Adrian Does BD - I despair, I really do (long!!)

catembi

catembi

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OK - the story so far - Adrian is a 5 yo ISH who's intended to do BD & BSJA. We're having a slight dose of the Terrible Fives atm. Also, altho his first couple of dr comps were promising, now that he's jumping at shows too, he thinks that every time out is paaaaarty time. We went to Manor Farm today to do Prelim 14.

The prep has been fab - he's been going better & better in lesson & now that I've got my arena, I can actually do some canter work! Adrian has actually been muscling up really well & now looks quite the dude.

We've run thru the test several times over the last few days & it's gone okay-ish, so I was feeling reasonably confident that we could finally show what we can do. To add to the fun, I'm auditing in Scotland this week with a lunchtime flight to Aberdeen, which meant an early time. Much to his disgust, A was bathed & plaited the night before & left in. This am, he'd kindly slept with his head in a poo, but his plaits were still fine. Arrived in good time, for once, with a dazzling white horse.

The last time we were at Manor Farm, we were bsja-ing, A exploded in the warmup & was bucking so much that I had to take him out cos he was on the verge of causing chaos, then I got run off with in our round. (Altho we did make it round, at the speed of light with only 1 down.) Last time out we were bsja at Lordsbridge, we more or less behaved ourselves & came 4th.

The warmup started tentatively - altho there weren't any jumps up, poles & wings were visible, so A was hopeful. Had the warmup to myself for about 15 mins & he was just about to relax when other horses came along. The next time I asked for canter, he did 2 HUGE bucks & it was all downhill from there really.
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He was tanking off with me in WALK, very tense, ready to explode. I had to stay up the gate end in case I needed a quick exit & eventually got some fair transitions out of him. Then it was our turn.

As soon as he entered the arena, it was never going to happen. He was tense, anxious & didn't do anything he was asked. It was going okay-ish, if v tense, until the first canter, when he went 'urrrggggh', bucked, stuck his head in the air & ran off, & I couldn't physically hold him.
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He simmered down a bit, but the whole thing was totally rubbish & our halt was horrendous.
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V v disappointed.
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All our prep at home & lessons has no bearing whatsoever on what happens at shows. It's like revising for an exam (dressage) & then getting there & discovering that the exam is actually in a completely different subject (bronc riding & tug of war). So what on earth do I do now???? He is such a nice horse but he behaves like a total f**kwit at shows. At home & out hacking, he's laid back to the point where you sometimes need to check for a pulse...
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Positives from today:

1) Adrian *does* actually come clean, if you scrub him hard enough
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2) I am cool at sitting big bucks
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3) This is the first test where we haven't jumped out / gone over the boards in any way
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4) I can remember a test under extreme provocation
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5) I am getting v experienced at being horribly embarrassed in front of people, which will be fab if/when I have to do a viva voce for my PhD
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6) O/h said that it's NOT the worst test I've done with him (not sure if this is good or bad....)
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So now I'm in a hotel room in Aberdeen feeling sad.
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he just needs to go to loads and loads of shows, by the sound of it, until he realises it isn't a circus, it's actually quite boring. sounds like a totally typical 5yr old, tbh.
prob silly question, but have you tried really riding him forward through it? keeping your legs on, kicking him on a bit even, giving him tons to do and think about from you, less time to think naughty alternative thoughts?! if you already have, sorry!
oh, and well sat... nothing more distracting that having the person in the next-door arena get bucked off and the horse gallop across your arena...
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don't be disheartened. i think i'd feed him grass/hay only, and a calmer, plus i'd prob try to lunge/work the socks off him first, even if it meant getting there at 6am... there's a few more things to try, hopefully!
 

Don't panic unless the grand total of your competition ambitions with him begin and end with prelim 14, its really not a big deal!

It is very exciting for youngsters to get out and about and a lot of the time its just mileage under their belt til they settle!!

If you wish to repeat your miraculous cleaning exploits, I have a very grubby grey situated not very far at all from your hotel room just now!!! ; p !!!

ps Don't worry aberdeen makes everyone sad - its because its so grey!!!
 
I agree with K, do so many shows he gets bored. not necessarily competing just take him and sit on him all day, eventually he will get tired I promise and will calm down.
It's pretty dull for you too but it has worked on a couple of our horses like him.
If he feels too mad just hold him on a lunge line from his bridle and make him stand in the warm up for literally hours.
The best way is a show two days running, that way it's no big deal.
Don't despair, he's going well at home, and the older he gets the saner he should become..
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Kerilli - I haven't really tried riding him thru it. I kind of worry that if I can't ride what I've got, what's gonna happen if I generate even more oomph, if you see what I mean?

I think I should try lungeing / riding before we leave to take the edge off. His diet is okay - we made like a pogo stick in a jumping lesson not so long ago (it's funny looking back on it, but it jolly well wasn't at the time) so Partoow kindly worked out a diet plan for him based on fibre/oil rather than cereals.

Avenger - it cetainly is very grey up here. That's good tho - if it was sunny I'd be more restless!
 
catembi, i'd lunge him, yes, but then if i was on top and he started tensing up and threatening to do stuff, i'd really put my legs on and say "DO THIS (whatever you ask) THEN, you little toad!".
i had a very similar explosive tb youngster years ago, the first time i had the nerve to do this, to really put my legs on and RIDE him through it, to my total amazement he won both classes... and didn't do anything naughty either. he didn't have time to think about naughty stuff, i was so busy making him pay attention to me and do as he was told.
the trouble with the strong/forward/wild ones is that they trick you into taking your legs off, which is actually the worst thing you can do, i've found.
you wouldn't be generating more oomph, you'd be taking control of the gearstick again, and choosing which gear you want, rather than sitting there and letting him freewheel along. that's how i look at it, anyway! hope that's a reasonably helpful idea! and working forwards and positively is going to get rid of a lot more of his energy, hopefully!
 
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catembi, i'd lunge him, yes, but then if i was on top and he started tensing up and threatening to do stuff, i'd really put my legs on and say "DO THIS (whatever you ask) THEN, you little toad!".
i had a very similar explosive tb youngster years ago, the first time i had the nerve to do this, to really put my legs on and RIDE him through it, to my total amazement he won both classes... and didn't do anything naughty either. he didn't have time to think about naughty stuff, i was so busy making him pay attention to me and do as he was told.
the trouble with the strong/forward/wild ones is that they trick you into taking your legs off, which is actually the worst thing you can do, i've found.
you wouldn't be generating more oomph, you'd be taking control of the gearstick again, and choosing which gear you want, rather than sitting there and letting him freewheel along. that's how i look at it, anyway! hope that's a reasonably helpful idea! and working forwards and positively is going to get rid of a lot more of his energy, hopefully!

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This is the exact advice people gave me with Jerry, and it does work
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I totally take your point. The only thing is, he's a stroppy little madam atm, so if I say, Do This!!!! his initial reaction is to buck, stamp in front, ears flat, swish tail etc. If I ask more firmly, he will get stroppier before suddenly giving in. This would be all well & good at home or in a lesson, but at shows I'm conscious of not ending up spoiling everyone else's warmup, so I don't feel able to have it out with him.

Altho that would be one way to get a rosette, by demolishing the other competitors...

Firstly I'm conscious of not getting in other people's way, upsetting their horses, etc & secondly I worry about people looking at me & thinking, why's that stupid girl brought *that* - he can't keep more than 2 feet on the floor & shoudn't be here.

If I'd been on Cat & someone had gone into a bronc routine in front of me, I'd have been furious cos he'd always feel duty bound to join in, & Cat going off on one makes A look like a riding school plod...
 
The other thing is go somewhere (anywhere!) as often as you can. Don't bother entering anything (or enter a class but don't actually do it) until you are able to get him working sensibly away from home. Try to get to some clinics so he realises that he will be expected to work and behave somewhere other than his own school.
 
All of the above are great ideas but I would also suggest giving him some calmer.

I had a young horse who got very excited at a trip out. We took him to lots of different venues whether it was a show or a friends arena. To start with we gave him a very small amount of sedalin. This meant that he was aware of what was going on but without all the excitement. If you do this though you have to realise that your horse wouldn't be very forwards.

We found with our young horse that after a couple of outings doing this he was used to being calmer and we were able to get into the habit of better behaviour at a show.

I would suggest that you go with an experinced other person to make sure that you always have some help. This is not a quick fix but it might help to break the pattern and give your horse a few good experinces.

NB sedalin is not competition legal. There are many legal calmers available but it is trial and error as to which will work with your horses metabolism.
 
My sympathies. My TB 7yo mare is the same each time she goes to a differnt venue, then she is fine the next time. She has always been like this from I started taking her out as a 4yo. I would enter another test there fairly quickly, and allow plenty of time for warming up. Make sure you have some sort of neckstrap as well (sounds daft doesn't it), but I feel a lot more confident if there is something there to tuck a couple of fingers under in an emergency (even if its not needed). I have been given the same advice as kerelli and madhector - ride him through the tantrum with as many changes of direction and small circles as you can fit into the warmup area.
Fingers crossed he will be better the next time.
Fiona
 
I do feel for you ,Rafi is an angel and Penfold a devil.
Penfold was bred by me to try to get a coloured dressage horse ...I managed the coloured...He has much more ability than Rafi but gets so tense , one minute he is perfect and the next dragon horse.
Luckily ,now he events the arena are in fields and he has less to spook at.
Hope yours gets over it but I agree give him something to think about....YOU
 
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