Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde

LauraBR

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This is very long and a bit rambly, sorry! Just interested in peoples' thoughts!

I have had my current horse for near enough 2 years now; he is a very laid back TBx who I love dearly.

In the most part he is a well mannered lazy toad who needs a lot of leg and takes forever to plod in from the field. I don't let him get away with a lot, he's easy to do, a wonderfully well behaved patient when ill or injured and generally a very sweet gentleman to have around- I couldn't have wished for a more sensible horse to ride and handle through my recent pregnancy.

So why is it then that once in a blue moon when he doesn't get his own way does he absolutely totally and utterly flips his lid and throw the biggest hysterical tantrums I have ever seen a horse throw?

He's only done it a handful of times ever and today was one of those times...

He has been turned away for about a fortnight, the weather turned today so I went up to bring him in and stick a rain sheet on. He was a pain to lead back- calling to his friends and a few half-attempts at planting himself and refusing to walk on. Fairly normal for him.

Stuck him in his stable (surrounded by other stables with horses in) with a handful of cool mix while I went to fetch his rug. He stood screaming for his friends... 2 mins later he had whipped himself up into an absolute state- half rearing at the door, bucking, throwing himself about. I decide to take him in the indoor and lunge him to let off some steam before attempting to lead him back. Once in the indoor I just couldn't manage him- he was fighting to get out, rearing, kicking out. Got him out on a circle to lunge but he'd fall back in charging towards me striking out and kicking, leaping about bronking. I'll be honest, it was pretty bloody scary. Ended up having to unclip him and had to call for help to get out of the indoor whilst fending him off with the lunge rein. He was dangerous, and I don't use that word lightly!

Once I was out there wasn't much option other than leaving him in there to get it out of his system. He kicked the hell out of the door and teared about screaming for 20 mins after which point I caught him and led him back to his stable to cool off. He walked out very sensibly and was turned out again once he had calmed right down a hour or so later.

Now, I understand 100% that his reaction today was all about seperation anxiety... he was upset leaving a herd that have probably grown very tight over the last 2 weeks- but the level of reaction was utterly ridiculous and I don't think it was as though I had put him in a situation he hadn't been in a hundred times before?

It's like he works himself up past the point of no return and once he has past that point you just have to leave him somewhere safe to burn it out. There is no consoling him, no distracting him, no disciplining him- just have to wait for the red mist to lift.

Past similar tantrums have occured in other situations where he has not got his own way: being made to stand still for longer than 10 mins out cubbing being one example (that was fun let me tell you
crazy.gif
). I do wonder what it is that triggers such an extreme reaction when he is normally so very laid back???

So now I'm thinking I best bring him in every day for a feed or something to nip this in the bud- unless anyone has any better suggestions?

Anyone else have a horse like this??? He really frightened me today
frown.gif
 

Abbeygale

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I had a chestnut TB mare that had occasionally had little turns when she didn't get her own way - although I have to say she was never as bad as your chap was being by the sounds of it. Similarly my girl was very laid back 95% of the time - verging on the lazy - but every now and again if I asked her to do something she would just argue back at me and basically try to dominate me. An instructor once told me that this was my mare trying to be the leader out of our team - and I did do some extra ground work (along the natural horsemanship malarkey lines) which seemed to help. I also tried to ask smaller questions of her - if that makes sense - so little challenges more often - and we seemed to make more headway with the bigger "questions" when we had had some success with the smaller ones.
Sorry rambly gibberish. Good luck with your boy tho.
 

kerilli

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i've known horses (and people!) like this, they get stuck in their reaction, overdose on the emotion kind of thing, and can't get out of it.
have you tried distracting him with food, i know that's prob totally obvious. polos or something in a rustling bag for a proper distraction.
or, unprofessional as it might sound, a proper Sergeant Major Yell can break through the brainfug and get them to focus on YOU again... but only if you really can bellow for England, for a few seconds. i've had a couple of horses this worked for... one i can now stop with my voice before he even starts his rubbish.
very difficult. it's not fair on him to think of it as "not getting his own way" though, i think, that's ascribing complicated human emotions to him. you're right, it was pure separation anxiety, and he should know better obviously, he's not a 2 yr old, but he obviously had it bad! i think your plan of bringing him in every day, even if it's only for 2 mins of fuss, is a good one.
the tantrum out cubbing... i've had one do the same, again it is an overload of tension, not a case of "not getting his own way". the one i was on just stood calmly with everyone else for 10 minutes and then, apropos of nothing, while standing facing up a steep hill, just threw itself upwards into the biggest, most unbalanced rear ever... lovely.
frown.gif
you just have to try to think of it slightly differently, and work out ways of getting through to him, if possible. if he's being ridiculously dangerous though then you did the right thing today, leave him to it, don't get hurt.
hope that helps a bit.
 

Sooty

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Is he an ex-racer? Just curious, as he may have 'issues' and something fairly inconsequential may trigger memories of some trauma. His behaviour does sound as if it could be fear related. It also sounds bloody dangerous, and so soon after giving birth your sense of self preservation will be pretty keen. If you want to bring him in every day then fine, but you should ideally be in a situation where you dictate how your horse lives, not him. It may be an answer in the short term, but long term I really don't know.
 

LauraBR

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[ QUOTE ]
it's not fair on him to think of it as "not getting his own way" though, i think, that's ascribing complicated human emotions to him.

[/ QUOTE ]

I wondered if anyone would pick me up on that
wink.gif
You are of course right... it's just too tempting to describe it that way as the way he behaves is so similar to a child throwing toys out of a pram!

Will try the loud noise thing (food doesn't work, not even really special treats). What you are saying makes sense finding ways to try and snap him out of it.

Reassuring to hear others have experienced similar!
 

LauraBR

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I think he has a bit too much bone to be an ex-racer although there are other aspects of his behaviour that point to some kind of racing background- p2p would not be beyond the realms of possibility.

I don't know anything of his history sadly.

Have people on hand to help if needs be tomorrow. I think I'll be making a rod for my own back if I decide to leave him out- he may well come in sweet as a lamb tomorrow.
 

pinktiger

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eerrm welcome to the world of the TB!!! Is he in work????? if not why not just feed him balancer,, even cool mixes are starchy, and even with this not being the whole reason for his teenage strops its prob giving him that little more energy than he currently needs!!! why not try a calmer??? He is in charge of you, he controls the pace you go at be it slow or fast!!! i think before he becomes more of a prob for you, it might help if you get more respect from him from the ground!!!!
 

LauraBR

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[ QUOTE ]
i think before he becomes more of a prob for you, it might help if you get more respect from him from the ground!!!!

[/ QUOTE ]

I honestly don't think this is the issue. He is beautifully behaved and very well mannered 99% of the time, the last time he threw a tantrum like this was almost a year ago.

He is not getting any feed at all atm, he has been turned away. The handful of cool mix was just a sweetner for coming in. It's possible the rich spring grass has contributed but he is not normally the kind of horse to need a lot of work; he doesn't fizz up without it- I wish he would sometimes!
wink.gif
 

slivertonics

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my tb can be excatly like this. one day he is fine with being in on his own, another day he throws the most stupid paddy's and like you said throws himself around and winding himself into a right state, becoming plain dangerous!
he is 99% sane but when he flips out he can really go for it!
 

BigBird146

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I've known of a couple of TBs like that and my friends one is just generally scatty all of the time! My Hanovarian x TB can also have 'bad days' (see exploding horse post below) but they are ususally associated with him not being able to handle new situations rather than random nutty days.
Sorry not much help!
 
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