SarahM
Well-Known Member
Hi, looking for similar experiences please.
My 6 year old ID has always been anxious and highly strung but he tends to be either quite lazy or nuts with no in between. A lot of his behavior I've put down to his age and him being very green plus he was scared of his own shadow when I first got him. When I tried him he was so different, really easy on the flat, and very chilled but lanky and needed condition. He naturally holds a lot of tension and I find it very difficult to get him to work in a long and low frame. I have been working him 4-5 times per day over the last 3 months (he had 5 months off due to me breaking my ankle) with a variety of lots of long reining (lots of hill work), lunging over raised poles, walking out in hand (always up lots of hills) and hacking. He has matured a lot in the 13 months I've owned him and filled out but he still has poor topline which worries me as with the work he does he should really have improved now. I keep him in a sloping field as hoped this would also help but his lack of topline is pretty poor, yet he is a chunk. He is fed thunderbrooks chaff with a tiny amount of their grass nuts with Pro Earth balance + and salt.
He can get very anxious, on occasion at training clinics, once due to horse flies, if he scares himself, or if he gets bored in his stable he makes hiccup noises, which I believe is a form of windsucking. He won't eat anything when travelling and finds it very hard to relax.
He is fairly spooky, this week he was going nuts in the field, bucking and throwing his head around sort of like stallion behavior when I went to get him in for no apparent reason. whilst schooling him a couple of weeks ago, he was stressy but I asked for trot after the warm up and he was fine for 5 mins, then he lost the plot and bronced with me until he got me off, this has never happened before!
I was doing some ground work this week asking him to cross his hind legs, I asked with my hand where my leg would go and he continued to try and bite me even though he was really chilled and trying. This obviously worried me. He also appears sensitive by his withers, and swishes his tail a lot.
When I lunge him his stride length is fairly good and he engages his hind end and appears pretty loose. I feel when I school him his stride length becomes much shorter, he feels sticky and he is very reluctant to relax and lower his frame. He feels hollow and very tense and swishes his tail.
He is having a sarcoid cut off his ear next week so I have asked my vet to scope him at the same time as I think he may have ulcers. When I got him 13 months ago he was 5 stage vetted with back x rays. I will scope next week and see what comes of that but am thinking of some back investigations as well. To look at he doesn't look as if he would have ulcers, his poo's have never been loose but from experience I know that this means nothing.
Sorry for the essay but just wondered if anyone had experienced anything similar. He was 5 stage vetted, including back x rays 13 months ago with very regular physio, teeth and 3 monthly saddle checks. Thanks so much in advance
My 6 year old ID has always been anxious and highly strung but he tends to be either quite lazy or nuts with no in between. A lot of his behavior I've put down to his age and him being very green plus he was scared of his own shadow when I first got him. When I tried him he was so different, really easy on the flat, and very chilled but lanky and needed condition. He naturally holds a lot of tension and I find it very difficult to get him to work in a long and low frame. I have been working him 4-5 times per day over the last 3 months (he had 5 months off due to me breaking my ankle) with a variety of lots of long reining (lots of hill work), lunging over raised poles, walking out in hand (always up lots of hills) and hacking. He has matured a lot in the 13 months I've owned him and filled out but he still has poor topline which worries me as with the work he does he should really have improved now. I keep him in a sloping field as hoped this would also help but his lack of topline is pretty poor, yet he is a chunk. He is fed thunderbrooks chaff with a tiny amount of their grass nuts with Pro Earth balance + and salt.
He can get very anxious, on occasion at training clinics, once due to horse flies, if he scares himself, or if he gets bored in his stable he makes hiccup noises, which I believe is a form of windsucking. He won't eat anything when travelling and finds it very hard to relax.
He is fairly spooky, this week he was going nuts in the field, bucking and throwing his head around sort of like stallion behavior when I went to get him in for no apparent reason. whilst schooling him a couple of weeks ago, he was stressy but I asked for trot after the warm up and he was fine for 5 mins, then he lost the plot and bronced with me until he got me off, this has never happened before!
I was doing some ground work this week asking him to cross his hind legs, I asked with my hand where my leg would go and he continued to try and bite me even though he was really chilled and trying. This obviously worried me. He also appears sensitive by his withers, and swishes his tail a lot.
When I lunge him his stride length is fairly good and he engages his hind end and appears pretty loose. I feel when I school him his stride length becomes much shorter, he feels sticky and he is very reluctant to relax and lower his frame. He feels hollow and very tense and swishes his tail.
He is having a sarcoid cut off his ear next week so I have asked my vet to scope him at the same time as I think he may have ulcers. When I got him 13 months ago he was 5 stage vetted with back x rays. I will scope next week and see what comes of that but am thinking of some back investigations as well. To look at he doesn't look as if he would have ulcers, his poo's have never been loose but from experience I know that this means nothing.
Sorry for the essay but just wondered if anyone had experienced anything similar. He was 5 stage vetted, including back x rays 13 months ago with very regular physio, teeth and 3 monthly saddle checks. Thanks so much in advance