Advice on a jumpy yougster?

[applestroodle]

Hey

Feeling a bit down and frustrated about my youngster, 1 step forward 2 back!! Maybe you guys could give me some advice or encouragement. I have a welsh section d which I bought in November who I don’t think has had the best start in life. She is very nervous and jumpy, backed and lunged her in the school but it came apparent that she was even more nervous in the indoor school than inside, she was sold at sales I think as a 2-3 year old! So iv been hacking her out with friends but she is very jumpy and sharp,will b walking along one minute and then next jumps 5 foot in the air and zooms forward regains her composure again for five ten minutes then same happens. Like something behind her spooks her, had her saddle teeth etc all checked but it is almost like her tail flicks up and hits her tummy as daft as that sounds. A couple of weeks ago she did this and ran into the back of another horse who tried to kick her so she spun round and scrambled over a old stone dyke wall, I came off queue a confidence knock for me and her. Since then she had been getting better, rode her out yesterday after lunging her and she was as good as gold didn’t jump once so i did exact same as yesterday this morning, hacking same place she was so bad i had to get off and walk home. : ( she was spooking jumping shooting left and right and all over the place. So do I A. keep persevering like I have been doing. B. get someone out more experienced ? Or C iv no idea. Its really getting me down and feel my confidence and patience is being tested.

So sorry it is so long for a Sunday afternoon, cup of tea and biccy if you get this far, thanks in advance.

 

[teresagarsden]

Hi there your horsey sounds like a total twin of mine.
I to bought a 3yr old section D at auction in November, same as you very nervous and spooky inside and out, also had been quite badly beaten and had the scars to show for it.
I managed to do alot with him but he still had that nervous panic mode that he reverts back to on occasions.
I contacted global herbs and started him on the supercalm and it has worked a treat and now he is growing in confidence everyday and is a much more chilled out horsey.
Stick with it and keep the softly softly approach it really does come good in the end.
I do hope this helps and let us know how you get on.
Good luck

Teresa & Denny

 

[AmyMay]

What professional do you have helping you??

 

[applestroodle]

Thank you very much Teresa, its nice to hear someone elses story. i hadnt thought about trying a calmer ill conatct global herbs. i suppose rome wasnt built in a day as they say but it really is sometimes so frustarting.

Thanks it really is a great help.

 

[samstar]

we also have a nervy and spooky welsh d and we use equine americas magnitude with him and its worked wonders on him out hacking, but can still be rushing when in the school.
We think he was rushed when backed.
Have you had his pelvic area checked out by a chiro as we also had a problem with his tail swishing, stopped when his pelvis was sorted out, found he was up more on his rightside than his left side

 

[Pearlsasinger]

I used to have a WelshDXTB mare who had been sold by breeder and then bought back as a 3yr old because she felt the mare was not being looked after properly. Breeder fed her up over the autumn/winter and then sold her to me. She was obviously green when I got her but never outgrew this and was always jumpy and spooky with very little confidence. She eventually put me off hacking her because she was so unpredictable on the roads. When she was 12 (and very close to pts) we realised that she was intolerant of cereals and mollasses in her diet. We fed her on alfalfa and grass nuts and after a horrific withdrawal period, which I would do far more gradually if I had to do it again, she was like a different horse. We kept her 'til she was 24. The only trouble then was that we could never be absolutely sure that no 'well-meaning passer-by' hadn't fed her.
It might be worth you looking at her diet, bearing in mind that she could be intolerant of any substance at all, to see if there is anything that she is eating that might be causing her behaviour.
Sister & I have a lot of experience of food intolerances in both animals and humans, so feel free to pm if I can help further.

 

[CarlottaH]

OMG ive got ur horses twin, well almost, my horse os roughly 14 now. One thing you can not do is give up.

What is your horse on diet wise, is it getting oats and things that u dont want your horse to have as they give energy. I also put my horse on "magic" its a supplement what helps calm horses.

Your horse might be chlostrphobic to the indoor school, as I aslo think that was one of the problems with where I used to keep Sunny, my pony.

 

[moneypit1]

[ QUOTE ]
What professional do you have helping you??

[/ QUOTE ]
Where did it say that a professional was helping? I must of missed that.

 

[applestroodle]

Hi

I don’t have any professional help at the moment but had wondered if I should send her away to be professionally backed or have someone to come out to me to sit on her but was hoping I could ride through it myself as at the moment I would just like myself to be the only person dealing with her as she trusts me now and its taken a while.
Thanks

 

[AmyMay]

Ok, this is what I would do. I would get someone in to help me with the process. She clearly needs more work before she's going to be safe to ride out on the roads.

Once you feel more confident that she is better established in her aids go out in the company of no more than two people who understand how to educate youngsters on the road. It's imperative that the horses and riders are good babysitters.

 

[welshcobnewbie]

i have a very nervous welsh D project that has just turned four, was badly treated and had frequent beatings for two years, i got him in February, virtually unhandled. he has moments where he completely loses his head also,weather it is just being turned out, or in his stable. I started him on global herbs supercalm and he is a totally different horse, he still has "moments" and can still twitch and jump around when i go and touch him,and can still be very jumpy but he has improved 90%.

There seems to be an awful lot of scatty welsh D's at the moment.

 

[Marchell]

"There seems to be an awful lot of scatty welsh D's at the moment."

Good news that you are making progress with your boy but I'm sure that ANY breed that had been treated as he has would react accordingly.

Unfortunately most behavioural problems with Sec D's stem from poor eduaction and inexperienced owners.They are a very intelligent breed and don't lend themselves well to novice owners.

Hope you continue to make progress.

 

[diggerbez]

i wouldn't worry that you are on your own- i think a lot of baby horses are like this- you have to remember that this being ridden malarky is very 'new' and strange for them and sometimes the 'flight' instinct takes over... my own youngster (broken in feb) has been an absolute gem but in the last week has become a spooking monster in the arena at home. he's fine at trainers yard (which is actually very very spooky) and out on hacks but in arena at home he's being really very silly- personally with him i think its a cockniess thing- he's feeling a lot stronger and more confident, and now throwing something new at me....its all a learning curve, just stick with it- you need the patience of a saint to have youngsters!

 

[Amaretto]

Mileage - just keep going and stay confident. The more your neddy sees the better. But get some professional help too, if anything just to give you confidence in your convictions! x