help!

[charlandoliza]

Hi all

Im looking for a shropshire based trainer to help me sensiblise my 12 yo dutch warmblood mare and also any other help on my situatopn. Im having trouble getting her to school. Some days she will and most shes a nightmare, spooking at poles and fillers shes seen a hundred times.

She is stabled during the day and out at night. I feed her half a scoop of d and h leisure mix and a scoop of dengie hi fi plus a hay net at lunch. I also give her naf oestress and magic to aid the situation. I am concerned as to wether these work or wether i should feed them to her at all!

My friend gives her mare Trypotophan? What are peoples veiws on this?

i also have had her teeth back and tack checked, plus feet, there is nothing wrong there?

thanks

 

[kerilli]

have you had her eyes checked, or at least had a good look in them yourself? just an idea.
some horses just seem to be naturally spooky/always looking for trouble, whereas others don't look at a thing from 4 yrs old onwards. it may just be the way she is, frustrating as it is... ignoring it completely and riding forward is about the best way to cope with it.
i don't know any trainers over there, but i think a friend of mine there who does a bit of eventing goes to Michael Owen (eventer not footballer!) and she says he's good.

 

[Gucci_b]

Normally when a horse spooks, it is a reaction to external forces that appear to the horse in a split second. This takes both the horse and the rider by surprise!
However a certain amount of this "spooking" behaviour is normal for a horse. Over the years nature has produced a prey animal (the Horse) that has managed to survive by, being cautious.
This is part of the prey animal's survival instinct. Horses that were not cautious could be caught and eaten, by predators. Because of the prey animals inbuilt survival instinct, there are certain times when "spooking" is an appropriate behaviour, e.g. a quick or sudden movement or maybe something that looks like a predator or, is a predator, such as a dog! Every horse knows that even a small dog can eat him
There are instances when a horse is spooking at something that he has seen lots of times before or something that is a long way off and apparently no reason for him to spook!
There are horses that seem to spook at everything, all of the time. These usually have other problems, such as with their sight or they have developed a habit or phobia.
Most horses at some point will spook but in a lot of cases all the horse needs to be given is confidence. As we all should know - horses are 'panic -aholics' and need reassurance from their rider
the horse might have a problem with her neck! as horses can spook alot. (like yr saying yours is) as they can't twist their neck to see what they have heard or seen out of the corner of their eye, find a good chiropractor or a horse physiotherapist.