Lovely cob who has mad fits.

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eriskaypony

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My wife has a cob who is an angel most of the time, and a complete mental case in one set of circumstances. Just wondering if anyone has any suggestions what the problem is.

Hacking he's fine, jumping he's fine, cross country he loves, schooling when there are other horses in the school he's fine. When you try and school him when no other horses are in the school he's a nutter. Rears, bucks generally goes mad.

Apart from the obvious that he hates being on his own in the school, anyone suggest why this might be, or how we might cure him?

Long shot I know, especially as our kids instructor has no idea.
 
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Does your cob hack happily on his own or only in company?

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Only in company. Previous owners hacked him on his own but we did not try till we'd hacked him out a few times in company, whereupon he refused.

He's not always been like this, he used to be worse to the extent we almost sold him as hacking was a nightmare as well.

We're now reconciled to just working round this. On the rare occasions we have him in the school one of the other ponies is schooled with him. We love him to bits despite everything and he's a brilliant hack and fearless cross country which is really what we need.
 
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how old, how long have you had him etc?

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He's 12, we've had him a about 15 months.

The only thing we can think is that he was driven in a pair for years so is insecure on his own. However, he will go cross country or round a jump ring on his own no bother so that contradicts that.

He is definitely bottom of the herd pecking order as well.
 
Perhaps he's had horrible experiences in a school in the past?

Can you school him in a field, his own or another on his own?
 
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how old, how long have you had him etc?

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He's 12, we've had him a about 15 months.

The only thing we can think is that he was driven in a pair for years so is insecure on his own. However, he will go cross country or round a jump ring on his own no bother so that contradicts that.



I think you are right about insecurity. Going cross country and in a jumping ring are prob different as he knows there are other horses around.

I would try taking him in the school for very short periods with another horse outside and progress from there.

Have you tried hacking him further in front of other horses?
Another thing you could try is a pre arranged meeting with another horse a few hundred yards from the yard so he starts to get the idea of going to meet a friend.
Def sounds like a confidence issue to me.


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