Horse not going forward - long

[Sol]

Considering that I'm supposed to be having a go at a Novice test on monday, my instructor thought we should use todays lesson to see how Danny's medium paces were.
The answer being: They don't exist.

He seems to have lost the will to go forwards with any enthusiasm. I put my leg on him now and he barely reacts. I can put my leg on him now and he just doesn't do anything - I can feel the fact that he's aware I -have- put my leg on him, but only just.
In walk it's like he's a snail. Trot he'll go round nicely, but you can tell he just isn't powering from behind like he should, no matter what I do. Canter is just appalling - he struggles with it anyway and because he wont go forward off my leg, I can't do anything with it because well, there's nothing there to work with! If I try to balance him in any way, he just gives up :/

The thing is, he's been working more nicer in a lot of senses recently - he's just not the horse he was over the summer. He used to be ridiculously sharp, always keen to jump off the leg. Now I feel like I could take him to an open field and kick like crazy and he'd go nowhere!

Kind of a huge problem as I just hate riding lazy horses....

The other thing that I think may be related is that both me and my instructor have noticed that he never really 'holds' the bit. He either backs off it - not by going overbent, just not really allowing you to take a contact and more shortening his whole neck - or pulls on it and becomes really really heavy in the hand. Which also doesn't help as it means I always feel like I either don't have enough contact, or I'm pulling!

He's currently in a full cheek snaffle with a lozenge & a flash noseband - neither part of the noseband done up too tight. (and no, he doesn't like drop nosebands...)
Oh, and the dentist saw him & did his teeth the other week, hasn't changed anything :/

He's also spending most of the time in at the moment with a few hours turn-out each day as the fields are awful which I know isn't brilliant. He's getting good quality hay though, and 2 feeds a day (Calm & conditioner & some competition mix feed that I forgot the name of with chaff & glucosamine) and is worked most days, so is quite fit but not as fit as I'd like him to be

I'm just at a loss. I have no idea why he's gone like this as it's like someone's replaced my horse with a newer, lazier one!

Help??

You can have whatever you want if you got through that!

 

[Sol]

Also, can drag up photos/videos whatever if someone can begin to help! :/

 

[Lollii]

Could he be a bit fed up ... do you hack or hunt him? do you think he could do with a blast with some friends? this usually cheers them up no end

 

[toomanyhorses26]

My tb became very lazy and reluctant in the school and similar to yours always struggled in the canter . We had a complete break from schooling for a month and just did lots of fun stuff - hacking,out in the fields etc which seemed to help no end. I added a little bit of barley to his feed which again just seemed to add a bit of sparkle . When we went back to the school my instructor had us do alot of work in the canter with me up and off his back and every time he dropped off my legs he got legs,voice,whip and reins on either side of the neck (not all at the same time

) but to almost shock him into going forwards. He will now take canter with a mere squeeze and also as a side line will take the correct lead each time where as before he would always favour the right lead.

 

[Sol]

I wouldn't dare take him out hunting personally! As well as having 4 left feet, he tends to go a little nutty if he can't be out at the front - and that's with only 2 other horses!

(he thought he could be a lipizzaner that day

)
May have to take him hacking with a few others though

May give him something to think about! Will see who we can find to drag along tomorrow...

 

[Sol]

That's an idea. I think it may be a lot to do with the fact that most nights we can only school on the flat now due to darkness/time and he probably is quite bored :/ I finish school next friday though so will try varying his work more (can hack out more then which will be good!) and jump etc. so will see if that helps....
heheh, shock treatment could be good

Fingers crossed he perks up soon, it's making me feel bad!

Thanks!

 

[only_me]

Sounds as though your horse is bored/depressed/got s.a.d!

Do you school your horse everyday?

My horse hates being schooled in an arena but is happy to school everywhere else

So i try to vary his work with a lot of hacking/jumping/schooling in different places so he dosent get bored!

Try varying his work and he should perk up, maybe dont school at all the week before your dressage and see how that goes

 

[ofcourseyoucan]

if he is 'flat' in himself, and is normally more perky and more off the leg it might be worth running his blood to check he is not aneamic or got a virus!! if bloods come back normal up his feed (more mix, oats, barley ...) and maybe some liquid blood or redcell (this always perks mine up) and try to some jollys over the holidays

 

[Sol]

Thanks everyone

Like I said before, break up from school on the 18th and just thought that I might also see if my Dad can run us to a farm ride or something next weekend if any are open before he sells the box! Will also become a happy hacker/showjumper for a fortnight! Sure he'll love that (he adores his jumping anyway I must admit!)

Vet's coming out soon anyway to microchip him & give him a check over generally, so will also speak to him about it when he comes like you suggested ofcourseyoucan

Might also go and buy him some new stable toys.... though he killed his feed ball :/ (chewed the top part so the lid wont go on now!) as we can't have him bored in his stable!

 

[AGAGE]

My old boy became really lazy over the summer, in a sililar way to what you describe. I found the best thing was to do lots of transitions from walk to trot, literally every couple of strides. This seemed to perk him up no end to the point that I only had to move my leg slightly and he would trot. I also cantered him in a forward seat for a few laps of the school and asked him to lengthen along the long side and then did lots of walk, trot canter transitions. He seemed much more forward thinking then.

I gave up on trying to get him working 'round' until he was forward, working from behind and into the bridle; as I had nothing to work with, as he was either leaning on my contact or there was nothing there at all. Once he was forward I found he started to work rounded once I asked him to collect.

Also found verbal encouragement helped- not aggressive shouting but higher pitched 'excited' tone of voice worked, especially with canter, as he clearly new this word.

Good luck!

 

[hannahealasaid]

Yep, I do walk to canter, canter walk lots to get my boy excited.

He getting enough slow release energy from his feed?
What about trying lunging with side reins so he has a consistant contact and you han send him forward without having to kick?

 

[Adina]

Sol - I hate to be negative but this sounds so like my boy in the summer. It turned out to be advanced spavins in both hocks. So do get your Vet to look at him.
On the good side - I cantered him last weekend for the first time since the steroid injections. Wow - he has never had a canter that good before. Now looking forward to competing in the spring.

 

[Sol]

*tries not to go OTT on the worried side*
Probably wont be able to get the vet out immediately (parents still pretty much control that side of things as I've got no money!) but will keep a careful eye on him. He still goes nuts in the field and never seems stiff or sore but will definitely get the vet to give him a good going over when he comes out!

In the mean time, we'll see if we can coax some enthusiasm out of him... hmm...