HELP PLEASE!! Mental horse!

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justmyluck99

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Recently the horse I loan went to a charity ride where he went on a race course and galloped as much as he wanted, ever since he thinks he's a race horse! The other day I went on a hack, he was being calm so we had a canter which went out of control, I couldn't stop him :eek: circled him in a very thick, muddy field, eventually he stopped! I'm now too nervous to canter on hacks but would love him to go back to his old self where he'd stop when I asked in a flat out gallop. Any advice welcome!!! At the moment he has a grackle nose band and a waterford dutch gag, maybe a change of bit would be best? He's difficult though, because if I were to yank on his bit to stop him he'd just pull back and go faster!! HELP!!:confused:
 
If I had all that kit in my gob and you yanked on my mouth, id run away from it too!!

I would certainly change his bit to something milder and get an instructor to give you some guidance and help you with schooling.

Best of luck with it :)
 
Has anything else been changed with him recently? Sounds odd that he was fine one minute and unstoppable the next. Teath/saddle/back all ok and double checked?
 
Ditto Patterdale. I also suspect if he's always 'needed' all that on a hack when he would stop when you asked, then the fun ride has just amplified the existing issues, rather than caused them.
 
Maybe some calmer non cantering hacks are a good idea to calm him down again! What ring is the gag on? You could use two reins if you are confident with that. That does seem like an extreme choice for everyday hacking otherwise. Is he an ex racer? Schooling would be a good idea if you can.

Also if you have space and are up for it (and if you think it is safe!),i find allowing a space to gallop (pref uphill) then pushing them on when they start to slow up, then keep a canter for a bit, back up to fast canter/gallop, like changing within the pace, then canter a little bit again. I think it helps to clarify for you and the horse what means 'yay faster' and what means 'for the love of god slow down' sometimes if you get tense the signals get a bit confused. It will also help you to feel less worried when this might happen.

I think they get to thinking canter means gallop and get a bit carried away!

Obviously don't terrify yourself though and this might not work but worked for me with a similar tanker offer!
 
my warmblood used to get excited a lot in new places, i changed her food to a lower energy and it helped a lot. if its mostly when riding do more schooling with a controled canter and work on transitions and stoping to get her listening then you can try eventually go faster en try lunging before you get on :)
 
Is this horse an ex racehorse? If so, you need to remember that they have been trained to run into pressure and your efforts to 'haul' him back so to speak are upsetting him at worst and only encouraging him to go faster at best. If not an ex racehorse the same principle still applies in that you need to remain calm and use your centre of gravity to 'block' forward movement. How long have you had him?
 
Nope, not a racer, not even tb! He's a fat, stocky Irish thing hehe :/ And yeah, he's fully loaned, been riding him for almost a year now and he took a lot of getting used to at the start, I think he's testing me as well :) the bit is on the middle hole, don't have the space to gallop until he's tired but thankyou for some excellent advice! Also don't think I'd feel comfortable riding with two reigns; I school him twice a week and he's usually very sane! I'll work on my body language though, cause I do have a tendency to tense when nervous, should I just try and sit deep and use my weight to slow him? I'm still hacking, did about an hour of trot with my friend and her horse and by the end of that he had calmed down so maybe, hopefully!, it will just be a short after affect of going to a racecourse! Thanks for all the advice!!
 
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