Sensitive traumatised horse and sending away for training - would you?

[maya2008]

Mare came from an experienced yard where they take on x number of ponies per year from the moors and produce them to be ridden ponies - they have been doing so successfully for the last decade. They have the facilities, manpower and experience - yet this mare did not cope at all with the handling process, whereas others were fine (some of whom I met when we went to see her). She panicked to the stage of being a danger to herself and did not make progress no matter what they tried. Then it became obvious she was going to be a mum, so they let her be. She came here having just weaned her foal, and spent the summer growing - she literally looks like a different pony now from the one who arrived. Taller, longer, more mature and filled out.

It has taken 6 months for her to relax enough around me to make significant progress. She now trusts me to the extent that she will run to me if something scares her (the hunt, when there was a shoot across the road), and enough that if we are desensitising she doesn’t completely lose her nut if startled. We’ve made it to the dizzy heights of lead ropes and being held this week, which is her nemesis. She has an absolute horror of being restricted in any way, and you can almost see the flashback followed by what used to be flat out panic. It’s muted now and the response is fading as her trust grows. She's really sweet and affectionate too, cuddling into me and coming up for fuss when I'm in the field. She's still extremely wary of other people though. I had a pro friend come and work with her for a few weeks, to try to get her used to other people, but she wasn't having any of it.

So... I planned to send her away for backing. I'll have her leading, catching etc easily for me by then, but I worry that they'll have to start all over again/she'll respond badly to that environment. I could do it at home... done plenty before. Would you send away/back at home?

 

[Arzada]

She's safe with you. I wouldn't send her away especially as you are able to back her at home

 

[ycbm]

Absolutely no to sending away, sorry. She might be OK but the risk she will feel utterly betrayed by you is far too high, for me.

Definitely at home even if you have to get someone in to help you.
.

 

[tda]

No, I wouldn't send away, but I suppose for safety's sake it depends how she reacts around your children x

 

[pistolpete]

Well as the owner of a native who hugely distrusts people and was sent away (not by me) I wouldn’t. Quin still has very little trust his default is to freeze now. Not nasty but never really happy around people especially strangers. I so wish I’d had him before he was sent away so we could have worked on trust. I’d recommend working with an ethical trainer. Someone like Ben Hart or Ross Cooper. Good luck. Rewarding but long road ahead if you choose to work with her.

 

[ihatework]

I think it depends on when you want to back her (and can it wait?).

I’m generally all for send them away but I would share your caution and i absolutely wouldn’t do this until she accepts basic handling for a couple of other people at yours first.

 

[honetpot]

I had one that had a bad start, not like the normal feral/semi feral I have had. I had him from five months to four, and although he did get better over time, he was never going to be a childs pony, and would revert for no apparent reason. I gave him away to a friend, a small experinced adult who backed him, took him to RC, and a few competitions, he could be really good, or he could have her in tears with his behavoir. In the end she had to give up, although he was talented.
If this pony is going to be anywhere near a child its a no from me, its just not going to work long term, and sending her way may just make things worse.

I have also had a ConnieX brood mare who sounds very much like your pony, she would run through fences, and if you caught her would stand trembling. After five years I could walk up to her and give her a pat, bring her in with the others, but go not further.

 

[Britestar]

I too have a pony who was badly damaged before I got him.
He default is to run away.

I've had him 5yrs, got him as a 7yr old and I was his 8th home.

He allegedly was broken in, and I have been on him a few times, but each time something has switched and he reacts so badly I've come off. Then you have the trauma of trying to catch him again.

You cannot catch him at all, barely even touch him in the field. In the stable he's very sweet, loves a groom, but you can't get anywhere near his ears. He's more than happy to follow the others in, and his character has really developed.

I gave up trying to ride him, as he's can't handle it. He loves trec in hand, and progressed to doing it at liberty, which challenges him enough.

Other than that he's a big pet, thinks he's gods gift to mares, and has his 2 girlfriends he worships ( even though they are evil to him).

I could never send him away, he would just never cope.

We always say he's got his rucksack packed in the corner of his stable, but these days it's covered in dust and has other things on top of it, but it's always there, just in case.

 

[maya2008]

Thanks all, for the first time I have the money for someone else to do it…but the closer we get to backing the harder it is to imagine her letting anyone else but me on. She’s doing so well, but it’s not translating to anyone else.

She was bought for me, not for my children (she’s 14hh) so if she only ever accepts me, that’s fine. She’s safe on the ground and will move away rather than kick out. She is bored just being in the field now though, and desperately wants to be able to go on adventures like her friends. So we are both working together towards the same goal.

I did get a behaviour lady out (well recommended, local enough she could have come back regularly). She was very honest and said all her usual methods of working weren’t doing anything. She watched me with her, said I was doing fine and politely bowed out, giving me recommendations of places to send her if I ever needed to.

To be fair, I would agree that things that work with ‘standard’ horses (tame or feral) don’t work with her. I’ve had to do things completely differently to how I have ever done things before just to get this far!

 

[Lurfy]

I don't think it's worth the risk of destabilizing her fragile progress. I'd keep building trust as you have been, it's working. Well done so far.

 

[ihatework]

It pains me to say it, as i'm a strrong believer in future proofing horses so they can be rehomed, but maybe just doing it yourself and accepting its just you is the way forwards for this horse, with tough decisions to be made if your future changes at any stage. Who knows, maybe with time she will become easier with others, fingers crossed.

 

[Glitter's fun]

I think you need to forget whatever timetable you generally have for a pony's progress. ("Back at 4 , turn away for 6m, re-back and school at 5" etc has no relevance here.)

She isn't ready for backing.

She will tell you when she is. That may be never.

 

[maya2008]

I think you need to forget whatever timetable you generally have for a pony's progress. ("Back at 4 , turn away for 6m, re-back and school at 5" etc has no relevance here.)

She isn't ready for backing.

She will tell you when she is. That may be never.

A horse who triggers themselves by accident, spins away then COMES BACK to try again, is more than ready. She wants to get past this, she wants to go for walks and do what her friends are doing. She tries to come through the gate into the catching pen to come out with us, and runs along the fence as we go past. She’s motivated because she wants to be like her friends now, and that change in attitude was when I started working on the lead rope trauma. She was ready.

Last summer? Nope, not ready. Also growing like an actual weed so I wouldn’t have tried even if she wanted to. Now? Very much so. But between wanting to try and achieving success is a whole world of hurt we have to move past.

Backing itself, I don’t think will be a problem. I can stand next to her on taller blocks, jump around next to her, lean over her back, she couldn’t care less. She has no prior trauma around being sat on and is generally a willing, cooperative mare.

Obviously, I value my life and the process as a whole - I won’t be sitting on her until I can hold her and all triggers are gone. That’s the priority!

 

[Cragrat]

Hugely well done for getting this far!

I would echo the posts above, except to add that IF, in the future, she has built enough confidence for you to be able to take her a ground work clinic without the wheels falling off, then maybe she could get to the point where she could go away.

good luck!

 

[Btomkins]

I wouldn’t dismiss sending away but you’d have to be *extremely* careful who you chose. Sophie Seymour seems to do well with this type, but I guess it depends where you are based and how long you can afford to send away, as it sounds like it will be a long process to make any progress without making things worse or going backwards.

 

[ihatework]

A horse who triggers themselves by accident, spins away then COMES BACK to try again, is more than ready. She wants to get past this, she wants to go for walks and do what her friends are doing. She tries to come through the gate into the catching pen to come out with us, and runs along the fence as we go past. She’s motivated because she wants to be like her friends now, and that change in attitude was when I started working on the lead rope trauma. She was ready.

Last summer? Nope, not ready. Also growing like an actual weed so I wouldn’t have tried even if she wanted to. Now? Very much so. But between wanting to try and achieving success is a whole world of hurt we have to move past. She’ll be 6 in the spring, old enough to know her own mind, old enough to work with me on her fears.

Backing itself, I don’t think will be a problem. I can stand next to her on taller blocks, jump around next to her, lean over her back, she couldn’t care less. She has no prior trauma around being sat on and is generally a willing, cooperative mare.

Obviously, I value my life and the process as a whole - I won’t be sitting on her until I can hold her and all triggers are gone. That’s the priority!

So the horse in my avatar didn't have a trauma history but was a super-sensitive highly reactive twit that tended to only respond to me and even then I had to be careful.
Obviously no where near as bad as yours! But his default nature is a workaholic and a desire to please - now rising 8 he is pretty much do-able by anyone, just to give you hope!

 

[maya2008]

It pains me to say it, as i'm a strrong believer in future proofing horses so they can be rehomed, but maybe just doing it yourself and accepting its just you is the way forwards for this horse, with tough decisions to be made if your future changes at any stage. Who knows, maybe with time she will become easier with others, fingers crossed.

I would be shocked if she didn’t eventually accept my son as he grows up. He’s the calm, quiet horseman even now that all the nervous ones instantly trust. He’s just a bit small to do anything with this one just yet!

 

[tda]

A horse who triggers themselves by accident, spins away then COMES BACK to try again, is more than ready. She wants to get past this, she wants to go for walks and do what her friends are doing. She tries to come through the gate into the catching pen to come out with us, and runs along the fence as we go past. She’s motivated because she wants to be like her friends now, and that change in attitude was when I started working on the lead rope trauma. She was ready.

Last summer? Nope, not ready. Also growing like an actual weed so I wouldn’t have tried even if she wanted to. Now? Very much so. But between wanting to try and achieving success is a whole world of hurt we have to move past.

Backing itself, I don’t think will be a problem. I can stand next to her on taller blocks, jump around next to her, lean over her back, she couldn’t care less. She has no prior trauma around being sat on and is generally a willing, cooperative mare.

Obviously, I value my life and the process as a whole - I won’t be sitting on her until I can hold her and all triggers are gone. That’s the priority!

Looking forward to a sitting on pic

 

[Orangehorse]

I had a rescue pony as a companion. Although her basic nature was calm and pleasant she had been traumatised by whatever had happened to her. She was with a very experienced person when first rescued, who was able to catch her, carefully, and groom and do her feet and she loaded onto the trailer OK but this pony never lost her suspicion of things. Once she didn't want to caught, after becoming reasonable with care, and I realised I was wearing a different coat. That was enough to send her flying away.

So I agree with most to say don't send her away, but she might never be completely trustworthy as a ridden pony. They just don't forget things that frighten them.

 

[BallyRoanBaubles]

In your position I would do it yourself, be different if you hadn’t done it before etc.

 

[SEL]

I think it sounds like you're well on the journey to backing her already - I wouldn't send her away especially as most places have their method and it sounds like you are much more willing and able to adapt depending on the feedback she's giving you.

 

[blodwyn1]

I have sent my 5year old section c mare off for backing and it hasn't gone well. It is a very nice yard but busier than mine and she has become very nervous and is not tolerating people sitting up on her. I am leaving her there on full livery so she can get used to seeing more sights and sounds.

 

[SpeedyPony]

I would do it yourself, so much can go wrong if they go away and tbh backing is the easy part, so unless you're thinking of sending her away for a long time to get her completely established under saddle it's probably not going to save you much time/effort.

 

[Caol Ila]

As you know, Fin is not an easy horse. But his first trainer, who’s friends with an HHO member and that’s how I got in touch with her, said she found him alright to back, as far as ferals go.

Stuff happened, trainer got injured falling off something else, and Fin sat on his a*rse in a field for almost two years. Not ideal timing because they’d only got to the riding away stage.

Owner finally decided to continue his education and sent him away to a training barn for two months. It must have been a mess. I think the trainer he went to is actually decent, but maybe it was the wrong person, or the wrong place, or he couldn’t handle being somewhere else and people with different expectations (likely! He hates change). He came away with more issues than he had before.

I rode him for the first time after he’d been home from the trainer’s for two weeks. I was the first crash test dummy to sit on him following his stint away. Let’s say he did not ride like a horse who’d spent the last two months being worked by a pro.

His first trainer visited us a couple weeks after I bought him, thanks to HHOer putting us in touch. She thought he was a lot nervier.

I doubt Trainer 2 did anything horrid to him. At worst, she expected him to act more like a domestic horse. And the whole situation just fried his brain.

 

[paddy555]

A horse who triggers themselves by accident, spins away then COMES BACK to try again, is more than ready. She wants to get past this, she wants to go for walks and do what her friends are doing. She tries to come through the gate into the catching pen to come out with us, and runs along the fence as we go past. She’s motivated because she wants to be like her friends now, and that change in attitude was when I started working on the lead rope trauma. She was ready.

Last summer? Nope, not ready. Also growing like an actual weed so I wouldn’t have tried even if she wanted to. Now? Very much so. But between wanting to try and achieving success is a whole world of hurt we have to move past.

Backing itself, I don’t think will be a problem. I can stand next to her on taller blocks, jump around next to her, lean over her back, she couldn’t care less. She has no prior trauma around being sat on and is generally a willing, cooperative mare.

Obviously, I value my life and the process as a whole - I won’t be sitting on her until I can hold her and all triggers are gone. That’s the priority!

I don't know if she is a semi feral but on the basis she is then she will be scared (for a long time) of things that happened in her past not the future.
One of mine a total nightmare when he came a 3 due to what had happened in the past. However going onwards was very surprising.
Having finally got him haltered and leading I decided his feet needed trimming. They had never been trimmed. I decided on one foot a night to try and pick it up and tap it. Within an hour I had trimmed 4 feet. No one had ever hurt him trimming so no reason to be afraid.

Then I decided to try long reining him. He had never had a roller on let alone reins over his back. Started at 1pm, did it all, long reined a mile down the road to some friends, parked on their lawn, had supper, drove him back in the dark with the back up of car headlights. No one had ever done that so again no reason to be afraid.

sending away to be broken won't work nor will getting help in. I'm afraid it is going to have to be YOU. Enjoy.

 

[maya2008]

I don't know if she is a semi feral but on the basis she is then she will be scared (for a long time) of things that happened in her past not the future.
One of mine a total nightmare when he came a 3 due to what had happened in the past. However going onwards was very surprising.
Having finally got him haltered and leading I decided his feet needed trimming. They had never been trimmed. I decided on one foot a night to try and pick it up and tap it. Within an hour I had trimmed 4 feet. No one had ever hurt him trimming so no reason to be afraid.

Then I decided to try long reining him. He had never had a roller on let alone reins over his back. Started at 1pm, did it all, long reined a mile down the road to some friends, parked on their lawn, had supper, drove him back in the dark with the back up of car headlights. No one had ever done that so again no reason to be afraid.

sending away to be broken won't work nor will getting help in. I'm afraid it is going to have to be YOU. Enjoy.

Sadly I have known trauma around: vets, being sedated, having teeth done, having hooves trimmed, haltering and leading (especially with long ropes). She has a very strong trauma response to being held/having her movement restricted. So fun times for me!

 

[paddy555]

Sadly I have known trauma around: vets, being sedated, having teeth done, having hooves trimmed, haltering and leading (especially with long ropes). She has a very strong trauma response to being held/having her movement restricted. So fun times for me!

but when she is perfect all the success will have been down to you.