Bringing a spooky/nervous horse back into work

[Emma1703]

My mare has been turned away over the summer due to a mystery lameness, I'm going to try her mid October to see if a bit of rest and recovery has done the trick. If she is sound, I want to completely go back to basics and start from scratch with her ridden work. She has suffered with severe grade 4 ulcers, sacroiliac issues and obviously the lameness issues and there seems to be a lot of 'remembered pain'.
When I first got her she was 100% in every way possible but is now extremely spooky and sharp, but if she comes back into work I'm determined to get her back to the horse I bought! I will do a lot of ground work and lunging before I even put a saddle back on her. I did want to try long reining but she does have a tendency to buck (nastily) and then run off so I'm worried I'll end up being kicked and dragged around the school!

Does anyone have any tips as to where to start to hopefully lose some of this behaviour? And the best ways to be re-schooling her?

 

[Pearlsasinger]

Whilst I understand that horses will object to being tacked up, for instance because of remembered pain, I don't think that they become spooky and sharp because of remembered pain. I would say that if she is still unnaturally spooky and sharp, she still has pain somewhere. I have found that horses with a headache become very spooky, so I would want to explore tightness in the muscles of the front end of the horse. SI problems, especially can cause horses to hold themselves oddly. Has your horse seen a very good chiro/physio?

 

[Emma1703]

She's had the full MOT several times round. During all the lameness/sacro issues we saw 6 different vets plus an orthopaedic specialist. I use a Mctimoney chiro who is brilliant, but along with the vets has said there is no SI problems.
She doesn't object to tacking up at all but you can see her freeze and her whole persona just drops, yet if I was to walk her round the school in a headcollar she's fine.

 

[Wagtail]

I would start with just a roller with plenty of padding in the stable. Long lining is by far the best way to re establish trust and the 'feel' of being ridden without actually being ridden. So I would attach just one line on the outside in the stable and practice gently bringing it round her quarters so that she learns to bring her quarters round to the feel of the line. Do that on both sides and once she's accepting one line, add the second and just long rein her round the stable. You can do this with the saddle too before commencing ridden work. Next move into a confined area such as a small school or lunge pen. Or anywhere she can't get speed up to run off, and repeat the process untill she is calm on the lines and introduce trot. Then you can move into a larger space. I had a horse that would rear, bolt and buck on the long lines (broke my finger) and I'd abandoned trying. But my trainer worked with her in the way I have outlined and now you can take her anywhere on the lines and we even jump (a bit tiring for me!). Ridden work was similar with severe napping and repeated vertical rearing but now she's going sweetly. Good luck.

 

[Wagtail]

Whilst I understand that horses will object to being tacked up, for instance because of remembered pain, I don't think that they become spooky and sharp because of remembered pain. I would say that if she is still unnaturally spooky and sharp, she still has pain somewhere. I have found that horses with a headache become very spooky, so I would want to explore tightness in the muscles of the front end of the horse. SI problems, especially can cause horses to hold themselves oddly. Has your horse seen a very good chiro/physio?

I do agree with this too. I certainly would not be commencing with any ridden work until she was totally calm and relaxed on the long lines with the saddle. If she doesn't start to relax with very steady progress then I would be investigating further.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

She's had the full MOT several times round. During all the lameness/sacro issues we saw 6 different vets plus an orthopaedic specialist. I use a Mctimoney chiro who is brilliant, but along with the vets has said there is no SI problems.
She doesn't object to tacking up at all but you can see her freeze and her whole persona just drops, yet if I was to walk her round the school in a headcollar she's fine.

That could be remembered pain but what you describe isn't spooking. I think in your position, I would get her out and about, in-hand in tack, with a sensible companion, to take her mind off the remembered pain. She will get over this the more she wears her tack and realises that it doesn't hurt any more. If she is still spooky, I would investigate shoulder/neck/poll pain, especially in the light of a mystery lameness. We had one who "wasn't quite lame" in front, which was eventually found to be caused by a poll problem, which was solved with acupuncture. Has her saddle fit been checked recently?

 

[DD]

just take everything very very slowly. as you have already said lots of ground work. try tacking up then untacking without actually leaving the stable this stops them anticipating whats next. then the next day tack up nd lead out. do mostly inhand work the when you feel confident hop on at the mounting block. its a good idea to get them to stand still at the mounting block with out any thing else happening. after mounting sit there for a minuit or so then dismount. next time walk a few steps then dismount. don't always keep increasing whats done ride a short way next time ride even shorter then next time longer vary it considerably. do lots of walks around the school tacked up but not ridden. sometimes just a bridle sometimes fully tacked up.

 

[Wheels]

Whilst I understand that horses will object to being tacked up, for instance because of remembered pain, I don't think that they become spooky and sharp because of remembered pain. I would say that if she is still unnaturally spooky and sharp, she still has pain somewhere. I have found that horses with a headache become very spooky, so I would want to explore tightness in the muscles of the front end of the horse. SI problems, especially can cause horses to hold themselves oddly. Has your horse seen a very good chiro/physio?

100% this

And just because vets / physio / chiro or whoever can't see a problem doesn't mean it isn't there.

I am very reliable informed that some time over the next 3-6 months there will be a new study published detailing how owners can tell if their horses are in pain, spooking in certain situations being one of them. It will also include info on other indicators of pain and is in addition to the pain face research published a while ago and aimed at owners, vets and other practitioners who cannot spot very subtle lameness.

 

[Wagtail]

100% this

And just because vets / physio / chiro or whoever can't see a problem doesn't mean it isn't there.

I am very reliable informed that some time over the next 3-6 months there will be a new study published detailing how owners can tell if their horses are in pain, spooking in certain situations being one of them. It will also include info on other indicators of pain and is in addition to the pain face research published a while ago and aimed at owners, vets and other practitioners who cannot spot very subtle lameness.

This sounds interesting.