Confidence

[Mac1999]

A horse on my yard is a lovely boy - I've been riding him about 18 months and he's easy going and willing, always been a little nervy (sudden movements and just a little wary of people and other horses rather than spooky). he came from a dealers so we don't know his history but he did seem to relax over time.

In September last year he had two bucking bronco fits (with me riding!!) which we later was discovered was due to severe back pain. That has now been treated and is being managed but he is now very very nervous and jumpy - I'm guessing he is associating people / being ridden with pain so I can understand it, but where do we go from here??

He was sent to a trainers yard to get back into work (a lot of lunging and light schooling) which may have upset his routine, and he is now about to come home. We have told he is better to be in work. His temprement didn't change until after the bronco episodes (maybe he scared himself too?) and doesn't seem to be getting any better yet. It's almost like he thinks he is about to be hit, all the time (he never has been)

I have lost my confidence in him and he has lost his confidence in people - how do we address this? I will be taking it very slow, lots of lunging, ground work and lessons but any other ideas or tips? At the moment I am not even confident in getting on him (not something I have experienced before, have always been really confident) because his nerves and panicing makes him unpredictable (/dangerous???)

He's a lovely boy and I think we just need to go back to basics, but any suggestions / ideas would really be appreciated.

Very long, sorry!

 

[posie_honey]

humm - not sure if this would help but when my horse had back problems i sorted her out, rode a bit then turned her away for 6weeks as she still had remembered pain (but still grooming/feeding etc so she'd associate me with chilled out times) and bought her back in from scratch - that seemed to really help her

 

[BigRed]

I am sorry to say that you are probably not the right person to be riding this horse, at this time in his life. He needs someone confident on his back. You also need to be sitting on something sensible to get yourself back in the swing of things.

Two scared people together will not instill confidence in each other, they just end up getting more frightened.

 

[millitiger]

[ QUOTE ]
I am sorry to say that you are probably not the right person to be riding this horse, at this time in his life. He needs someone confident on his back. You also need to be sitting on something sensible to get yourself back in the swing of things.

Two scared people together will not instill confidence in each other, they just end up getting more frightened.

[/ QUOTE ]

i'm afaird i have to agree with this.

is there anyone who could ride him for a bit until he gets some confidence back?
if you could still be involved but not necessarily the person on board to start with and then you could take over again.

i have only ever had one horse i have been scared of- i did the same as you, lots of groundwork but would think of every excuse under the sun not to ride him.

after a horrible accident on him where i broke my sternum my boss at the time (v.experienced 4****/Olympic rider) volunteered to take him on.

when i got back on him after 6 weeks i rode through everything he threw at me but still felt sick with relief and nerves when i got off.

i decided then that it was never going to work and my boss bought him from me.

i only wish i had decided much earlier on that it wasn't working, before i spent 3 days in hospital and had an awful lot of heartache.

it doesn't make you any less of a rider to say a horse isn't right for you.
since this horse i have broken and brought on lots of other youngsters and 'problem' horses with no problems.

 

[Festive_Felicitations]

Im inclined to agree with the others that you are probably not the best person to be riding him right now.

However if there is no one else around to ride him or you would really like to work through it yourself, I suggest that you change your 'riding' target to the absolute minimum you can do with out getting scared/worried, i.e. getting on him in the middle of an arena give him loads of pats then hop off. If after a week or two you are happy doing this, and fiddling in the saddle (ie check girth, patting/huging neck) aim to walk round the arena once then hop off. And build up slowly from there.

In terms of building his trust in you I'd suggest spending ages with him on the ground giving pats/love, take him for walks in hand and act as the confidence giver (i.e. convince him that the scary rock isn't horse eating by standing on it...), go take him grazing the nice yummy grass verges (ok possibly not possible in England at the moment) . Basically just hanging out trying to make being with you more pleasnt than in his field or stable. Don't nessecarily make him work everytime he sees you. Also spend ages getting him used to having ropes/sticks etc rubbed all over him so that he learns that he is not nessecarily going to be hit/hurt.

From working with semi-feral 2yr olds, the whole 'Monty Roberts Join-Up thing' can help as a means of getting them to trust you or at least look to you for support/comfort (I'm not normally a fan/advocate of the M.Roberts/Parelli approach to horses). It is not hard to do, but it helps if you canwatch his video and/or watch someone else do it. The key thing is to learn to recognise the 3 key 'signs' -erm ear towards you, head down and mouthing/chewing. When the horse does all 3, if you stop chasing he should come towards you and then follow as you walk away/turn.
Of course with your horse the whole being chased round thing may freak him out more than the whole 'join-up' would help, you will have to judge that one.

Good luck! And let us know how you go...