Hacking help - complete change of behaviour...

[Puddock]

I'm guess I'm just looking for some reassurance that I'm taking the right steps... . This could be long, so I apologi

Bit of background: my horse is a 20 year old Dutch harness horse (think naturally high head carriage). He may be a veteran, but he doesn't act like it. I've owned him for 18 months and rode him for two years before that, so not teething problems. He has always been a bit spooky/reactive, but was 100% on the roads with any kind of traffic, happy to go over/under motorway, pass huge farm machinery, double-decker buses etc.

Anyway, we've had some nasty incidents over the last few weeks: first, we were coming back to the yard after a hack with my friend and her dog on foot. When we were about 50 yards from the gate, two of the liveries were leaving and exited the gates one after the other in their cars. Bear in mind this is a sight horse has encountered a thousand times before. Horse took one look at this, whipped round (I didn't react in time, as it was so completely unexpected) and took off away from home I know what a true bolt is (touch wood, cross fingers crossed will never happen to me again, and it wasn't with this horse) and I would describe this as a sort of "half-bolt", rather than a simple tanking off in fear. Basically, I could tell that his mind was completely elsewhere, like the full-on flight instinct kicking in, but he came to his senses reasonably quickly and I managed to pull him up, thankfully before we reached the crossroads (I just remember thinking I could hear a car appoaching the junction, was truly terrified). I didn't know what to think after this, but in the end decided to dismiss it as one of those things. My friends on foot and in the car couldn't understand what had set him off and thought maybe the horses in th field next to the road had spooked or something without us noticing and set him off.

The week after that, I was riding in the outdoor school when he put in a massive spin, spook and buck in canter and I went sailing over his head. We were riding in there at night with the floods on. That's the first time i've come off him in 3 years of riding.

After that, I decided to have a lesson with my instructor. She advised distraction techniques along the lines of leg-yield, shoulder-in, half-halts transitions etc.

Today, after a few fairly uneventful hacks in company, I took him out on his own. We had just left the yard when we met a lorry. Nothing especially spooky about it, driver kindly slowed down, plenty of space to pass etc. Horse took one look, tried to spin, then when he couldn't, tried to take off again. I was ready and made him flex his neck instead as he danced around all over the place, snorting. Lovely lorry driver switched his engine off (I thanked him a million times) and waited. Eventually we got past. I decided to take the rest of our hack in th fields. Spent just about the whole 20 mins doing either leg-yield or shoulder-in, in an attempt not to have him take off again as he was so wound up. He was exactly the same when we turned for home. I have dealt with fairly full-on nappiness from him in the past, as he hadn't been hacked out or years before I started riding him. He always used to stop being silly as soon as we were homeward bound. Not today.

I just don't know what's got into him I am thinking of getting the vet to check his eyesight as the first incident was in slightly low light (sun was just going down as we got back), the second was at night and today was a bit odd wIth very strong sun bouncing off puddles etc.

He started having a new supplement quite recently, and I'm going to stop it and change back to his old biotin, joint supp and pre/pro-biotic (new one was a combo that was supposed to include all of these). However, he's not generally a horse that gets wound up by feed - I've been able to have him on oats in the past without heating him up?!? He gets a handful of chaff for his supplement twice a day, his haylage is soaked as I am trying to get weight off (no hay at yard) and that's it.

He's ridden in a rubber Pelham with double reins, as that's what suits us best. He is an absolute tank of a horse, 16.3 and very wide. Back, teeth and saddle checks all up-to-date, but my instincts are telling me it's not any of these things. In the indoor school, he is sound, happy and working well.

Ok, I'm sorry for the novel. Any suggestions?





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[POLLDARK]

Could it be the sugars in the autumn flush grass ? I would cut out any supplements. Put a decent length strap from D ring to D ring so that you can hold it the same time as holding the reins (just as insurance re spinning). How about hacking with another steady horse ? Getting his eyes tested sounds good. I have had youngsters afraid of their shadows on the road in strong morning/evening light. You sound very competant & doing lots of things to stop him but these are my offerings anyway. Hope you get him sorted. Good luck, take care.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

Yes stop the new supplement.
I'm still kicking myself that I started giving my ID a Glucosamine supplement which suits our oldie perfectly. Less than a month after starting the supplement she started to get spooky, got worse and worse, particularly spooky at noise (throaty engines), then bucked me off on the road. She did have treatment for back muscle problems but after being declared fit to ride by the vet was still anxious when ridden. When we finally realised that we had started giving her the Glucosamine just before the behaviour change and took her off it she chilled out again and became much better on the road.

 

[Puddock]

Thanks both. I have been wondering about the grass, actually. I've encountered mild silliness from him before on this front, but not on this scale.

Pearlsasinger, that's really interesting. I didn't know glucosamine could have such an effect. I threw the remainder of the tub of his new supplement out as soon as we got back today, though!

I guess it's just the scale of his behaviour that's baffling me, I'm used to a few spooks per hack (he's a neurotic old soul, bless), but never in response to traffic or on the road. As far as I'm aware, he hasn't had a recent bad experience with a car or anything, but I shall be double-checking with my sharer when she comes back from holiday! I'm sure she would have told me, though.

Great idea re the balance strap, I never remember to grab for a neckstrap on time and I think they tend to pull you forward and out of balance in any case.
Also won't be getting on without my bp on! We don't have a nanny horse on the yard, unfortunately. Before this started, he was the best-behaved as not many of the other liveries go out very often.

Vet coming to yard on Monday, so going to book him in for a once-over.

 

[Damnation]

Eyesight is definately something I would agree with - you are right to get that checked.
Otherwise have you tried lunging him before hacking to try and tire him out a bit? Is he paticularly fit at the moment and trying it on?
As Polldark has said, there is a 2nd flush of grass in the autumn time, it could be hes just gotten qute excited.
Having ridden driving horses, they are usually very good out hacking in traffic, so it definately is out of character.