Someone has scared my horse

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cuddlycob1

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Hi, we have had our cob gelding for 2 months. We got him when he was just 3 and unhandled. Over the past two months we’ve worked really hard to build trust and get him used to life as a family horse. He’s come on leaps!
He’s at a small livery of six horses.
About a week ago he started to refuse coming out of his paddock and would freeze and start heavy breathing. He backs up anytime we managed to move him forward. It now takes 30 mins to walk a 5 min journey as he is so spooky and doesn’t want to move. However he is fine walking back to his paddock and fine on a lead rope inside the paddock.

I’ve recently discovered that one of the other liveries has been going into his paddock and recently took her screaming baby in there! She said because he probably hasn’t seen children and she wanted to introduce him. This has coincided with his sudden nervous behaviour. :(
Does anyone have any tips on how we can help him? We were doing so so well with him and he’s gone from being confident and inquisitive to nervous and anxious, all within a week.
I’m so angry that this lady thought it was okay to do this.
 
If he has had this dramatic a reaction from a screaming baby, I think there is much more underlying with your horse.

You are trying to build a confident family horse, loud and crying kids is all part of that.

As above. Be very consistent, treats good behaviour and ignore bad (so long as it’s not dangerous)

If he were mine and he’d walk around the paddock being led, I’d reverse him
Out the gate and see how he reacts to that.

Good luck!
 
2 months is a short period of time so to make such awesome progress is absolutely wonderful and I can absolutely see why you are angry at this set back x

You say that the problem is mainly trying to get him out the paddock as this is where he stops, reverses, freezes etc. So what I would do is providing that he isn't nippy around food, I would focus on getting him to walk nicely up to the gateway and stand there for tiny periods of time and then slowly work up to getting him to walk out the gateway nicely. Each time he does as you ask I would shower him with praise and give him a treat or two, so that he learns that leaving the paddock can be a nice thing again. If he is nippy I'd do wither scratches instead.

Another thing that may be worth trying - can you get someone else to lead their horse in and out your paddock and have your lad follow behind? Seeing another horse walk through the gateway unbothered could be just the confidence boost that your lad needs x
 
Often the issue can be the gateway (narrower space making them feel vulnerable) rather than what's outside it.

I would set up a couple of blocks in the field wide apart to start and work with him until he happily walks between them (keep widening them until he's walking calmly and confidently between them, stopping between them, backing up and manoeuvring between them). Once he's truly relaxed and confident, narrow the gap slightly and repeat until relaxed and confident. Progress until gap much narrower than gate. Keep sessions short and finish when confident even if that means widening the gap.

Once pony confident with gap in middle of field move one block to create gap between block and fence. Repeat above process. Once pony confident with a narrow gap between block and fence casually mozy out gate with lead rein loose acting as if nothing major is happening.

Edited to add I'd not worry about pony being exposed to normal everyday sounds that he will come across in daily life like a crying baby. He needs exposure to these kind of things to learn to deal with them. Real life happens all the time! Presumably the pony was loose and therefore able to move it's feet to what it felt was a safe distance and not held on a lead rope and forcibly 'introduced'?
 
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cuddlycob1 said:
I’ve recently discovered that one of the other liveries has been going into his paddock and recently took her screaming baby in there! She said because he probably hasn’t seen children and she wanted to introduce him.
Click to expand...
Why on earth would she do that - it's not a petting zoo. Your horse is nothing to do with her.
It would be different if you were there and she had asked you.
Is it even a good idea to take a baby into a field of loose horses.
 
Thanks for all the replies and advice. I’ve had the vet out today as I wanted to check it’s not medical reasons, as the more I think about it the more it does seem strange for him to behave this way. Even if he’s had a screaming baby in his safe space!
The vet identified an area of uncomfortable/pain and wants to rule out ulcers as he’s been stressed out quite a bit. He’s a sensitive soul anyway. Once that’s ruled in/out then we can confirm if it’s behavioural and then work on that.
We’ve managed to entice him with some food - he loves his blue food bucket 😂 but it still took over an hour 😔 he’s just not himself.
 
Archangel said:
Why on earth would she do that - it's not a petting zoo. Your horse is nothing to do with her.
It would be different if you were there and she had asked you.
Is it even a good idea to take a baby into a field of loose horses.
Click to expand...
It’s annoyed me as I would never do that. I wouldn’t even enter someone else’s paddock unless the horse was in trouble.
 
No one ought to be taking a baby into a shared field at a livery yard, screaming or not. Mention to yard owner voicing concerns of safety. Sorted.
It sounds as though you made amazing progress with him in two months, just face it that you’ve had a blip, and will have to go through the trust-building process again. There’s a chance all or some of the horses have reacted badly to the screaming field baby, and they’re keeping each other slightly on edge.
 
Is there electric tape near the gate? Could he have been zapped and is now worried that it's going to hurt going through it?
 
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