# Horse acting "weird" when eating



## kccjer (Jan 27, 2012)

Ya'll make pretty decent goat vets so I'm gonna pick your brains on horses now! hehehe My arabian...4 yr old. I've noticed this behaviour on 2 separate occassions now. 

1st time a few weeks ago, eating grain would take a small bite, rub his mouth on the side of the feeder, stretch his head and neck way out and kinda up. Tail held out away from body (yeah, he's arab but this is constant just held out, not up). I walk up to him and he'll start chewing and move away from me. Got ahold of him and messed with his mouth, no obvious sore spots...didn't like me messing with him but no severe reaction to any pushing, prodding etc. Put him in a separate pen, he was fine the next morning.

2nd time was last night eating hay. Tiny bite of hay in his mouth, stretch head and neck way out and up, finally chew. Tail held out away from body. Had seen him at the water tank earlier and he was drinking just fine.

He is still kinda holding his tail out this morning, but went right up to the hay feeder and filled his mouth FULL and started chewing with no odd behavior. He's not losing weight. Doesn't look or act sick (races around with everyone else looking like a normal arabian, no snotty nose or anything). He is eliminating just fine (several piles in the small pen)

I do have an appt with the vet for him on Saturday morning. Just wondering if anybody has any ideas on what we should be looking for. Oh...and he had strangles last Feb and was one sick puppy with that, so shouldn't be that again.


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Are you sure his teeth are ok?


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## kccjer (Jan 27, 2012)

No I'm really not sure it isn't his teeth. At 4 it shouldn't be his teeth...but that doesn't mean anything. The vet on saturday kinda specializes in horses so if he needs floated, she'll do it.


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## LGFarm (May 30, 2013)

At 4 yrs old, it could very possibly be his teeth. Young horses have many more problems with their teeth then older horses, especially horses that have been bred to have small shaped mouths, ponies, arabs, minis. Sharp edges, bad grinding surfaces, caps, etc. He is at an age that his teeth should be checked at least annually, every 6 months if possible, as his baby teeth fall out and his adult teeth come in. Other things, is he biting himself accidentally, we had an older gelding that frequently enough bit himself and would give all sorts of funny faces due to that.


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## Trickyroo (Sep 26, 2012)

He may still have his "wolf teeth" and need them pulled. And /or he may need his teeth floated. Did you feel any sharp edges when you last examined his mouth ? Also , check his poop and see if there are any whole pieces of grain in there. That's a good sign he isn't chewing his grain cause of the pain. Sounds like he is trying to get food towards the part of his mouth that he has less pain while chewing. Thats what all the weird movements are most likely about. I would have the vet come take a look IMO.


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## audrey (Jul 17, 2012)

TOtally agree with LGFarm, he is losing molar caps at 4 years old, plus after they do lose caps, their teeth are VERY sharp. Its good you are getting him to the vet


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## DDFN (Jul 31, 2011)

I agree with having a vet check his teeth. Most likely will need a good floating. Some horses get what is called wave mouth and if they do get to that point they do better with a swiss type float instead of the traditional hand floating.


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## kccjer (Jan 27, 2012)

The vet I'm taking him to on Sat does the mouth "clamp" thing that holds their mouth open so she can use the power floats. My regular vet just does hand floats and that doesn't seem to work as well. Since I'm taking the old guy to get adjusted at the same time and she's the only in the area that does that....well....means Dr Christie gets my business this time around! I had someone else suggest that holding his tail could be a sign of worms and did some checking into that...gonna worm him tomorrow. My nephew who is my "expert" go-to guy on all my animals (he's in a pre-vet program and has raised sheep and horses for a long time) says he can't think of anything that would cause the issue. He doesn't think it's teeth...but...I'm still taking Jet in on Saturday.


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## Karen (Jun 22, 2010)

Yup, everyone beat me to it - sounds like a tooth thing! Hope it is an easy fix with the vet!


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## kccjer (Jan 27, 2012)

So...along with the goat, Jet went over and got checked out. Super sharp edges on teeth. He'd chewed one cheek pretty good. We floated him. Poor guy. Dr says Arabs usually take a little more meds than most, but he certainly didn't need as much as she gave. He's still kinda loopy. I started to turn him out into the pasture with everybody else and he kinda fell into the round pen gate. LOL I turned him back into the round pen and he'll stay locked up til he's good and steady on his feet. Poor guy. 

Cy, my OLD guy, got his chiro done. He was pretty locked up on his hips and back she said. He was trotting out here at the end of the lead as we took him back out to pasture so he's feeling a whole lot better.


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Glad it was an easy fix!


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## Karen (Jun 22, 2010)

Glad he's doing better, poor guy!


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