Behaviour problems. Please help!

[scottish_girl]

Sorry for what may be a long post!
I'm currently at my wit's end with my 11 year old cob gelding that I've had for 5 years. He is constantly breaking out of his field at night, going through the electric fence which has been set very high because of him. He is also turned out in another field during the day where his is again ignoring the electric fence and breaking the two spar "sturdy" wooden fence. Nothing seems to stop him at all no matter how many times he is zapped by the fence. Since last winter with it being very long he has also now stopped hacking alone. We have overcome the problem with bolting home thankfully but I cannot get home to walk out of our yard. I have tried walking him on foot down our lane where we then meet a quiet road but at that he fights and leans on fences so I cannot get him to move. He does suffer from sweetich but this year he has been very well managed after finding the right combination of rugs and lotions.
He has had his teeth checked and his back checked a few weeks ago, he was a little stiff across his pelvis but was told nothing that reflects his behaviour.
He is also very head strong and dominant on the ground which we are trying to overcome but it is a slow process.
Is this his dominance, boredom or frustration? Any advice will be appreciated I'm at a loss of what to do!

 

[Shay]

You have two issues here. In my experience once a horse learns the electric fence only hurts briefly you have lost that battle - especially if you also have to rug for sweetitch. My cob got expelled from PC camp for charging through the electric fencing a few years ago. He knows full well it only hurts until the line breaks so is quite happy to chance his luck. Really with that the only solution is to turn out in fixed fence areas only.

Some horses don't like to hack alone. It isn't dominance it is fear - although his fixed response to you asking him to do something he doesn't want to do is typical cob. You'll never win a battle of strength with him - and teaching him that he is stronger will help neither of you. Can you hack out with someone? Or box out and hack somewhere he doesn't know? (Ideally still with a companion)

 

[Higgle]

Sometimes another person to go with you is as good as another horse if yours has started to nap. Years ago I had a Welsh section D mare who started to behave like this, she would rear too and spook at the gate posts out of the yard to give her an opportunity to turn round and head back to her stable. I did eventually decide she was too much for me but one thing that worked was to get my husband to bring the dog and we would all leave the yard together and walk down the road. Once we got to the common he would go off for a run with the dog and we would meet up again to walk back up the road, she behaved very well when we did that. Your cob needs to know that you are confident so maybe taking a break and getting someone else to ride him for a few weeks might help?