new horse has gone bonkers!

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DressageDiva1983

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at the end of my tether, i trialed my horse for 3 months going to his yard to ride him and have lessons every fortnight. He was a complete angel, the owner continued to compete bsja and bd and he was fab. I got him home and he was great for the first 3 or 4 weeks then started to bronch in left canter. i had his saddle refitted and got the physio. both said there were problems and proffessed to have fixed them. i rode him tonight for our first light schooling session after the physio and he was worse than ever, constantly rearing and bouncing and refusing to let me take a contact he was plunging his head up so i could see his blaze and rearing. The only way i could get him to stop was by talking to him and letting go and calming him but as soon as i picked my reins up, up he went again. Could it be a teeth issue??? or something more sinister? he was perfect when he arrived but underweight now he eats haylage, hifi and sugarbeet and is grazing all day.
 
Ditto the above. What age is the horse?

Also, has his workload significantly decreased? Is it possible that he was quieter before because he was in much harder work?
 
Defo get teeth checked. Has anything else changed? routine, diet, amount of exercise etc?

Hope it all improves for you.
: o )
 
Other thing that springs to mind straight away is is he getting out as much, I mean to shows etc? You say he was doing BSJA and BD, so maybe is getting bored if just being worked at home?? Is he being 'tested' as much, and pushed to improve??
 
Deffo get teeth and bridle checked! Maybe even his entire head, he might have some bruising or something. Maybe also talk to his precious owner about it? Hopeit gets better soon though! :) xx
 
I would agree with all the above. Just out of interest, did you have him vetted and blood sample taken? Just wonder whether he could have been on anything that would have calmed him? I presume you are feeding him the same as previous owners did? What does he do if you get him on the lunge and send him forwards? Personally I would get my instructor out and get some help! Horrible situation but one I'm sure can be rectified. Hopefully you have an instructor who will be happy to get on him and see what's going on. whatever, it's always great to have some support!
 
Defo get teeth checked but also it could be just a new place etc that is making him go mad. I have just bought a new horse that was perfect and quiet down where she was but once I got her to my place she was mad as anything. I automatically thought it was a back or saddle issue which turned out not to be the case. She has bad trust issues and once she got taken out of her comfort zone she went mental. Slowly but surely we are getting there...or mayb your horse is just playing at it to see what he can get away with. Do alot of ground work with him (i.e. grooming, lunging etc) and see if that makes a difference. Get him out and about and doing alot to preoccupy his mind.
 
I would say it could just be a trust issue too, as I have a mare, who has taken a long time, 2 years to settle, and I would say that could be the issue. although have the teeth checked too, and then you can eliminate it as a possibility.
 
If it were me I would check in the following order:-
Teeth - possibly get a 2nd opinion
2nd opinion on saddle fit
New Grass/diet/calmer being fed at old yard
2nd opinion on the back person
then finally get the vet

good luck
 
I know someone who bought a horse from a three day eventer, the horse was not a 3DE horse and he was doing it as a favour to the owner. However, he had it fit enough to go to badminton and in reality it was a riding club home where participation in badminton is more likely to of the racket sport variety. Anyhooo she realised - when said eventer was jumping up and down during vetting to see how the heart rate bit had gone - that she would have to de fitten the horse to cope with the new (slightly more relaxed) lifestyle.

To start with she did everything and made sure she rode hard for at least an hour every day - including the day after the horse arrived (only had a one hour journey so no reason not to) gradually she got it to the level she wanted i.e. riding 4/5 days a week - having lessons, hacking out, some unaff dressage and jumping.

perhaps yours is just uber fit and letting you see the beans spilling out?? sounds like a safer option might be to put horse on the lunge before you sit on board though - get some beans out that way.

Hope it goes well
 
i had the exact same problem with my horse i did all the usual checks etc finally got vet up reffered to a large vet practise turns out he has damaged suspenary ligaments in hind legs!!

I would say once teeth done def get vet, i feel awful for letting things get as bad as they did
 
Hmmm.... not to be the Voice of Doom, but this may have been the reason he was underweight when you got him..... keep 'em skinny and toned down....
 
DressageDiva1983 said:
he was perfect when he arrived but underweight now he eats haylage, hifi and sugarbeet and is grazing all day.
Click to expand...

Without being rude - you are stuffing him full of spring grass, sugarbeet and haylage! So high protein and high sugar!

You need to swap to a cool mix, swap to hay ideally and perhaps limit the grazing if your fields are very lush.

Mine have perked up over the past week and 100% due to grass.
 
Sugar beet sends my horse do lally and he has been a very spooky boy since the grass has come through. I would have his teeth checked first to eliminate that and knock all the feed out, changing it to something like HiFi and Hi Fibre cubes. Horses not in hard work can cope on grass or haylage alone.
 
Look at what you're feeding him and look at his workload.

You say he was skinny - but are you confusing this for being fit??
 
Sounds like he now has a reduced workload AND a vastly increased feed intake! If he is on molassed sugarbeet it is 20% sugar so if he is getting quite a bit of that in addition to lush grazing then he may easily get a bit hyper. The haylage may be OK depending on what type it is - meadow grass haylage should be fine, but if it is early cut rye grass haylage then swap it for a meadow/high fibre haylage or normal hay.

Obviously get his teeth checked as well, and get a good instructor in to see whether it is something you are inadvertantly doing. Have you tried lunging him before riding to see if he behaves that way then?
 
Teeth check
Back check
Check ligaments in back legs too
Dont feed any hard feed at all, take it all away and just feed ad lib hay if poss (haylage "can" fizz them up) and turn out as much as possible
Turn him away for few weeks to chill out and get used to new surroundings then bring him back a bit fatter and chilled and start again

So many people expect a horse to settle immediately, we have a 23 year old mare that was fizzy pop last time we had her at our yard from her previous home.

We turned her away at a friends yard for 6 months and she has come back this week a very different chilled pony, more like the previous loaners described as chilled!!

Sometimes i think their brains just dont cope with change of everything and they need some "horse" time!
 
I have had a similar problem with my new horse.
He was a saint when i tried him out, really laid back willing to please and perfect basically.
When we got him home, he was like that for about a week.....then he started to play up something chronic.
Napping really badly, to the point where he bucked me off 3 times in as many minutes, spinning, rearing, he has the biggest buck ever.
In the school he did the same.

We had everything checked and there is no problems with his tack, back or teeth. He is 12 and it was just a case of trying it on to see what he can get away with in his new home. Your horse doesnt sound naughty.....he sounds like he is on a sugar rush!!
They do need time to settle, but i do agree with everyone on here....get his teeth checked and cut his food right out.
Unless you are really working him hard, he really doesnt need that amount of food at this time.
If he is hard to keep condition on, increase the haylidge, and put him on a non heating mix.
The competition horses on my yard get restricted grass, ad lib haylidge and a handfull of feed and look fantastic on it, so try cutting feed back and as others say lunge him before riding to get a bit of the bounce out of him before riding that should help.

Fingers crossed im sure in no time at all you will be enjoying your new horse.
 
Haylage, sugar beet and spring grass coupled with a change of home - enough to make many a horse go wild. My horse was put onto haylage, unmolassed sugar beet and molassed mix at his new yard (even though it was added gradually he went bonkers for a while) - I've had him 5 years so I know him well but if I had just bought him I would have sent him back. He is now on hay and happy hoof and has returned to his normal level of naughtiness - as he is naughty but on a level that I can deal with. It has taken about 5 months though for him to really settle.
 
thankyou all for the advice. I got an amazing dentist to come out at 7.30 this morning who said his teeth were sharp but no cuts in his mouth and she thought his rearing would be an over reaction to his teeth. She did say he was a 'dominant little bugger' as he tried to bully her to stop doing his teeth (i have never noticed this but as i stood back and watched he was trying to get the upper hand) She was having none of it and put him in his place. I think the root of the problem lies in the fact i thought his previous owner was too harsh with him as he was a sweet heart so i have been ultra understanding and overly nice. Ditched the whip and spurs, went for a talk to him and calm him approach and he has started to take advantage. He is 10, came from a big yard with many horses, thru the winter all they ate was haylage and worked for 15 - 20 mins a day and a lorry load took out at weekends to compete, they were turned out individually for an hour a day. He was skinny and so unfit when he arrived and very under - par! He is now out all day (on spring grass) with 1 other gelding and 2 quiet mares and he is establishing himself as top dog already, i also think he was trying to be top dog with me too. his feed has been cut to hi fi water and carrots as of today and he is working 1 to 1 1/2 hrs a day fittening work.
i approached al my dealings with him today with the view that i was the boss and he would do exactly as i said, no more ignoring the fact he barged me out of the way whilst dancing about. i got on and set off with the view that if he reared i was going to kick him forward by any means necessary and ride him through it. He reared 4 times on our hack each one more half hearted than the last as i booted him forward and gave him a slap. i am no longer scared to challenge him i just think he needed to be reminded who is in charge. I really enjoyed my hack today!
 
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