Horse becomes a bag of nerves when ridden

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basilbrush2009

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Ill try to keep it short...
Moved my rising 7 year old ID X gelding to new yard in December. before that he had been turned out for approx 6months hacking out about once a month round the block. (turned out due to family bereavement)
Dont regret his time he bloomed, looks really well has filled out ect ect

Before that he was in full work, competing local shows, hacking, no probelms what so ever. regular schooling. He was a nice calm confident forward responsive ride. as honest as they come.

Now, i fell of 3 times in the space of 3 weeks, happening so quickly i barely new what had happened. he seemed to have spooked at something and then jumped off all fours/span so quickly ive come off. 3rd fall cracked two ribs so no riding for 2 weeks, hes turned out in the day, then come to try and get back on, just to see how im feeling really, (never had any problems getting back on after hes had time off) he takes off bronking round the school. i manage to stay on but as you can imagine 2 weeks after cracked ribs quite painful.
Then the snow comes so more time off. ive got back on 3 times for 15mins in the school, but he is a complete bag of nerves. i feel like hes a time bomb waiting to explode. ive worked up to a bit of trotting but to be honest, i cant understand what is making him so nervy. my lovely horse is so completely different.
Hes had his teeth done/back and saddle done now. no problems to report.

Any previous experiences? Why is he so different? at the moment i feel over horsed for the first time since i bought him and backed him myself etc in summer 2009.
 
I am afraid horses memories are short (some of course shorter than others). My advice would be to start from the begining again as he has clearly forgotten everything and just needs starting again. He will need regular daily riding to sort this all out. I am sure that once you get going on a regular basis that you will be able to sort out these issues.
 
Arizahn said:
Is it possible some well meaning person has been feeding him?
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actually that is potentially a posibility, he has a handfull of chaff and a large handful of herbal mix at once a day at night when he comes in. someone does turn out for me 3 days a week and while he means well you would see from my previous post :S:S: S that he is very interferring!. I will have a word to make sure.

Do you think this could be a big factor with regards to his new behaviour? x
 
OWLIE185 said:
I am afraid horses memories are short (some of course shorter than others). My advice would be to start from the begining again as he has clearly forgotten everything and just needs starting again. He will need regular daily riding to sort this all out. I am sure that once you get going on a regular basis that you will be able to sort out these issues.
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Thank you. how far back would you suggest I start? back onto the lunge would you say? and introduce rider again? x
 
Depends what, if anything, is being fed. Alfalfa sends some of them to the moon, others are fine, iyswim. Has anything else changed? Hay to haylage, spring grass, etc?

I also agree with OWLIE on the back to basics. It never hurts!
 
Don't take this the wrong way, but I suspect it might be you. I've had a quick scan of your posts, & you've had a few issues with your confidence. (not a criticism, I also saw you'd had a good few falls which explains it). And your confidence will be affecting the horse. Even if its just that you are sub-consciously less than confident when mounted, its likely he's sensing it & responding accordingly. I would suggest riding another more confident horse who won't react to you, & having someone else ride yours, until you are both more confident in yourselves.
 
Littlelegs said:
Don't take this the wrong way, but I suspect it might be you. I've had a quick scan of your posts, & you've had a few issues with your confidence. (not a criticism, I also saw you'd had a good few falls which explains it). And your confidence will be affecting the horse. Even if its just that you are sub-consciously less than confident when mounted, its likely he's sensing it & responding accordingly. I would suggest riding another more confident horse who won't react to you, & having someone else ride yours, until you are both more confident in yourselves.
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Thank you i suspect this could be involved as well, ive been having lessons on an old school master to help my own confidence and its loads better(still not 100% on my horse hence the post) but just looking for a decent rider now for him to help him with his confidence
 
I would think food so would put onto a diet of hay and nothing else .
Then I would think pain , saddle back teeth the usual things. I would consult a vet and consider a bute trial amongst other things.
Then I would think rider ( sorry not meanlt nastily ) and would try deploying a suitable pro to see what happens.
If he where here he would be in work seven days a week and I have done them twice a day in some cases.
If the hay only diet caused him to loose wieght I would think so be it and deal with it later when I was on top of the behaviour.
 
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