eye expression - sucking temple in

Question

eye expression - sucki   QUESTION: hello, may i know the eye expression of this horse? is it tensed or seeing side ways? do tell me why few horses suck their temple in like this horse?

ANSWER: Horse is looking at something to side and slightly back to me in this picture, that has him worried/watching, or tense.

Is this an older horse?  In most horses that have this much hollow above eyes, they are older, or are in thinner condition.

However, it could also be the way the conformation of this particular horse is, and also of his bloodlines.  We have a couple of younger horses that do have more of a hollow, and I have 2 older horses, one of which has this, and the other does not.

Does he stay like this when he is not tensed/watching something?

Pretty horse.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: this is presently 4 year old thoroughbred gelding bred for flat racing. the shot was taken when he was a 3 year old. he's one of the aggressive horses in our stable. he headbutts and rears with an intention of dislodging the rider. he weighs around 500kgs. he listens to only 1 rider and its groom. no other horseman dares to touch him. for the first time i have seen him doing hollowing its temple. when any one approaches him, he prominently head nodds with ear flattened as if out of frustration of seeing the stranger or other horsemen.

Answer
Being a TB, and depending on the bloodlines, this may just be him, in that if you do much to control the temper, will you lose the desire to race and win, that is, depending on if he is winning and running well.

The temple hollowing I would say is temper related, given this information now.  I have seen some horses do this when they get angry, or are thinking about something they perceive as an injustice in their minds.

I knew an exercise rider, who had picked out his string of young horses first, since there was one he was particularly interested in.  This horse, upon coming out of its stall, would plant front feet so hard he was thrown up on the neck and in flash, the horse would rear up and hook her front legs behind his neck and cross them and drag him off over her head.  This happened time and again.  She was just a real piece of work.

Again, this has to be weighed against the horse's potential as a runner.

It could be the feed is too hot for this particular horse, in terms of making it unmanageable or dangerous.  I have seen some strange things with horses and feed/hay.  Oats will make some almost crazy, and have seen one that even one flake of peanut hay, would be climbing out of its skin.

Could also be the gelding didn't take too.  There may be too much testosterone in this horses makeup, and could be checked with CBC or other testing?

Could also be the horse is in pain, as we had one that went to training, crypt, and would run, and run well at first, but problems developed, X-rays/MRI's were done, and the undescended testicle had migrated/lodged directly under the spine, which when jock was up, and horse stretched out, was causing major pain.

Could also be horse needs to be looked at closely if shod, to make sure horse is as even on front/hinds as possible, may need a thin leather pad?  Horses, like us, and all things for that matter, are not symmetrical, and if, for instance, the left fore, from where it ties in to body down to the coronet band is even 1/8th of an inch shorter than the right fore, that means the horse is constantly running unevenly.

A stallion from our farm was a Kentucky Derby contender, excellent horse, but he had that very same thing.  The farrier who was shoeing him, would not take that into consideration, and shod him so that the hooves were the same length.  Horse bowed a tendon.  Recovered with rest, ran again, and bowed again.  Retired to stud for Plumley Farms in FL or was.  May be dead now?  One of his get though, ran third in the Derby a couple of years ago, Sweetnorthernsaint.

I have a couple of friends who deal with TB's on a daily basis, as exercise riders and trainers.  I will run this by them, and get back to you if they have anything to add.

Does this horse see chiropractor or get massages?