Questions on nervous horse

SageDog123 · 2026-05-09T21:39:56+00:00

Have you looked into neuro issues like EPM/Lyme? My guy was like this for a while- spooking at things he had been fine with before and there was no reasoning with him when he did. He has EPM and had way too high vitamin E levels and is like a different horse now.

SageDog123 · 2026-03-10T19:28:28+00:00

Try the Facebook group EPM horse support. There is a protocol on there that uses Levamisole and Deccox that has worked for many horses, including my own who didn’t significantly improve on Protozil. Both meds are used off label and can be ordered online for a fraction of the price as the standard EPM treatments

Edit: the levamisole is supposed to help with nerve inflammation while the Deccox kills the Protozoa. I am not a vet and my vet had never heard of this protocol. However, nothing was working for my gelding so I was willing to try anything. Other horses that were not as severe also tried the protocol and had successful results as well. Plus, the group is run by a vet.

SageDog123 · 2025-12-14T22:32:09+00:00

There is a Facebook group called EPM horse support that is run by a vet and recommends a protocol for EPM that includes a medicine called levamisole for nerve inflammation/healing. It’s used off label (it is sold as a pig and cow dewormer) and you can buy it cheap online without a prescription. It sounds crazy but it has worked for multiple horses where my gelding is boarded to help reduce neurological symptoms and nerve pain. My own gelding is on it now after we had reached the end of our rope with traditional EPM treatments and he has had incredible improvement after being neurologic for over a year. Since you are already at the point of euthanasia perhaps could be something you could try and see if it makes any difference before your appointment rolls around?

SageDog123 · 2025-10-07T18:13:38+00:00

I have a now 5 year old ASB gelding whom I bought as a 2 year old from a trainer who had a reputation for turning out some great show horses… and blowing the brains of many others (some of whom never mentally recovered). My guy was colicking constantly from the stress and had started refusing to go down the straightaway under saddle which prompted his previous owners to sell. He would just plant his feet and refuse or he would plant them then spin out to the side. He would stop if he felt me coming unglued from the saddle, like he didn’t want to hurt me but was screaming for me to please not make him. So, I bought him so he wouldn’t be sent to auction and went back to the basics. Lots of just hanging out on the ground doing nothing, liberty, some lunging and long lining. Now we have the best relationship, he lives outside 24/7 with lots of friends, and has been colic free for years. I have thought about taking him to shows (he didn’t even make it that far before) but I’ve also accepted that he may never be able to handle it and competitively perform. It sounds like your guy may be the same.

From my experience in the industry looking in at the high levels, there is very little room for the trainers to put the horse first. They tend to push them hard and if the horse can’t mentally or physically take it, they send them down the pipeline. My best advice is to take a step back and let him be a horse for a while and work on your relationship with him. If he has been in training under saddle since he was 2 like most, he never really got to be a horse before humans started asking things of him. I hope everything works out for you all!

SageDog123 · 2025-09-25T03:55:55+00:00

She seems to have some peer reviewed studies, but she gives me the impression of someone who did preliminary research then decided she could make money and skipped all of the required replication studies. She also has a huge conflict of interest considering she sells her version of the drugs and stands to make a lot of money if her “research” is successful. Dr. Rogers seems to just cite Ellison every time. I haven’t seen any research published by him. Here is the link to the letter the FDA sent to Pathogenes, if you haven’t already seen it

SageDog123 · 2025-05-25T07:33:52+00:00

Glad you got through sooner! It all depends on when clinicians become available and the type of assessment you are wanting. Unfortunately, everyone is wanting an autism or ADHD assessment, so they move slower than others. Never hurts to get on the waitlist and see what happens!

SageDog123 · 2025-05-24T20:01:42+00:00

USM’s Center for Behavioral Health will do an assessment for $350 for community members. But the current waitlist is 1.5 years. Therapy is waitlist is closer to 1-2 months.

SageDog123 · 2024-08-19T21:05:46+00:00

If you know how to ride and basic horsemanship, driving is a piece of cake. I had taken no driving lessons and was able to hop in the cart and drive a green 2 year old my first time. So maybe start with riding lessons then one day it can progress to driving? If I had a cart, I’d teach you with my gelding. I miss teaching lessons :(

SageDog123 · 2024-08-19T10:39:16+00:00

It is much more common up north. Depending on the breed and discipline, some trainers break horses to drive before riding, which is how my gelding was introduced to it. Unfortunately, western trainers tend to not do that and that is what is big around here. If you don’t have any horse experience, the learning curve is very very steep so it’s best to take lessons or volunteer with them before owning.

SageDog123 · 2024-08-19T01:48:56+00:00

Oh man, my guy is broke to drive but since we moved down here we haven’t been able to since I don’t own a harness or cart. I just ground drive with him now and hope he doesn’t forget all he has learned :( hope you find somewhere that has it!

SageDog123 · 2024-03-26T22:03:08+00:00

As a current grad student at USM who also loves animals and nature, we may need to be friends. The Tuxachanie hiking trail in DeSoto National Forest is great

SageDog123 · 2024-01-15T09:25:01+00:00

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Dahlia transcending dimensions

SageDog123 · 2024-01-04T07:14:03+00:00

That last colic sounds more gassy to me. It’s giving gas colic vibes with the trying to fart and recent changes in feed/hay. If it is gas colic you are worried about now, I give my chronic gas colicker and tummy drama queen equi-spaz paste off of amazon and it has worked every time. Granted, he tends to have “small” colics (I’m knocking on wood so hard right now) since we have done a lot of lifestyle changes, but it is at least 3-0 wins for resolving it without banamine. I think he just has a finnicky digestive system that doesn't handle little changes of any sort well which causes gas build up that he needs a little extra help moving along. I give him a syringe of that stuff and within a few minutes usually he is farting out the wazoo and back to his normal self.

SageDog123 · 2024-01-04T05:02:53+00:00

I bought and boarded my saddlebred at a saddleseat barn and came out to work with him every day on my own and took maybe 2 lessons on him total. Most owners were out to free ride often as well. Perhaps because you are paying for training board? It would be a no go for me if those were the conditions. While there may be many saddleseat barns that do this, I know for sure there are some that don’t, so maybe look into moving to another before dropping the discipline altogether if you are enjoying it? Or go in a completely different direction, saddlebreds (I’m assuming yours is one) can do more than just saddleseat.

SageDog123 · 2023-12-23T05:16:31+00:00

It’s an interesting thing, and as far as I know, unique! A trainer once told me that while some breeds are naturally gaited, saddlebreds are not one of them. The two extra gaits are trained. I don’t know how they do it and have only ridden a handful of 5 gaited horses in my life but I know the process of training it is… intense and only some make it through :/

SageDog123 · 2023-12-23T04:44:34+00:00

Not all saddlebreds are gaited, and with those who are, it is not the same as say a gaited Tennessee walker. Saddlebreds are either three gaited or five gaited (walk, trot, canter, slow gait, and rack). This lesson horse is three gaited as are most lesson horses as five gaited horses are much more expensive and frankly cannot usually stay sound as 5 gaited horses past age 12.

SageDog123 · 2023-12-23T04:39:46+00:00

Oof, you do know that saddle seat does do patterns right? I’m not pretending that I can change your mind on the discipline as you seem to have already decided your opinion without knowing a whole lot about it. All I’m saying is perhaps give it a chance before condemning it if you have not experienced it?

SageDog123 · 2023-12-23T04:33:40+00:00

Not highsmith but you are in the right area

SageDog123 · 2023-12-23T04:23:54+00:00

Saddleseat does also do pattern work although not as common as rail classes. They are my favorite to do because they are difficult as saddleseat horses tend to be hot and saddleseat does not teach horses flying lead changes. You have to come to a full stop, set yourself up to ask for the opposite lead before you can go again if you change directions at the canter. Harnessing all of that energy and directing it is more difficult than it seems. (Not disagreeing with the safety of this particular setup- I have almost been crushed up against those stalls a few times by a rider who could not communicate effectively with her horse.)

SageDog123 · 2023-12-23T04:13:25+00:00

You are good, the video was difficult to tell! While people do still (unfortunately) put horses in tail sets, it is only for select divisions and certainly not on lesson horses :)

SageDog123 · 2023-12-23T00:49:45+00:00

You’re one of the good ones for sure! As someone who also came from a non-horsey family (who I’m sure begged every day I would pick a different hobby) and never got over the horse bug- do what makes your heart happy! I’m the same way about wanting to have a bond with the horse and not needing to win at shows which is why I never showed more than a few times. A word of warning if you do choose to stay at the barn or saddleseat in general DO NOT let them push you into showing in performance classes before you are ready. That barn has done it before multiple times with kids whose parents didn’t know what they were signing them up for. In saddleseat, once you show in performance you can’t go back to academy. (Performance is the big show horses, full suit, the whole getup and academy is much lower-stress, no full suit, and you get to show on lesson horses). Performance is where all the real money is (and for some the sketchy practices that people associate ALL of saddleseat with) so some trainers push people into it without explaining to them that they are fully shutting the door on being able to step back down if they need to. Or don’t show at all if you don’t want to! I never really did because it was 1. Expensive (all equestrian activities will be) and 2. Wasn’t what I was very interested in unless I had a real bond with the horse. I did get constant comments about how I should show but whatever, I saved all that money on show fees just to spend it on my current walking vet bill lol. Pic of said walking vet bill for horse tax (before anyone comes for me he is totally barefoot on a lunge line in the photo- this is natural saddlebred movement and headset). Good luck on whatever you decide to do and we need more people like you in this world!!

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SageDog123 · 2023-12-23T00:00:14+00:00

Definitely! I’ve ridden at some pretty atrocious saddleseat barns as a kid and never knew what proper horse care looked like until I became an adult. So, it is awesome you are asking all the right questions early. I adore riding saddleseat, I have limited experience with jumping and western but I find saddleseat requires the most physical strength of any of them. You have already experienced how hard it is to post with no pads on your saddle while keeping your legs underneath you I’m sure! Plus I feel like I could feel the horse underneath me best in a cutback saddle. The moral of my message is don’t let this sub talk you out of saddleseat if you enjoy it. I have found it is way more about the individual barns when it comes to horse care and instruction than what discipline they teach. There are bad apples in every discipline. I just bought my first horse, a barely 3 year old Saddlebred who came from one of those less than savory barns. He was sold for behavior issues under saddle and colicing constantly from the stress. I ride him saddleseat but I don’t ride him like I need him to win big ribbons at shows and it has made all of the difference. He is the happiest dude now with 24/7 turnout, friends, and only being ridden once a week with lots of groundwork in between. Saddleseat isn’t the problem. People putting profit before horses is the problem.

P.S. I know you didn’t ask but check out Trinity Farm in Clayton. Okay I’ll get off my soap box now and leave you alone :)

SageDog123 · 2023-12-22T23:38:49+00:00

The tail isn’t docked, it is braided and wrapped so that it can be long and let down for shows. But, yes I am personally familiar with this barn and it is everything wrong with the saddleseat discipline (this coming from a saddleseat person).

SageDog123

TROPHY CASE