Yawning - Should I be worried or am I just paranoid?

[simons-mum]

Just looking for a bit of advice really if anyone is knowledgeable about this
Bit of background first - I unfortunately lost my horse on 7th April and since then our 12.2 pony has been on his own while I'm on the hunt for a suitable new horse for myself. He was wormed on Sunday (with a new wormer I hadn't used before) On Tuesday when I arrived at the field he was very sweaty which I put down to the fact that it was a very hot day and he might have been rolling around because of the wormer. On Wednesday and today (Thursday) 2 yr old child came to help with the grooming. She isn't around him that much so he's not really used to her. We just groomed him in the field without a headcollar on, he just stood still and waited till we were finished, he was quite able to walk off at any time if he wanted. He seemed a bit tense though, tail clamped down and the muscles in his sides were rock hard Both days he did 2 or 3 big yawns while the grooming was taking place, I've never seen him do this before and we've had him a year now. Did a search on the internet to see if I could find out any info and it seems it could be anything from a release of tension to teeth problems
If anyone has any ideas as to what could be going on given the info above I'd be grateful. I'm going to try grooming him at a different time of the day tomorrow and without the 2 yr old in tow to see if that makes a difference.

 

[Jessey]

It sounds to me like he was just relaxing enjoying his groom, you know, spring sun shine on his back, being fussed and clearly really enjoying his groom or else he wouldn't have stood there

 

[Anna&Megan]

My shetland Minnie yawns a lot when her sweet itch is playing her up - I think sometimes yawning can be a stress relief but there's probably lots of different reasons that they might yawn a lot.

 

[capalldubh]

With mine, yawning is usually either "i'm relaxed and a bit sleepy" or "I have a bit of a conflict...". The conflict yawn is usually because he has some kind of dilemma e.g. he wants to do something I'm asking and knows he will be rewarded for it but it's a bit difficult.

So either a conflict in two equally desirable options, or conflict in a not so good thing but with a potential good thing if he does it.

Does that make sense?

So on the basis of that, it sounds like he was a bit uptight because it was a new person, but wanted to be groomed...?

 

[Tuff_up]

yawning is a stress relievant, aswell as a sign of resting (just like in humans).

stress could be from being dewormed (imagine having nasty tasting stuff, pushed down your throat), but what the stress probably is from is loosing his/her herd mate.

Rolling (which maybe why he was wet [if there was a puddle]) and he may also be running around the paddock trying to find his/her buddy. Chances are it is lonesomness and not an allergic reaction to the dewormer.

 

[simons-mum]

Thanks everyone, For the first week after the accident I spent most of the day in the field with him seeing how I have nothing better to do anyway For the first few days he headed towards any sign of movement and wasn't so impressed on realizing it was only me again After that he seemed reasonably content with my company so I've gradually cut down the amount of time I've been out with him and it's at about 3 hours now, maybe I should up it a bit again though? He can be a very pushy little so and so at times and he's been trying to play with me, nudging me with his head then cantering off and turning and almost charging back. Don't think he'd actually run me over but I'm not sure if it's a good idea to join in these games or not, I don't want to teach him its okay to charge at people He's also been trying to play dominance games with my elderly arthritic labrador who has gotten a kick for his trouble and all he was doing was minding his own business He probably hasn't been on his own before either (definitely not since he's been with us or in his previous 2 homes) so this is a whole new situation for him as well. I did think he was adjusting reasonably well . . . maybe not as much as I thought