Is it the winter?

[MouseInLux]

My daughter fell off of her pony yesterday while out in the woods. We did our normal loop and our normal canter up a hill. This time he took off and refused to stop. Normally we always stop at the top and they do so without a fight. Daughter was great and turned him where it was safe and got him to stop just for a second before he threw himself the other way and hightailed it back home.

he has done the take off thing once before with his last half lease but she was bigger and got him under control in time. This was also in the cooler months. Could this be the reason? Could it be that I was on his field mate instead of the horse I’ve been riding all summer?
Generally he goes in a loose ring snaffle but in the woods we switch it out to a 2 ring gag. For a bit more control. Normally this works for him without issue. I want to try to recreate The situation with me on him but my mare is a bit special out in the woods and my hacking buddy is recovering from a badly broken collar bone so I don’t want to put her on such a spunky horse...

 

[Parrotperson]

is he clipped? Cos that can make them fresh. Or have you upped his food? Could be a number of reasons, saddle not fitting correctly anymore, teeth need rasping, down to something more serious like ulcers.

 

[Cob Life]

Even my steady cob gets a bit dizzy when he goes on hard feed and comes into the stables, so either of these is a possibility, or is he on haylage or this years hay?

if there hasn’t been any changes to routine, feed etc and he does it again I’d be getting back/saddle checked

 

[L&M]

Ours are both sharp atm, a combination of new winter routine and the fact that the grass is still quite good.

How much turnout is he getting - could he get more?

Is it possible for him to have increased excercise to burn off any extra energy? When my lad was a youngster he was a monster in the winter so lunged or loose schooled daily to keep the lid on him!!!

What is he being fed? I would cut out all hard food and feed hay over haylage if possible.

But yes, the cooler seasons can certainly cause more issues than the summer......hope you can find a safe way forward.

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

Do you always canter in the same place? If so, don't!

 

[Bonnie Allie]

It could be anything.

How much work has he had? How often does he get worked? How competent is your daughter at dealing with challenges the pony gives her? What is his level of education? If he is in a stronger bit, did she release when he stopped? Or did she remain on his mouth to which he created his own release by dumping her.

Or did he spook at something, she came off and his flight response kicked in and he motored off home to safety?

 

[MouseInLux]

It could be anything.

How much work has he had? How often does he get worked? How competent is your daughter at dealing with challenges the pony gives her? What is his level of education? If he is in a stronger bit, did she release when he stopped? Or did she remain on his mouth to which he created his own release by dumping her.

Or did he spook at something, she came off and his flight response kicked in and he motored off home to safety?

She didn’t have time to release, she turned him, he went with her and then it was like he realized that was the wrong way for home and made a 180 on his hind legs. Kid fell the way she turned. From what I saw she did everything right. The pony is the pony at our barn that you could throw anyone on and he’ll pack them around in the ring. In the woods he’s a bit more spunky but my daughter worked out most of the kinds during quarantine when we hacked out more than once a week ??. But stopping with these two instances (both in cold weather) has never been an issue.

piny is in the same feed, same amount of turn out but just a smaller trash paddock for the winter as we don’t have enough land to keep them on big fields all year. It could possibly be this. We’ve not been out in the woods for a few months due to school being back in and competition season taking us away every weekend.
His teeth were done two weeks ago so it’s not his teeth. He’s clipped all year round so the clip he got three weeks ago shouldn’t do much in my opinion. His back hasn’t been checked, I’ll call my lady out to have a look but he’s one of this sturdy Irish ponies that manages to need the least help ever.

 

[Cob Life]

I’d bet it’s just not being out then. Even my friends sane as anything 20 yo got over excited when I took him on his first back in three weeks