Horse not settling in indoor school!

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Deltic Blue

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I have a bit of a what would you do situation for you.

I've had my mare about 6 months now, she's 5 years old, fairly opinionated, easily distracted and can be quite a stress head!
When I tried her back in summer, in an outdoor school, she was very relaxed, not stressy at all, which is why I bought her as I didn't want anything that young ideally.

Now the school at my yard is an indoor, we have no other options, just the indoor. And I go in there about 3 days a week in the winter. I thought at the beginning she was just unsettled because of the move and being so young. But 6 months down the line, she is no different, and it's becoming increasingly harder to get her to settle and school nicely in there. She will rush, she gets very strong and leans on my hands because of the rushing. She head shakes relentlessly when I let her have her head, which she didn't really do much when I tried her, just the odd few tired/babyish head shakes, and she won't relax and stretch when we're done, she just carries on marching round the school.

I took her out last weekend to a yard up the road with an outdoor school, as I've just recently got transport so I wanted to get her out and about. I wasn't expecting much as she is so easily distracted and this yard has their fields on one side of the school, so the horses are quite close. After a couple of excited bucks at the beginning (which she doesn't normally do at home!) she settled and worked the best I've had from her in months!!
There was no rushing, no bouncing on the spot, no threats to rear, the head shaking only came about when she was cooling down, and only 1 or 2 shakes. She relaxed and stretched her neck down and just calmly ambled round the school. She was just a nice pleasant horse, back to the behaviour she showed when I initially tried her.

Now is my predicament, as I really like my current yard! Everything else works so well for her. She can live out in winter, which she prefers as she is quite stressy in the stable, also it works nicely for me as it means I only go up once a day. The hacking is very good, and I generally like it as a yard and I'm settled. However she isn't!

If I moved, I would have to accept that she'll have to come in again overnight in winter, which I think she would settle down into once in a routine and as long as she could see others I can image she'd settle nicely.

What would you do if you were in my situation? Carry on trying to settle her in the indoor even though it's been 6 months and no real progress, or look at moving to a yard with an outdoor school? And then I can actually crack on and continue with her education, rather than fight her every ride.
 
I think the next thing to do is to take her out a couple more times and see if her behaviour is consistently improved in the outdoor, it may have been a one off and moving may not help once she is living there, I would also see if she improves at home after being so much better away, it may help break the pattern and get her listening to you, most horses would be expected to settle indoors more than outside as they have no distractions but it could be a form of separation anxiety where she feels isolated by being inside especially if she is normally living out in company 24/7 so the only time she is apart from her friends is when she works.

I think I would also consider keeping her in for at least a few hours each day, build it up gradually if you can so she learns to accept being in, she will have to if you move so starting before you make a decision may make that easier but may also help with the schooling, she may be a stressy mare but she needs to learn that it is not going to get her anywhere, that said I have a mare here at livery that is totally different to the stressy, nappy mare that I first met when she was kept elsewhere, she settled immediately, is no longer clingy despite being out with just one other and is coming along nicely so moving can make a huge difference, sometimes they just need to live somewhere different for it all to fall into place.
 
she sounds slightly claustraphoibic maybe? is she only there when she is being worked, could she go into the arena to be fed, loose schooled or have fun?
 
When you are in the indoor school are you alone/can she see other horses? Mine used to be like this when we schooled alone, and she was much happier with other horses in there. She's now been on the yard 4 years and we can go in alone with the same attitude as when there are other horses, but it took that long! The secret with mine is to give her a lot to think about. She gradually relaxes.
 
My mare was the same when I moved her to a new yard with an indoor arena, her behavior (riding wise) was the same as you describe your mares. Turns out, however, it was actually the yard she disliked and once moved was back to her normal self, in all aspects, including being fine in an indoor arena.
 
What do you do with her in the school? Are you allowed to loose school her? Do you lunge and do trotting poles, try and keep her mind busy? What is she like in with other horses? Do you have lessons with an instructor? Do you hack out as well as ride in the indoor?

Sorry for the questions but for me, a horse should be able to be ridden indoors and outdoors so I would be trying to get to the bottom of why she is so unsettled in an indoor arena. Are there any other indoor arena's in your area you could hire? It would be interesting to see if you was fine in other arena's or if it is just in that paticular one!

Also ride her in the outdoor a few more times, she could be behaving just because its a new place.
 
She's been loose schooled in there and lunged. Loose schooling she will canter round and round until she's worked up into a dripping sweaty mess if I don't stop her!
She will settle eventually, but that's once she's tired when loose schooling.

Lunging is fairly similar to loose schooling, sometimes she'll listen, others she'll just bomb round and round without paying any attention to me.

When riding, she is worse with other horses in there, she does not concentrate at all, she gets distracted by the other horse, unless it's one she's familiar with, ie her field mate, and even then she will take a while to settle down, again once she's tired she'll settle down, which could take a good 30 mins of fighting with her before she's at that point.
She's quite insecure when being ridden and can kick out if anything gets too close to her in there.

We're going out again to the outdoor school for a clinic tomorrow morning, so I'll see how she behaves then. And I'm planning on taking her to a different venue with an outdoor school soon as well, so I can see how she reacts in another environment.

I'd love to have the horse back that I tried and it was so nice riding her last weekend as she was so settled in the outdoor school, and I actually enjoyed riding her rather than the usual fight to school her.

ETA: She hacks 3 days a week and is generally fine out on a hack. In the school she does a variety of schooling, lunging, loose schooling, jumping (loose and ridden), trot poles, everything really!
I haven't started lessons yet, but I will be after this weekend, as the clinic I'm going to tomorrow is with the instructor I hopefully want to use if we both get on with her way of teaching.
 
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Deltic Blue said:
I have a bit of a what would you do situation for you.

I've had my mare about 6 months now, she's 5 years old, fairly opinionated, easily distracted and can be quite a stress head!
When I tried her back in summer, in an outdoor school, she was very relaxed, not stressy at all, which is why I bought her as I didn't want anything that young ideally.

Now the school at my yard is an indoor, we have no other options, just the indoor. And I go in there about 3 days a week in the winter. I thought at the beginning she was just unsettled because of the move and being so young. But 6 months down the line, she is no different, and it's becoming increasingly harder to get her to settle and school nicely in there. She will rush, she gets very strong and leans on my hands because of the rushing. She head shakes relentlessly when I let her have her head, which she didn't really do much when I tried her, just the odd few tired/babyish head shakes, and she won't relax and stretch when we're done, she just carries on marching round the school.

I took her out last weekend to a yard up the road with an outdoor school, as I've just recently got transport so I wanted to get her out and about. I wasn't expecting much as she is so easily distracted and this yard has their fields on one side of the school, so the horses are quite close. After a couple of excited bucks at the beginning (which she doesn't normally do at home!) she settled and worked the best I've had from her in months!!
There was no rushing, no bouncing on the spot, no threats to rear, the head shaking only came about when she was cooling down, and only 1 or 2 shakes. She relaxed and stretched her neck down and just calmly ambled round the school. She was just a nice pleasant horse, back to the behaviour she showed when I initially tried her.

Now is my predicament, as I really like my current yard! Everything else works so well for her. She can live out in winter, which she prefers as she is quite stressy in the stable, also it works nicely for me as it means I only go up once a day. The hacking is very good, and I generally like it as a yard and I'm settled. However she isn't!

If I moved, I would have to accept that she'll have to come in again overnight in winter, which I think she would settle down into once in a routine and as long as she could see others I can image she'd settle nicely.

What would you do if you were in my situation? Carry on trying to settle her in the indoor even though it's been 6 months and no real progress, or look at moving to a yard with an outdoor school? And then I can actually crack on and continue with her education, rather than fight her every ride.
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You could be talking about my mare who I had nearly 6 months and also stressy and spooks at any noise or distraction. I am lunging her twice a week now in there and getting her used to it, maybe forget riding and just lunge like I am till she is so used to it and wont be distracted.
 
Cortez said:
Can you turn her out in the indoor overnight?
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I don't think my yard owner would agree to that, especially not on her own.
She isn't spooky at all in there, she just will not settle easily and gets herself very wound up. She's easily distracted and if she hears a noise but can't see it, she worries more.
 
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Damnation said:
Sorry for the questions but for me, a horse should be able to be ridden indoors and outdoors so I would be trying to get to the bottom of why she is so unsettled in an indoor arena. Are there any other indoor arena's in your area you could hire? .
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Agree. If you want to use her for competitions in the future you need to nip this in the bud, and get her used to indoor schools. Maybe for a few times you can make the experience of being in the indoor school pleasurable by feeding her, her tea in there. Or maybe doing other things like Damnation suggests, like loose school or loose jump her which might be nicer for her than consistently schooling her.

Maybe she finds schooling boring, or maybe the surface is deeper in the indoor as she is finding the work tiring, deep sand surface tires out young horses quickly wheras the outdoor surfaces are maybe a different type of surface and she finds it easier to work?? Just an idea.

Do you think maybe you might be anticipating a problem when you go in the school, so maybe are riding her a bit defensively and compounding the problem, ie. by being tense and 'hanging on to her mouth'. I am not suggesting you are doing this as I don't know you but just a thought.

We have a new filler which has been hung on the fence on the side of the school. On Tuesday I took my horse in the school to ride and spent the whole 25 mins of our session trotting past the thing without him shying at his shadow on it on both reins. I lost my temper with him and smacked him with my schooling whip (only once and not that hard but I hardly ever shout at my horse or smack him so he was upset) This resulted in his head shooting up so I had a brilliant view from the saddle of his blaze on his face! He got so tense he started running off with me, and of course I hung on to his mouth. Then I decided I would let go of the contact and he could do what he damn well pleased. When he realised I wasn't going to fight against him he relaxed and was visibly calmer and finished on some lovely trot work past the filler. The following day his reaction was one of calmness going past the filler.
 
Dust?. Would explain the effect of indoor vs outdoor, why she stays stressed, why its worse with other horses schooling AND the head tossing on a long rein (closer to the ground)
Try a nose net?
 
Do you know what her history is? Could she have had a bad experience in an indoor school? Although I agree that if you have been trying for months there should have been improvement by now.

No extra suggestions, I'm afraid. What is she like if there is another horse in the centre or a corner?
 
What is the surface like in the indoor compared with the outdoor schools you have used with her?

The surface may be deeper in the indoor and she is finding the work tiring, deep sand surface tires out young horses quickly wheras the outdoor surfaces are maybe a different type of surface and she finds it easier to work??
 
What's the surface like is it just sand and but dusty or is a waxed arena? I think if it's not a dust thing it's time for some lessons.
 
Allergic reaction to dust which causes the head shaking was my first thought.

There certainly are horses that are claustophobic in indoor schools but I would have expected to see an improvement in 6 months and it doesn't explain the head shaking.

I'd experiment with other outdoor schools to check the effect can be replicated and then talk to a vet about the head shaking.
 
Are there any other horses in the yard that have changed there attitude in the school.
Its a bit of a long shot but some horses react badly to the buzzing of the electrical ballast in the lights particularly if one is starting to go wrong. You most likely would not hear it yourself but horses will .I have one horse here that even if you blow a raspberry in the field will go round throwing his head around and they all react to different sounds
 
As far as I'm aware none of the other horses have an issue in there.
I spoke with the instructor I will be using after the clinic on Saturday and she suggested a nose net as she thinks our school is very dusty, so I'll try that tonight and see if it makes a difference.
Also trying to school her with the doors open so she doesn't feel so enclosed, as it is very enclosed and shut in when the doors are closed.
She's going to come out and give me a lesson at my yard so she can see the difference, as again she was very chilled out and settled in the outdoor on Saturday, almost lazy at times!
 
No advice to offer in terms of the indoor issue specifically but she sounds like a very stressy horse overall, and that she struggles to focus. Would it be worth giving her some magnesium to improve her focus and maybe calm her a bit? I found this did the world of good with my stressy mare.
 
She's on a calmer already, she was previously on magnesium, it didn't really have much of an effect on her. She's currently on Global Herbs Supercalm, which works in most other aspects, just not the school.
I decided to loose school her in the end today. After about 15 mins of cantering around, she did settle down and walked around. Bare in mind, I just let her go at the beginning, and went to sit on the mounting block.
The surface is deep and dusty, which explains the headshaking.
I think I'll try with her for another month or so, and if there's no improvement, I'll probably end up looking for a new yard as I really enjoyed riding her on Saturday in the outdoor school. She was relaxed, settled and happy, a joy to ride and not the stressed wound up horse she is in the indoor school at home.
 
The horse in my avatar hated being indoors. He was an ok traveller, but it used to worry him. We don't stable here, but the odd time I had him in a box, he never relaxed - his sire used to colic if stabled.

I had him in an indoor school quite a lot and he hated it. Outside he was a happy camper, indoors he was spooky and stressed. He just wasn't happy inside.

I have a mare by the same stallion and while I have never had her in a box or an indoor she is a worse traveller. I joke that they are all claustrophobic, but I don't think I am too far wrong.
 
NZJenny said:
The horse in my avatar hated being indoors. He was an ok traveller, but it used to worry him. We don't stable here, but the odd time I had him in a box, he never relaxed - his sire used to colic if stabled.

I had him in an indoor school quite a lot and he hated it. Outside he was a happy camper, indoors he was spooky and stressed. He just wasn't happy inside.

I have a mare by the same stallion and while I have never had her in a box or an indoor she is a worse traveller. I joke that they are all claustrophobic, but I don't think I am too far wrong.
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Sounds very similar to my mare! She doesn't like being in the stable either! I'm not sure weather that is her particular stable, as she can't really see much in her one. She lives out at the moment, which I'm very grateful for as she won't settle that well in the stable. She had to be on box rest for a week and she was ok, but still not settled, even with company.

She doesn't have any issues with travelling, loads and travels fine in my little Renault Master.
Again, unsure if it is the yard, but she was very content and happy in her stable at the yard I tried her at, similar to the school issue.
 
Deltic Blue said:
The surface is deep and dusty, which explains the headshaking. .
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It may also explain the stressed wound up horse you describe. She is probably finding the work tiring, try running through deep sand yourself and you will understand what I mean. The surface could have an impact on her way of going, and could be tiring her muscles causing them to ache. This could be why she is different indoors on a totally different surface to an outdoor one which is probably regularly maintained and kept wet due to the rain, so is therefore firmer. Her way of protesting is to act the way she is acting.

I can guarantee you she is not just 'being naughty'. There is always a reason. Some answers are just harder to find than others.

Good luck, hope you find the answer! :)
 
Deltic Blue said:
She's on a calmer already, she was previously on magnesium, it didn't really have much of an effect on her. She's currently on Global Herbs Supercalm, which works in most other aspects, just not the school.
I decided to loose school her in the end today. After about 15 mins of cantering around, she did settle down and walked around. Bare in mind, I just let her go at the beginning, and went to sit on the mounting block.
The surface is deep and dusty, which explains the headshaking.
I think I'll try with her for another month or so, and if there's no improvement, I'll probably end up looking for a new yard as I really enjoyed riding her on Saturday in the outdoor school. She was relaxed, settled and happy, a joy to ride and not the stressed wound up horse she is in the indoor school at home.
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How good is the lighting in the school ? my friend had a horse like yours he hated the indoor but worked well outside ,the yard indoor was quite dimly lit ,it was the change of light the horse disliked his owner and vet understood this when he was diagnosed with a cyst in one eye he was only partially sighted . Have you ever had your horses eyes checked,? maybe worth doing if you continue to have a problem.
 
The lighting isn't brilliant to be honest. One end of the school the lights turn on and off quite often. She's not really a spooky horse, so I wouldn't say that is a problem. She was vetted when I bought her 7 months ago and had no issues with her eyes.
I'm off work now until the new year, so my plan is to hack as much as possible since I have the daylight. Give her a break from the school, and try once a week in the school to see if she's any better in the daylight when it's less enclosed and more airy!
 
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