Horse hotting up the more she works

[Polos]

Hi,

I have an absolutley fantastic warmblood mare who has given me so much confidence in jumping the bigger tracks and really is my horse of a life time.

However, she has some downsides. She is very very sharp, incredibly sensitive and 'hot'

I really struggle to get her to relax when riding her, shes not very good at schooling as the minute you ask her to do something such as lateral work she plants herself and will not move, (I find it easier to try and get her to move to the side than forwards sometimes as it's the only way you can get her moving again) She will also rear if you put too much pressure on her. I find once you've had a canter on her then thats it you've lost her and cannot get her to relax again. The more she canters the more she hot's up and this is where the slamming of breaks comes on followed by a rear and a spin (particularly if shes fresh)

she seems to be happier with a plod around the school rather than actual schooling and it seems to work for her this softly softly approach as she'll go out and jump 1.30 tracks

I know the good ones often are quirky but I'd like to be able to do a bit of schooling and get her to relax a bit more and soften

Has anyone got any advice on how best to tackle this?

She is on anxikalm and that seems to work the best with her

 

[Nugget La Poneh]

School her out on hacks. What does your instructor say?

 

[D66]

Check for ulcers and the other usual culprits.

 

[Red-1]

The horse is either in pain or anxious. When plodding round the school it could be the first, as she is not exerting the part that is in pain, or the second that she is not under pressure. Often it is a combination.

I have re-schooled a couple who were like this on the school, they were anxious as they could not find a release from pressure. We started in walk, pick up ask for something (maybe even just a slower walk) and release as soon as they achieved it. Do many small requests until the horse is walking with a soft contact that they are not afraid to reach into.

To be fair, all three that were re-schooled after being in such a state that they could no longer canter (as in the rushed round with heads in the air, and would not settle afterwards) did also have long term physical issues (such as stiff hocks), but once they were working more confidently the work was manageable for them. Once working better the physical issues were no longer such an issue, and could be managed by walking out before work, and the work became nice. They did remain prone to object if a rider got on board who would hang onto their mouths though, it scared them.

 

[ycbm]

If you school in a different saddle than you jump in, I'd be suspecting the saddle. If she didn't jump 1.30m tracks, I'd be suspecting kissing spines/si/psd/hock issues. I think I'd still put her in for a vet work up if there are no saddle issues. It's possible she loves jumping so much that the adrenalin of it masks other pain.

 

[FfionWinnie]

What is she fed and what is her lifestyle.

 

[Shay]

It sounds to me like a combination issue. She is either in pain now or has been in the past. Asking her to school properly too soon reminds her of the pain - or causes it. As does cantering too soon. Once she's had a plod about either she has warmed up a bit and loosened the affected part or she has just got her head around the fact it doesn't hurt and is willing to co-operate more.

Part of this will be just her - you do have to negotiate with mares. If this is what she needs to stay calm then so be it. But at the heart of this is very probably pain somewhere and you need to rule that out. That could be a bit of a long process as it is possible this is he memory of pain rather than direct pain now. Although if I were a betting person I would be there is still something now even if the main issue was in the past.

So - get the vet out and start with the obvious and work backwards. Back / tack / teeth - but I suspect you've done that already. Perhaps rule out ulcers and then perhaps start a bute trial? (You can't compete on bute...). If she settles on bute you can the start looking for what it is that hurts. But a vet might be able to be more focused once he sees her move.

 

[paddi22]

yep vet to check for pain would be my first call, then saddle.

apart from that is she just getting confused about her groundwork, or scared to it wrong? what kind of temperament does she have towards work? I have one kind of similar, and he works best doing groundwork over poles, so circles would include a pole on the ground etc. When the poles weren't there he just seemed to get very self conscious about schooling and was scared of doing it wrong i think and would freeze or stress. But with poles it makes him think more forward, and he understands his job to go go over them, so the schooling takes place a bit on the sly in the meantime.

 

[Polos]

Everything has been checked, the only issues she gets is tightness through her neck but she sees a equine Physio/osteo regularly and we always follow the aftercare

Hocks are something I always get the vet to check regularly due to the height we jump. She has a very very small bone spur on one of them but this is checked regularly and touch wood so far isn't an issue

She is ridden in the same tack as she jumps in so I'm not sure it's that. I can walk/Trot with a loose contact and she's happy doing that but the minute I have a canter she just hots up and I struggle to get her to relax again

She loves her hacking but unfortunately we can't do any of that until the spring/summer when the fields have dried up

She is fed twice a day and gets speedi beet and hi fi. She's lost a bit of condition over winter due to her being fed less when I'm there (but this is being addressed). She can be a bit stressy in her stable especially if I take my other horse out for a ride. I've found a salt lick and her treat Ball is working keeping her calmer in her stable.

I'm just not sure how to get her to relax a bit more when ridden, she's constantly checked over and has a very good maintenance program so I'm hesitant to say it's a physical problem

She's not been to a show or jumped properly since August so don't think it's anything to d owith that

 

[Polos]

When I bought her as a 4 year old she had significant stiffness and pain in her back (she'd never ever been schooled in her life)

She had a lot of Physio and a very good osteopath to help this and it has made a huge difference but maybe the pain memory is still there?

Other than having uvetis she's had a very clean bill of health

Her general outlook to anything in life is very oversensitive and stressy

 

[paddi22]

have you ever seen a different rider on her? if she was mine i'd do an experiment and get a very soft rider and then and a much more controlling rider on her, and see if she responds better to one. I had two stressy ones at one stage and one needed to know that everytime he tried something he was amazing, and that gave him the confidence to try more. The other needed very controlled riding where everything was black and white and he was pushed to just do it and get over thinking about it. Just different responses to different horses.

Can you pinpoint exactly where the tension creeps in in the riding? is it as soon as the transition to trot occurs, or is it when other requests are added. Im sure your flatwork is good as you are jumping big tracks, but are your aids 100% or is there any chance she is getting conflicting signals at all?

sometimes with jumpers a swell the physical issues only show in the flatwork as the adrenaline from jumping isn't masking it. there's also a chance if she wasn't schooled when you got her that her education is missing a foundation. relaxation is the first step of the scales of training, so if thats not established then the rest of her flatwork is shakey. would you think of getting her rebroke with a dressage rider or anything?

 

[ihatework]

Is she always like this or has she got worse?
I have a dressage mare that does not sound dissimilar, she is a bit of a Duracell bunny with a very high drive to work but also a strong tendency to tension - this can over minor things, particularly if she thinks she has got something wrong or doesn't understand something. She has been very manageable once you understand her and needs plenty of turnout and hacking, plus structured schooling sessions.

However she has come back from having a foal and this winter her default personality has got progressively worse, to the point she was behaving just like your OP. She has now been diagnosed with grade 4 ulcers, despite looking in excellent condition and being managed in an ulcer friendly way irrespective.

Something to consider?

 

[Polos]

The transition to the tension is as soon as we start cantering. The more you canter her the hotter she gets.

She's had a couple of other riders on her in the time I've had her who are much more assertive than me and she doesn't go as well for them as she does for me

 

[paddi22]

its interesting it starts with the canter transition? does she find it as stressful on the lunge or loose schooling? does the tension only come in with a rider?

 

[Polos]

On the lunge she is fine, can lunge her with a Pessoa on and she's lovely and relaxed.

Her saddle has been checked recently and her back and under the advice of the saddler and Physio she has an Acavallo gel pad (saddle has been fitted with this now) so I'm not sure why there's the difference in tension?

I've watched videos of my riding and I'm relaxed in myself so not sure what is going wrong?

 

[millitiger]

Tbh, if she is competing over 1.30 tracks and jumps well, I'd be inclined to leave her to go her own way.

Not every horse has a physical problem to lead to behaviour and you only have to look at some of the top horses to see just how hot they can ride but they do their job brilliantly.

I used to own a horse who was so hot to jump, I couldn't even jump a cross pole at home without a big fight and him becoming a hot uncontrollable mess.
However he was settled and relaxed and incredibly reliable when out competing so I didn't push it and stopped jumping at home.

 

[rachk89]

Not every horse has a physical problem to lead to behaviour and you only have to look at some of the top horses to see just how hot they can ride but they do their job brilliantly.

Inclined to agree here, I think its just her. You have ruled out pain so its not that. I tried a horse a bit like this and there was no way I could have ever owned her. Probably a very talented horse but far too hot for me, felt like riding a bomb about to explode.

My horse can get hot when being ridden and then I worked out why. He is lazy enough that he will spook to scare the rider so he no longer has to work. I push him through it now and he quits it and does his job. The more I let him think, the more dangerous he is so I have to be constantly asking questions as well as ignoring his little attempts at silly behaviour. He is far too clever.

 

[Firewell]

From what you have said I wonder if she equals canter with jump. So walk and trot fine as its low key, she knows she's not jumping. Canter means jump, she may be so experienced that with canter she's anticipating, expecting and waiting to jump, her adrenaline rises and where are the fences?? No fences mean there is no release for her tension, nothing for her to focus on and consequently she gets more and more reactive. It may be that she is so trained in her job that she really does not know how to dressage school at canter. If she is doing a great job when she is doing her thing I'd leave her too it. You probably could retrain her with lots of time and effort but that may confuse her. If I was you I'd do any soft, low and long relaxed stretchy work out hacking, low key play around in the school walk and trot and forget trying to make her 'normal' in the school. You can get the same results out hacking or riding in the field or even on the lunge/long lines/in hand. She doesn't have to school like a normal horse, keep the canter in the school for jumpies . That's what I would do. Some horses have their own way of doing things and you just have to work around them.

 

[ester]

As you say you can only hack spring/summer how long since she hacked? You say she hasn't jumped much since August either so is this horse only schooling/lungeing atm?

 

[smja]

How do you canter her? E.g. sitting vs. light seat, firm contact vs. loose reins etc. Does changing any of that make any difference?

My horse used to plant and have hysterics if asked to do things he didn't like or found hard - such as lateral work. We had to do a softly softly catchy monkey approach, for example changing rein on a diagonal and introducing the tiniest little bit of leg yield in the second half, increasing the leg yield each time.

As you say she goes better for you than for more assertive riders, I'd try just asking for the littlest bit of effort and praising her for making any attempt, then gradually increasing what you're asking for.

 

[Polos]

Thought I'd give you all a little update on her.

A couple of things have been changed and they seem to be working. I've actually changed her bit from a loose ring snaffle to a French link D ring snaffle. I've also changed her bridle from a relatively unpadded stubben to a nice padded kieffer one. She seems to be a lot softer in her mouth now so something has worked.

I'm also really focusing on nice soft hands and really giving with them when asking for canter as we get a more relaxed transition. Also been walking for about 5 minutes in between canters and this break seems to let her calm down and relax. She is also in proper work again now as I've got someone at home who can work her for me. She still hots up but I think I've found ways to manage it, we were doing shoulder in yesterday without a meltdown and then went on to jump a course nicely.

Thanks for all your suggestions everyone