Long term plans for quirky pony, advice needed!

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BringoutheBest

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I am not sure why, but I have had all this on my mind quite a bit recently so I just thought I would aks for opinions etc, and see if anyone else has been a similar situation.

I have a 13.3, 6 year old pony that is VERY nervy around strangers and can have a horrible attitude at times. I originally bought him as a project to sell on but I love him to pieces and feel as though I could do anything with him- we just clicked. We hunt, show, been out xc, have just started side saddle etc. However, he can be a nightmare; if I am the slightest bit tense he rushes off and fights my hand. If I lose my balance he would chuck me off (this has only happened once in the 2 years I have had him but I have good balance), and in general just needs to be ridden so quietly. I am lucky that I am small but a lot of people small enough for him would be a lot younger and possibly not suitable/experience enough I think?

I have had very experienced and confident friends ride him and they have had to get off, not because he was bucking/rearing/spooking but he would just resist everything they asked and go so tense and rushy. My instructor who has ridden countless youngsters and problem horses got straight back off and did not wish to ride him. She said she had never felt something so "alive." I have never seen a horse so tense as when she got on him, every muscle was solid - although he did not explode or do anything to get her off. She of course was doing nothing wrong and has my greatest respect as a rider.

He is awful with the farrier (luckily not shod), and I seem to be getting through quite a few farriers...oops. I had a saddle fitter out over the weekend and he was a nigthmare, jumping around panicking etc. 3 friends have not been able to put his bridle on. He is of course not like this for me, he is a saint, if a forward-going and slightly mad saint ;) He is just such a one person pony.

I just don't know what I will do with him long term, I would like to be able to move onto a horse at some point in the future, as even at local level a lot of competitions have height/age restrictions which restrict us from doing the heights and classes I would like to take part in (I am 18).

I am just terrified he could end up being mistreated again ( he was a nervous wreck when I got him) and I could only ever make sure he goes to a 5* home but I just don't know who on earth would want to buy him? Is there any market for a pny like this? I would like to be able to long term loan him out so I still have full control but I still I worry about people not being able to manage - and I can't see who would want him anyway!

I suppose I just want to know if there are people that would enjoy having a pony like that. He is NOT available at the moment so hopefully this won't be seen as advertising, I would want him to go locally and with references and through word of mouth anyway and it may happen any time in the next few years :)

Just opinions/advice needed on what I will do with him when the time comes to move on. I just feel such responsibility towards him and will do anything to ensure he has a happy future.

Forgot to add, he does have good points in that he is bombproof in traffic, has brakes in a snaffle out hunting, has jumped hedges etc, and absolutely thrives on going out and about competing and hacking.

I really don't know how to think about the future...

Also of course; he has had back/teeth/saddle checked countless times and all is fine. He has no huge problems with me riding/handling him, just other people....
 
Oh dear. I don't suppose I'm going to be much help because I have the same pony but 20 years older. I've owned him for over 10 years now but the gap between 6 and 16 must have been horrendous for him and his owners because I was asked to take him on for meat money and if I didn't that's where he was going, after having been passed from pillar to post.

Mine is a bolter to add to his problems and I'm hoping to be able to get a headcollar on him today after he and his friend took it off a couple of days ago - he really is THAT headshy. His plus points are that he never bucks or rears when ridden and he is completely and utterly bombproof in traffic. He's good for the farrier too.

My daughter has an amazing bond with him, I trusted him with her even when she was really quite novicey and he and I have worked hard together to overcome some of his fears and have had loads of fun, doing our first ODE etc.

So there are people out there who will take on these ultra quirky animals. In your shoes, as you feel such a responsibility, I'm afraid I'd give up on any idea of selling and look to find someone who will work with you to understand him and who can take him on loan. I got my daughter to read to our lad for hours and hours so he was completely relaxed with her in his stable, then she was told to just chatter away to him whilst she wimbled round without a contact (mine freaked if you took a hold). With ours the emphasis was always on sitting quietly and calmly and waiting for him to relax. He had to trust us on the ground first and that meant doing everything, even walking past his stable, at half speed or he found it scary. As with yours any tenseness and he was panicking. It's that slow deliberate and relaxed approach that you have to teach to anyone who might take him on.

Finallly, mine was bought as a project too. He's a superb jumper and it was going to be so easy to just smarten him up, sort out "a few issues", let my daughter take him out and about and get him seen and then sell him on. Yeah, right, that's why I've still got him. He has never been advertised as being a bolter he is far too dangerous to risk anyone else on.

God this is an essay, sorry. Something that might help is to ask your friends to carry out an experiment with you and him. Ask them to talk to him for five minutes, then get them to lead him around with no contact on his reins at all asking him to halt and walk on when they do. Then you hold him whilst they mount and ask them to sit really loose and floppy and not take a contact at all but just ask him to walk round you in the school turning him with bodyweight. Just see how he is with new people and absolutely no pressure.
 
I'd be trying to get him used to strangers myself if there isn't a rush, just little things at first like putting his feed in & build slowly up to others handling & riding, making sure he's relaxed at each step before moving on.
If you get him happy to be ridden by strangers then I'd say there's a market for him. If he's up to competing no reason he couldn't suit a competent teen, they generally have no fear & therefore don't get tense. ( I mean would suit a teen once he's happier with strangers, & the kind of teen who's ridden all their life, not implying he'd be good right now for a 12 year old who's had 2 years of lessons)
 
He has a lot going for him but in order to secure a good future for him he needs to be less quirky and nervy. I would start a plan of desensitising him, the longer you have the better the prospect of it working he needs to at least be comfortable being ridden by others otherwise no one will buy him anyway, as you said.

I would work with your instructor as she is experienced with problem horses if she could do some work on the ground with him, possibly clicker training, to gain his confidence in her before progressing to some ridden work.
When you are riding him try to start being a little less "perfect" he needs to cope with the occasional loss of balance, have a wobble whilst patting him, give him unexpected pats, when you get off flap the stirrups, anything that will make him a little tense without scaring him and repeat until he realises you are not trying to kill him.
I have worked with some nervy types and find that you need to be brave for them and at times possibly risk losing their trust for a few minutes in order to build up their confidence, by being too quiet and sensitive you can be reinforcing their fears.
 
My friend has one similar that is kept at our field. He was given to her on the promise he'd never be ridden and would just be a companion. He was dreadful when he was at her field and it was only her looking after him but since moving he's had no choice but to get used to other people feeding him and handling him and he's calmed down alot. He's by no means perfect but we accept for what he is and he enjoys his life.
 
I'm guessing that his reaction to other riders isn't dissimilar to what it was with you to start with...

Is he on livery? Or otherwise handled by people other than yourself?

You could consider getting a competant sharer (one of those teens mentioned above?) so that his view of 'people do horrid things'/'there is this one person (you!) who is nice' can expend to having two nice people in it.

If he is at home can you get anyone who visits you (even if not horsey) to give him a polo/scratch/usual feed or something... again, moving a few more people over the horrid/nice divide to improve his world view. Similarly you could ask fellow liveries if on a yard.

You've obviously done a lot of hard work, it should be easier and easier for the next people, even if progress is slow.
 
Hmm, I have one too who sounds very similar (wonder what on earth happened to them to make them that way?) However, he is 26 now and I've had him since he was 8yo. He is brilliant stable manners and ground handling wise though but he too used to be terrified of everything, any fast movement, touching round his head, he couldn't be tied up, he'd rush out and in stables (wouldn't go in a stable unless there was straw down) and would launch himself off the horsebox ramp - he wouldn't come out of a trailer forwards either, he had to be reversed out.

With him though, although he has amazing talent and ability his brain does not seem to communicate this to him so he is and always has been pretty erratic and his jumping was at 100mph or not at all. I was never scared of him though but others who rode him said they had never sat on anything they felt so unsafe on! Lol

We did try and sell him at one point and even sent him away on schooling livery to Richard Barton. He was supposed to be there for 2 weeks but was sent back after one as "unrideable" and my mum was told "I wouldn't want to put my child on that". Honestly, I never see him as dangerous, he would never buck, rear, bolt or intentionally do anything to get anyone off, he is just extremely sensitive to a rider and, if you show any nerves he picks this up and gets very stressed.

I guess we just learnt to get on with it and eventually after many tears and the odd fall, I decided although I bought him as a jumping pony, this was just not for him and was potentially dangerous for us both (mainly when he starting refusing at high speed as I tried to rehain more control over him).

However, to give him his dues he went on loan twice and both times to teenage girls (about 12 yo) and they both loved him! The 2nd loanee did not want to give him back but as he was not reliable enough showjumping to get in PC teams her mum got her a horse who was a little steadier. The girl though loved his quirks and I guess loved his speed - xc, once he was going there was nothing he'd stop at!

So, therefore I'd say there are homes for them you just have to find the right ones and fearless kids are sometimes a heck of a lot better than adults who think too much about "what ifs" and this passes to the pony. Confident kids I reckon are great for some nervous but talented ponies as they are not bothered about the 'naught' behaviour and just tend not to worry so much as us adults. If it were me I'd probably be tempted to loan him to people over time - if you can afford to do that anyway.
 
Thanks everyone! Unfortunately I am on a private yard, the yard owners have their ponies there, and they will often go give him a carrot and let him sniff hello, and he is getting good with them but they are quite novicey and not keen to handle him (completely fair enough)-he also won't be caught by anyone else. He is amazingly very good with my completely unhorsey mother -he can almost be calmer than he is with me. I think she is just a very calm person and he feels that about her. So there is hope... :P

I completely agree with the whole can't ride him too quietly thing that be positive mentioned and I have been going on that theory as well. It is still very much work in progress but we are definitely getting there, he could just never be a pony where you use your contact to balance for even a moment, or grip with your legs to stay on if you want to get anything decent out of him - or stay on top of him! ;) I am no excellent rider (far from it!!!), I just have no confidence problems and I am able to sit quietly so he has got used to that.

Dee o'dorant, thank you so much for the long reply, it is good to know there are people who like to take time with ponies like this -I am not fussed about selling him as such for a sum of money but I would never want to advertise him as a "cheap" pony as I think it would attract the wrong sort of people.

He is perfectly capable physically of being a fabulous competition pony -and he copes well (perhaps even better than at home) when out competing with huge amounts of strangers around him. He was a rosette machine last summer when I was out and about!

The sharer idea probably is the best plan especially as I am around everyday and can help them out. And at least being handled by even just two people it will break up his reliance on having just me to understand him, and help him to stand on his two feet - either that or completely break sharers confidence and send them running, leaving him with an even bigger attitude than before but I shall hope that won't happen!!!!

He is fabulous underneath it all - and I think that he managed to make quick progress with me purely because he has such a forward thinking bold attitude. I had broken him within a matter of weeks - a firm, consistent, black and white approach of it will happen and it wont hurt, but it definitely will happen, he was hacking out on his own in another two weeks, and went on a hunt ride that summer as well as to his first show where he did not put a foot out of place. But now he is in his comfort zone, his life is perfect and he sees no reason to let anyone else in.

Thank you so much everyone for the replies :) Although I do not want to look for a sharer yet (awful I know, but I like to ride him everyday and I could not quite bring myself to having one until I have got used to the idea) where would be a good place to look for one? I do not want someone who has only ridden riding school ponies, they also need to have endless patience and probably a good sense of humour to be able to just laugh off any bad days they have - not asking much am I? ;)

Thank you again
 
Sorry, I posted my reply before seeing ladyt25's - our ponies sound identical! I am so glad to know you found wonderful loaners so I do hope I may manage the same!
Financially I would do whatever it takes to ensure he is happy and if that means he has a home for life with me, with a succession of loaners through it then that is what I will make happen. Even if I live in a tent, warming tesco value baked beans on a bonfire :D
 
What a lucky pony to have found you - he's telling you in no uncertain terms what he wants!
As you are in no hurry and he's still young then you may find that he will gradually 'open up' to other people, as he's doing with your mum - he's not yet physically or mentally mature so there could be a big change over the next couple of years.
At least with a pony who knows what he wants so much you will have no doubt whether or not a person is right for him, wherever and whenever they come into your lives. It may sound crazy but often when you stop actively searching the right solution just sort of happens. If you can, just enjoy yourselves and take things as they come.

PS Don't know whether it would fit in with your facilities/life/affordability etc but you could always keep your pony and gain experience of horses by loaning/sharing one (they can be very different to ride to ponies!!)
I must admit I am always surprised at height/age restrictions in competition, apart from technical related distances in some jumping competitions I really can't see why there should be such fuss - especially with performance native ponies being more and more popular, and ponies proving themselves more than capable out hunting and the like.
 
BringoutheBest said:
Sorry, I posted my reply before seeing ladyt25's - our ponies sound identical! I am so glad to know you found wonderful loaners so I do hope I may manage the same!
Financially I would do whatever it takes to ensure he is happy and if that means he has a home for life with me, with a succession of loaners through it then that is what I will make happen. Even if I live in a tent, warming tesco value baked beans on a bonfire :D
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Honestly, your pony is so young he will change for the better with the right treatment it is likely he'll always have 'quirks' (mine still does at 26!) but you learn what's what and they get to trust you. Funny yu say he's good with your unhorsey mother - that's probably becaue she's not over-thinking either. You have to try not and think about them freaking out and such like, just treat them as a normal pony and they sort of learn to just accept stuff (if you get what I mean). Mine now is coming along as a companion for my 3yo at in hand stuff as he's brill for travelling and standing in a wagon/tying to the box etc etc. Funny, some things he is so calm and comfortable with it's odd. He's still hacked out andhe's still a prat sometimes - we rarely can canter these days as he spins if he can't go hell for leather so we stick to trotting (or prancing about!)

With mine I think he did too much too young, doing Newcomers BSJA as a 4 or 5 yo. Funnily though although I traced his history and previous owners (he had a fair few), a video of him showjumping with (I assume) his first rider, has followed him all the way and I love to watch it when I can. he was loved i believe back at the start but then got a few bum deals somewhere along the line!
 
ladyt25, mine too is excellent to travel, to stand tied etc...just people that are the problem ;)

Thank you I suppose I do forget how young he is and if he had 4 years of mistreatment, 2 years is not going to have cancelled that out!

Catkin, I have been thinking about loaning a horse alongside him, but I am worried I would not be able to give them both the time they deserve. I have lots of experience riding horses as I ride and have competed for other people. Next year I would love to spend my gap year as a working pupil on an event yard or similar where I could take something of my own but I would want to make the most of it with a horse, rather than a pony (it sounds awful put like that but I am sure you know what I mean). Spud's happiness is of course my number one priority but I am hopeful a solution may come up where I am able to loan/buy something to compete myself and managing two may be a problem!

And don't even get me started on the whole age restrictions thing - I am very short and feel perfect on 13.2s to 14.2s but I can not compete on them in many jumping series, working hunter classes etc.... grr!
 
Well done for all your work with your pony.
He sounds like my kinda pony :) I just wanted to let you know that there are adults out there who have ponies.
I'm 28 and the horrid one is 12.2 - 13hh he came to me one messed up pony. Basicly he was dangorous but i've had him over 2 years now and things are getting so much better :)
He will stay with me forever as he will never make a childs pony even though he looks like the perfect one (He's a bay roan forester, very cute little pony, Till he trys to kill you that is ;) :p :D )
Luckly for me he is a reg forester so I can do loads of compeating with him :D Not that that realy matters to me. We'd have loads of fun anyway :) ponies are the best :D
Ok i'll stop waffling now. :o
Well done again. Keep up the good work He's a very lucky pony to have found you and have someone who cares so much about him.
 
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