Horse that winds himself up at competitions

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WFL

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He decked me 2 weeks ago show jumping when he got so wound up that he exploded and ran off around the arena.

On Friday night, we had a flatwork lesson and he went better than ever. Today we did a dressage test in the same location, with no more than 3 other horses in the warm-up area, and he was like a coiled spring. He was behind the bit, hollow and very tense.

The common factor is obviously that he gets tense at shows, and then it all goes pear-shaped. Going to more shows, he will settle a bit, but it still lurks below the surface. Is the answer some sort of magnesium-based calmer? Any suggestions?

I have to get this fixed as he almost killed me when he exploded on a XC course last September, and he knocked me out cold when he decked me SJ'ing.
 
Can you seriously tire him out before you get on? Either ride or lunge for AGES at home before you leave or once you get there? Only thing I can think of is to tire him out first! Calmers are such a hard product to use as some work for some but not others and some dont work at all!

Personally, I used a herbal D&H one (actual dried herbs) on a horse a few years ago and tried it on my current horse just to see if it did anything and he was a TOTAL donkey the next day! Unbelievable! BUT it didnt work on the horse it was intended for...!
 
we had a show horse which was like this last season we fed him a supplement called steady up which helped enormously

at dublin horse show last year he was a lunatic, and the only thing that helped, was he was ridden two or three times a day and by the time it came to his class he was very very tired, i was worried he wouldnt have much sparkle or perform very well but the adrenaline kept him pumped up and he went foot perfect, he would have been unrideable otherwise, also look at his daily routine, is he too fit? i had to wind this horses fitness down and that calmed him a lot.

hope this helps
 
I would suggest taking him to as many shows as possible and if necessary don't ride him just so that he gets used to the atmosphere, it will also tell you if it the atmosphere or the way you are at shows that might well be different (I know that I am.) If this doesn't help I would try really upping the schooling at home and teach him to go forwards with his nose poking forwards if necessary so that he gets out of the habit of coiling up and so that at a show when you ask him to go into it (kind of like lengthened strides) he moves forward into the contact as it will be less strong at the show. Sorry, I believe in schooling rather than initially heading for the supplements aisle, also tiring a horse out won't help if he's scared it will just make him too tired to so a decent job at the show. PM me if you want any more help
Good Luck
 
I have been trying to school him out of this for 18 months, without success. I get a little tense, but only as a self-preservation response to being on a horse that is bouncing around. He might feed off that, but it is definitely him starting it.

I tried tiring him out last year and thrashed him around the XC around for 45 mins. He was exactly the same.
 
how old is he? i had this problem with joey but he seemed to snap out of it when he turned 6, when he was mental though i used magic calmer,fed about half a handful of chaff for about a week before and lunged him before i put him in the trailer, i would have to get there ages before i was due to go in and walk him round for ages to get him used to it, if i was jumping it would be walk towards a tiny cross pole, trot a stride before then wait for the explosion afterwards! i know how it feels and it makes competition nerves 100 times worse but stick at it.
 
Yeah I have one of those!! I didn't resort to a calmer for about 2 years but I think anything that tilts the balance back in your favour has got to be a good thing and may help to break the vicious circle where you end up winding each other up.
Quite understandably it is stressful for us as riders to put up with this behaviour esp with lots of other people watching and all the other new hazards you get at a show. I think getting out amap is good and doing lots of low key things so you are both calm.
I don't think using a calmer is taking the easy way out. I would try it along with lots of schooling to get him in front of the leg. When mine gets all buzzy and coiled up sending her into medium trot really helps - it gives an outlet for her nervous energy but in a productive way. It is sometimes easy to fall into the trap of not using much leg when they are being lunatics but that only makes it easier for them to whip round, stand up or whatever.
You could also try a calmer for yourself - bach remedy?!
 
Nosey, I also had a loony arab. I dont' think that supplemental calmers are an easy way out just that one should try more schooling first I hope that I didn't come across as too harsh. Drjames has obviously tried to school the horse for a long time and so a calmer might well be worth trying (probably would). I would also try taking the horse to shows but not to be competed, just to have a look. It may be that you are expecting him to misbehave and so he does (very vicious circle) and so this might break the cycle (it's worth a shot). Also I found when I was competing that if I got my horse as ready as possible the day before and acted like it wasn't particularly important how we did on the day the horse was a lot calmer, though you would have to really believe it yourself before your horse will believe it
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, (he may be being scared by the pressure that you may be inadvertantly giving out.
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). Hope this helps, also try as many calmers as you can (one at a time) and try to find one that helps. Good luck
 
My strategy would be:

Cut all hard food, unless he is a hat rack.

Take him show jumping repeatedly. Every time he misbehaves go back and stand at lorry and trailer.

Try and make sure each outing is at least 3-4 hours of standing around (should be easy at most SJ centres). Should be really boring and cut out any interesting activities like XC or hunting.

Mine don't sweat up and immediately go to sleep on arrival at SJ!
 
Thanks everyone. I will start to use some of these ideas.

I took him back to the same location to do P10 the day after. It was dark, horizontal gusting rain, 2 jump wings blew down next to us, and he STILL went better than in the clear skies and sunshine the day before.

I am considering buying a big tub of Magic Calmer...and whacking him with it if he plays up again!
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