Panics when passing other horses.

[alainax]

Just posting a wee thread to see if anyone has encountered this or has any ideas, suggestions or training tips.

My ID can be a bit of a hot head, gets tense and super excitable, but is generally a good boy with energy, impulsion and a nice willing attitude.

We had him about at a local arena, traveled great, was a gem there (albeit super excited) and never put a foot wrong.

However, He is a total numpty when it comes to passing another horse. A few months back he spooked real bad and had a mini tank off when someone cantered towards him, I thought well fair enough it was an exciting moment can happen.

2 nights ago he was in the arena ( at home) with a field mate. He was like a coiled up spring, he behaved really well, but we never got too close to the other horse ( not deliberately, was just the way it went).

Yesterday he was in the arena with a horse he likes over the fence, shes very calm and wasnt pulling faces etc. We walked around together, trying to get him used to another horse by his side, he was excited by it but wasnt doing anything wrong. Just had to keep my inside leg on to stop him from bailing out to the middle of the arena. ( he was on the inside, not hemmed into the fence).

We then did lots of passes in walk, he was fine. Up into trot passed about 20 times, him being very looky and me really having to ride him past, but nothing more than I expected. The WHAM out of the blue they pass and he leaps sideways does the tank down the school thing and I hit the deck.


My concern is that he will never be able to warm up at a show if he cant get over this. He is dominant in the field, so no idea why he should be so afraid in the arena. Its almost like it is confusing him.

Ive spoke to my instructor and she has said we will work on it. I guess it will be a case of he just needs to be exposed to riding with other horses over and over. But that's twice now I've took a sore one from it! Last week the instructor suggested I put him on Magic calm, and the YO started putting it in his feed last night as he recommends it too.

Sorry that was long, so have you came across it? what did you do to solve it?

Token pic of the big jessie -

 

[1life]

The 'big jessie' looks lovely Not sure the pink will do his manly confidence any good tho
On a more reassuring note...
I have had 3 different horses that I have competed that have all had this problem at the beginning. They all came through it quite quickly, so don't panic.
Carry on the' homework' you are doing but stick to walk until he's settled, then trot etc and make sure anyone you are riding with gives you enough room and praise him lots when he shows courage.
When you are ready to go out chose your venues wisely, try and warm up in a quiet area to start with if possible, and stick to walk and trot until he has gained confidence. If you ask for early times at dressage you will find the venue at it's quietest .
If you are not confident of the situation do you have an instructor or friend who could help by riding him until he comes through it? He will pick up on any worries you have and he needs to feel assured that he can do it.
Good Luck.

 

[alainax]

The 'big jessie' looks lovely Not sure the pink will do his manly confidence any good tho
On a more reassuring note...
I have had 3 different horses that I have competed that have all had this problem at the beginning. They all came through it in quite quickly, so don't panic.
Carry on the' homework' you are doing but stick to walk until he's settled, then trot etc and make sure anyone you are riding with gives you enough room and praise him lots when he shows courage.
When you are ready to go out chose your venues wisely, try and warm up in a quiet area to start with if possible, and stick to walk and trot until he has gained confidence. If you ask for early times at dressage you will find the venue at it's quietest .
If you are not confident of the situation do you have an instructor or friend who could help by riding him until he comes through it? He will pick up on any worries you have and he needs to feel assured that he can do it.
Good Luck.

Ah thats what it could be... ill switch the a blue one

It is reassuring to know that you've had 3 who have successfully over came it I guess when im sitting at home with some pulled muscles im over thinking it

He seemed much better in walk, and I had spoke to the girl I was riding with on FB last night about when he is back in the arena with another horse ill just stick to walk till it all becomes second nature to him, then up the paces. So glad to know thats worked for others in the past

As for taking him out to a show, we've never done one so I guess our class would be the very first noob one but would it be right to say that I should crack this at home first before even thinking about facing it in the real world? With scarey.. horse eating horses!

Confidence wise I'm fine, just don't want to keep repeating a mistake if that makes sense?

Thanks for the reply, and reassuring comments

 

[albeg]

My boy is exactly the same, he doesn't like others coming towards him. I've found for me, the best way of dealing with it is to keep him focused, so if someone's coming towards us and he starts to fuss, I'll try ride him through it/ask him to do something that gets his focus back on me. Talking to him helps, as does scratching his withers.

As 1life said, it's about getting him more confident, and with patience he will improve. B used to take off if others passed him or came towards him, most of the time now he only gets slightly upset/tenses up slightly.

ETA: he's lovely!

 

[alainax]

My boy is exactly the same, he doesn't like others coming towards him. I've found for me, the best way of dealing with it is to keep him focused, so if someone's coming towards us and he starts to fuss, I'll try ride him through it/ask him to do something that gets his focus back on me. Talking to him helps, as does scratching his withers.

As 1life said, it's about getting him more confident, and with patience he will improve. B used to take off if others passed him or came towards him, most of the time now he only gets slightly upset/tenses up slightly.

Some great tips there thanks, and so reassuring to know I'm not alone!

ETA: he's lovely!

Thank you

 

[1life]

...the best way of dealing with it is to keep him focused, so if someone's coming towards us and he starts to fuss, I'll try ride him through it/ask him to do something that gets his focus back on me.

Good point. If I think about it, I have probably been inclined to ride with a feeling towards shoulder in/fore to start with when a horse is coming towards us, to try to divert their focus point and to keep their attention on me.

If you are not in a hurry to go out then get as much practise as you can in a 'safe' home environment. Unfortunately people at arena based shows are not always either polite or friendly and will not always give you the space you need.

However...if you put a red ribbon round his tail you may find people give you a bit more room .

Not nice when you've been dumped but you sound like you have the patience and understanding to see it through.

 

[AFlapjack]

My lad is exactly the same! He started spooking at others in the warm-up, it took me completely by surprise as he previously hadn't done it at all! He has taken off with me across warm-up arenas and other days he will wiggle and snake, obviously unhappy, but won't run.

I make sure I try and keep him in a quite corner at shows and ignore him when he reacts as, being a pony, it got to the stage where he was taking the mick a bit and playing up. I've also taken him on quite a few pleasure rides so he has got used to horses coming up from behind and overtaking.

Now we have our good days and bad days. I 'retired' him from showing as obviously you go-round with a whole group of other horses and concentrated on dressage and eventing. Having said that, I've entered him into two local shows as he's been going very well recently, so we shall see how it goes

 

[Theocat]

Mine is just the same - he's really threatened by other horses under saddle in an arena. He's fine hacking, and fine as soon as you dismount, but gets very agitated if other horses are zooming around (even if he know them really well and gets on with them), and the faster everything's going the worse he gets.

Oddly, mine is much happier working in a ride (I suspect because he can keep tabs on where everyone else is much more easily) - it might be worth trying for yours, and if it works perhaps introduce short bursts of open order alternating with working in a ride to build his confidence? You would need some willing friends to help, but if you have some people willing to pitch in it might be worth a try.

Mine gets better out and about if we go out as much as possible - there's still a long way to go, but getting out as much as possible makes a real difference ... we've dropped 10% off our dressage scores over the winter simply because we weren't get out as much and now warm ups are a massive big deal again

 

[Britestar]

Do you belong to a Riding Club? Do some group lessons and warn the others, and hopefully he should learn to settle down.

My newly (3 weeks broken) youngster went to RC camp last weekend, and had group lessons in an open field, with just rope separating 3 areas! He was a bit :-o to start with, but by the end was totally relaxed about it. Hopefully it will set him up for future in warm up arenas.

 

[alainax]

Good point. If I think about it, I have probably been inclined to ride with a feeling towards shoulder in/fore to start with when a horse is coming towards us, to try to divert their focus point and to keep their attention on me.

If you are not in a hurry to go out then get as much practise as you can in a 'safe' home environment. Unfortunately people at arena based shows are not always either polite or friendly and will not always give you the space you need.

However...if you put a red ribbon round his tail you may find people give you a bit more room .

Not nice when you've been dumped but you sound like you have the patience and understanding to see it through.

Yeah there is no rush, would rather be safe with him than him having a bad experience and going 2 steps back!

I did have a think about the green ribbon thing, but I guess your right that red wuold get me more space

and thank you for your input, its greatly appreciated

My lad is exactly the same! He started spooking at others in the warm-up, it took me completely by surprise as he previously hadn't done it at all! He has taken off with me across warm-up arenas and other days he will wiggle and snake, obviously unhappy, but won't run.

I make sure I try and keep him in a quite corner at shows and ignore him when he reacts as, being a pony, it got to the stage where he was taking the mick a bit and playing up. I've also taken him on quite a few pleasure rides so he has got used to horses coming up from behind and overtaking.

Now we have our good days and bad days. I 'retired' him from showing as obviously you go-round with a whole group of other horses and concentrated on dressage and eventing. Having said that, I've entered him into two local shows as he's been going very well recently, so we shall see how it goes

It sounds awful but it really makes me feel better knowing others go through it too! I hope it continues to go well for you

Mine is just the same - he's really threatened by other horses under saddle in an arena. He's fine hacking, and fine as soon as you dismount, but gets very agitated if other horses are zooming around (even if he know them really well and gets on with them), and the faster everything's going the worse he gets.

Oddly, mine is much happier working in a ride (I suspect because he can keep tabs on where everyone else is much more easily) - it might be worth trying for yours, and if it works perhaps introduce short bursts of open order alternating with working in a ride to build his confidence? You would need some willing friends to help, but if you have some people willing to pitch in it might be worth a try.

Mine gets better out and about if we go out as much as possible - there's still a long way to go, but getting out as much as possible makes a real difference ... we've dropped 10% off our dressage scores over the winter simply because we weren't get out as much and now warm ups are a massive big deal again

Yes it did seem with him as well that the speed was exasperating the situation.

We are lucky at our yard that you can usually have the arena to yourself, it might take some coordination for me to try and get a few horses in there lol! but I guess thats maybe why he is finding it scarey, as he doesnt usually have to deal with it .

The funny thing was he was fine when away from home, in the large indoor arena - even with the other horse jumping. However they never really passed close. Seems its only when someone gets within 10 ft or so of him that he panics.
Thanks for your tips, hope your scores go back up over the summer

Do you belong to a Riding Club? Do some group lessons and warn the others, and hopefully he should learn to settle down.

My newly (3 weeks broken) youngster went to RC camp last weekend, and had group lessons in an open field, with just rope separating 3 areas! He was a bit :-o to start with, but by the end was totally relaxed about it. Hopefully it will set him up for future in warm up arenas.

I'm not a member currently, but have been looking around for one. The arena we hired does clinics, maybe i should try one of them? Thanks