Help! instructor says my horse is special needs !!

[leskaneen]

Hi,
I ve got a 6 yr old welsh sec D and he s driving me mad-He s kind of like a springer spaniel puppy,just wants to bounce around ,go as fast as possible everywere,and generally is a mischievous pain in the neck!
He is quite fussy in the mouth,though not really strong.I currently ride him in a mullen rubber snaffle,which is about the best we ve found for him.We re doing lots of work really trying to ride him from seat & leg to slow him down,leg yielding,lots of transitions,but it takes about an hour to get him to slow down,relax & listen.(i usually lunge him or take him on the gallops before a lesson and even then he s still full of bounce).Having said all this,he is very good out and will straight back to me even when galloping in company.
He is very much a character-loves putting random things(Brushes,my chappes (sp) ) in his water bucket-unties haynets,throws feed bowls at passers by etc. I Really am beginning to wonder if he s seriously taking the P*ss-my instrustor says he s got ADHD !! What would you guys do with him-any advice gratefully recieved.

 

[AmyMay]

How many lessons a week do you have with him??

 

[Helenabbey]

There was a similar pony at a yard I used to work at, it would fling its rubber feed skip at passers by! It was a vry talened pony but didnt get enough work. How much do you do with yours?

 

[Tempi]

i would never gallop bloss out before a schooling session it would totally wind her up, as it sounds like its doing to your horse too!! Lunging yes, galloping no (imo!)

have you had his back checked out recently?

 

[Kelly1982]

Aww he sounds like a right character

What feed have you got him on??

 

[_jetset_]

If it was me, I would try a different instructor, just for one lesson and see whether they have any more advice as to what you could be doing with your horse to help schooling matters. You can always go back to your regular one, but I would be curious...

 

[Scarlett]

I had a sec D who sounds very similar to yours.... the trick with him was to challenge him, the more work we done and the more i tried to teach him the better he was... he was working advanced medium at home and hated getting time off.... he was just clever and knew how to get my attention....

what do you feed him and how often do you ride him/for how long?

also agree not to gallop before schooling - would think it would blow his mind....

 

[the watcher]

Is having your next lesson with another student on a calm horse an option, might give yours the confidence to chill out a bit, lunging beforehand would be good, or going for a VERY long walk/trot

 

[frannieuk]

I had a youngster who sounds quite similar to yours and I was advised to ride her twice a day, so do the same amount of work but split over two sessions (morn and afternoon). I appreciate that you may not have time for this but it did help me - think it kept the horse mentally challenged.

 

[leskaneen]

Thank you all-lots of good advice !
Here are the answers to your various questions which I hope may prompt even more good suggestions!

He is worked most days during light evenings for about 1 hr mixinh hacking schooling lungeing & has daily turnout(he gallops round the field for fun),at the moment im reduced to lunging in the mornings coz i work full time and its dark by 4.30!
He s fed ride & relax,alpha & a bran mix(hich he loves!),ad lib hay-hayledge.He s not a particularly good doer probably due to being hyper,but does look v well at the moment.
Re Back tack etc done all that and besides everythings fine when doing things on his term !

P G i completely understand what you say about galloping blowing his brains but he s kind of like a kid thats had wet playtimes at school-needs a good run before he can concentrate-does that make sense
Re trying another instructor i did that-he rode horse got off it & said it was F**ing hard work!!
He really is a lovely animal,kind, funny,wonderful uphill paces but he drives me daft -i m not getting any younger and I get off him dripping with sweat and aching!! If you ve got this far-well done!!

 

[Triskar]

He sounds a bit like my Arab - who is also very clever and can be naughty to get attention. While it's dark, I've been clicker training him - I've taught him a few tricks like nodding for yes and shaking for no, off fore raised for please, near fore for thank you - hold my whip (so he'll be occupied and not bite me while I do gates), etc. His next trick will be taking a bow. The mental challenge seems to counteract some of the physical fizz - it seems to tire him out, without exhausting me, anyway....

 

[Parkranger]

I would say that he may not need that much food? my TB is on daytime turnout and only has half a scoop of build up and a scoop of chaff twice a day!

Maybe try him on something like buildup nuts so he's getting the fibre?

some horses I know react badly to haylage too - makes them hyper (although I think it's just down to too much food!)

Good luck!

PS - I hear what you're saying about the galloping but I find it makes my boy lose all concentration!

 

[ljubb]

Have you tried a supplement like nupafeed liquid calmer?

When horses are tense/stressed/excited they burn magnesium which then causes and imbalance that produces adrenaline.....the horse then struggles to lower the level of adrenaline which causes them to remain stressed for longer.

My mare needed it to enable her to relax in the stabble as she was completly nuts and noone would go in with her (makes life hard when she is on full livery!), she is now sooo chilled out its like she is a different horse. This supplement is used by many eventers and other competitors and has a good reputation.

It is expensive to begin with whilst the loading dose is administered but think of the money you will save in the long run when you can cut down your horses feed because they are not stressing it off.

Good luck

 

[leskaneen]

littlemo-interested to read about calmer but not really sure what you mean-I always thought that a certain amount of adrenalin is necessary for any physical activity in humans-is it the same in horses (Q mark dont work on this keyboard).Also,horse is so laid back & relaxed in stable that if they do stay in due to bad weather he lies flat out snoring most of the afternoon!!!
Triskar-love that idea-i do play games with him in the stable and he does like kind of "mental" challenges!!
When working in the school he does usually settle eventually but ,depending on his mood,it can take an hour before we acheive anything positive ! Maybe i ve just got to accept thats him and expect to be knackered every time we school !!
Thanks guys

 

[jemima]

You might try changing his haylage for hay. One of our Welshies goes totally manic on haylage but is much better on plain hay and not too much other feed.

 

[YorksG]

Both of our appaloosa's (one now 31!) like to play games in the stable, dunking stuff in buckets, throwing things on the floor etc. Both can be silly, but not really naughty. The old one would not school, she thought it was boring and both need to be kept interested, new places out hacking lots of transitions and in the school cones barrels, tyres etc to bend round etc. (The tyres were a mistake with the old lady in the days when she was ridden as she seemed to think that you should trot in them like army training!lol)

 

[ljubb]

lesandsparks.

We all meed a bit of adrenaline to keep us perky, the nupafeed doesn't eliminate adrenaline just helps the horse to rebalance levels quicker.

Mo used to get herself soo wound up it was like a three year old child having a tantrum and not being able to tell you why. the magnesium helps them to unwind themselves by rebalancing the magnesium/calcium levels.

From my understanding it wont necessarily change how he is in the stable as it will only kick in when needed - i.e at moments of stress.

For more info give them a call, i think it is a german product sold in the uk. The guys from nupafeed were very helpful and if you explain the situation to them they will recommend or not as the case may be - no pushy sales just good old fashioned advice.

This is only my suggestion and every horse is different.

Good luck and if you decide to try it let me know how you get on.

 

[Law]

I empathise with you - i've got a section D who i've long said has ADHD and I totally understand what Scarlett (?) said about mentally challenging them. Mine has the attention span of a fish but the capacity to learn things in 5 minutes. Once he's learnt something he gets super bored and wants to show off the 15 other things that he can do.
Farrier can get half hour of calm and patient horse followed by 15 mins of 'no I will not stand still' mode.
Dentist is the same, can get 20 mins of 'fine, i'll stand here whilst you poke in my mouth' followed by 5 mins of arguing about it.
Massage lady fairs a bit better getting about 45 mins of massage time before he finds everything and anything else far more interesting- heaven forbid that someone speaks when he's being massaged - head shoots up, far too alert to work with.

His problem is that he's a nosey sod. If I'm trying to work him in the school he'll look around trying to see what else is going on before actually concentrating for 5 mins. If you don't keep actually challenging him by doing lots of interesting things he just gets bored.
When we go to the shows in the summer he'lls tand outside the ring, or in the line up just watching everyone else doing their stuff. He's really comical to watch- he'll be transfixed on the horse going round regardless of wether he knows them or not!

Sorry this is not help what so ever but I think it's a typical thing of the breed

 

[leskaneen]

Lau-thanks so much for your post-sometimes I think its me being useless with my boy and it helps to know there are others out there just like him !! In some ways I would nt change him coz he s wonderful any funny but other days he drives me mad!!!!