warriors26
New User
I have been a long-time lurker on this forum but reading this post has made me want to reply as I have a very similar horse.
Just one thing, please don't give up on him - if there is nothing physically wrong with him you will find an answer. We bought an 18yr old Grade A showjumper nearly 11 years ago (he was bought as a schoolmaster to give experience jumping round bigger tracks) and when we got him, he was in a ridiculously strong pelham (thin mouthpiece with a port and rollers on the bars) and he was not easy to stop (i.e. he would literally take off after finishing a course and not stop until you could get him on a circle). We tried a variety of bits and nosebands on him, had settled on a Tom Thumb and a Kineton noseband which he seemed to go fairly happily in. His flatwork was basically non-existent to the extent he was dangerous in canter if asked to do more than about half a 20m circle without jumps! Even keeping on a circle didn't work as it would quickly become a wall of death (our instructor wouldn't even stand in the middle of a circle when he was cantering). Draw reins were (and still are to an extent) his safety blanket as previous owners had always used them on him as a quick fix I suppose.
He had a accident jumping with my sister which made us stop jumping him for nearly a year as he went completely off the boil with it and so we decided to work on his flatwork with aims to do some dressage on him. We basically hacked him and schooled only in walk and trot for about 6 months before even thinking of cantering him. When we did reintroduce canter we started with just a few strides of canter then back to walk (canter-trot transitions came a lot later as he just didn't understand them!).
We now have a 29yr old horse who will work happily on the flat in a Myler snaffle and drop noseband and is controllable in walk, trot and canter. He will even canter on a relaxed, loose rein and still come back easily when asked. He was definitely a horse where the more you pulled, the more he pulled and the faster he went; and because he had very little balance on the flat, the more unbalanced he became, the faster he went. He still has his moments when he panics but these instances are far and few between now.
There is no quick fix and it took at least a couple of years to pretty much retrain him to a rideable horse on the flat but it can happen. We thought when we started with him, he was too old, too set in his ways (having been on professional SJ yards since a 4yr old) and it would never happen; we would just have to cope with what he was, but thanks to lots of patience and a vey good instructor, we now have a horse who is relaxed and happy on the flat.
I think it's very much a mental problem and you need to take the time to let him relax, take the pressure off and almost remember how to be a horse again.
Just one thing, please don't give up on him - if there is nothing physically wrong with him you will find an answer. We bought an 18yr old Grade A showjumper nearly 11 years ago (he was bought as a schoolmaster to give experience jumping round bigger tracks) and when we got him, he was in a ridiculously strong pelham (thin mouthpiece with a port and rollers on the bars) and he was not easy to stop (i.e. he would literally take off after finishing a course and not stop until you could get him on a circle). We tried a variety of bits and nosebands on him, had settled on a Tom Thumb and a Kineton noseband which he seemed to go fairly happily in. His flatwork was basically non-existent to the extent he was dangerous in canter if asked to do more than about half a 20m circle without jumps! Even keeping on a circle didn't work as it would quickly become a wall of death (our instructor wouldn't even stand in the middle of a circle when he was cantering). Draw reins were (and still are to an extent) his safety blanket as previous owners had always used them on him as a quick fix I suppose.
He had a accident jumping with my sister which made us stop jumping him for nearly a year as he went completely off the boil with it and so we decided to work on his flatwork with aims to do some dressage on him. We basically hacked him and schooled only in walk and trot for about 6 months before even thinking of cantering him. When we did reintroduce canter we started with just a few strides of canter then back to walk (canter-trot transitions came a lot later as he just didn't understand them!).
We now have a 29yr old horse who will work happily on the flat in a Myler snaffle and drop noseband and is controllable in walk, trot and canter. He will even canter on a relaxed, loose rein and still come back easily when asked. He was definitely a horse where the more you pulled, the more he pulled and the faster he went; and because he had very little balance on the flat, the more unbalanced he became, the faster he went. He still has his moments when he panics but these instances are far and few between now.
There is no quick fix and it took at least a couple of years to pretty much retrain him to a rideable horse on the flat but it can happen. We thought when we started with him, he was too old, too set in his ways (having been on professional SJ yards since a 4yr old) and it would never happen; we would just have to cope with what he was, but thanks to lots of patience and a vey good instructor, we now have a horse who is relaxed and happy on the flat.
I think it's very much a mental problem and you need to take the time to let him relax, take the pressure off and almost remember how to be a horse again.