He's just not right in the head!

Queenbee

Queenbee

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Remember when I got Ben back from being backed last August and as I rode him on all I could rave about was how bold he was to hack, how sound he was with traffic, cows, sheep, other horses, on his own - well everything really? So do I! He would lead or follow, hack out alone or in company, stride out like he owned the road and was an excited little scout going out for a hike with a picnic :D

Then he had a bit of a break in December, January and February. He came back into work and was exactly the same.

Remember then that I suddenly posted that he had become a demon possessed, spooking, jogging, snorting whinnying... Almost the height of insecurity? I questioned his diet, took him off all hard stuff, popped him on a calmer (didnt bloody work!) put it down to spring grass and cracked on with it. At a later date I questioned whether this was just a confident horse, no longer preoccupied with the new world around him and finding things for his brain to react to.

Well, we then had our napping phase, a few choice spots and always if we were expected to take the lead on a hack. I certainly wasn't having this, so after trying to 'coax' him, I toughened up, I'm delighted to say I broke my schooling whip on his bum :p only three taps and not very hard at all and the damned thing went flaccid :eek: I donned my spurs to help things along, got a nice short whip, growled a lot and at all possible times I trotted!

Now we are pretty much over the napping and spooking is a rarity too (although there was a very interesting episode this week with some over friendly bullocks that Ben thought were so scary he daren't move and I swear my trembling demon grew a foot :p).

So when it came to expanding our repertoire of routes you will understand that I was wary that we would have issues on these new scary routes. Nope not so, my stupid ned, jumps at shadows on the routes he knows and knows well, he freaks at newly arrived bullocks because they weren't there last time, he freaks at a flipping tree, even though the damned tree has never said so much as 'boo' to him. However, any route that is fresh and new he attacks with courage and gusto, striding out with utter enthusiasm and never even considering questioning it, our newest route has a steep hill on the way out, walking fast down here isn't good enough, no Ben decides he should break into trot and tries this often as we go down, so excited is he to get where he is going, even though he doesn't know where that is! He's not even tense on these new rides and works far better than he did on the old rides he knew.

So yep, Ben appears to defy the laws of horses and is officially not right in the head - good job I love him :p
 
I wonder if it is because when he is going somewhere new he is so preoccupied with the interesting new things around him that he forgets to be silly and spooky, and when he is on the old, familiar routes the silliness is a way of making a hack more interesting? He sounds like a real character and a horse that definitely needs something to keep his brain occupied! :)
 
Totally normal behaviour for a genuinely confident, bold youngster, I have know plenty that are so much better on new routes, they don't know what is round the next corner and want to get going and find out, they usually become very good on the routes they know but will always notice something that has changed, a sign of a bright mind that needs occupying.
 
be positive said:
Totally normal behaviour for a genuinely confident, bold youngster, I have know plenty that are so much better on new routes, they don't know what is round the next corner and want to get going and find out, they usually become very good on the routes they know but will always notice something that has changed, a sign of a bright mind that needs occupying.
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This^^^

I would say it may be time to start doing some more work with him and get that brain doing a bit more.

He sounds a lot like Molly :)
 
This is definitely the opinion I've formed of him. Even as a baby (well 2 yr old) we did a bit of long reining only 5-10 mins at a time but he had become so bored he needed to do something, we also did some clicker training to keep his brain working while physically he was to immature to work. Whenever I give him a break from work - just time to be a baby in the field, he strops, seriously strops. He pulls the most evil faces ears back, pinched mouth, tosses his head up and down and tries to act the git when being led. Get the saddle out of the tack room or even the lunging kit and he relaxes, ears forward, friendly and calm!

GG we have upped the work. currently he has one to two days off a week, on those days he has a bloody good groom and pamper and his field gets poo picked :D. On the other days we are really packing in the variety, new hacks, schooling, canter work in the school which he is really enjoying and really starting to balance and control, some small jumps and often we will either start with a hack and school or school and cool down with a hack. Work lasts for between 40 mins to 1 1/2 hours depending on what we do, for example a school and hack is 10 - 15 mins hack with 30 mins in the school. Our longest hack is 1 1/2 hrs, but includes a fair bit of hill work and road work so much of it is walked. I suspect some of it is a product of his increasing fitness!!

I'm constantly wary though that he is a baby, he turned four in June so has been backed now for a year and riding on pretty much all of the time other than his main break in the winter, he's fit and strong and I'm constantly searching for new things that are 'age appropriate' to add to our repertoire of work, especially schooling wise as at the moment he seems to be thoroughly enjoying this and I want to keep it fresh and interesting for him.
 
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I've known plenty of youngsters like this, my mare even now will spook ridiculously at little things on a well known route, because it wasn't there yesterday! I'm afraid your horse is perfectly normal :P
 
Keeps you on your toes at least, never a dull moment :) So how do you all explain riding past roadworks ( the usual red and white posts, whole in ground and orange flashing lights) and completely ignoring them, then spooking at them on the way back! Makes me laugh every time it happens but its like he has just seen the monsters! :)
 
_GG_ said:
QB - I love the sounds of him....and I think you'll have your hands full for a few years :wink3:
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He is a dude :D Its been an amazing experience for me, up until buying him I had always had something that needed to be 'fixed', now I actually found doing that more of a challenge than starting with a blank canvas, although the challenge with him is different. Its an incredibly scary thing to buy a baby and spend all those months waiting, wondering if the partnership will work, will you click, what kind of horse will he be... and a bloody huge relief when you realise he's a keeper!

He's been and continues to be a challenge, but only in the way that babies and youngsters are, but the real challenge for me has been not only riding a completely new horse (I only really rode ebony for 11 years) but having to make great strides to address my riding flaws (still very much a work in progress!) in order that I could teach him clear communication aids, not unbalance him, support him in the best way. After riding ebony and being so in sync with her for so long, I had neglected my lower leg (my weak one waved around like a kite in the breeze!) My outside rein (well there wasnt on :p) My core muscles (again, there werent any!) The problem of having and riding a super sensitive horse for so long is I pretty much would think it and she would do it! Both Ben and I are at the moment a work in progress, very much so and yes we will be for a good few years to come. This is what I love most though about riding, its the teaching, the development of a well rounded horse, the fact that daily I can see some progress somewhere and I know its down to me, but also when you see a horse that is just so damned enthusiastic that you have to remind yourself hes only a baby and not to do so much - thats fab.

I made a pact with myself when Ebony fell ill and I had to have her PTS that I would never take my horse for granted, that I would live each day as if it could be my last with ben... A little over a year down the line and Im riding more than I have in years, enjoying every second of it, its nothing I have to make myself do on bad days... where my horse is concerned there doesnt seem to be a 'bad day' when I look and cant really be bothered to ride anymore. :D

End of Rave :D
 
QB - fixing a horse with issues can be far more complex than starting a baby from scratch. When you start from scratch, you are just teaching the a,b,c's. When you are retraining a horse, you have to learn their X,Y,Z's and then use their 1,2,3's to try and teach them to understand the a,b,c's.

Sounds like you're doing a fab job and a rider that thinks they don't have anything to work on has no business being on a horse :smile3:
 
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