Any advise for a spooky part loan?

Inda

Inda

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Hi, I recently got a 16.3 hh 14yr IDx mare on part loan. I rode this mare regularly last year and she was pretty much bomb proof, good at dressage, jumping and out on hacks.
She was bought 7 month ago and her owner does roughly an hour of indoor schooling a week with no road work. I took her on part loan rather than buy as I just don't have the time to be up every day at the stables with my work commitments. She's obviously now out of condition and also struggles with basic schooling. This I can work on, and she's coming on in leaps and bounds. However she's suddenly awful out on hacks, spooking and panicking at nothing, took me 20 minutes to get her past a pothole. I suspect it's a combination of lack of use, improving condition and the spring grass, but would be really appreciative of any advise.
 
Hi,

I suspect you are right. All the horses/ponies at our yard are acting way out of character - mine's usually a bossy sod but being in moult he's unhappy, tetchy, , docile and spookier than usual - I'm currently taking it steady and getting off if he starts being silly esp. with the pony eating sheep :rolleyes: roll on summer :D

My lads out of condition after this dreadful winter - so I take him out in hand on his days off - I concentrate on hill work, his spooky spots and find him a bit of grass on the noisiest spot I can find (whether it be traffic, children, footballs etc) :D
 
RainbowDash said:
Hi,

I suspect you are right. All the horses/ponies at our yard are acting way out of character - mine's usually a bossy sod but being in moult he's unhappy, tetchy, , docile and spookier than usual - I'm currently taking it steady and getting off if he starts being silly esp. with the pony eating sheep :rolleyes: roll on summer :D

My lads out of condition after this dreadful winter - so I take him out in hand on his days off - I concentrate on hill work, his spooky spots and find him a bit of grass on the noisiest spot I can find (whether it be traffic, children, footballs etc) :D
Click to expand...

Yes, good idea; just spending time with the horse instead of feeling pressured to be "doing" stuff all the time. This will help to build up confidence - your horse needs to feel that you're his "herd leader" and in-hand/groundwork is absolutely vital in achieving that.

You need to set the boundaries and establish the groundrules however, as regards eating while he's in hand, or else he will start taking the lead and/or not understand when its OK to eat and when not.

Personally, I'd make it plain to him when he's in "chill" mode (i.e. and can eat) by taking him in a headcollar. For the times when he's NOT permitted to eat, then take him in a proper bridle. I say this as from own experience its important that horse knows the boundaries and who's the boss!

Have a look at the Michael Peace website (or get one of his books) as he takes a sensible approach to all this sort of stuff without getting geeky about it.
 
Thanks for the advise. I'll increase the ground work, she's stop barging and were working on her stopping when I stop. There's building work at the yard so ill walk her past that on the head collar. I know that properly taking her out in hand would be good but I'm terrified I lose her, drivers are less than considerate here, some swerve towards horses and rev the engines. But she's fine with that, daft mare.
 
^ *Like* :D

And ditto with the controlling where he/she can eat - I choose the spots carefully - the boyo doesn't like loud kids so I take him to the park near our hack route (plenty of good grass) - he is beginning to associate 'pony eating' children and footballs with fuss and polo's :D. Does them good to just enjoy your company without the need to work :D.
 
Inda said:
Thanks for the advise. I'll increase the ground work, she's stop barging and were working on her stopping when I stop. There's building work at the yard so ill walk her past that on the head collar. I know that properly taking her out in hand would be good but I'm terrified I lose her, drivers are less than considerate here, some swerve towards horses and rev the engines. But she's fine with that, daft mare.
Click to expand...

If you are concerned put her head collar on under her bridle and take the bridle off once you're past her spooks - then at least you have it with you just in case. If you have a school you can do a lot of ground work in there - stopping, starting etc.

If you have to do road work inhand wear hi-vis - enjoy and keep us posted :D
 
No advice but this sounds like my new-ish mare! Bombproof when I had her on trial, spooky ever since! I've realised though that she needs routine (far more than some horses, she's a follower not a leader) so think the change of yard/ownership unsettled her more than anything, plus she's dropped weight and fitness. I'm having two weekly lessons in the school, schooling her myself and doing loads of general bonding stuff with her on the ground. Not hacking though because of the spookiness - freaks me out a bit too much at the mo. Going to take her out in hand this weekend to get her used to a hacking route without the stress of worrying about her tanking off on me (which she's done twice after big spooks.) Like you I am worried about losing her! But she trusts me and I have no problems leading her usually, and I can handle her spooks now, so we should be fine.
 
Re. bridles/headcollars. You can get bridles which are combined with a headcollar, i.e have a bitted section that you can just clip off, and a noseband with a ring on the bottom just like a headcollar, so you can double up and use the outfit either as a bridle or a headcollar, and swap very easily.

They're called "combination" bridles and you can find them on endurance riding equipment websites. i.e. "Performance Equestrian" is a good place to look. I've got one of their bridles which came with my loan mare and its a very useful little piece of kit indeed, just right for your purposes I would think, would make life a helluva lot easier for you :)

Also I think they're on the Polypads website. A firm called Libbys amalgamated with Polypads and they used to do them in webbing. A word of advice though: DON't buy these webbing ones, they'll soon look very shabby and the fitments on the buckles etc isn't made of stainless steel and will soon start to rust-up and annoy you. Better to go for one of the nicer - and far more durable - synthetic ones IME.
 
We had a good day, ground work in the yard. Lots of work vans and a cement mixer, she settled down really quickly. However had to take her out as too unpredictable to be schooled while children in. Went past the scary pothole containing a horse eating monster no problem today😃

Next past multiple police cars with lights setting up a speed block, was a rock. Even better when the three boy racers revved their engines to scare her, she did nothing! How tragic, how sad they were accelerating into a speed trap....

To celebrate I shut my elbow in the car door and had to go to a and e. doh! Thankfully a bad bruise and not fractured like we initially thought. It was a moment of genius!
 
Make sure she has free access to a mineral block that contains Magnesium - your grass will be growing furiously at the moment and the magnesium levels will be out of balance.

If you can feed a commercial Magnesium supplement about an hour before riding - it's metabolised fast so should settle her before you ride. Mix with a handful of sugarbeet or chaff - keep feed very small.

Or you can make this mix which works extremely well

1 level tablespoon each of
Yeast
Epsom Salts
Baking Soda
Dried Thyme
 
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