Horse mega upset about yard move , advice please!

charlie76

charlie76

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We have, as a yard, ( 12 horses) moved to a super smart yard with fab facilities but my horse is struggling to adjust to the move
He is fine in the stable and field , and he seems OK hacking out with the others but in the arena is he a nightmare.
There are sheep out about three fields down from the school which he is fixated by and he has become tense and nappy when I ride him out there, he has reared several times and to be honest ,I don't really want to ride him out there any more!
He also keeps calling when I take him in there

If I lunge him out there he is fine, but as soon as I get on he fixates on the sheep and is naughty

Yesterday I stood out there with him to simply look at the sheep and after an hour and twenty minutes he still was not happy!

I'm not sure how to get him over this as in the ten years of owning him he has never been like this

Just to say, I compete him at advanced level dressage so not novicy but never known such an extreme reaction

Any suggestions?

My plan is just to hack him and lunge him until , hopefully, he gets over it and settles
 
I don't have any advice to give, but watching this thread with interest as the behaviour you're describing is exactly the same as I got with my mare a year ago. Wealso moved as a yard when the owner bought new premises and she just turned loopy and I lost my confidence. In the end after working with her as long as I was able, and getting to the point where she was rideable (but not enjoyable) we ended up moving to another yard much closer to home and within a month she was like a totally different horse. The change was unbelievable. She's been bomb-proof ever since and I find it hard to believe there was a time when I felt shaky at the thought of riding her half a mile.

You have all my sympathy charlie76 and I hope the solution for you doesn't involve moving again!
 
We def won't be moving again as its me that renting the yard as a whole so will have to find ways to get him to get used to his new life
He is in an American barn situation for the first time in his life so wonder if this is an issue

Thank you though
 
I would turn him out in the arena well rugged and let him live in there. Put his haynet as near the sheep as possible, his belly will overrule his head eventually. I would tack him up in the arena and work him on the lunge then ridden. Feed him in there and not go back to the stable routine until he behaves himself.

A bit extreme I know, but if you take away the 'going into the school moment' he will have to accept being in the school permanently and get over himself.
 
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Just to say that my mare goes into meltdown if she can see sheep in the distance. She's turned out next to sheep for much of the year without any histrionics, but if she spots sheep moving about a few fields away she gets genuinely distressed. She's 15 this year and is just as bad as when she was young.

Sorry, I've not been much help really. Hope your lad settles soon.

ETA Is there anything else in the arena that could be winding him up? An audible shorting in electric fencing for instance?
 
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Just did a long reply that vanished - anyway it basically had 3 suggestions:

Try working him in the school with another horse there
Take him to meet the sheep in the hope he loses interest
Try a calmer. I use Mollichaff Calmer which is a calming chaff
 
I do think the biggest factor is going to be time. He *will* settle, but it might take a while before he is back to normal, especially if you were at the previous yard for a long time. My old mare really struggled when we moved yards 3 years ago. She was retired, so there weren't any ridden problems, but she suddenly became incredibly clingy with her field companion (who had moved with her) despite always having been a very independent type previously. She would have a nervous breakdown in the stable if he was taken for a ride (we're talking piaffe at the door, stallion style snorting, screaming, constant supervision in case she tried to jump out). Nothing I did made any difference and it didn't matter how long he was out for or whether there were other horses on the yard, she would not settle. She was just as bad in the field - she didn't care about the other ponies, she would just charge round, screaming her head off. But she did improve over time, almost without me noticing. She doesn't really mind if he leaves her now - she will whinny a bit, but she is quite happy in her stable or in the field with other horses. I'd say over the course of six months or so she improved dramatically. They key is consistency - keep doing what you want to do, be calm about it, and he will improve. It just won't happen immediately (but may be quicker than with my mare - she's elderly and hysterical, she can't help herself!). It stressed me out a huge amount at first because I worried that we'd done the wrong thing by moving (even though the change was from virtually no winter turnout to 24/7/365 if we wanted it, so it was massively in their best interests) and I felt like she wasn't happy, but in retrospect I also recognise that she hadn't moved yards many times while I'd owned her and had never moved with another horse before (giving her someone to cling to). It was just a big change for her. I'm sure your horse will soon be back to his normal self :)
 
I've recently had a similar reaction- see my previous posts. My normally easy to ride; happy go lucky boy turned into the devil in the school and trampled me- to the point where 4 weeks on I still can't walk (let alone ride!)

For us I think having an outdoor stable and an arena with a view has been the problem. Previously we've always been in American barns and arenas have been more sheltered. He's still (5 weeks on) not himself :(
 
My old boy was just the same with sheep. He got a lot better with time spent with a person on the ground on foot (plus rider) and reward when he passed them quietly and sensibly. It sounds like it's just the sheep that are the problem - hopefully acclimatisation will help. Any chance of turning him out next to them, with a friend who isn't bothered by sheep?
 
It may be he can't work out what they are, is there anyway of grazing him near them or if safe to do so take him in school and turn him out in there or stand in there with him just so he can just observe them.

It's still very early days of the move, you could try him on a calmer I guess
 
Two things come to mind. Is he used to sheep, is it just that he can see them in the distance and maybe isnt sure what they are thats causing it? Secondly, are you absolutely sure there are no pigs or goats within sniffing distance. The only time Ive had such an extreme reaction has been when we had a pig in the field next door for a while and once, many years ago I regularly hacked past a farm where there was a pet goat, the huge hunter that I rode became a quivering wreck who would plant, try to spin or reverse and when he finally agreed to go past would almost tiptoe up to it, then try and shoot past at warp speed! The pig incident was quite odd, he was in the field next to my TB who when he could see him was reasonably OK about it. If I tried to ride him out of sight but with sniffing distance he became dangerous. I "think" it was because when he was loose he knew he could run away, when I had hold of him I dont think he was convinced I knew the danger we were in from the pig :)
 
Hi,
We had this problem last year when we moved yards, our normally laid back and chilled out boy became a nightmare, resulting in my daughter getting injured. We put him on a calmer for a while ( I think it was about 3 months in total). This helped him chill out and get his brain straight and he has now returned to his normal chilled out self that takes everything in his stride.
Hope you get this sorted.
 
I had this with one of my Grade A show jumpers. She was a nightmare with sheep. I would do everything you can to get your horse used to them - turnout as near s possible, ride next to another horse that does not care etc etc. If you are lucky these sheep will be on 'winter grazing' clearing up fields for other farmers. We have about a thousand around here at the moment but they will all disappear in a month or so back to their owners to lamb/whatever else sheep do (eat them?!) I hope for your sake this is the case.
 
AdorableAlice said:
I would turn him out in the arena well rugged and let him live in there. Put his haynet as near the sheep as possible, his belly will overrule his head eventually. I would tack him up in the arena and work him on the lunge then ridden. Feed him in there and not go back to the stable routine until he behaves himself.

A bit extreme I know, but if you take away the 'going into the school moment' he will have to accept being in the school permanently and get over himself.
Click to expand...

This.
 
I really feel for you! My WB (also adv dressage) is a swine for *seeing* demons both up close and in the distance! In particular he dislikes the headlights and car noise he can see/ hear in the distance in these dark evenings and will ****** off across the school at any opportunity. Once he's got it in his head there's not much that calms him down. This is our first winter at the current yard, he didn't show any of this behaviour in the summer.

The only thing I've found which makes it easier to deal with is to pick the time of day when I ride. I've found him much easier first thing or around lunch time. Anything after 3pm in the winter and I just lunge him. Not worth the fight.

Hopefully yours will improve with time and settle more in spring/summer.
 
What stands out is that he's fine in field/stable/hacking and being lunged in arena, it's just when you get on him in the arena he acts up. This is suspicious to me, why only when you ride in the arena does he become fixated is the question I'm looking at.

Without asking about a million questions (ok, not that many but enough) I think it would be worth getting a confident, patient but no nonsense rider on him in the school (after lunging for a relative comparison) and see how he reacts. Based on the info you've given so far, I'm not convinced he's being completely genuine.
 
Update on the situation.
So took on board what you suggested and turned him out for a bit in there today and then hacked him for a good hour and a half with company. He went in front and was very good
When I got back I took him straight back out and led him round, he was still looking but not quite as bad, so I got back in and did five minutes of trotting on each rein and he was fine
Will do the same tomorrow
He has hacked through fields if sheep with no issues , I think he simply can't understand what they are
There is a field right next to them so I'm going to put him in there for a few days so he can hopefully get over it , I don't plan to put him under any pressure out there for a few weeks until he is totally OK with them
Thanks very much
 
Has he actually seen the sheep up close? Ours were all like this when the farmer moved sheep on next door in the first winter here. My mare in particular is stressy and she would grow about 2 hands higher and then run for her life when she saw them from a distance. We ended up turning them out in the field directly next to the sheep so that they could see them closer up and understand these terrifying fluffy cloud like creatures with legs weren't about to devour them for their dinner.

They soon got used to the sheep and don't really bother that much about them now. Does he have a buddy yet at the new yard, something nice and sensible? When we moved, my mare stood and literally yelled herself horse looking into the distance for the first week and the owner of her best friend at my previous yard said her mare was doing the same, can only assume they were missing each other.
 
I led him up to them and he was fine with that and grazed next to them, took him back in the arena and being a dumb blood couldn't grasp that they were the same thing!
I'm going to put him out next to them for a few days and then he might be OK.
I am so glad I'm not the only one! It's actually reassuring!
 
charlie76 said:
I led him up to them and he was fine with that and grazed next to them, took him back in the arena and being a dumb blood couldn't grasp that they were the same thing!
I'm going to put him out next to them for a few days and then he might be OK.
I am so glad I'm not the only one! It's actually reassuring!

Aww, poor boy, he'll get used to them soon. Especially if turned out next to them, he'll realise they're not so terrifying!
Click to expand...
 
charlie76 said:
I led him up to them and he was fine with that and grazed next to them, took him back in the arena and being a dumb blood couldn't grasp that they were the same thing!
I'm going to put him out next to them for a few days and then he might be OK.
I am so glad I'm not the only one! It's actually reassuring!
Click to expand...

We have sheep which graze in the same fields as our horses with no problems on either side but we have one Appaloosa mare who takes exception to some sheep when out and about. She is particularly wary of the Herdwickes, which are a different colour from ours
 
How random! I moved mine on New Years Day and he was really unsettled for a while. Hes started to settle now and is pretty much back to usual, except there are SHEEP! When I bring him out of the field the gate faces the gate to the sheep field and hes on high alert. grows about 4 hands and periscopes his head right up. WE have to turn our back on them to go onto the yard and he actually quivers and desperately wants to spin round. Doesnt help that they are pet sheep and wander over to stare at him :lol:

Their field also borders the school. He slows right down heading towards them, tip toes passed, then accelerates away. I can laugh as hes a little fat bombproof usually, cob. If he was a big athletic warmblood I think we'd have huge problems so you have my sympathies!
 
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