the yearling filly i look after seems to be suffering from a bit of depression. some days she is very lively and playful, other days she is very down and will just stand with her head pressed against the wall. some mornings she wont even get up off the floor.

she is kept on a yard with other horses so has company 24/7. she is turned out most days weather permitting. i spend time with her everyday talking to her and grooming her. not sure what else i can do. she has been checked by a vet and is in full health.

she was orphaned as a foal and hand raised so i dont know if this has anything to do with it??

Oh dear, sounds as if she is missing her mum? We talked anout orphaned and hand reared foals, mine never stood like this though, sound wrong, more like a head ache or tooache?

Do you have a pic of her standing like this that I can take a peak at?

i would call a vet to be on the safe side

vet has been, physically there is nothing wrong with her at all. he said mentally she will be a little bit behind because of the circumstances of her birth but this will hopefully come right as she gets older.

i know she is missing her foster mum as she had to depart a bit suddenly (this was out of our control). my friend has recently purchased another mare and foal and plans to introduce them gradually to Rose so that she has a couple of playmates. i just wondered if there is anything i could do in the meantime to make her feel a bit better??

i will try to get somepics of her in one of her 'moods' and post them on here

Zayna, she is so young I do so feel for you both. Do you try any hands on therapies, reiki, shiatsu, massage? They will all help. I also want to suggest toys, maybe a large ball introduced carefully, apart from that lots of tlc, soft grooming, sweet talking and time. You could also put in a pets request here The-DHN for Pets: Request Page
Look forward to the pics.

Cassie

Have taken her out for walks? this could pick her up a bit it will also give her something else to think about as the environment will be different, and maybe leave a radio on in her stable for a few hours when she is stabled..... there are also horse mirrors that you could try and as others have suggested toys. Can she see other horses? Caddy my big horse suffered severe depression when his companion died and we went and bought our Dims it was a risk because we didn't know if he would take to him..... thankfully it worked and now they have a bond you wouldn't believe!
Bless her I hope she picks up soon

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www.tonette.co.uk

I've only just read this is she any better yet?


I remembered when my sister had a jumping pony he went like this for a while. Just suddenly started doing it. The vet said he was fine. The vets daughter also had horses on the yard. They dropped the girl of and came to find me one day. We went to Barney's stable and looked carefully at the wall. Sure enough there were kick marks in the brick work with scrape marks that my sister had not noticed.

The vet had spoken to her father who was a retired vet he had suggested that Barney had become cast in the night and in his panic to get up had banged his head on the wall. There were no marks on his head but it was winter and he was not clipped so had a big thick coat to protect him.

The diagnosis? He had one almighty head ache. The vet gave him an injection of pain killers and he was soon back to his normal slightly crazy self.

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Sammy you may be gone but your sprit will always live on in the sunbeams R I P Sammy

William- 6/11/03 - 24/3/10
Midge - 8/2/11 - 10-2-11