Backward thinking horse

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loverugs

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I have a horse who has been in proper ridden work for about 18 months now. He was backed and hacked a little prior to that.

I just can't seem to create a confident horse. I have a professional ride him twice a week.

He's hacked out in the same area from the yard probably about 200 times. Yet he still walks out snorting like death is around the corner. He has areas he is comfortable in where you can have a gallop but mostly he is so wary of everything that may be round the corner that he is difficult to get going as he wants to slow down and look.

He's been doing some small xc courses. If he can see another horse in front he is forward and confident. If he cannot see another he is backwards, behind the leg, looks at everything and will not focus so ends up stopping at fences as he is looking at everything else other than the fence and notices it's there too late. At home in an area he is comfortable in he jumps sweetly and looks at nothing.

He will be hunting this season a few times which I hope will gee him up a touch but I fear as there will be other horses around that it will not resolve the issue.

How do you make an unconfident horse more confident?
 
I would start by hacking him round a short, local route with a sensible companion, over and over again, then when you are sure he is confident in front, with the other horse dropping back, on that route, take him round it on his own, making sure that you are completely relaxed yourself. Gradually extend the route with your companion, making sure that your horse is super confident before taking him on his own. I would also make sure that you do not have specific places for changing pace, that leads to anticipation and anxiety.
 
With my much older horse who was an import 10yr old) apart from in-Hand spook busting work which I did quite a lot of I allowed him to look at stuff and find out it was ok. I rewarded him for going and having a look and if he touched a wheelie bin with his nose he got a food reward. I used to laugh at him when he was all quivers and silly. He would get worse if I punished him or got angry or frustrated with him for being afraid.

He's 22 now and still notices absolutely everything especially within his yard like someone's welly boots and just outside the gates but he deals with it now without getting silly, and he's a pretty solid hack on his own or with others. Tractors, bin-bags, dogs, bicycles, donkeys, cattle, sheep, the shoot, pheasants, runners, loggers and falling trees, there is very little I have any problem with.
 
I would like him to do a little of everything at a low level. I would like to be able to take him round a course both sj and xc and him be keen. Nothing big 2ft9 max. No dressage interest. Just a low level all rounder type I guess.
 
So this is a 5/6 year old who you have professionally ridden twice a week but with whom you cannot seem to instill confidence in you? You are asking quite a lot of them.

To create a confident horse you need to be a competent leader. Is he sure of you and your direction on the ground? Does he trust your leadership? When they are this green you need to build a proper relationship with them so that they can be sure your directions are safe to follow. At best you are teaching this one to follow the directions of your professional rider.

Hunting will teach him to follow the pack regardless of your direction. I'm a massive fan of hunting to develop a horse. But in the scenario you have described there is a real risk that you will scare yourself and him. To develop confidence he needs to be confident in your leadership; not another rider and not the pack.

Did you back him? My instinctive response to the scenario you describe would be to turn him away and then re-back next year. He clearly has not gained confidence so far and pushing him to do so could result in an unrideable horse. Can you get help from someone experienced in bringing on young horse? I know we only have a very short piece to go on and this could be completely unrepresentative of the truth. But to me this sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.
 
I have a 5yr old who sounds almost identical - with her she has to be entirely focused and relaxed to get her to think forward. A lot of my time with her is spent really making her think and listen which in turn makes her relax, there are the odd days where she reverts to being a backwards thinking complicated horse but these will hopefully become few and far between.
 
I probably should clarify a bit more.

I do ride him myself three times a week.

When we are out hacking he doesn't actually do anything. All he does is anticipate something might be round the corner. If he sees something he will stargaze for a few seconds, realise it's just a cow and then walk on fine. He doesn't spin to go home. He doesn't do anything other than go 'oh gosh what's that?!' Before continuing like nothing happened.

In an 'in company' scenario he is a donkey and very much anyone's ride.

He is perfect with traffic, bicycles, tractors, trailers etc, he's in reality a very quiet horse, he just feels the need to check everything out when he is on his own which prevents us from really getting him going forward as he wants to have a look at everything going on.

I will try long reining home out and see of it helps.
 
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Sounds a bit like my boy when I got him, but he was 14 not a youngster. I'm not experienced with training youngsters so wasn't going to comment until you put your last post (though feel free to ignore - I don't know if I can be much help!).

When I first got J he hadn't had much done with him in a long while. They said they had mainly hacked him out but it became clear they actually meant only in company! (even though they said alone too).

He's a pretty calm and laidback horse (mostly!) so it didn't cause too many problems but he did do exactly that ^^^^^ J stares at everything and anything out of place or unusual (or usual!!). All that's worked for him is practice. He never did anything bad (apart from the odd plant and reverse) so I just kept at it, we kept hacking out by ourselves and slowly slowly he's got (mostly) over it. He still stares at things, but he'll mostly stare and keep going at the same pace whereas it used to be stare and slow down, but once passed we were fine!

He also used to not canter out. For the first year I had him it was so hard to get him to go nice and forwards and having a canter was pretty much out of the question by ourselves. Most horses would see a lovely green stretch and think 'yeah let's go!'. J thought 'omg what if there's a big monster a some point? I'll just trot really fast so I can keep an eye on everything'. He's so much better now, we've ridden the routes many times and (most of the time) i can get him going nice and forwards and even if we try and new route, I think because I've been riding him for a while, or that he's just more confident now, he can still go nice and forwards and he's much more relaxed (even when staring)

There are still moments of backwardness, as I think he'll always be that way inclined. But our hacks are much more enjoyable now and even though he eyeballs some things I can laugh it off and go come on stop being silly instead of thinking 'here we go, back to slow mode!'
 
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loverugs said:
I probably should clarify a bit more.

I do ride him myself three times a week.

When we are out hacking he doesn't actually do anything. All he does is anticipate something might be round the corner. If he sees something he will stargaze for a few seconds, realise it's just a cow and then walk on fine. He doesn't spin to go home. He doesn't do anything other than go 'oh gosh what's that?!' Before continuing like nothing happened.

In an 'in company' scenario he is a donkey and very much anyone's ride.

He is perfect with traffic, bicycles, tractors, trailers etc, he's in reality a very quiet horse, he just feels the need to check everything out when he is on his own which prevents us from really getting him going forward as he wants to have a look at everything going on.

I will try long reining home out and see of it helps.
Click to expand...

Sounds very much like baby insecurities.
What is he like if the pro hacks him out solo / has him in the situations he finds stressful? It would be interesting to know if he is somehow more worried with you on or if it is more his default nature.

This type in my experience need calm and patient repitition. But I'd also say don't baby them too much. Train the response to the leg very clearly and then even in 'stressful' situations this should help.

ETA - what do you feed? Would be worth cutting hard feed out for a bit and feed hay rather than haylage. The odd one can be quite sensitive to feed.
 
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