lethargic horse or just being lazy?

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muffy32

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My cob has slowly been brought back to work over the last 8 months but I am having trouble working out if he is genuinly lacking in energy or if he is being a lazy toerag.
He has always been lazy in the school ( we both hate schooling) but he has got more and more lazy when we go for a hack ( unless I ask for a canter then he is well up for it) if he went any slower he'd go backwards.
I have had his teeth done, his back has recently been checked, his saddle has been checked and I even brought him a Suber pad for extra comfort.
I feed him simple system feeds, he has lucie stalks and lucie nuts and as much hay as he wants ( half seed and half meadow)He also has lunar eclipse. I put a grazing muzzle on him when he is in the field at night and he comes in during the day.

Do you think he is genuinly lacking energy or is he taking the mickey?
 
Hard to say, I have one tb that generally goes to sleep in the Summer months - like a donkey and again wont canter until asked? Then the other tb does not change with either season - always up for it. I think it may be due to having a belly full of grass (never seen him sleep when out 24/7!!) and then in Winter he catches up with his kipping and is on the borders of being dangerous? Is he out 24/7 on grass?
 
When you let him out again is he strong to lead etc? Excited to go out? if not then just may be his way in hotter weather.
 
i cant say really - all i can do is offer my experience - i had a lazy cob (although ab gorgeous!) and i tried her on the simple systems feeds as a lot of my freinds with arabs feed that for their work - anyway all i can say is my horse was nearly dead (figurativly speaking) she had no energy at all to the point of hardly being able to put one foot in front of the other - i ended up feeding racing mix or oats - my point is the simple system feed are brilliant but they dont always suit the native/ cob type - have you though abut feeding something else? x
 
I have never heard of simple system feeds, what are they? Is lucie lucerne? Have no idea what lunar eclipse is, please shed some light!
 
he isnt strong on the way back from the field to the stable nor is he strong on the way back to the field infact I practically have to drag him along.

Will defo look into feeding him something else. I chose simple systems as it is very high in fibre and low in everything else so it seemed idea for my rather tubby ( at the time) very very very good doer who gets fat on fresh air.

Maybe I will experiment with his feed and see how we get on.
 
he gets grumpy but does eventually move for as less time as he can get away with. He isnt to worried about the whip, he ignores it, he is a stubbern git like that lol
 
I thought my horse was lazy. Always got the usual "lacking impulsion & desire to go forward" type comments on my dressage sheets. I seemed to be doing all the work - it was exhausting.

Got a new instructor about 2 months ago. He kept saying "Forward, more Forward". I just couldn't get it, I told my instructor I thought my boy was tired/unfit. The instructor then sat on my horse for 10mins, with no stick. I got back on, my boy was like a different horse, I barely touched him with my leg and he shot forward. It was an amazing change.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, why not have a lesson and see what your instructor thinks? Especially, if you don' really like schooling, having a lesson can sometimes be more fun.
 
My daughter had a similar problem with her cob. I can't comment on your feed as I'm not familiar with simple systems. We use Top spec balancer and we queried his lethargy with the Top spec helpline. We expected them to try and sell us another type of suppliment but it was a pleasant suprise when they suggested that he may just need salt added to his feed. This makes sense as he is a hairy cob and does sweat a lot. I'm not sure if this would work for you but it is worth considering.
 
My pony can be very lazy but when a more experienced rider than me gets on him, they really get behind him and drive him on (with voice mainly) he then works properly and in a lovely natural outline and it looks much easier for him than his usual resisting when he moves like a donkey haha not much use but can empathise with you!
 
Sometimes you need to do less to get more. If your horse is used to you nagging with your legs all the time to try to get him to go forwards (and lots of us do it, not being critical here I hasten to add) then they can kind of switch off. You need to squeeze once and see what reaction you get. If nothing slightly harder once and then legs off. If nothing again one little kick and then if still no more forwards a little tap with your whip or a whip-whop rope.

This way your aids are so much quieter that the horse can hear what you want, instead of being overwhelmed with commands.
 
hi, yes thats something I do normally and I agree it certainly makes a huge difference to sitting there nagging your poor horse.
The more I think about it the more I think it is a food issue. All I feed my horse is fibre fibre and more fibre and although he is getting lots of food he maybe isnt getting enough calories. I am going to contact simple systems feeds and ask them for some feeding advice.

thankyou for all your replies everyone xx
 
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