Horse struggling with show atmosphere?

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littlen

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Is there a magic cure for a horse who seems to blow a fuse away from home or is it a case of just attempting to persevere?

Everything is terrifying from the smallest of clinics, inhand, dressage etc. She sweats, spooks and broncs her way through the whole thing until it’s time to load for home.

Inhand is better but she does not seem to show herself well and so rarely gets placed. She is so nervous I think this effects us as she’s not striding out or relaxed enough. We have not really attempted ridden showing although dressage comments are tense tense tense.

We’ve done lessons away from home but again these are terrifying.

How many outings did it take for yours to calm down and get the idea?
 
My Welsh has found coping with strange environments very challenging . She goes into herself rather than exploding...
She's about 3 years in and is now starting to feel happy and more confident.
We are out and about at least fortnightly (often weekly), I take her out to hired arenas and lessons in different places as much as possible as well as shows, and it really has paid off. But it has taken a lot of effort, these anxious types can take a long time to get the hang of it.
 
littlen said:
Is there a magic cure for a horse who seems to blow a fuse away from home or is it a case of just attempting to persevere?

Everything is terrifying from the smallest of clinics, inhand, dressage etc. She sweats, spooks and broncs her way through the whole thing until it’s time to load for home.

Inhand is better but she does not seem to show herself well and so rarely gets placed. She is so nervous I think this effects us as she’s not striding out or relaxed enough. We have not really attempted ridden showing although dressage comments are tense tense tense.

We’ve done lessons away from home but again these are terrifying.

How many outings did it take for yours to calm down and get the idea?
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So many posts recently on spooky, terrified horses. I was really beginning to feel mine is the only queen of spooks and terrified of anything new to the points of her raising from 16.1hh to 18 hh when she is looking at things due to high head carriage. Jumping at things running to the door when she hears anything strange.
 
milliepops said:
My Welsh has found coping with strange environments very challenging . She goes into herself rather than exploding...
She's about 3 years in and is now starting to feel happy and more confident.
We are out and about at least fortnightly (often weekly), I take her out to hired arenas and lessons in different places as much as possible as well as shows, and it really has paid off. But it has taken a lot of effort, these anxious types can take a long time to get the hang of it.
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I want to take my girl out more but we are down in horses in the yard and need someone else in the lorry to keep an eye on her while driving. We are however aiming for a SPR in April, but this mare is so much more challenging than any other because of her age and that she has not been started that well and behind in schooling and experiences.

She also jumps you out the saddle 2ft jump clearing it by 3ft (no joke) and ducked sideways and I came off last year.
 
keep going. my boy has been extremely tricky over the years and I just keep taking him out. at 20 he is now generally ok to take out but he goes out on average once or twice a week. you just have to be patient and quiet. they do get there but it can feel like it takes for ever
 
Of course there is no magic cure! These are horses not robots.

Your magic cure is work, de-sensitization and more work. Stop taking her out to compete - that pressures both of you. Get permission from the secretary to just bring her without competing. Walk her around - take her home. Get her out as often as you can - 2 or 3 ties a week if you can make it. No pressure. Just go see.. walk about. Come home. Then add show prep. Get groomed, get plaited. come home. Take it really slowly.

It sounds like she has got stressed already so this is going to take you a lot longer than it would otherwise. But you need to go back to basics. Your nerves and anxiety when it comes to "show day" is a real part of this so take the opportunity to chill. Plan no not competing this year - although go out several times a week anyway. Get her settled and focused on you. She'll come out next year massively better for the time taken for her.
 
Pop some earplugs in before you even status doing anything in the morning, keep them in and see how you get on. Sometimes dulling the noise helps. I wouldn't go for full noise cancelling ones as it can be quite disconcerting having your hearing taken away completely. Buy dulling it can certainly help. Along with lots of work.
 
Thanks everyone.

She is a very nervous sort at home. She works beautifully at home, lives mostly out in a small group but does not cope well with change. New horses unsettle her for weeks as does a change of routine or even something as simple as moving to the field next door. If she’s not been ridden in a week she basically goes feral and we start the whole process again.

She’s 6, was lightly backed at 3 and then again and 4 and turned away and then started ‘proper’ work at 5. She has not been pushed and did about 5-6 outings last year all to tiny places. I don’t have transport at the moment so getting out is tough and I have mainly gone to small dressage events at little venues nothing. The other issue is that I’m mainly by myself and I struggle to tack her up and load/unload by myself as she’s such a silly creature. I need a second pair of hands but don’t have them :(

I bought her to show but she does bits of everything. We have mainly hacked since she was backed with lessons inbetween. She is good hacking in company but is on her toes alone.It’s such a shame as she could be a lovely pony if she would just settle into her work. We have plenty of time but I’m just not sure the best way to go about it!

We have lessons twice a month with lots of working on things but it’s very slow going. I have no idea how people have these amazing looking 4yos in a consistent outline as mine looks like a typical rushing head in the air panicky baby!

I am nervous taking her places as I know she has a tendency to explode, maybe I’m the one that needs to calm down :)
 
Rescue remedy for you? Also - are you able to get someone to come and help a little with your ground work? She needs to trust you and groundwork can help with both your confidence. Not the one beginning with P - a good intelligent horsemanship or natural horsemanship instructor?
 
littlen said:
Thanks everyone.

She is a very nervous sort at home....

...I struggle to tack her up and load/unload by myself as she’s such a silly creature.

.... She is good hacking in company but is on her toes alone..

I have no idea how people have these amazing looking 4yos in a consistent outline as mine looks like a typical rushing head in the air panicky baby!

I am nervous taking her places as I know she has a tendency to explode, maybe I’m the one that needs to calm down :)
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I think the key to the issue is in the extracts above. Until she finds peace in her home environment then she will not find peace at a show.

The 4 year olds you speak of have gained peace at home. It is no good rushing around with head in the air. Once a horse has the basics of being able to be mounted and walk where necessary on a loose contact then she needs to be educated as to how to find peace ridden. Peace to me means finding the release from contact.

Your horse never finds that place of peace, so needs taking back. I would start from on the floor, even in a halter, and teach her to yeild to pressure. Start with a step back, using a whip to tickle, and a light pressure on the halter. Once she steps back from the light tapping (give her time to work it out) then I would use the light pressure on the halter first, then the tap, until she learns to step back from the light pressue alone.

I would then swap the halter for a bit, once she is consistent, and use the same procedure, until she steps back from a light pressure on the bit alone.

Next is the exciting bit, I would continue with asking util she relaxes the jaw, and then take the pressure away. She should soon learn the relax the jaw and step back from a light pressure on the bit.

Once this is all good then mount up and do it again, until when mounted she will relax the jaw on taking up of the pressure. Then do the same at walk. She will soon learn the response to rein pressure is to relax the jaw.

I would stay in walk until she is consistent. Then I would go to trot, but only few steps at a time, as in go into trot, take the pressure and if she relaxes release and walk.

Trotting round with her rushing and tense is not going to make her relaxed at home or at a show.

The fact that she is good to hack in company but not alone is also indicative that she is not finding peace with you, instead taking comfort from her mate.

Finally I think you are right to be nervous of taking her places as she has the tendency to explode. I believe the tendency to explode will decrease once she has found peace in her work with you, so she can relax.
 
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Red-1 said:
Finally I think you are right to be nervous of taking her places as she has the tendency to explode. I believe the tendency to explode will decrease once she has found peace in her work with you, so she can relax.
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Good post from Red-1, definitely agree with a lot of that - the only thing I would question is the phrase above ^^

You possibly don't mean it the way it came across to me - I would not say the OP is right to be *nervous*. I think the OP should be *cautious*, that is different. The problem with being nervous is that even when the horse has settled at home and is ready to go out and try her work in a different place, it's very easy to remain in that nervous frame of mind which won't help this anxious horse.

I'm cautious with my new one, she is explosive BUT if I ride nervously I can't get her attention back as quickly as I need to to prevent the explosions. So I need to be authoritative to her, but consider the situations I put her in at this point. We are getting out to quiet arenas and doing the work she's familiar with at the moment, while she learns to just get on with it. If it looks like something is going to tip her over the edge then we step back until she's ready to carry on again.
 
milliepops said:
Good post from Red-1, definitely agree with a lot of that - the only thing I would question is the phrase above ^^

You possibly don't mean it the way it came across to me - I would not say the OP is right to be *nervous*. I think the OP should be *cautious*, that is different. The problem with being nervous is that even when the horse has settled at home and is ready to go out and try her work in a different place, it's very easy to remain in that nervous frame of mind which won't help this anxious horse.

I'm cautious with my new one, she is explosive BUT if I ride nervously I can't get her attention back as quickly as I need to to prevent the explosions. So I need to be authoritative to her, but consider the situations I put her in at this point. We are getting out to quiet arenas and doing the work she's familiar with at the moment, while she learns to just get on with it. If it looks like something is going to tip her over the edge then we step back until she's ready to carry on again.
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Although I agree in principal that there is a difference between being nervous and cautions, the way i see it is that if you don't know what is wrong then you are right to be nervous. Cautious implies, to me, that you have some indication as to what the problem is and can therefore be cautious to proceed with the correct action.

I have helped ton of nervous clients, and the way we move from nervous to cautious is by helping them to understand the problem and then put into place a plan, which we can then be cautious when implementing.

If you have no idea when or why explosive behaviour is occurring the only way to be cautious is to avoid any situation where the behaviour is occurring. OP has not known why the behaviour is occurring, but has gone anyway, and therefore, without the idea of what is causing it or how to avoid it, is right to be nervous.

Being nervous is a self defence mechanism to keep us from danger, after all.
 
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Thank you everyone.

Interestingly she can and sometimes does give me some lovely work st home. However it depends on what sort of mood she’s in, she’s very much jeckle and Hyde although she has improved so much over the past 6 months to the point she’s like a different pony. It’s just this last bit to crack.

I can handle her much better now, she used to walk allover me however comes to call and is happy to be handled and moved around now. She does hack very well in company and is happy in front leading the ride, she will go out alone but is not happy if she sees a horse hence I don’t hack her alone as I think if I met a horse it would be a disaster, nothing else bothers her.

I will try the relax the jaw idea thanks red.

I am nervous taking her out I suppose! Last time she was relaxed and calm until a horse cantered near her and she basically exploded, I think she had managed to contain it for a time and this was the thing that tipped her over the edge!

I really am feeling the pressure to crack on with her given her age however I know she’s not the sort of pony that can be rushed so I’m sort of wanting to get on but unable to if that makes sense?
 
I think with some its just repetition and perseverance, make going out a normal and regular thing.

I had a welsh x TB who was an absolute horror at new venues. The only time I've been properly bolted with was on this horse, two hours after arriving at a showground, i finally got on as he had seemingly chilled out and we walked up the showground towards the warm up, with my dad on foot beside us, and the horse spun and bolted.

What cured him really was going lame and needing about 12 trips to hospital over a 4 month period. By the end of this he was perfect to take out! The first few times at the hospital, however, he was a total nightmare.
 
I have an unpredictable Welsh mare. I can absolutely guarantee that if I'm nervous and riding so, she will be a horror !! If i am not nervous she's usually fine. If I'm nervous, I'm signalling to her that there is something to be nervous of and she literally looks for the supposed problem and acts up. In the end I saw a sports psychologist to help me control my negative thoughts. It worked a treat !
 
Ear plugs, lined fly hats, calmers etc... They're not a cure but they can help to break the repetitive cycle.

I used to do a double warm up with Fig - get him off the lorry well in advance, stretch for 10-20 mins. Back on lorry for 10-20 etc. Then get him out for his actual warm up.

With a young horse always worth keeping on top of teeth back saddle etc. They change so quickly.
 
Try to control your breathing, that way you control your heart rate. The faster your heart is beating (you might not even notice it), the more nervous your horse becomes. Horses can sense/feel a humans heart beat and will think something is about to happen if you are nervous. Start with controlling your breathing, 4 seconds to breathe in, 4 seconds for breathing out. You can make it 3 seconds if 4 is stretching it a bit. As soon as you're feeling nervous, try this for at least 30 seconds. If you are calm, your horse will have less tendency to become nervous.
 
Have you done many group lessons? They tend to be useful for young horses as they give exposure to new venues and worKing in groups with more control than some warm ups and less pressure than competing for the rider.
 
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