Help please - how can i de-stress my lovely girlie?

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Gemsie

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Hi All,

I will apologise in advance as this post is gonna be a bit of an essay!

I have a young (just 6) year old Hannoverian mare - she has the most fab sweet nature and has lovely paces etc etc.

I have been bringing her on at home over the winter, and have just started taking her to a couple of unaff dressage comps.

She gets extremely tense and stressed out at the comp's (we have only been to 3). I think its more to do with the 'horsey party' than anything as she is quite relaxed about going out in the trailer to my instructors yard for lessons and she has been taken for hacks in the trailer and this does not stress her out at all.

I am not expecting an overnight miracle as I know it will take time to build up her confidence and to learn to relax whilst at shows, but I was wondering if anyone has any tips as to how I can help her to chill out?

Just to confim her tension and stress do not cause her to be naughty - she is not a bucker or rearer or anything - its just the tension she builds up makes her rigid and hoppy (hope that makes sense)

She is currently in at night with as much hay as she will eat, out all day on a nice paddock (not bare but not too lush) she has 2 feeds a day just hi fi lite and blue chip original.

I have tried her on instant magic calmer when taking her out - but to be honest she is no different with or without.

If anyone has any suggestions as to how I can help my lovely girl to relax it would be much appreciated - she is such a fab baby!

I am taking her out to different yards and places as often as I can - should be about once a week from now on

Thank you for reading
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Gem
 
My horse can get tense at competitions, last year I got fed up with it because she is not a baby. I actually found that leaving her out the night before made a dramatic difference. Why not try it a couple of times, it might help to break the cycle of nerves.
 
If you feel safe, I would get on and walk her and walk her all around the show grounds for as long as it takes, until you feel her start to relax, drop her neck and just exhale. Even if you take her out for several walks, and even if each is an hour long.
 
If you have "pick-a-test" near you the atmosphere is much calmer, and round here you don't need to plait or dress up; then enter as many times as you have time for and can afford; request the intervals between tests which you think will be most helpful (eg do you want to do 3 tests in a row without a break, or have one person go in between your tests each time, or whatever,) and keep taking her back into that arena until she realises it is the most boring thing in the world.

I agree with tracey01 about leaving her out the night before too.
 
Hi everyone, thank you for your replies so far - I actually think I will try all of your suggestions!

I am not sure about walking her about in hand as feel much more in control on top - but I guess that I could ride round the venues in walk for a good long time so she can absorb all the sights...

Re leaving her out at night - I like the idea - she has never slept out at night in her life so she would prob be so sleepy that being tense is the last thing on her mind!

tryingmum - your post is brilliant and did make me smile - i absolutely want her to think that dressage is the most boring thing in the world too!

I have entered a pick a test local to me in 2 weeks time, where we can do each test twice (they are very friendly there though so am sure i could do it ten times if needed).

Thanks again,

Gem
 
my horse gets like this what i found best was to just take her to loads of events with horses but not compete, make her stand around and maybe have a graze etc.
After about 3 events she was fantastic. Her results started to improve and i felt like i wasn't fighting her so much and she was starting to enjoy it.
I remember my dad coming into the horse-box (when he was supposed to be holding her!) and start talking about how good she was and obviously i ran out of the box expecting her to be charging around the yard causing havoc! she was just stood there looking at me as if to say "How dare you leave me with that incompetent man!".
So yeah just take her to a small show and then work it up to a big show and then just take her in random classes so she doesn't think it is all about performing.

Also if you are trying calming supplements bear in mind that it takes a couple of days for it to get into their system and have a properly good effect.

Hope this helps, she may just grow out of it!
 
Have you tried rescue remedy? My mare is a natural born worrier about EVERYTHING.... like leaves, twigs, bumble bees...... but is extremely sweet natured. I found by using rescue remedy it just chilled her enough and she could start enjoying what she was doing rather than worrying about it.

I used the rescue remedy in the spray and just squirted a couple into her lip. I also used it on myself at the same time - to make sure I wasn't making her tension worse, by being tense about her tension (if that makes sense!!!
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I'd try to improve your ground work a bit. If you feel 'more in in contrll up-top' then your ground work is probably a bit lacking.
When you get to a new venue and there are loads of horses around she'll be wondering about who's in charge and how she fit's in with the whole picture........ if you are able to move her about on the ground, back her up, engage her quarters etc she'll feel more relaxed as you'll be confirming to her that you're in control
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