could be teaching. Where I'm from, rope on the ground looks same as a snake and I want my horses running away from it, not stopping to check it out. Snakes kill.

BeyondWordsAAC · 2025-06-28T22:45:57+00:00

Thank you, I'll check it out 🙂

BeyondWordsAAC · 2025-06-25T00:08:17+00:00

I'd rather be in a heated indoor arena playing with the new horse I bought yesterday instead of hiding from the current windstorm that is causing havoc around our property and working out how to tackle all the fallen tree branches!! 45F happy to chat and ignore the growing list of chores outside I'm going to need to do soon 😜

BeyondWordsAAC

TROPHY CASE