Horse with a checky attidute and a dead mouth

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EMcC44

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Hi, wondering if anyone can help me my 5 year old thoroughbred cob cross has become a little bit of a night mare but only in one place the outdoor school at my yard he will randomly shoot of really fast pull his head right to the floor to matter how hard I pull and lean back and he will buck and buck until i fall off any ideas? Just a side note he doesn't do this in the indoor hacking or at the outdoor school and the yard down the road, he will just be strong and pull his head.
 
Let me take a guess that he has done most of his work in the outdoor at your yard?

If that's the case he's probably got very bored and has discovered how to get out of working.

If he's strong elsewhere and his mouth is really "dead" then you could consider using a hackamore but be aware that this is not a soft option, if you pull hard and lean back you could cause him serious damage.

I'll trot out my usual, get yourself a good instructor who can watch what is going on and tell you what to do about it before it happens.

Also consider making his work in the outdoor at the yard more fun - you could try some randomly placed trotting poles for him to walk over, walk round, stop on top of, working bending lines between etc. Just make it very varied for him
 
He hasn't done much work in the outdoor cause he has done that since a brought him to the yard last year he even shattered my knee and got one of the girls who works at the yard off. I don't think he is strong enough and dead enough for a hacamore any other ideas? I've tried getting him to do poles and all sorts and he will still just randomly decide that's he's off . Sorry for being a pain but I need to try and get it sorted before he hurts me again or someone else
 
In that case I refer you to my fourth point.

I assume you had his saddle properly fitted and that you have had it checked since it was fitted and that you have also had his teeth checked.
 
Saddle was proffesonailly fitted and check two weeks ago when I got his back looked at his has also had his theeth done twice this year and check a couple of weeks ago
 
That's what I thought but then is that rewarding him for bad behaviour or what about in the summer it would be nice to be able to school oitside
 
Some horses find scary points in the school.

What does he do if you lead him past? Sounds like extreme spooking to me especially if he isn't doing it in other schools.

I would work on leading him past and lunging him down that end too. I would also look at getting an instructor to help you past this issue as they are there on the ground and would be able to see things happening before they do and be able to tell you if there are any signs that you might be missing of him spooking.
 
I have been walking round on the lunge even let him have his dinner down there and he will still try and take off and get away it's just really sudden when he does it he could be walking round on a long rein really relaxed then the next minute he is off
 
If you're in the habit of pulling & leaning back when he drops his head, then stop. Worth considering horses only pull on the reins & get a dead mouth for a reason, & most of the time its the riders hands, or previous riders hands that have caused it. So worth getting a decent instructor to assess you, no point curing the symptom without discovering & curing the cause. To solve the actual habit, I'd just leave his mouth alone completely. Ride on the buckle, he can't pull without something to pull on. In the outdoor just ride with seat & legs, he can't go anywhere. Once the novelty of dropping his head & charging off has worn off, you slowly start picking a contact back up. But like I say, without finding the cause curing one symptom will just result in him developing a different symptom.
 
A hedge row and a tree is at the bottom end of the school, I don't ride him all the time pulling and leaning back its just a last resort I normally try to circle him if he takes off cause he stops quiet quickly I only ever pull and lean back if he is completely out of control and not listening to anything else I normally ride him in a quiet relaxed contact as he prefers it, this is why it is so frustrating lol
 
Is it time related? My horse used to flip after around ten mins schooling and just set his neck and take off with me at speed trying to ditch me :(
We worked through it by only schooling for a few mins and calling the session to an end and taking him for a hack after, before he remembered to be naughty, gradually increasing the time in the school and shortening his hack.
We think he was mentally burnt out, and had learnt a very good way of getting out of working. Now he actually enjoys schooling again and will happily do 45 mins. I always quit while he's still happy and keen, before he gets a chance to get bored and remember his old ways.
 
EMcC44 said:
A hedge row and a tree is at the bottom end of the school, I don't ride him all the time pulling and leaning back its just a last resort I normally try to circle him if he takes off cause he stops quiet quickly I only ever pull and lean back if he is completely out of control and not listening to anything else I normally ride him in a quiet relaxed contact as he prefers it, this is why it is so frustrating lol
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X posted with you.
Have you lunged him at this end? What does he do? I may try this to see how he goes...if its a problem with the hedge have a look in the hedge with him and then continue working until its boring.
 
EMcC44 said:
A hedge row and a tree is at the bottom end of the school,l
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If this is where he's always spooking - I can sympathise. I had a horse who used to do exactly the same (in fact lots of horses spooked at that end because of the bushes etc.).

I just used to ride her back and forth until she got bored.
 
I'm not saying he does it because you always pull. But if he's figured out that when he wants to he can get you involved in a tug of war, imo the best way is not to get involved with it. The instructor recommendation was purely because without seeing it in the flesh, we can't know the actual cause, only suggest ways to solve the symptoms.
 
Mostly there an sometimes at the top end where the lane into the paddock is where there are trees either side of the lane and a walker at the end of it , very spooky paddock for young horses, but there are loads of hound horses about and very fiery competition horses at the yard and none of them have a problem so frustrating
 
EMcC44 said:
Mostly there an sometimes at the top end where the lane into the paddock is where there are trees either side of the lane and a walker at the end of it , very spooky paddock for young horses, but there are loads of hound horses about and very fiery competition horses at the yard and none of them have a problem so frustrating
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What's a hound horse?

Don't be frustrated. Frustrated leads to tension, which leads to a tense and spooky horse.
 
Sorry was meant to be young horses. I would be quiet nevous on him down there because of the accident I had on him because of this but I got a really confident and experienced rider on him and he done the same thing
 
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