Please can you help? Warning! Long ish and a bit complicated!

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Agent XXX999

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Me again – after some advice PLEASE!

My best friend has an amazing horse – he is jumping 1.40 at home, huge movement, and actually looks like a horse that could go international – he is truly amazing. At home he is very sharp and sensitive – he is strong out hacking, but works wonderfully at home on the flat – everything is established – he is working to medium level on the flat and quite happy to jump a 1.40 course. But that is at home. As soon as you get him out he actually goes mad – it is like he mentally cannot cope with what he is being asked to do. He rushes fences, backs off, basically he is to sharp for his own good – to the point of being silly. He is also really strong. He is jumping 1.10’s…

I am really worried about my friend as she has worked her bum off with this horse for over 4 years now and though he has got about £270 on his BSJA card (she doesn’t compete at dressage) she is getting really upset and frustrated at the battle competing has become. She has tried magnesium, calmers etc, he is on barley and alfa a and ad lib haylage, goes out in the field (but hates it and waits at the gate after about an hour) and gets lunged twice a day as well as ridden for at least an hour.

Please can you help us? She can’t afford to send him away, and is really worried about selling him as she knows he is not right? How can we release his potential? Thank you for all of your help and well done if you can give any – we are stumped!
 
They always say that a horse will work better at home don't they.

Does she ever take him to a show and not compete him? Just for a little look see. He sounds as if his brain is totally stressed out by the whole thing.
 
Phone Baileys horse feeds (number is online) and get them to come out and do a visit, explain to them exactly what is happening and they will advise what to feed, how much etc. They are really really good.
 
Can you recreate a show atmosphere at home to see if that has an impact, ie set up a course, invite another 10 horses to hang around and warm up together and compete..would be interesting to see what your friend's horse does then..he might be responding to competition nerves in the rider too.

If he is still comfortable and confident with that, the next step would be to hack in company to something similar..even if it is only the yard next door and test again, stretching the boundaries each time.

There are so many potential causes, fear of leaving familiar surroundings, stress through travelling, competition nerves..you have to isolate each one and test for it before you can arrive at a solution. But there WILL be a solution once you have identified the cause
 
Id take him straight off the barley.
I would also have him out 24/7. Horses that dont like being out in the field are a myth, they just take time to adjust to a different routine. After a couple of weeks he will settle completely, and hopefully stop living off his nerves.
Also, he is doing plenty of work so may be a bit over the top. Let him live out and drop a bit of fitness and he should become easier to manage.
 
My old horse was the same. So my new plan was to hire other outdoor and indoor schools, so it is going out but not the pressure of showing.

Then go to shows without competing and slowly build it up.

Maybe being ridden for an hour a day and lunged twice a day is possibly too much for him? Unless I've read your message wrong.
 
Do you know that my gut reaction was to tell you to chill out a bit! The horse will go mental if going to a show is so pressurised. Also I agree with the others about letting him drop a bit of fitness and looking at his feeding regime.
My main advice would be to tell your friend to forget about the competition aspects and go to shows because they are fun!
I do have a reputation for not being very competitive but I would sooner have happy chilled horses who get 2nd or 3rd, than cook their brains with an intense experience.
 
Yes – I have been with her when she has taken him and warmed him up, or just taken him and left him on the lorry. He is so sharp he is stupid.

In her defence she has 3 others, 2 of which she has got up to grade b from buying them at 3 and working hard- so she is well used to competing.

I think that maybe dressage would suit him better as it would put him in an environment that he is not used to and is slightly calmer than one with people jumping here there and everywhere…trouble is she doesn’t own a gp saddle let alone a dressage one and it is more expense that she really does not need or can afford….and persuading a showjumper to do dressage is oh so slightly difficult?!
 
agree with vicjip here - when i brought Archie his owner said to me 'he dosent like being out in the field, so we only put him out for an hour each day'. As i work full time this wasnt an option, so he went out all day (approx 9hrs) the second day i had him. He was perfectly happy and he loves going out in his field whatever the weather.
 
do you know I might suggest about the feed thing to her. As much as I think Barley is great it is clearly not working. I am not sure about the work thing – he went to a friends yard before Christmas and was out 8 hours a day, in the horsewalker in the morning and ridden in the evening, his fitness dropped and we went to go and get him as he looked awful! I told you that this was complicated…he does suit the work that he is on, but clearly not at shows when he behaves like a picked sheep! Oh what to do what to do!
 
Turn him out - let him down. He sounds like he is mega fit (probably much fitter than he needs to be for the competition work he is doing). Also lose the barley. If ours are OTT they often go out the night before a show and come in for plaiting just before we leave. Sometimes we just ride around the show ground and don't to a class. I know we are showing, not jumping, but the principles are the same. There is no point entering a class if he is stressed, as next time, he will stress even more. Just go to some shows, let him relax and don't push it. It makes no difference that she is experienced. Sometimes it is hard to stand back and take an outsiders view of what is happening.

If he were mine I would turn him away for 4 weeks, bring him back to work slowly and go to shows for wandering around when he is NOT fit. Don't jump, just wander. Take him to dressage for wandering, so he knows that not every trip ends up as a jumping fest.
 
Sounds like could be partly stage fright?

Mine is a bit of a dope at home, in all honesty, but his stress levels go through the roof at a show - and he doesn't compete affiliated anymore, this is just local shows.

It normally manifests itself in him literally paralysing himself with fear (possibly connected to azoturia type symptoms) to the point he can't/won't move, and is generally very unhappy.

I think some of them just aren't cut out for the stress of competing, despite their talent.

Incidentally, he's another one who doesn't particuarly agree with much turnout........have tried changing his routine gradually etc, but can't get him living out, even in the summer (much to my annoyance unfortunately!).
 
If he was mine i would definatly chill out a bit and only work him once a day.

I would also turn him out all day every day and just bring him in at night. He will get used to it. My friends mare used to pace the fence all day when she first got her and now she stays out all day quite happily.

And i would most definatly start competing him dressage so that he is still competing but without the added excitment of jumping to begin with. Once he is chilled at that i would start mixing and matching, jumping once week and dressage the next and so on until he is totally chilled in a show environment.

Keep using the calmers too just to take the edge off for now.
 
Definitely try cutting out barley- this has proved to be heating for some horses. We had a TB here on livery who was so stupid out on a hack that I gave up going out with her. Then I remembered Victoria's (Stimpy) old boy Blue was stupid when on Barley. (Bless him, we made all our mistakes with him!) Once we took him off it, he was a different horse. This TB was the same, calmed right down. Worth a try?
 
She could try Nupafeed, it's a liquid calmer and it certainly works on my extra sharp horse and just puts him on more of a level. You start off with a loading dose and then reduce it. I'm sure there are those that will say it doesn't work for their horses but it's worth giving it a go, I've found he won't eat powdered calmers.
 
Sounds like he's over fit for what he's doing.

I would personally chuck him out in a field, ditch the barley and get him to unwind a bit.

Also just a thought - being lunged twice a day? Horses tend to get fitter more quickly being lunged than ridden. Might be worth cutting that down too
 
He sounds nice and keen which is what you want a showjumper that is going to go on and do things. Often they arent the easiest. What about getting a more experienced showjumping rider to compete him the next few times (I note that your friend is very experienced but is not a professional, and sometimes certain types of horses go better for other riders).

He cannot be that bad if he has £270 BSJA.

How often is he competing? He might be best only competing every 3 weeks or so and doing more fun, less pressurised things (not necessarily dressage) the rest of the time.
 
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I would also have him out 24/7. Horses that dont like being out in the field are a myth, they just take time to adjust to a different routine.

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I agree with you on the whole but I have at least one ride who doesn't know that piece of information. He lived out 24/7 the first few years of his life and still lives out when he is home with his breeder/owner but he is clearly not as happy as when he is stabled at night and not turned out in bad weather. When the weather is bad he fusses at the gate, even at home where there is no chance of getting in. He is probably the only horse I've ever had who gets easier to ride if he stays in!

My old horse (24 now and still working) brings himself in. All attempts to keep him out longer than he wants have resulted in him jumping out. He seems to feel strongly that horses are not always better out.
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As I said, I agree in the big picture - the two above are perhaps the only real exceptions in literally hundreds upon hundreds of horses I've ridden or looked after - but never say never.
 
my thoughts are pretty much the same as v's ...

take him off barley and Alph a to start with, and don't work him as much. he may be too fit for his own good. turning him out more will help too and he'll relax. he sounds like he is doing far to much work for what he needs to do. he'll be keeping himself fit enough on alot less and hten be more manageable.

my mare was on lots of food (she's not 1/2 as talented) but she put me in hosp with suspected fracture'd pelvis as she got far too excited. also discovered she had issues with her front feet so bucking was an issue - she still does but not as much!

she's now on hi fi lite / and bailey economy cubes (2 scoops hi fi and less than 1 scoop of nuts per day in two feeds). she's looking loads better, more relaxed and can't believe the shine on her coat (see picture gallery for bonnie - clipped and youll see)!....


good luck.

Bx
 
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