Cheeky Connemaras - advice/masks/ear bonnets anything

[soph15]

I brought my Connie back into work in September after having to give him a year off due to my own health issues. He’s always been a cheeky chap with the odd sharp moments however he seems to have come back even cheekier.

He’s been checked over by the vet, physio, up to date with teeth and I even ended up buying him a new saddle (due to his slight weight gain from his holiday) as I was worried his old saddle was upsetting him. So every professional has ticked him off as happy, no pain etc.

It isn’t a constant thing, one day we can school beautifully in the arena and he is as good as gold, then the following day he’ll find any excuse to spook or react. His typical go to reaction is to drop a shoulder and spin which is often followed by a buck or a bronk. Like I said, he’s always done it but usually once he’s in regular work and fit he stops it. The only pattern to him reacting is typically when he’s bored, so if we do the same schooling exercise more than once, just do flatwork or repeat the same hack too many times in a week. As soon as we introduce something new, such as a new gridwork exercise, poles, or a new hacking route, he’s good as good and doesn’t put a foot wrong.

I’ve been getting help with lessons every week for my own confidence as much as anything but at this point I’m wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience with their horse and if they’ve found anything to help?

The only other thing that has changed is we moved yards end of October as he has joined me whilst I’m at uni so for awhile I’ve put it down to him just settling in but we’ve been here two months now.


Any advice would be great, and would be keen to hear from anyone with experience using noise cancelling ears for spooky horses, or liquid titanium masks, calmers or anything at this point

 

[gallopingby]

Has his feeding regime changed? Some horses react to the additives in some foods. l have a connie who can’t be fed some of the ‘ calm and condition’ mixes, too much sugar, e numbers etc are the same as feeding children smarties.

 

[HollyWoozle]

How much turnout does he get? And how often do you ride?

 

[Alibear]

You'll hate me, but that can be a pain response. They don't know if a new thing will hurt, so they give it a shot but if they do something a second time, they know it's going to be uncomfortable, so they act up.
It could also just be cheekyness, but I'd try a couple of weeks of pain relief and keep riding and see if it makes any difference.

 

[Squeak]

Mine used to be similar, he thrived on work and variety. He loved jumping and eventing, if we went to a competition and just did dressage, he would be a nightmare for a week.

I used to keep him worked and busy and that helped. Over time I improved his schooling enough that his spooks would be tension rather than full on spooks and you could just put in some leg yielding or shoulder in when he went to do it. I did also resort to a stronger bit for a while so that it broke the cycle of him being able to spook properly.

Tbh I think you've answered your own question in that you need to vary his work as much as possible if that's when he behaves.

 

[mustardsmum]

Its great you are getting lessons, and this will help you both. I would hack him, loads - different routes with friends, on his own. Do some groundwork and long lining. Only school once or twice a week with a good gap between. Basically, lots of variety, but mostly hacking to get his mindset forward. He’s had a year off and needs to enjoy being ridden again. Natives can go a bit like this but once they are back in work they usually settle. But as you know, connies do often have that sharper side to them so may take a bit longer than a couple of months to get him completely settled. If vet can find no pain, go back to your saddle. My saddle was recently re flocked, after a summer of mild napping by my horse. I’ll save the backstory (long and involved new saddles, old saddles, new saddlers…), but basically napping was caused by an over stuffed saddle causing pressure restricting his shoulder. So simple, and now he is going beautifully. I think would actually put your old saddle back on and get your saddler to check its fit and ask about re flocking if its not been done for a few years. Don't loose hope, a year is a long time off so you both probably need to readjust to riding but you know him, so know what he should be like. He is still the same pony you had a year ago, he's just unfit and probably a bit full of himself at the moment. You could also ask your instructor to hop on.