problem horse

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sandrakmy

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Hi
all i have a problem maybe someone could help me with ,
i bought a horse a few weeks ago for show jumping and when i got him he was a gentleman a bit thin but was ridind lovely and done everything right ,
i feed him up and as he got more uncontrolable i decreased his feed , he is on grass at the moment which isnt even very good and getting one scoop of cool and cooked feed but he is just mad he wont walk forward on the lead he reverses back until eventually i cant stop him , and when riding him he will refuse a jump at every oppatunity and then its as if he is expecting a beating as he gets very worked up ( i have never hit him ) he rushes the jumps that he does jump ,and he pulls on the reins, he doesnt even lunge very well
. as i dismounted yesterday he bolted and ran blindly through a gate cutting himself in bits ,he is so nervous and jumply would a clamer help or
what can i do please help
 
I would contact the people you brought him from and discuss this behaviour with them, see if he has done it before and what they did to overcome it. It does sound rather extreme behaviour, perhaps worth getting your vet out to take a look? Do you have an instrutor to help you with him? How was he initially when you got him home? Any tack/food/amount of work changes as well as moving yard for him? Have you tried to do alot with him initially, was he in a similar amount of work with his last owners?

Sorry for so many questions, hard to bring ideas to mind without knowing a bit more!
 
Assuming this is a serious post and not a troll...

Did you have this horse vetted? If yes ask your vet to analyse the blood taken at the time of the vetting.

I am not sure what 'cool and cooked feed' is, but take him off all hard feed. Give him add lib hay if there isn't enough grass in your field.

How much turn out is he having? Is this comparable to what he had before you bought him? Ideally turn him out 24/7.

Yes, some calmers do help it's a matter of trial and error. I find Equifeast's Cool Calm and Collected to be very helpful for one of mine who is magnesium deficient.

Handling problems: sounds like you need to do more groundwork with him and establish some control. There are many effective headcollars out there (dualy and similar) that would be worth a try. Ridden problems: back of the jumping for now (have you maybe overdone it a bit?) and concentrate on establishing a connection with him on the flat. Then slowly introduce grid work rather than just jumps. Also, are you having lessons? A good trainer can be very helpful.
 
Where did you get him from? How old is he and what is his breeding? Sounds like he has either been drugged when you tried him or he might be just very stressed about the changes in his life. Perhaps a bit of chill time in the field and some groundwork ie leading on a longer line so you have more control.

best of luck.
 
Do you bring him to just groom him?
Because alot of horses come to our yard go backwards like that because there so used to being brought in and riden all the time that they realise thats what there being brought in for, and when I first got my first horse, after a few week he really started to miss behave so much,but I realised that it's because we didn't have that connection in between us! We are now finally getting there! Don't give up! :D
 
Booboos said:
Assuming this is a serious post and not a troll...

Did you have this horse vetted? If yes ask your vet to analyse the blood taken at the time of the vetting.

I am not sure what 'cool and cooked feed' is, but take him off all hard feed. Give him add lib hay if there isn't enough grass in your field.

How much turn out is he having? Is this comparable to what he had before you bought him? Ideally turn him out 24/7.

Yes, some calmers do help it's a matter of trial and error. I find Equifeast's Cool Calm and Collected to be very helpful for one of mine who is magnesium deficient.

Handling problems: sounds like you need to do more groundwork with him and establish some control. There are many effective headcollars out there (dualy and similar) that would be worth a try. Ridden problems: back of the jumping for now (have you maybe overdone it a bit?) and concentrate on establishing a connection with him on the flat. Then slowly introduce grid work rather than just jumps. Also, are you having lessons? A good trainer can be very helpful.
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This is good advise. If you have never dealt with a horse like this before, it might be a good idea to get some help with him. To me he sounds like a very insecure horse, so maybe spending some time with him, letting him learn that he can trust you, might be helpful.

If you had the facilities, the first thing i would say is do a bit of join up with him. Obviously this might be a problem if u only have a field or arena with low rails. You dont want to loose him.
Or even spend some time with him in the stable, just asking little tasks of him, backing up, moving over, lower head, a bit of scratching. If hes not good to handle in stable, dont do this. You dont want to get stuck in the box behind him if he acts up. A bigger space will allow you to get out of his way.

Is he with other horses? Does he seem to have seperation anxiety?

Leading exercises might help him too. Even just in the yard, get him to walk with you, stop, changing directions, so that he is listening to you. If he can do this, take him to the arena, same thing. Make sure your lead rope is long enough, and if he goes to walk off in another direction, firmly pull his head back to you. Never let him get his head around, and push his shoulder into you. This way he can run off easily. If he wont lead, just try moving his feet, backward, forward, lots of praise, sideways, dont put too much pressure on him in case he panics. I think for this horse, back to basics might work. And time. Lots of ground work, teaching him to lunge, building his confidence in you, and maybe some help if you think you might need it.
Then when he is settled on the ground, try riding him. Hope this helps and best of luck.
 
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Horses take time to settle and it's only been a few weeks. Give him a couple of weeks off riding, give him time to get to know you, lots of groundwork etc. It's all new to him. Good luck.
 
thanks everyone for your help there does sound like there is a way around the problem
He is realy nervous and seems to be afraid of me and everything else ,for some reason , he was fine for the first few weeks and then this started , how much ground work each day should i give him , he was only broke last november 2010 so maybe i did ask to much to quick. i come from a racing back ground so jumping horses are a new thing to me so im not sure how much work i should be doing with him or how quick he should be ready to go to shows , the race horse seems to come along quicker thanks again
 
You say you bought him to show jump.
What level was he competing at before?

It sounds like he is stressed and napping.
The change of yard and rountine can afffect horses hugely.

Do lots of ground work, lunging and long reining to him to listen to your voice
 
The horse is just broken, he needs you to go back to basics, dont jump him, but do lots of polework, including in hand with a labarynth, see Sarah Fisher, I would keep his feed simple, if there is plenty of grass and herbs in the field you need only feed a mineral balancer,
If you have worked in racing you should know how to sit a horse and not interfere with its mouth. Racehorses are handled from birth, and broken by professional, not always well, but quickly and then they are asked to go around in company, plus the trainer will only put you on something you can handle.
Try to get a friend with a plod to take you out hacking, just walking on a light contact, carrying a light schooling whip. Initially let the other one lead, then slow the other one, when all is going well do little games, you stop, I stop. Vary your route back to the stables, make sure you relax and exude confidence.
When breaking in a youngster I have the teeth done, as at that age things are happening daily, send off a sample for testing for worms.
Every day you need to check mouth for inflammation, also legs for heat and all over for tight muscles. Ask an expert if the saddle fits.
 
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The fact that he was only broken last November explains a lot. I assume that with the bad weather he probably didn't do that much over Dec/Jan, so really you have bought (a very young?) horse that has only just been backed.

In light of this, you need to forget about the jumping for the moment and work on bringing him on. He will need daily handling and you can use the groundwork to get him used to all sorts of things he will see when out and about hacking. As for riding I would get him out hacking with another very sensible horse and try to do little and often (30min to 60m hacks 3 times a week). You can do a bit of schooling but don't overdo it, maybe one session a week, as long as you make sure he is in front of your leg and you should definitely lunge him once or twice a week (obviously keep an eye on the work load, his age, his fitness, how he is responding to the work, etc. If it looks like he is overphased cut back a bit) . A trainer would be invaluable as well as you can't really replace 'eyes on the ground' giving you another opinion on how to go about things.
 
Think maybe you've bitten off a little more than you can chew with this particular horse.

It might be worth contacting the people you bought him from to ask if they'd consider having him back - so that you buy something with more mileage and experience under its belt.
 
Malcolm Green said:
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Er, this isn't help and advise IMO, this is blatent advertising.

The horse is recently broken and inexperienced, so is the owner. There's your biggest problem, not what feed he needs.
 
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