Building a horse's confidence after a nasty rider?

[kc100]

I'm back again about my lovely loan horse Wilbur.....

After having him for 3 weeks now I'm starting to get to the bottom of a few things about his previous rider who had him on loan for year, and it is explaining at lot of the problems I am experiencing.

To keep it short, a lady loaned him for a year, and that ended in May 2012. She was asked to give him up by his owner, because she was treating him so badly. She used to ride him on a very tight rein anyway, and she used the whip far too frequently whenever he did something wrong (regardless of whether it was her fault or not). It got to the point where she got off him one day after she had a particularly bad ride, and whipped him around the face repeatedly until one of the girls at the yard who was watching her ran over to take Wilbur away from the loanee.

I am so shocked and appalled by this, Wilbur is a very strong horse but really forward and attentive, I despise people who can do this to a horse when it is their own incompetence to blame not the horse's behaviour.

Unfortunately we now have a horse who has lost his confidence, and has a few issues because of his bad experience with the last person who loaned him. He bucks when he goes into canter (can be quite violent), he has no left bend and is reluctant to bend even on a right rein, he doesnt like anyone touching his head, his neck carriage is all over the place - one minute his head is up, the next it is down on the floor, the next he is in an outline!

One other issue that I am having is I share him with his owner, and one other girl who is part loaning with myself and the owner. I have Wilbur 4 days a week, and the other two share him for the other 3 days a week. I think because the other girl doesnt get to see him that often wants to make the most of her rides, and low and behold on Wednesday she fell off. Apparently she has jumped him every time she has ridden him (he does have mild arthritis in his hocks so needs a good warm up) and unsurprisingly she fell off on Wednesday when she got unbalanced and he got too strong.

I want to know how can I build his confidence back up and get him to trust me, so we can overcome the experience he had with the last lady who owned him? And how do I deal any issues that Wilbur will have because of this other girl who seems a bit gung ho in her approach to riding? I understand why she wants to jump him but I've only really been trotting and walking him so we get to know each other better to build our relationship before progressing onto other things.

Any advice is welcome!

 

[maggiesmum]

I think it's going to be difficult with so many people riding / handling him but if you are always consistent in your response he will feel more confident in himself.
I think you're doing the right thing to be only asking simple questions of him at the moment, pushing him out of his comfort zone would probably worry him and be counter productive.
How about some groundwork too? That will help build a trusting relationship.

 

[AmyMay]

Some of the things you mention or schooling issues, others obviously from a bad experience.

But the best thing for this horse is not to be loaned out and ridden and handled by one person only.

 

[zaminda]

It is a shame that you have to share him with 2 other people, one of whom is obviously going to work him quite hard. That said, if you are patient and consistent with what you ask, and how you react, you will get there. Having worked in racing for a long time, I come across this quite a bit, you can often tell who has been riding a horse, by how it goes. Patience, and a good length of rein will hopefully win the day, but you will have to be prepared to put boundaries in place, as although he has had a serious fright, he will otherwise get on top of you. Good luck.

 

[kc100]

Thanks Maggiesmum and Zaminda, I guess patience is the key and hopefully the girl who had the fall on Wednesday will have had a wake up call and might slow things down with him now.

Amymay - while I appreciate in an ideal world we could all afford our own horses and only have 1 person riding them, I cannot afford my own horse hence why I am loaning Wilbur. I cannot change the situation unfortunately, and I cannot tell the owner who she is allowed to loan the horse out to because at the end of the day it is her horse and she can do what she likes. I was simply asking for advice on how to re-build Wilbur's confidence, despite the difficulties of 3 people riding him. I am the person who rides him most frequently so I was hoping to recive some useful tips, rather than pointless criticsim of something that is out of my control.

 

[AmyMay]

I was hoping to recive some useful tips, rather than pointless criticsim of something that is out of my control.

Well, I'm sorry that you find my response pointless.

However, when you're older and a little more experienced you'll come to realise that sometimes not every bit of advice is pink and fluffy. And even that that seems pointless, has validity. But I appreciate that this can require a certain intelligence - of which not all of us are gifted.

If you have any interest in horses, their complex characters, welfare and behavior you'll see that my response, whilst you might not like it, is entirely correct.

 

[kc100]

Well I would hope that aged 25 and having been riding since I was 7 (so with my limited intelligence I hope that adds up to 18 years) I am somewhat mature and do have some experience.

I am not claiming to be the most experienced hence why I am here asking for advice. It just seems a little pointless to me that you are answering a post, from someone who loans a horse, telling them that horses should not be loaned and ridden by 1 person.

I would love my own horse, and if I had the money I would absolutely agree with you. However I was looking for advice on how to make the best of this situation, and all you can do is give me advice that I cannot use. I am not going to stop loaning Wilbur, I simply want to improve with him - if you cannot find anything constructive to add as to how we can improve together then I suggest you dont answer posts where you have nothing positive to say.

I'm not looking for pink and fluffy advice, I am old enough to know that the world doesnt work that way and sometimes people do need to be given the harsh truth. However if you are telling me to stop loaning Wilbur and leave him to his owner (who cant look after him full time), and not have a horse, then I'm afraid it is you that doesnt live in the real world - we are not all rich enough to have our own horses and look after them full time. Some of us unfortunately have to work long hours for not much money and take what we can get when it comes to time with horses.

If you have any advice for me that I can use when schooling Wilbur to build his confidence and get us working together well then I would love to hear it. If you can only suggest something that is impossible for me then perhaps it might be a good idea to keep it to yourself and move onto another post.

 

[AmyMay]

It just seems a little pointless to me that you are answering a post, from someone who loans a horse, telling them that horses should not be loaned and ridden by 1 person.

Your question was how to build the horses confidence after receiving some physical abuse from a previous loaner. The immediate answer to this is of course, patience, time and understanding.

However, when you add in to the mix that this horse will be loaned out by two people, plus handled by the owner, and one of the loaners is less than sympathetic then clearly the conclusion has to be that this horse should be handled by one person only.

I did not say give up the loan. But in your shoes, I probably would.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

Would it be possible for you to get together with the owner and the other loaner and decide on a strategy together to help Wilbur to build confidence in all his riders?
TBH the best way is to simply be consistent in your handling/expectations of him but if the 3 of you are unable to synchronise your approach it will take longer. Eventually though he will get the measure of all his riders and work out what happens with each of them.

 

[Merrymoles]

OP it is often tricky when more than one person rides a horse but I have been in the same situation (and I am old, pretty experienced and not at all pink or fluffy...) and can understand why you can't change it. From your own point of view, I would say patience, consistency and more patience is the answer but what I really think you need to do is sit down with the other two, explain your feelings about the horse and see if you can come to an agreement about how you can all work together to make his life better. I am sure that you all have his best interests at heart and by working together in a consistent way over the next few months you could regain his confidence and make his life a lot happier. For example, if you don't cross paths very often, you could keep a joint diary at the yard explaining what you have done on any given day, what he was comfortable with, what he was unhappy with and how you tackled it. Good luck!

 

[darrylskelton]

It sounds like you are already aware of what needs doing, there is no magic only patience. Leaving a horse with a good memory every time you work with it will help in the long run. With the head carriage issues changing bits can sometimes give good responses and sometimes rotating between two or three different bits can help - it certainly has with some horses i've worked with.

Maybe, just maybe, getting the other loanee(s) on side to work together with ideas will help produice quicker results for the benefit of all involved including Wilbur. But most of all enjoy the time you spend with him, it will ultimately make him enjoy it more too.

 

[pansymouse]

The key is a gentle, calm approach from each of his riders. Take your expectations down to a basic level and build him up again; it will almost certainly take time but will be rewarding. You would probably see some good initial results from an increase in ground work in the early stages.

 

[SallyBatty]

As long as you keep working with him gently but firmly and consistently then I think for you he will eventually build up his confidence. The fact that you have him for the majority of the time should help you as he will come to recognise you as his main handler/rider. Hopefully the work you put in will pay off for the other riders as well but it may not as he may only really trust you. My mare was beaten around in the head in her past and when I first got her she was really difficult with her head but after a bit of time she was fine although even now she throws a hissy fit when the vet/dentist try to go near her head - she has to be sedated to have her teeth looked at.

As you are having trouble with bucking when going into canter and also the fact that he finds it difficult to bend I would suggest that he is given a general check over by a vet and see a back specialist and also a saddler. That way at least you would know that he is not hurting anywhere. This would however all need to be arranged though the owner so I hope he/she would be willing to do this.

As far as his outline is concerned you just need to keep riding him forward into a consistent rein contact and he will hopefully eventually work out what you want. But he needs to be supple in order to achieve it so lots of transitions to get him working from behind along with lots of spiralling in and out on circles and leg yielding to get his inside hind leg working should help.

Good luck with him.

 

[kc100]

Thanks everyone for the help, there has been some really helpful advice.

We are getting on really well at the moment, I can feel him (and me!) improving with every ride so fingers crossed it is going to carry on this way. He is a little bit poorly at the moment because of allergies with a cough and runny nose but hopefully once all that has cleared up we will make even more progress.

Thanks again!

 

[Pale Rider]

kc100, horses are not stupid, despite what some think.

If you behave like a strong leader with the horse, and never betray him, he will reciprocate what you are doing. He will also differentiate between you and anyone else who handles or deals with him.

I've seen lots of horses who behave very differently with a variety of people who ride them.

 

[Izzwizz]

My horse was ridden by various people before I owned him. All of them having different ways and I dont think he quite knew who his owner was at the time.
Could you all get together and devise a bit of a plan to Wilbur's welfare and training? Do any of you have lessons with him and do you have the same Instructor? If so, the benefits of sharing the lessons would mean that you are all working in the same way with your riding, providing consistency for Wilbur.

Agree in an ideal world one rider is better, 2 at the most, certainly the case with my horse. He knows me, whinnies when I arrive to see him, comes running up the field when I call him. He never did this before I owned him.

If I were you I would get everything checked out as in tack, teeth, body - not just back, and take it from there.

On a final note, have you considered having an Animal Communicator? I know a lot of people are sceptical but I had one, the stuff he told me in relation to my boy was oh so true! Food for thought....

Good luck with Wilbur x