Friesian Owners - advice for new horse please

Schmoo its really early days for your new horsey...its taken me six months to gel with daughters pony and quite a while with my mare. I am a bit concerned that he was sold to you as family horse when they suggested a chiffney to hold him when you consulted with them after buying him. What work was he doing before you bought him - you must have felt safe and happy with him during your try out visits so any misbehaviour could well be new routine and environment issues. Watch that Kelly Marks DVD - use your body language voice and dually to work on the ground with him give him no hard feed and see how he improves over next month or so.
 
Stupid question.. did you get him vetted?

If you did and you find his behaviour changes drastically and not improve in the next couple of weeks, I'd be getting the blood tested.

As above, it takes a while for you to bond with new horses, he just needs to learn the ground rules and is most likely trying it on, was the owner much bigger or taller than you - were they a man? It may be the previous owners had more strength so he respected them more. Try do lots of ground work or what I think is silly but can help like join up and rope wiggling :p to show him you're the leader and he's the follower.
 
Oh dear, sounds like you're having a hard time. You say that your last horse "morphed" into a lunatic, and now this one is doing the same thing? Well, I think your answer is there - it's not necessarily the horse, it is very likely your methods that are causing the horses to act this way, SOOOO you need some expert help to make some changes in the way you are handling your horses. Is there an experienced (and Friesian experienced would be extra useful) person you can ask for help? Not fair on you or the horse to carry on the way you're going.
 
As others have said, it's very early days. I too am an older, less confident rider so can totally sympathise. On one of our first hacks my cob spooked at a builder's bag and took off and I was so devastated. Like you, I felt terrible and wondered if I'd made (another) big mistake. But it was amazing what some help from a good instructor and time achieved. We all need help sometimes and I think you should get a professional in, get some help, and turn things around. But whatever you do, don't feel down on yourself - it's such early days and we all have hiccups, especially with a new horse. Good luck :)
 
Cut out the hard feed! Handful of chaff if he's on a balancer/supplement and nothing else. Echo the others and seek out a good instructor. He'll come good, don't worry!
 
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