Nervous 2 year old definitely had a whack.

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Welshielove

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I have now had my rising 3 section D filly for a little over 2 months and its baby steps but there is definite progress.

We have gone from her not wanting to be within 6 foot of me to being able to catch relatively easily (with head collar on), i can walk her with another horse in front for support and she will follow me round the field like a puppy.

Shes generally a really sweet and respectful mare but just so nervous. If two people are there, she knows somethings going to happen and is an absolute wreck.

Shes not a very dominant mare and generally looks to others for reassurance so I’m spending a lot of time letting her know i am her leader, ie moving her feet. which seems to help but my riding instructor said at some point she has been smacked and shouted at for being scared.

My question is, is she young enough to undo the damage that has been done and any further suggestions to help with this?

Note shes not necessarily a spooky horse. Tractors in and out the field, scary objects on the floor and she will happily stand and watch while i do work desensitising my other youngster just outside the field. As long as she doesn't think we are going to ask anything of her.
 
Sounds like you're doing fine - just take it sloooooow - we have two very nervous nellies - don't do too much, pick your moments to boost her confidence - moving feet is great for dominance but prob not great for making her feel comfortable. One of them I can now catch, bring out of field and lead about without being terrified. Working on his feet, we can run stick over body and down legs and pick up one - I whisper in a low tone, you're a good boy you're fine and treat with a low value treat and scratch - he is very clever so he picks this up very quickly and I can substitute the treat with god boy and a scratch. I don't catch everyday but make sure I speak to him and repeat the good boy & scratch.

There are loads of good learning theory training videos on YouTube - is it Equitation Science - pick and choose what bits and tips might help for your pony.
 
Thank you! Will check that out. Funnily enough she is fine with me picking up her feet because she knows I'm not in a position to lunge at her, i haven't tried her backs yet though as i don’t fancy that on my own and she would be too stressed to allow someone to hold her while i did it 🙈
 
2 months is no time at all. She'll still be settling in. If you've got a menage or fenced off corner of a field, try playing some fun liberty games with her, with carrot treats (but not fed from your hand). Then get a friend to join in so there's two of you around. Liberty work might be the key to progress, where she can make her own choices on how to respond and you are not putting her under any pressure. My one who is very submissive took a year to start to relax with me.
 
Don't panic and read too much into the situation. 2 months is no time at all.
You have a breed that can be sharp. My mum breeds RPs and they are always handled with care and never 'whacked' yet, generally, they are very suspicious by nature and would react the same way your youngster is reacting in a new home.
Just treat him like a normal horse and I'm sure it will work out just fine in the long run.
 
Take it slowly and think outside the box - find ways to make things easy for her, and take it slowly. Don't put pressure on yourself or her to "succeed." You have years, and the foundations you can build now will pay off for the rest of her life. 2 months in she'll barely know who you are...it takes months for them to settle and realise you are "their" person and this is their place - and it takes years for them to build confidence, particularly if they've had a rough start.
(Speaking as someone who bought a green 10 yr old with huge trauma behind him, and who used to rip at his own chest and legs with his teeth if he didn't understand, or you asked him to do something he thought he couldn't do. And was terrified of loading, and had the hugest spook, and was sacred of a thousand random objects. 5 years later he was UK National League Level 1 TREC champion. He's retired now, but I still have him, and he is absolutely the most solid, reliable, biggest hearted horse I have ever known. That's him in my profile)
 
Welshielove said:
This is all great to hear, definitely taking on board its only early days. I just look forward to the day the nervous look in her eye goes away 🤞🏻
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I’m fostering a rescue mare. I’ve had her about a year now and she’s fabulous very easy to do everything with but some days if I move to fast she will still flinch
Sometimes stuff like this doesn’t completely go away but doesn’t change their lovely personality ❤️

Now she was seized from wherever she was found so she may have had it worse but just want to prepare you for the fact that it can be a slow process but I know her reaction isn’t fear of me it’s a fear of what other people did
 
Sometimes they are just of nervous disposition.

I once had one that was nervous, and had left to go feral, after a couple of years of being ridden.

Well into me having her, and handling her, we were doing some groundwork in the school. She reared herself over backwards because I had a short whip in my hand.

Why? I have no idea, she’d certainly never been beaten in her life.
 
Re moving her feet - I agree with an earlier poster. She doesn't need to think of you as her leader per se, but as someone she is safe with, so consider what moving her feet is achieving, particularly in terms of whether doing so makes her less balanced, which will make her feel more insecure. Teaching her she can stand quietly (but not flooding her in the process) is very valuable and more useful to you.
 
Burnttoast said:
Re moving her feet - I agree with an earlier poster. She doesn't need to think of you as her leader per se, but as someone she is safe with, so consider what moving her feet is achieving, particularly in terms of whether doing so makes her less balanced, which will make her feel more insecure. Teaching her she can stand quietly (but not flooding her in the process) is very valuable and more useful to you.
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Yes this makes sense.

At the moment shes just in with an 18month old who doesnt cut it as a leader, so i guess my rational was her seeing me as some one who she could follow. I have my friends two older mares coming in a couple of weeks so i’m hoping that makes her feel more secure.
 
I usually buy in youngsters that have often been mishandled or over handled, and I actually do very little with them, I certainly do not play games/ground work,(should a baby be working?) with them of any sort or reward them with food, because that is usually why they have become difficult in the first place.
I know I am lucky because I can do everything in a pair, so the older one is teaching buy example, but they see the vet, farrier and may come in if we are doing something in the field, and that is about it. The only thing I insist on is that they do not get in my space and they stand back at the gate or stable door. By three/four when they are ready to be backed they have no problems, and are easy to sell.
Another equine is usually a better teacher in helping them to work out how to work out life than any human.
 
You can build trust at any age - I have a 17 year old ex brood mare who is, after nearly a year with us, now trusting enough to easily trim feet, do wormer/vaccs/get vet help if needed. She took 4 months to build enough trust to back, but has turned into an amazing riding pony for my daughter.
 
If you are tiptoeing around her thinking, aww poor abused baby, I mustnt scare her, you are inadvertently making the situation much worse. You need to be calm and matter of fact. Ignore any dramatics, if you start fussing and cooing over them it reinforces the behaviour. Just ignore it and calmly carry on. But they best thing you can do with a young horse is chuck it out in a field with some other very friendly youngsters. They will do more,much quicker than you can.
 
I'm Dun said:
If you are tiptoeing around her thinking, aww poor abused baby, I mustnt scare her, you are inadvertently making the situation much worse. You need to be calm and matter of fact. Ignore any dramatics, if you start fussing and cooing over them it reinforces the behaviour. Just ignore it and calmly carry on. But they best thing you can do with a young horse is chuck it out in a field with some other very friendly youngsters. They will do more,much quicker than you can.
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This completely. This type need consistent, calm handling with very clear boundaries. Black & white. No shades of grey.

And the horse may not have experienced anything particularly bad in the past. Some are seemingly just born nervous reactive nellies. And yes you can get them a lot better.
 
Welshies are known for their drama… I used to own one who I bought from the person who got him as a foal from his breeder. I was pretty confident he had NOT at any point in his life been beaten or mistreated but he sure as heck used to (over) act like it. (He mostly got over it apart from where vets were involved at which point he became a nightmare… unfortunately he did have a bad experience at a vet hospital and became very funny about bloods / IVs / injections from that point on… oh and farriers were on his “bad” list too!)

Take it steady & be patient but also treat her like a horse and don’t walk on eggshells.

You can’t control the world and they do need to learn how to deal with normal life stuff. Don’t flood her or put her in uncomfortable situations that she can’t get away from (& ideally have her friends there to show her what to do if there is anything unusual going on as it’s amazing how well a chilled & unbothered herd can help a worried horse to cope) but also don’t tell people they can’t do XYZ in eye or ear shot of her either. (Learning to treat vaguely weird stuff going on a safe distance away as “background noise” is a really useful life skill).
 
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