New horse napping, help.

Jojo_Pea4

Jojo_Pea4

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A friend has brought a horse 3 weeks ago, she had to go to another yard while waiting for a space on ours.

The horse went from being with old owner for 9years and brought as a 3Year old.

When tried horse out she was foot perfect, schooled, hacked,cantered on her own up a hill all on different days.
First few days was settled in. horse was out next to another horse and one other on the yard. When brought new horse in to ride she was calling and wouldnt stand still at the mounted block when owner went to get on she reared and came off. She got back on and rode horse, still napping but ok as new. Hacked out in company fine always takes lead.

Went to hack horse up to new yard and walked down the drive got to the end and horse goes bolt upright, rider fell off. Got horse to new yard by hacking down.

At new busier yard, horse turnout out to settle,she lunged horse second day was lively but ok. Next day went to ride horse and mounted and she started rearing. I lunged her for her and got he listing to commands. then she got on and horse was fine. Owner rode her out hacking with different horses and she was fine.

Owner has gone on holiday and asked me to lunge and long rein her and paid for me to have a lesson on her next week.

Today I long reined her in the school, all was going well and so walked her round the farm as no one around. as soon as out of sight of horses she kept rearing up come down, pulled me over and got loose ( all my strength to hang on). horse bolted back to field near horses.

This horse is dangerous and I will not ride her or do anything with her till owner is home as I have my own to worry about and cant be injured from someone elses horse been there before. But the rider is a novice and poorly so needed a horse thats safe this is not.

Horse needs all the checks, but saddle was the one it was wearing. we changed bit as one it came in was and inch to big.

Lady who she brought the horse from said horse has never behaved like this before.

Any advice, very welcome
 
I would ask the lady who sold it to come and ride it. The poor animal has had 2 changes of home in less than a month, no wonder it's upset. And if its owner is a novice, she probably lacks the confidence to give the horse confidence.
I do wish people would look at things from the horse's pov occasionally.
 
Jojo_Pea4 said:
A friend has brought a horse 3 weeks ago, she had to go to another yard while waiting for a space on ours.

The horse went from being with old owner for 9years and brought as a 3Year old.

When tried horse out she was foot perfect, schooled, hacked,cantered on her own up a hill all on different days.
First few days was settled in. horse was out next to another horse and one other on the yard. When brought new horse in to ride she was calling and wouldnt stand still at the mounted block when owner went to get on she reared and came off. She got back on and rode horse, still napping but ok as new. Hacked out in company fine always takes lead.

Went to hack horse up to new yard and walked down the drive got to the end and horse goes bolt upright, rider fell off. Got horse to new yard by hacking down.

At new busier yard, horse turnout out to settle,she lunged horse second day was lively but ok. Next day went to ride horse and mounted and she started rearing. I lunged her for her and got he listing to commands. then she got on and horse was fine. Owner rode her out hacking with different horses and she was fine.

Owner has gone on holiday and asked me to lunge and long rein her and paid for me to have a lesson on her next week.

Today I long reined her in the school, all was going well and so walked her round the farm as no one around. as soon as out of sight of horses she kept rearing up come down, pulled me over and got loose ( all my strength to hang on). horse bolted back to field near horses.

This horse is dangerous and I will not ride her or do anything with her till owner is home as I have my own to worry about and cant be injured from someone elses horse been there before. But the rider is a novice and poorly so needed a horse thats safe this is not.

Horse needs all the checks, but saddle was the one it was wearing. we changed bit as one it came in was and inch to big.

Lady who she brought the horse from said horse has never behaved like this before.

Any advice, very welcome
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BIB

That's a rotten thing to write about a horse who is very unsettled and scared. And if you go round telling people that she's dangerous, what do you think is going to happen to her without her ever having been given a chance to settle?

Long reining is something you do when trust has been established with the person doing the long reining.
Why should she listen to you, who the hell are you (in her brain)?

Rather than lunging/long reining, how about some walking out in hand?
Give her a bit of time to get to know you, get her used to your voice commands.

Basically, be nice and see it from the horses POV as Pearlsasinger said.
 
Sounds like a more severe version of some problems I'm having with my new horse. The advice I'm getting, which seems to be working, is that yes, everything is scary and unsettling in a new yard (making new friends, new routines etc etc) but there's a difference between a horse that's scared of everything and one that's unsettled and also possibly trying it on a little - to work out how far he/she can push new rider and get away with being nappy.

The solution with mine appears to be to get him working and concentrating and then he doesn't notice the stuff that 10 minutes earlier had him trying to bolt back to the stable.

So if he's giving any indication he's going to be difficult, e.g. got his head up and has been barging round his stable while I groom/tack up then first of all I make sure I lunge him before even trying to get on. We also do a little bit of join up practice. It warms him up, loosens up his back & gets him concentrating a bit. Plus it takes the tickle out of his feet if he's bit fresh.

I then try to remove as many of the things that can bother him as possible - easier for me as I'm at a yard with great facilities and lots of horses/riders/grooms/instructors about - so if it's a bit breezy, we use the indoor arena; if he doesn't want to go down the far end of the arena, we ask someone for a lead and follow a sensible horse down there; If he's refused to stand while I mount, I get help to hold him rather than both of us getting in a tiz trying over and over again. Basically I pick my battles and try to stack the deck in my favour!

Once I'm on, it's lots and lots and lots of lateral work - even if that's simply making sure he moves off my inside leg to go right into every corner and basic turns on the forehand, doesn't have to be canter half passes!

I can tell when he (and I) are concentrating because you suddenly realise every other horse has left the arena and the rain is hammering down on the metal roof and a helicopter has just taken off next door (yep that happens) and neither of you have really noticed.

I sympathise. I'm not the most confident and my boy has shaken me a few times but whenever that happens I ask for help from people who know more than me. Is there anyone nearby with time to spend with this horse as you're clearly very busy with your other responsibilities and it'd be a shame if this lady had to let her mare go if the relationship could work?

Having said all that - rearing as a default reaction does set off warning bells.
 
I bought my daughter a pony that had been in its previous home for 6 years. My daughter had also been helping out at the previous home and had ridden her every week for a year.
On moving to live with us she was not the pony she had been at her previous yard...very unsettled...eyes on stalks and nappy. I really wasnt bothered as I knew it had been a major upheaval for her...missing her old friends etc. All I can add to this that it took a good few months for her to settle and she is once again settled and back to her old self. She found moving homes very traumatic.
 
Thank you all for advice.

I do understand the horse is new and i always give horse 6months to settle, the owner spends lots of time bonding.

I once helped a friend with a new horse as she was to nervous after he played up and he reared and flipped over and broke my leg, so i have a natural fear of rearers when i dont know the horse, which is why i wouldnt ride it.
I just was asking if rearer that much is more an issue or napping?

The horse is really sweet natured. I can spend sometime getting to know her so when her owner is back i can help her.
 
The horse has only been with your friend for 3 weeks after being in one home for a very long time she must be feeling very unsettled and that is too short a time for her for to of bonded with or be trusting anyone yet. Mine napped severely when I first got her and it was pain related. I have only had mine girl for 8 months and I wouldn't say that I know her yet but we are getting there and we now have a foundation of trust but a lot of that has been through ground work.
 
Ami- at what point did you realise it was pain related? Thats what this thread was asking if she was unsettled or rearing was the from pain. I dont want to do anything with her if she was in pain and thinking she was just napping.
 
amymay said:
Doesn't sound dangerous - just very, very unsettled.
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Totally agree, it's a huge change for this horse... I'd pop her on a calmer and cut out all hard feed, stick her on a routine... No ridden work, lead in a bridle... Lots of bonding and groundwork whilst she settles and relaxes.
 
Dizzy was doing it repeatedly when asked to work on the left rein be it on the lunge or ridden and she was doing it in the road. It was the fact that she was actually trying to do what was asked of her but then freaking out. I had the dentist out first and he said her teeth hadn't been done for a long time so could of been contributing. I then had the physio who found her back was almost twisted from where she had had a fall a long time ago. The physio told me that she almost definitely suffered from headaches and had a lot of pressure and pain through her poll. Tbh it's a credit to my horse she never threw me off. After the physio she had 2 weeks off and then was very lightly bought back into work and the difference was dramatic she was looking for the contact and although we still had some pain memory on the left rein the napping stopped completely. Horses aren't born naughty and I have always promised myself that when dizzy plays up its because she is trying to tell me something and I have listened every time.
 
Jojo_Pea4 said:
Ami- at what point did you realise it was pain related? Thats what this thread was asking if she was unsettled or rearing was the from pain. I dont want to do anything with her if she was in pain and thinking she was just napping.
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To be honest, I wouldn't be doing anything with her anyway... Not in the ridden sense, she clearly needs time to adjust.
 
Queenbee said:
To be honest, I wouldn't be doing anything with her anyway... Not in the ridden sense, she clearly needs time to adjust.
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Agree with this completely! And in the scale of things the saddler, physio and dentist doesn't cost a huge amount just to be sure and in all honesty after the lesson I learned if I ever bought another horse again I would get these things done first when they arrive regardless.
I really hope the horse is ok and your friend and her have a great future together :)
 
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