Advice please on stressed behaviour when ridden - long post!

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Hotchocolate

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Hi all,
I am hoping you might be able to give me some advice. I have owned my 5 year old TB whom I hope to event for 7 months. He is a bit quirky, a thug at times, but overall I am happy with him. It has a been a steep learning curve for me having never owned a youngster before, with him taking every opportunity to test me! I have weekly lessons and have overcome issues with napping and spooking and have gained confidence. (I am a fairly confident rider, have owned a couple of horses before so not a complete novice!).
My horse is not very confident and becomes easily stressed. Of course then if I become stressed this compounds the problem - and I am working hard so stay relaxed and breathe during the times I am about to describe to you...
We are fine as a rule hacking alone or in a pair and also going in the school - we both find this enjoyable and are relaxed.
However, travel somewhere new/go hacking in a group/go in a wide open space and Horse tenses up, tucks his nose right in and leaps in the air. I try to relax and 'kick on' (ride forward) but that seems to cause more leaping. I persist and we move forwards with intermittent leaps and bucks and it is just horrible. It is like riding a ticking bomb.
He is clearly incredibly stressed and does not know what to do with himself. It doesn't seem to be malicious but it certainly isn't positive excitment.
I try to keep doing the things that make him stressed, in a quiet controlled way, ie go in the trailer for lessons, ride around fields in a pair in walk and trot, go for group hacks with quiet horses...but I am not getting anywhere fast (excuse the pun!).
Some background on routine - turned out for 8 hours a day (increasing with daylight), stabled at night with adlib haylage. Fed Hifi and blue chip native balancer (he is well covered and does not need any more condition!).

I had a new saddle fitted 4 months ago by a renouned master saddler and this was checked 1 month ago.
Teeth done 5 months ago.
Physio every 3 months as luckily a friend of mine is an equine physio - she comments on tightness in his back muscles (lumbar region) but nothing major.
He passed a 5 stage vetting when I bought him.

I am going to ask my vet to assess him for any physical discomfort, but I am not sure if this is the case as problems only occur when horse gets stressed. If I spend 2 weeks schooling and hacking with his field buddy then he is a dream to ride!

So I am asking for advice on how to ride a coiled leaping horse who won't go forward when he gets stressed!
I am worried I won't ever be able to compete!
Thank you all for any suggestions.
 
Has he raced? He sounds exactly like my old ex-racehorse - he used to shake all over and get covered in foam when we went out, and 'ticking timebomb' is a perfect description of how he felt to ride. My theory was that he'd had an unhappy time racing and thought he was back in the paddock again.

I switched from dressage to clear round SJ (tiny 30cm stuff!) for a few outings so we could just go forwards instead of having to look pretty ;). I also used a calmer for a few outings. Singing in the warm-up worked well to keep us both relaxed (Nelly the Elephant is ideal for this!!). Ultimately it was repetition until he learnt that outings didn't have to be scary, though the first outing of the season was usually a bit hairy.
 
Thanks j1ffy. No he has never raced. He was shown in hand as a baby a fair bit and then ridden as a 4 year old. I will keep going to lessons and clinics in the trailer and hopefully he will settle down a bit...and as you say start the competitions slowly. At the moment though I am still very much feeling like it is never going to happen :-\
 
You just have to keep at it. They get over themselves (eventually!) keep it low stress at this stage, go to shows and lead him around but don't ride, go to lessons offsite, or hire an arena, that kind of thing :)
 
Singing helps. You can't hold your breath when you sing. As you keep breathing you will relax, as you relax so will he. You look a but odd - but never mind! Otherwise pigeon is right - the more you get out and about the more he sees and experiences the easier it will be. At 5 he is really only a baby still.
 
Agree with the singing :) and just persisting with the outings :) We take our babies out somewhere away from home every other day, nothing high pressure, but we are basically trying to bore the pants off them!
 
Has your vet mentioned ulcers? He sounds like my boy, pretty calm doing anything low stress but as soon as something wound him up he couldn't calm down, trembled all over and would eventually explode. Had him scoped on Monday and now he's been treated for ulcers. So far he's much calmer.
 
Thanks all, yes I'm thinking the vet may suggest ulcers as a cause so will get him scoped.
Wench, have you used that? There are so many calming products would be good to use one that someone found worked!
Thanks for all the other advice too, going to ride round the fields singing tonight!
 
Look up PAX horse on google. Can work wonders with nervous horses , its an old "secret". The lady that taught me 45 years ago used it for new horses and breakers. It helps the bond between horse and rider and the idea is the horse follows the rider rather than trying to do its own thing. Well worth a try.
 
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