Erratic Behaviour in horse , help please ..

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hannahchambers

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Sorry for such an odd first post but I am encountering serious problems with my horse .

Since I moved him to a new yard in April his behaviour has become increasingly erratic behaviour when he is turned out /in the field .

To start with , he would pace the field boundaries all day and graze occasionally . He was moved into another field and he seemed to settle down . He then became difficult to catch ( after food persuasion he was OK to catch again . Soon after he started to be difficult to turnout [ as soon as you got into the field he would spin and as soon as you got the head collar off he would charge round the field for a good 3/4 minutes .]

Soon after it escalated into as soon as you got into the field you would find it near impossible to UN clip the lead rope from the head collar before he would tank around the field .

Recently he has become near impossible to turnout . As soon as the path opens up it leads to him spinning in tiny circles around you and using you and a 'bumper' to spin around .
All he wants to do is get away from you , its completely irrational if he does get away he doesn't run to the field he just runs to get away from you . He isn't small (17hh ID ) so he is VERY dangerous and the YO ( 6'3 rugby player build ) cant stop him from doing it even though he is very experienced with problem horses .

I'm just at my wits end , I don't know what is try next .

Any suggestions welcome ..
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eta - Its never at one point this happens , he just seems to be scared by something in her head and has to get away
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Hi

Your horse is seems to be really unsettled in the field, and this is making the journey to and from the field difficult. Is he turned out alone, or does he have company? If he is turned out alone, he is probably lonely and needs some company. Alternatively, if he is getting bullied and harassed by another horse, this won't help. Is there an electric fence in the field? Sometimes if they get a zap when going through the gateway it can make them difficult to bring in and out, so make sure you have plenty of room to get him through the gate and turn him. With regards to leading him, have you tried putting a stallion chain over his nose when you lead him? Unless you can get some kind of control back, it could end up a bit messy...

Hope you get it sorted!
 
Have you been the only person handling the horse? Or has anyone else been turning out/bringing in for you? Is he turned out with other horses and does he get along with all of them?

Is there anything near the gate that might upset him? Is there another entrance to the field that you could try? Sorry for all the questions!
 
Hi ,
He is turned out with one other horse but hes only 15hh and a timid as a mouse and theyre is no chance he is beating S up .

All paddocks are electric fenced but S leans over it so he doesnt seem to upset by getting a shock
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Me and YO are the only people that turn him out .
He has a field mate and they are always brought in / turned out at the same time (S before in the AM )

No other entrance to the field as it is next to the menage .

A suggestion has been that its nervous energy ? That he's not occupied enough so find other ways to get energy out ?
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Are you the only one that is handling your horse? Is the horse turned out in a herd or on his own? If its with a herd is he settled within the herd? Is there anything like electric fencing etc that is around that could be worring him? Even the clicking of an electric fence battery?
 
Hmm. How often do you exercise your horse and does he live in all year? Some horses just don't like living in all year and go a bit nuts to turn out because they want to be out. Also what are you feeding your guy?
 
ATM he's been off work for 8 weeks due to lameness ( reason he is lame is suspected to be because of TO )

Lived in at night since I've owned him (nearly 18months )

He's not fed hard feed atm but has haylage and grass
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When my mare went off work for a month she went nuts. She was.. interesting to handle. Nobody bar me would go near her to lead etc.
Have you tried putting him on just hay? Hayledge has alot of sugar in it and if the horse isn't burning it off then it can go to their head. This is what it was with my mare. She ended up going onto hay instead.
Also he is a big lad. Can you not get a rope controller type halter just so that you have some form of control to turn him out? Also have you tried leading him with a bucket so that he just sticks his head in the bucket until you get to the field?
Hope some of these suggestions work!
Izzi x
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my old mare used to do that. it was something to do with the field, never found out what. may have been bullying, mud in the gateway or some other event that triggered it off. she was only 14.3 and that was enough of a handfull, it must be awfull with one your size. the only remedy was to move fields.
you could try a controller headcollar - i used to just pass the leadrope(undone) through the bottom strap of her headcollar and hold on to the 2 ends of it - and then when she started to tank off i'd just let go of one end (the end without the clip!) and the other end would just slip through the strap. then i didn't have the hassle of trying to undo the clip with her going potty.
 
Thanks !

Feed doesn't work , he shows no intrest atall in it .
He did originally have a rope halter but he will happily pull against the pressure until its snaps !
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My Mare gets lead to and from field in a chifney for this reason! she can be fairly uncontrollable when it suits her. (I know a lot of people dont like these but it does help I'm only 5'2 and she is a big 16h IDxWB) When bringing in and turning out I always give her a treat.. normally an apple, she always now waits for her apple when being brought in and being turned out, however when she is naughty she doesnt get the treat. She still has her moments but is coming on nicely, another trick i have learned with her is that when she starts being silly i make her walk backwards. this gives her something else to think about. Yes it takes longer last time took me nearly half an hour to get in from the field in the pouring rain., but it did work.. she came on on 4 legs rather than the usual 2 and for a good few weeks after she didnt try it on.

I hope you are wearing your hat/bodyprotecter when turning out? just to be on the safe side.
 
Currently this is what we are doing (slipping leadrope through) but Im really worried about letting go as its a busy yard and I don't want S to injure anyone !

Im really at my witts end , i've tried so many things and nothing seems to stop it
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There isnt another field for him to go in , unless he goes up in the paddocks that are a 10 minute walk away so i'm not sure he'd manage the walk
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Yes he gets on well with his field buddy , they are always grazing the same spots etc
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is it only to and from the field that there is a problem leading, what happens if you lead her elsewhere, around the arena or somewhere else?
do you think going back to basics with groundwork might help?
 
The suggestion of turning out in a chifney has been said , but I don't think I'd be able to get it off him once in the field ?
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I will try walking him backwards but I have a feeling he will not pay a blind bit of attention to what I ask
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What's it like if you ride it to the field, is it still a handful? We had one that was stroppy to turn out and we'd ride it straight to the field after exercise, untack it there; it was always much better.
 
Well how lame is he and how much do you weigh as I can't see it making that much difference to him seeing the size he is. Your safety should come first.
Another trick might be to long rein him up there; make a couple of turns around the yard and then go there, because he'll think he's working it shouldn't be such a problem.
 
I have you tried taking him on a lunge rope and trying to lunge him (in walk as he is off work lame) in the field so that he is not anticipating just being let go. When he has settled then turn him out. I guess you will have the issue still of getting to the field and him charging off whilst you are holidng the lunge line although a controller headcollar may help here (and remember wear gloves!!!!)
 
Does he still run about in the field? Could you give him a calmer/ mild sedative.

Is there any chance that his injury occured being led out and the pain of it makes him remember and panic? Or perhaps his current behaviour is due to the pain of his injury?

Does he lead in ok? (appologies if this has already been asked)
 
Just a thought - he only has one other for company, who is a shrinking violet - perhaps your boy feels he is on his own and is stressed as a result. My mare goes out with her very elderly little buddy on really good grass, but she is only too happy to rejoin the others in the herd overnight, where there is next to nothing to eat. I've noticed before that the bigger the herd, the happier she is.
 
Have you thought about switching from haylage to hay? It might be that the haylage is sending him a bit nuts if he's off work (this happened to my horse and he settled down when I switched to hay)
 
Hi,

What is your mare like in all other respects - bar this field business? (such as to groom, come into the stable, her general atitude and her temperment)

Is she acting out of fear or stress or excitment to me out in your opinion?

Has she been out of work before and if so did she act like this? Could she be left out 24/7 instead of coming in?
Do you think in your opinion this is connected to her being off work or she is still not used to the yard and therefore is becoming more unsettled? Has or could do you think any nasty things may of happened which she now associates with the field, such as quad biks, tractors coming past and being loud or something like that, or even other horses being moved around as that can stress horses out when their companions (even if not in direct field) leave or move!
x
 
I'd go with the chifney and a lunge line attached to it to turn him out (please don't clip the lunge line to both the chifney ring and the headcollar ring at the same time)
The chifney only needs to be on a head stall so very easy just to pull off, in fact if you have hold of the leather and they run it usually slides off any way.
By having the chifney in you should be able to establish some control on the walk up to the field and also establish control once you get there so you can get the chifney off without incident.
 
have you maybe tried purchasing a 'stallion' chain that you can attach to the headcollar and it goes across the nose, gives you more control. Or a headcollar with a built in chain? What does he actually do when he gets into the field - ie does he rear, buck, try to kick? I would possibly try leading him about in the field once you get there so he doesn't think "right this is it I'm off!". Stop feeding haylage, there's likely to be far too much sugar in it that a horse out of work does not need. Too much sugar can do very odd things and, if the haylage is a bit fermented then it could do all sorts of funny things!

If all else fails, and I know I'll probably get laughed off the forum but maybe you could consider as a last resort getting in one of those 'horse whisperer" people and by that I mean the ones who say they can tell what the horse is thinking (yes yes laugh away). I know it sounds silly but you never know do you and, if I had got to a point where nothing else was working then I would possibly consider it, maybe someone could get to the bottom of the reason behind it.

I am assuming nothing's happened along the route the horse has to walk to the field - ie a nasty accident/something dying anything like that? Horses are funny creatures and pick up/remember all sorts!
 
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