Please help!....problems with me youngster shooting forwards??

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Sandylou

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Hi,
Sorry it's so long but here goes.....
Feeling quite downhearted and lost in a big black hole at the moment as my 5yo 'Irish Allsorts' gelding keeps shooting forwards and it's knocked my confidence big time.
I bought him in January 2010 and he was absolutely as good as gold all the way up to September when I went on holiday for a week and left him in the care of a very good friend of mine. When I came back from holiday I took Louie out for a ride around the village and he was an absolute nightmare...he spooked at everything, was tense from nose to tail and was on the wrong side of the road on more than one occasion. This was very out of character so I asked my friend if anything had happened whilst I was away. She assured that all had been well and nothing out of the ordinary had occurred and I trust her so do believe her.
I decided to ride him only in company for a while. The first time I rode him he was fine on the road but shot forwards 2 or 3 strides when we got into the fields. This carried on ride after ride and I percevered (sp?) but slowly my confidence has been chipped away.
The most recent episodes were once on a verge at the side of a busy road (where I believe he spooked due to a low branch, a car flying round the corner on a wet noisy road and being a bit too far behind the horse in front) and today where there were no obvious triggers.
He seems to be very wary about what's going on behind him, he constantly listens behind and is always looking behind even when there's nothing there. I feel on edge all the time I'm riding now nd I know this isn't helping the situation as Louie is picking up on my tension but I don't know how to fake confidence. I'm dreading getting back on :(
Any ideas on what might be causing this and how I can start to resolve the issue??
Thanks for reading and any opinions or advice is much appreciated because I am at a loss and I'm willing to try anything! :(
 
I think I would get his back and muscles checked. It sounds as though he is tensing up behind the saddle. They can pull muscles just racing and skidding about in the field. Best to do things by process of elimination.
 
onemoretime said:
I think I would get his back and muscles checked. It sounds as though he is tensing up behind the saddle. They can pull muscles just racing and skidding about in the field. Best to do things by process of elimination.
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Yes he is definitely tensing behind the saddle. Would an injury of this type cause discomfort for almost 6 months?
What sort of practitioner would you use? There are all sorts of 'back people' on the market.
 
I'd get his back and saddle checked.
My mare was similar. The vet checked her over at vaccs time, end of August. By the middle of September she was spooky and getting worse, a saddle check and then time off for bad weather later and she bucked so badly that I landed on my head on the road. The vet diagnosed muscle wastage. We don't know how it started. My mare was reacting to noise, she took off once when someone was walking through Autumn leaves!

ETA, just read your 2nd post.
We went from September to February with her getting worse and worse, although she really wasn't ridden much from November to February. This was last year and she needed 3 months off and then slowly bringing back into work. Unfortunately I was ill after that, then we've had bad weather again this year so, as I'm very careful now, we are doing in-hand exercise again. My vet does acupuncture and she had a course of 5 (I think) treatments. It did cost me almost £500 - she's not insured. We could see a difference after the first treatment, she seemed to relax immediately.
 
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Hi, This is of no real help i'm sorry but we broke in our pony last Summer/Autumn and this has been a real problem with him aswell.
He is blind in one eye and i first put it down to that. He is worst in the "school" which is actually a electric fenced paddock so we then wondered if the tape was clicking as he passed.
The more he has been ridden the less he has done it and now rarely will at all (although he is still VERY VERY green to ride)
Do you think he may just be trying it on a bit and maybe playing on your nerves?
When i first started riding ours i was nervous, he was so young and had never seen traffic etc but once i got over that he stopped.
Obviously i too would check back, saddle etc Babies change shape so much and so fast sometimes we dont see it- I noticed today my saddle actually is far to low all of a sudden!

Hope you get it sorted Its no fun when things are going wrong. xx
 
It may also be worth getting an eye check done on him once you've had all back, tack and teeth checks done. It could be caused by slight alterations in the eye causing scary shadows or if he can't see things properly. Either way i hope you can sort it out. :)
 
Thanks everyone.
I want to get his back checked but not sure who to have out. A vet, chiro, osteo??
His teeth were done 2 weeks ago.
His eyesight has also crossed my mind - I'll speak to my vet.
 
id get his saddle checked i have a 4yr old ish who was shooting forward when i got on and then refusing to go forward in trot. we just thought he was playing baby games as we had had his saddle checked.
this came to a head when he refused to go forward so was given some encouragement by yo who was riding him and he reared 6times which is so unlike said horse.
I got vet out thinking something was wrong and turned out to be sore in his back due to his saddle. Vet was really shocked at the fit, plus they i wanted to have a hissy fit at said fitter!!

we have now bought a wintec second hand and are due to have a different fitter next weekend after he has had 10 days off as vet advised.
I will let you know if there is a change
 
It only needs one scare on the roads to totally unermine a youngsters confidence.

Make sure you ride out with a really good babysitter - choosing your routes really carefull. Avoid busy roads, and wet roads until the horse starts becomming more confident again.

It will take time, but done properly you'll get there.
 
After he's been checked out (saddle/back etc)

I'd just spend some time building your confidence with him from the ground, he'll also benefit from this, it will help both you and your horse get to know each other more again, he'll learn to trust you and that your his master, if you say something is ok, then it really is ok.

Sounds like he's lacking confidence, being on his guard, looking round and behind him which will be making him tense (your no comfort to him up there at the moment) so I'd concentrate on bit of quailty time, lead him out, let him soak things up, sniff things, graze on some grass in a safe place, only take him out for very short walks, make things easy for him to understand, rebuild his mind, don't over face with the big wide world.

Obviously something has knocked his confidence, doesn't mean it has to be something that your friend is aware off or has done, something could of triggered this off say while he's been in the field for example or in the stable, if your horse is quite a senstive soul, he'll be a worrier and this is his way of coping, it sound like hacking out is stressing him out.

Take things back to scratch and I'm sure over summer you'll have the horse back you bought in January, you have to remember 5 years of age to some horses is still very young, so he's still a big baby.
 
onemoretime said:
I think I would get his back and muscles checked. It sounds as though he is tensing up behind the saddle. They can pull muscles just racing and skidding about in the field. Best to do things by process of elimination.
Click to expand...

Kenzo said:
After he's been checked out (saddle/back etc)

I'd just spend some time building your confidence with him from the ground, he'll also benefit from this, it will help both you and your horse get to know each other more again, he'll learn to trust you and that your his master, if you say something is ok, then it really is ok.

Sounds like he's lacking confidence, being on his guard, looking round and behind him which will be making him tense (your no comfort to him up there at the moment) so I'd concentrate on bit of quailty time, lead him out, let him soak things up, sniff things, graze on some grass in a safe place, only take him out for very short walks, make things easy for him to understand, rebuild his mind, don't over face with the big wide world.

Obviously something has knocked his confidence, doesn't mean it has to be something that your friend is aware off or has done, something could of triggered this off say while he's been in the field for example or in the stable, if your horse is quite a senstive soul, he'll be a worrier and this is his way of coping, it sound like hacking out is stressing him out.

Take things back to scratch and I'm sure over summer you'll have the horse back you bought in January, you have to remember 5 years of age to some horses is still very young, so he's still a big baby.
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Thanks Kenzo - Louie is a very sensitive soul and he is a worrier! It's nice to know that I can go back a few steps. Everyone around me says that I should just get on with it and ride through the problems but I've always thought that time to bond and baby steps are not a bad idea. 5 is young but again people around me seem to think that he should be near enough a school master by now!!
 
Vet coming next Thursday (so long away as it's 'any vet anytime' which means no £38 call out fee)...should I let him rest until then? I would like to take him for some inhand walks though?
 
Sandylou said:
Thanks Kenzo - Louie is a very sensitive soul and he is a worrier! It's nice to know that I can go back a few steps. Everyone around me says that I should just get on with it and ride through the problems but I've always thought that time to bond and baby steps are not a bad idea. 5 is young but again people around me seem to think that he should be near enough a school master by now!!
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Some horses are still very backward at 5 years of age compaired to others, there's so much more to it than just their age, after all age is just a number.

Young horses often get to a stage where they start to think for themselves...which is not always a good thing but you can't rush things or just tell them to get on with it, you could potentially cause more problems...who is going to help you then? it will only take longer to sort out.

Some horses will be quite advanced in their schooling at 5 years of age, some horses pick things up real quickly, where as the same horse may find something so simple has a quiet hack out very stressful or vice verca, or expecting both is just too much for them.

Go back to basics, make things enjoyable, get him into an easy, daily routine where he knows what to expect and what's expected of him, could be just pottering around the school, taking him for a walk for a few minutes just literally out of your yard in hand, get him back on your side and take your time, trust me it will all pay off in the long run, could take months, could take a year but good things come to those who wait.
 
It is not uncommon for young horses to change their behaviour as they develop, a 4yo for instance may not ask as many questions or challenge as much as a 5yo. This is really familiar to me as I have also been through this with my boy from 4 to 5. Do loads of groundwork to get your trust in him, lots of 'woah' and getting him to halt with your voice. School him walk or trot to halt transtions so you gain confidence in stopping him even if he does shoot froward. Learn about the one rein stop and practice it when you hack out. Above all try to give yourself some self talk along the lines of 'its only a few steps forward, he isnt going to bolt' Try not to worry, you have so much time and it wont be like this forever.
 
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