Horse freezing up away from home

[quiteniceforacob]

He’s a lovely boy - relatively new to me (October). He’s a green 10 year old who mainly did in hand showing and we’ve taught him to jump and school. Lucky enough to have unaffiliated competitions at our yard and he’s placing regularly.

I took him away from home to a small show a few weeks ago and he stepped into the main arena and froze! He was fine in the warm up but maybe stepping away from other horses? I don’t know. We’ve jumped at home since and he’s been a superstar. Booked another away show on Friday to get him used to being out - advice? He’s not the type to bolt off, he just shuts down - whip and Spurs couldn’t get him to move…until he did and then refused everything!

 

[Casey76]

So you have a new-to-you green horse, you took him to an unfamiliar place with lots going on and he was so overwhelmed he shut down, then you used whip and spurs on him?

how about taking him to a show with no expectations. Do a couple of clear rounds, let him get used to the atmosphere without any pressure and leave the whip and spurs at home.

 

[RachelFerd]

If you ride with spurs at home there's no reason not to continue to wear them at a show. And I'd expect a horse that I'd had since October had had enough time to get to know me as a rider!

That said, I'd be concentrating on going out to non-competitive outings away from home before you try and ride in a show environment. Go out to arena hire, schooling trips, fun rides, clinics - with and without other horses - then once you've established good behaviour in those settings, then you can consider going to a competition.

You need to put yourself into an environment where you can work through difficulties, not just get eliminated and make the problem get bigger.

 

[quiteniceforacob]

Ok that’s harsh.

He tries hard at home but needs the Spurs to be more off the leg. It works for us and my trainer is happy. Took him with zero expectations to do a clear round and was very conscious of wearing Spurs so didn’t want to kick.

Ok that’s helpful @RachelFerd - I think the small shows which let you continue when you’ve refused 7 times are good for this! I think part of the issue is leaving other horses in the warm up to ride alone? Will also practise this at home

 

[milliepops]

echo RF - look for non competitive outings where there's no time pressure so you get the chance to work through it with him instead of getting ushered out of the ring. group lessons/clinics are a good way to simulate riding in strange company, SJ arena hire you could warm up over one fence and then jump a course, etc.
One of mine gets a bit of stage fright even after many years and regular outings to arena hire etc help her to remember that I will keep her safe and she can do her job even when she's a bit unsure.

for mine, a confrontational "you must go forward now" approach makes her retreat further into herself so I do things that I know she likes to get her loosened up and breathing. for us it's lateral work, you might find yours likes to go for a good canter, or doing lots of suppling work or something - you might need to experiment a bit.

 

[RachelFerd]

Ok that’s harsh.

He tries hard at home but needs the Spurs to be more off the leg. It works for us and my trainer is happy. Took him with zero expectations to do a clear round and was very conscious of wearing Spurs so didn’t want to kick.

Ok that’s helpful @RachelFerd - I think the small shows which let you continue when you’ve refused 7 times are good for this! I think part of the issue is leaving other horses in the warm up to ride alone? Will also practise this at home

I wouldn't even do those type of small shows until I felt I had it sorted in a training environment away from home. Eg. a showjumping clinic where you end up all jumping a round individually at the end of the session - that's a simulated show that is setting you up to succeed, not setting you up to fail. I like to put my horses into situations where they will never end up having multiple refusals and they always get to leave the ring or arena feeling like they've had a positive experience. This might mean no competitions for months/years.

 

[quiteniceforacob]

I think that’s a good idea - getting him out. We did a lot of work hacking alone to build confidence but I was ill so we’ve dropped that a bit. He needs to get used to being alone and when he shuts down in that way I haven’t yet found the way to get through with him.

I want him to love it in the way he loves it at home!

 

[quiteniceforacob]

Yes good idea! In October he couldn’t be in the school with other horses as he was terrified and would bolt around. 2 more times of trying and he was absolutely fine so hopefully he will learn slightly quickly that it’s fine.

I wouldn't even do those type of small shows until I felt I had it sorted in a training environment away from home. Eg. a showjumping clinic where you end up all jumping a round individually at the end of the session - that's a simulated show that is setting you up to succeed, not setting you up to fail. I like to put my horses into situations where they will never end up having multiple refusals and they always get to leave the ring or arena feeling like they've had a positive experience. This might mean no competitions for months/years.

 

[RachelFerd]

It is definitely something you can work through. The chestnut horse in my signature used to shut down quite a bit at competitions and go into himself. I could usually convince him to keep jumping, but it wasn't positive or fluent. He's improved a huge amount over time (now eventing novice/2*) but he is still inclined to drop behind the leg and go quiet on me when he is feeling intimidated. He also has some insecurities that sometimes come out when hacking alone - and the more hacking alone I can do with him, the better it is for him (even if not that relaxing for me!!)