Blinkers? Sharp spooky horse

silvershadow81

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I have a very sharp mare who is so spooky. I've had her a year and a half now, and she has gone from unreadable, planting herself, running backwards, refusing to move forwards to a much better horse. When ridden at home in the arena (we are on the top of the moor), its always windy so there are too many excuses for her to suddenly stop or take off (for a few strides).

Im now having to ride after work, in the dark with the floodlights on, and every time we are having silly issues with things moving outside the arena, trees, long grass, even things which don't move!

Took her SJ Sunday and her eyes were on stalks, I didn't feel as though I had her full attention as she is looking everywhere but on the job. The time before I took her out she had every fence down and she nearly fell over, just because she was not listening, or looking. (It is as if a switch goes in her head and there is then ZERO communication back from her)

She is very stressy anyway, so really try to ride her in a soft contact, but she is so sharp and unpredictable it is hard not to just get hold of her and hold her to try and keep her focused.

Anyway, im thinking of either French blinkers or racing blinkers for her to see if that helps to keep her focussed? Has anyone tried this before? What were the results? The last thing I want to do is make things worse!
 

PorkChop

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I would certainly try sheepskin cheekpieces, and/or noseband. I had a mare a bit like this and I put her on Equifeast, and after a few tweaks it did make a difference. All I can say is that you have probably developed a really good seat with all that spinning!
 

serenityjane

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Have you had her eyesight checked? Sounds very familiar, my son has a mare that behaves similarly, that has vision problems and if she sees/hears distant things will overreact-she behaves the same as yours in a school, on a leisurely hack she will throw a wobbly at painted roads, sheep/ sheep feeders yet will happily walk alongside a hedgecutting tractor on a narrow country lane, or a double decker bus on a main road going at 40mph- only thing is whilst blinkers may help improve things- our mare is less excitable in the field with a fly mask on, but they may also make things worse. I wouldn't try earplugs as if she does have a vision problem, she relies really heavily on her hearing which will be super sharp.
 

silvershadow81

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Appreciate your responses.

Thanks LJR, glad to know it has worked and maybe one approach to try. Will look into Equifeast, do you know what the ingredient's are? (shes already on a calmer!)

Blitznbobs I have used a fly bonnet and it seemed to make her sharper. I use my voice a lot which she is responsive too, so wouldn't want to fully block her.

Serenityjane -Believe she has everything checked out a couple of years back (before she was condoned as dangerous!), ulcers, back, eyes all the usual, lots of £ spent trying to get to why she is (was) so tapped!

I've ordered some blinkers to try out in the school (will probably lunge before to ensure she is safe and not too freaked). Can you jump in them? (suppose chasers use them, but BS??) or would I need to use French blinkers?

Owlie, she is a TB/ Arab and needs her feed to maintain condition (she is worked at least 6/7 days) She doesn't receive anything which should cause her additional energy, she is fit though!
 

Palindrome

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She looks lame in trot, I think on the near fore or off fore and there is a definite head nodding that comes and goes. I would put my money on pain being cause of her spookiness.
 

wench

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Cant say I can see any real lameness in that video. The "head nodding" looks similar to what my horse does when she throws her head about when she is finding something hard (ie an evasion tactic), rather than a lameness head nodding.

I also wouldnt try calm and condition, I hate the stuff!
 

old hand

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Try adding two tablespoons of non iodized salt, basic cheap salt, to her feeds. Should work in two or three days. Plus magnesium oxide and di calcium phosphate. 15mg and 30 mg. plus half a dose of vits and mins. works on mine, up the salt if she sweats in work or if it is very hot. I know several who go berserk on Calm and Condition when fed with grass.
 

jhoward

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1 stubbs scoop Saracens nuts, 1 chaff, 1/2 s-beet, garlic and a calmer 2x day

I've just started to introduce Calm and Condition to see if it helps!

This video was taken earlier this year, will give you an idea of her type and my arena: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-5oKuuThcU&list=UUP1QwoRKU6xgKv3hthuJZ2g (she behaves in this and no spooking!)

nuts , sb chaff, wel that's a whole load of of sugar, then your trying to counter balance with a calmer...

I very much doubt blinkers would work, if your horse is that sharp, blinkers will take away some instincts, and the heighten the others so you may well fins you get a bolt/turn round reaction.
 

RaYandFinn

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She looks lame in trot, I think on the near fore or off fore and there is a definite head nodding that comes and goes. I would put my money on pain being cause of her spookiness.

Have to say I thought similar in that she didn't look quite right. Could just be that she's finding it hard work though!
 

misskk88

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My horse use to do the head shaking/pulling thing. It was because she was unfit though and it was her way of avoiding working. So we kept it short and sweet and built on it. However if you say yours is fit and working 6/7 days a week I would investigate the cause of it. It could be evasion tactics, but better to be sure.

RE food- I have only learnt from members wisdom on here what a devil sugary foods are to some horses! Low sugar is the way forward! My horses food intake has dropped by 2/3rds and she has never looked so well!
 

twiggy2

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to start I would raise or remove the noseband it looks low and may be causing pinching between it and the bit, she does not look happy, she is rushed and tense, head nodding can be an evasion or a response but I often find it is a release of tension and can be caused by pain. I would start with a vet check (including ulcers if she is a stress head), a vet check 2 yrs ago tells you nothing about the here and now.
 

old hand

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Have now watched the videos, I would calm the whole riding thing down. You are holding then saying go when you jump which gives the horse stop go messages and causes tension. try cantering over poles and keeping the same rythmn. Do not apply extra leg in the last three strides she is going over anyway. Just keep breathing and hold your nerve, look at the other side of the pole and allow her some initiative. stress is a viscious circle so it will take time to get over so do not progress to jumps until a calm approach is established. Blinkers are not allowed under BS rules by the way, cheek pieces are but need to be cut down to 5 cm. I too am suspiscious of both her front feet, pain also makes them spooky and rush their fences, and when it progresses they try to jump flat. Might be worth getting the vet to check her.
 

ljohnsonsj

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In response to BS with blinkers. They are not allowed to be more than 2cm i believe. The rule book says they arn't permitted but at shows i have seen horses with them on but have been told they aren't allowed to be more than 2cm. My friend got told to shave her fluffys! :D
 

NZJenny

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Endurance horse, that are predominantly Arabian bred, run on fat and fibre. Sorry, I'm no good with UK brands, but that maybe an avenue to explore with your horse, to keep condition on, while she is working and maybe addressing the spookiness.
 

MotherOfChickens

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she is awfully pretty :)

she does seem tense and a little rushed-a vet check might be useful even if to just rule stuff out.

wrt blinkers, does she react to sound or to vision? Because if its sound, they'll not help and could make it worse but IME, sound reactive horses generally grow out of it.
 

HeresHoping

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I have been giving your predicament some thought during the wee small hours whilst babysitting a litter of puppies. I echo the sentiments of all the others but have some suggestions, based on a very similar predicament I faced with a spooked into next week warmblood mare I used to have, and, indeed, my unfortunately now broken but previously wired ISH.

Your feeding regime is quite high in sugar and starch - I looked on the Saracen website and their cubes, whilst proclaiming to be low starch, still come in at 21%. The Calm and Condition is 13%, so would be a better replacement. However, the A&P Fast Fibre is even better at below 7%. Starch has been cited as a contributing factor to horses being flighty. I would swap to the FF, and supplement with micronised linseed - you can feed two good mugfuls per day of this without compromising internal workings (I have checked with A&P to ensure this is ok). That way you are swapping out the quick release energy for slow release energy.

Without going into too much detail, alfalfa is high in Calcium which is a stomach acid neutraliser, and therefore likely to have a calming effect (Ca++ has been proven to work as a calmer where Mg has failed - and Mg will only work where there is a deficiency, anyway). You don't say what your chaff is, but I would look at one without any added molasses and that is high in alfalfa - Dengie's HiFi Molasses Free is a good one. Feeding a handful before riding can also help soothe the stomach. Remember, the more stomach acid a horse produces, the more adrenalin is released. It would also act as a splash guard if she was a little ulcerish. If alfalfa is likely to send her potty and you want to bulk out her feeds, use oat straw that has not been through the molassing process.

You don't say whether the sugar beet is speedi-beet or not. If not, drop it. The FF has unmolassed sugar beet in it anyway - you could get away without out it. Add a tablespoon (level) of salt - Na ions play a vital role in nerve impulses. Also, although FF has its own pre- and pro-biotics, a spoonful of brewers yeast won't hurt - it can show calming properties.

If you are worried about loss of condition, my ISH came loaded with a high starch diet and he was wired. Looked ok. I swapped to the above after a huge amount of research and chatting with various equine diet specialists, including some not attached to feed companies. He put on 30 kilos, was fit, looked fantastic, and is as calm as you like. If you need to add in a bit of protein, a handful of rolled oats or barley could do the trick, but I suspect that you won't need to. Especially if you are feeding sufficient good quality hay/haylage along side. Or add a scoop of speedi-beat which is virtually molasses free - it's not protein but it is extra calories.

It may be worth talking to the good people at EquiFeast about their Calcium-based calmers. I'm a little sceptical, but their Cool, Calm and Collected did wonders for a fruitloop TB I used to own.

Moving on to your videos, I'm with Old Hand. You as a team seem, if I may be so rude, quite frenetic. It's hurried and she is constantly fighting you and looking for excuses to duck out. I'm going to be blunt - you are trying to work her into an outline and whilst it looks pretty, she is not actually moving forwards, but up and down and in a hurry. You are leaning forwards slightly, blocking her front end with quite a rigid 0 frame between your shoulders and hands, and have your legs on constantly. If you squeeze a horse around the barrel, hard, it can't actually move forward very well at all. May I suggest you try and slow the whole thing down - take your leg off, let her have her head a little more - soften the hands and sit up? Push the weight into your heels, which will help you sit right up. Every time she relaxes, reward her with a touch to the neck. Be calm - breathe slowly or sing. I find hymns are solemn enough, and usually 4 time, to make you breathe into the base of your diaphragm, which in turn will help you relax your shoulders. When you trot, take it very slowly with your rising, so she's just trotting and do lots and lots of circles, changes of rein, transitions to walk. When she has got the idea, push her forwards, with very little contact, using your seat and by wrapping your calves around her barrel and releasing. You want her to move from behind so you need to feel that little spring up but keep the tempo. If she rushes, slow it down again and do something else - transition, change rein, circle, and bring it back again. Once she is controllable with your seat, then you can start using it to ask for more movement from behind that moves into the contact. Start to do some lateral work - just a little shoulder fore, left and right flexion, leg yield (not a half pass, you just want her to step under). With the canter, aim as Old Hand says, for a steady rhythm. Don't try and complete a circle, get the rhythm for a few strides and come straight back to walk, reward with a loosening of the rein for a few steps, and do it again. Her reward for not rushing and spooking is being allowed to canter a complete circle. But not until she has come back and gone on again without spooking or rushing.

If she is anything like my wb, the spook is also an instant reaction to 'it's too hard/I don't understand'. You'll quickly learn where it is going to happen and you can anticipate it by opening your inside hand wide and riding into the outside rein. Immediately release the contact when she moves forward and touch her neck as a reward.

Sorry for the lecture - it wasn't meant to be, it was meant to be helpful because I've been there and now have the same issues to try and cure in others. She is very, very pretty and I'm very jealous!
 

Switchthehorse

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Looking at some of your other vids schooling at home etc you seem to allow her to just motor around rather than the stopping and starting and she seems to jump a lot cleaner... is there a reason why you ride her differently at competitions?
 

Luci07

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My ISH is sharp and spooky. Tried different levels of work, Haylage, no Haylage, all made no difference. Equifeast, interestingly, has the mag as an option in its feed. They do offer a very good helpline.

But I would echo what the comments are about too much sugar. Mine was on a basic diet of nuts, chaff and standard supplements. Soaked hay as Haylage gave him the runs (regardless of pink powder, Haylage balancer etc).

YO experimented with pure feeds and put her very sharp boy on it first and found a huge climb down in behaviour. Then mine went on it. He is still a bit sharp but the spookiness has gone right down. He is even back on Haylage with no reaction.
 

NeilM

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I have recently started to exercise the gelding doppelganger of your mare.

I have a thread asking for advice, and there may be something useful for you on it.

The chap I ride is also up on the moors, but I don't have use of an arena and just hack him out. He is not given any hard feed, and is out on grass during the day and in a barn with some hay (and his friends) at night.

I started with a bit more of a known quantity, but because of multiple loaners in the past, I really have no idea what he has done before and what he is capable of, but for sure, he needs lots of work and lots of stimulation.

Link:http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/foru...ll-me-about-your-Arabs-and-Anglo-Arabs-please

For what it's worth, I think your mare is beautiful, but then I might be a little biased.
 

silvershadow81

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wow thanks for all your responses everyone, ill have a read through later.

I think the reduced sugar levels are helping to take a little of the edge off her, although I know she will never be a steady plod of a horse!

We went back to an arena to play on Saturday, just really to spend some more time in the ring than you get at competitions, and chill out a little with nothing too manic.

I think by the time we finished we were starting to achieve that a little, so pleased.

Here's the latest video of Saturday: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrdYOEOOtgA

Hopefully those who commentated she was lame before can see that she's not, she has never been very forward going, disliked any contact in her mouth, wouldn't walk (only jogged) and her trot was so choppy, I think she still when tense her head comes up and she does short choppy strides. I try and lower her head which makes her non and can look lame I suppose? I guess that's what others saw in the video from earlier this year?? (I like to think we have made some progress since then though!) This was one of the first videos I did when I had first started with her: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4okoRtah6k&list=PLLQiYsK8q-27NqhKQ22JczesCfILzwabb&index=9
 

ihatework

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I've got a horse that can have a tendancy to be a little over reactive / spooky.

For her there are a few things we have done that has made a difference.

Feeding! Haylage is the work of the devil, as is Ryegrass hay. Bog standard meadow hay only for her.
No concentrates what so ever. A basic short fibre only, happy hoof in summer, dengie healthy tummy in winter with a basic vit & min supplement on top.
She gets worse when the grass is growing, so I also have used protexin acid ease to good effect.

Don't rule out low grade pain. Mine was subsequently found to have mild bilateral hoof pain and since addressing that there has been a noticeable improvement in her work with regards to tension/releasing her back.

Furthermore, just plain old standard of riding! I have had to pull myself apart on this sensitive/reactive one and get better myself.

ETA she is fit & competing at a national level, so don't be lulled into thinking they 'need' hard feed. Some don't
 
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Palindrome

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Hopefully those who commentated she was lame before can see that she's not, she has never been very forward going, disliked any contact in her mouth, wouldn't walk (only jogged) and her trot was so choppy, I think she still when tense her head comes up and she does short choppy strides. I try and lower her head which makes her non and can look lame I suppose? I guess that's what others saw in the video from earlier this year?? (I like to think we have made some progress since then though!) This was one of the first videos I did when I had first started with her: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4okoRtah6k&list=PLLQiYsK8q-27NqhKQ22JczesCfILzwabb&index=9

That would be me. You need to trot her in a straight line on a hard surface to check for lameness so none of the videos are useful in that respect. However she seemed to me to be uneven at front when trotting in your 1st video (for example in that first corner). Several things you describe, like reluctance to go forward, fidgety with the contact, short chopped stride also point toward a pain problem.
That's just my personal opinion, I am not a vet so that could be total nonsense, but if it was me I would have the vet to have a look next time he is in or call him and get vacc or teeth done at same time.
 

Tern

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You are in one of the videos in jumping seat and balancing slightly on your hands and only slowing down with your reins - sit you backside on that saddle and use your seat to slow down, you being in 2 point is only going to encourage her forward. Not trying to be harsh but you use a lot of rein - she is obviously quite sensitive to rein and when you give her a pull back she flings her head to get away from it and basically say P**s off Mum, I'm doing what I want. ;)

This is only my view on it and there are people a lot more experienced than me.
 

silvershadow81

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Thanks again for all the feedback you all gave.

Feeding: She has always been on hay, so no chances of hayledge sending her loopy (it makes her colic!). I have however removed the chaff, replaced with dried grass and calm and condition (keeping the nuts and sugarbeet-unmolased!) and I think it has taken the edge off. She is always going to be very sharp, but I feel like the time taken to re-gain concentration has indeed quickened.

Palindrome, I will always get a vet if I felt she had ever changed in herself and anything could be pain related, we are lucky to have a vet neighbour, and keeps horses at the yard, so she is seen daily working by him. Naturally she is a stress head, so tense is her middle name. I do feel as though we are getting there though! We even had a small branch land ON us the other day whilst riding in the rain, she shot forwards/ sideways, upwards and then waited to be told everything was ok and we had survived! (while I climbed back into a normal riding position!!)

I know I am not perfect too, in the last jumping video I posted I am trying to have a lighter seat and fiddle less, when I sit back into fences she tends to be far less fluent and misjudge fences, so im just letting her work it out and be forward thinking- its all work in progress!!

To mix things up, we went to a Dressage party this weekend, simple snaffle, no martingale (no blinkers!): http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?682802-First-Dressage-report-and-pictures!

Thanks again all :)
 

FRP

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Answering the question about blinkers, I swear by Dyon's leather blinkers!
BSJA legal & were only £10 from Selderholm I think!

Makes my mare focus on the fences, not everyone stood around watching, she also settles much wuicker in a warm up in them!
 
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