Sudden spooks

[Highflinger]

I bought a highland x just over a year ago . He was only 5 and had done very little. He was vey reluctant to hack out to start with -planting and refusing to move forward and spooking a lot but I persevered doing the same short hack each day and he now hacks out willingly and we vary the hacks and he does not nap at all. He will happily go past his field when we return from a ride so is no longer nappy and seems willing to go out. He does however do a lot of sudden apparently random spooks -- suddenly shooting off the path sideways usually to the right . He does this in both walk and trot at apparently "nothing". He reacts differently when there really is something to spook at e.g pheasant flying up, deer etc - he then usually shoots forward and canters a few strides before stopping. I have tried ignoring the spooks ( both types) and also growling at him and firmly kicking him on for the sideways ones and turning him round and making him walk past the area had spooked at but he seems to be getting worse - sometimes he is fine for the whole hack but another time he will do a number of random sideway spooks at "nothing". I am not a confident rider and this is starting to really unnerve as the spooks are getting bigger and more frequent. I had hoped after a year of hacking together he would be confident but he seems quite tense.
I have done a couple of in hand hacks - I am very confident on the ground but he has still spooked so I don't think he is reacting to my nerves when ridden.
Any advice?

 

[YorksG]

I always say this, but look to the diet, put him on nothing but forage (or grass chaff/nuts if he "needs" a bucket feed). Cut out any alfalfa, carrots or grain as they can also cause reactions, my old Appy was a complete fruit loop if fed carrots or alfalfa and we had a welshDxTb who could not tolerate grain or sugars, without becoming wired to the moon and in obvious distress.

 

[paddi22]

yeah was going to suggest diet too. there could be something just giving him an 'edge'

i have one that i took off all feed for a week and the change in him was amazing. by a process of deduction it was something in feed just hyping him up.

 

[DabDab]

Definitely worth trying an exclusion type diet.

In terms of riding - when he leaps sideways try just stopping him still wherever he's ended up and just standing there for a minute. He'll probably try to wonder off, in which case just ask him to stand again, take some deep breaths, give him a pat, and walk on when you're ready. Leaping sideways like that can become really habitual to a nervous type, so just breaking the cycle of the habit a bit and giving them a moment to drop their adrenalin and engage their brains is what you're aiming for (as well as helping you feel less chucked around hopefully )

 

[Highflinger]

Thanks for the replies. I don't think it is diet related as he is out 24/7 on grass & a token slice of hay. - shared with his field mate. He has not even seen a pony nut since I have had him & I don't feed tit bits. His "treats" & rewards for good work are neck & wither scratches which he loves. He is a typical native who lives on thin air!

 

[YorksG]

Thanks for the replies. I don't think it is diet related as he is out 24/7 on grass & a token slice of hay. - shared with his field mate. He has not even seen a pony nut since I have had him & I don't feed tit bits. His "treats" & rewards for good work are neck & wither scratches which he loves. He is a typical native who lives on thin air!

Then I would look at his magnesium and calcium levels. We know that our land is short of calcium (we have put seaweed on in the past to counteract this)

 

[Doublethyme]

Mine is like this in grass.....I now feed Graze-ezy from calm healthy horses and she is rarely out 24/7 and muzzled in summer when out overnight. Has made a huge difference to how she can cope with her very reactive nature. She can quote literally teleport in a nano second and was finding it hard to bring her adrenalin down. Now she still can be spooky but she really tried to listen and contain her reaction. She has a bad reaction to clover and rye in our grazing unfortunately.

 

[attheponies]

Really interested to read this as I have an ISH who can be ok when hacking alone but at other times will spot something on the horizon and become incredibly tense, often then throwing a sudden spin. I took a nasty tumble early on in the summer when he threw a complete 180 degree spin with absolutely no warning. He is only on grass and hay and seems to be getting worse rather than better. He will also do it in company but is much better out in a group hacking in the local forest than he is around familiar tracks at home.

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

I bought a highland x just over a year ago . He was only 5 and had done very little. He was vey reluctant to hack out to start with -planting and refusing to move forward and spooking a lot but I persevered doing the same short hack each day and he now hacks out willingly and we vary the hacks and he does not nap at all. He will happily go past his field when we return from a ride so is no longer nappy and seems willing to go out. He does however do a lot of sudden apparently random spooks -- suddenly shooting off the path sideways usually to the right . He does this in both walk and trot at apparently "nothing". He reacts differently when there really is something to spook at e.g pheasant flying up, deer etc - he then usually shoots forward and canters a few strides before stopping. I have tried ignoring the spooks ( both types) and also growling at him and firmly kicking him on for the sideways ones and turning him round and making him walk past the area had spooked at but he seems to be getting worse - sometimes he is fine for the whole hack but another time he will do a number of random sideway spooks at "nothing". I am not a confident rider and this is starting to really unnerve as the spooks are getting bigger and more frequent. I had hoped after a year of hacking together he would be confident but he seems quite tense.
I have done a couple of in hand hacks - I am very confident on the ground but he has still spooked so I don't think he is reacting to my nerves when ridden.
Any advice?

Going on my mares history - found out she is sensitive to magnesium, and the magnesium in her nuts and multivitamins, sent her over the 6% and she was ridiculously spooky. She is now on a mag free calmer and when the phosphates are high we add some magnitude to suit her. She is such a more pleasant horse to ride now.

 

[alainax]

Is he particularly hairy? If these spooks are different from a normal spook, could something be pinching?

My friends highland has extremely hairy “arm pits” and lots of hair to get caught in the girth and potentially yanked out.

 

[JFTDWS]

I'm not sure - one of my highlands is a bit like this to hack (alone, not in company). There is always "something" that worries him, but it's usually something very silly (tiny bird, butterfly, funny coloured leaf ). I've fiddled with feed (he doesn't get anything now anyway), and supplements, but it's just his response to things he finds unnerving. He's not a confident chap, and he reacts first and thinks later. My response is largely as DabDab describes - I make him stand, stand, then walk past. To be fair, he's infinitely better these days, but he has the odd funny day, especially at this time of year.

 

[blitznbobs]

Try ear plugs he may be spooking at a sound.

 

[pistolpete]

Boring I know but have to do it Teeth, back, saddle.
I too have a reactive highland who I struggle to hack alone. Currently paying an instructor to walk with me. She is also an advocate of the stop and allow adrenaline to come down approach. Not my natural reaction but it does work. I also had another horse whose saddle hurt him who would react like this. I’d had a recommended saddler who turns out was not very good!

 

[jj_87]

We have a highland mare and she is a bit of an odd ball. We have a couple of highlands on the yard too and they are oddballs too! As much as you could ride ours out in gale force wind, heavy traffic etc, she gets very worried about things and totally forgets she has a rider with her. When she gets worried her behaviour can vary from stopping still and just disappears from underneath you to a total panic and freakout (She has ran for home a couple of times, reversed into bushes).

I have found that she just isn't quiet as confident as we think, so alongside exposing her to lots of different things that worried her, including working her in the school underlights (this would totally freak her out) we also added magnesium to her diet which has helped enormously, she also has a low starch diet. Low cal balancer and hifi, they really don't need much more.

We clip her from the start of september as when she is too hot she acts even weirder!!

I still can't catch her if I am wearing my bright pink coat.......

 

[meleeka]

OP - This sounds just like my native. Luckily he doesn’t do it very often but I know how it erodes your confidence. I’m following with interest but will try Magnesium as a few other symptoms seem to fit.

 

[Highflinger]

I had not thought about magnesium - thanks for the suggestion - have just ordered a calmer supplement and see how it goes. As I do not feed him anything at the moment as he is too fat (typical fresh air native) I was wondering what to mix it with - would literally a table spoon of soaked sugar beet nuts be ok or table spoon of soaked grass nuts? When I say table spoon that is the soaked amount - about 10 nuts of dry!!

 

[Doublethyme]

The stop, stand, allow adrenaline to lower is the best way forward with my warmblood too. It allows her time to get a grip on her adrenaline rush. Pushing through can work but then she finds it incredibly hard to relax afterwards.

 

[Muddywellies]

I really surprised no one has mentioned ulcers. The only symptom I had that my mare had ulcers was particularly extreme spooks and over reacting. After a gastroscope to supposedly 'discount' ulcers, she was found to have bleeding grade 3 ulcers. She's a native. The majority of horses (not just racehorses) have ulcers. After a very very long battle with them, we now manage her very carefully. Please don't shy away from scoping - it's vital to find out what's going on internally and with any luck, yours will scope clear. In the meantime, don't let your horse go without grass or hay - keep him nibbling as much of the time as possible and always feed a decent scoop of chaff before work.