Tense horse - help!

JellyBeanSkittle

JellyBeanSkittle

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My dressage horse is having issues when in the ring.. being a WB x wally, those 5 seconds before the bell rings is just not enough!

We get super marks and comments, but the most consistent of them all is that he has expressive paces but is just so tense itis a pity. I know some of it is down to his confidence so I have been going out regularly just to get hime over this. Another element is that he is slowly coming together with his balance and muscle strength so have also taken that into consideration and his workload is super varied with regular lessons, hacks and jumping to keep him interested too.

I want to add a supplement perhaps to help with his 'tense episodes' and wondered if anyone has had similar problems and could advise me what they have done to over come it? He is currently having brewers yeast and garlic in his feeds.

Thanks in advance :) x x
 
Alot of people swear by the supplements with Magnesium and Vitamin B in them. I had my horse on mag. for about a year when we were in a particularly "hypy"/excitable phase cross country. I do think it helped him to focus more and be less spooky, but I saw more consistency just with regular riding. It's not expensive to feed though, I'm in the US and I paid about 40 cents (less than 1 dollar) a day for it so I thought it was worth a shot.
 
Agree with feeding magnesium oxide. You can get it off eBay cheap
Also try to stick to exactly the same warm up routine. It helps some settle when they know it's just the same as at home
Another thing that may help is to teach him to lower his head, first in hand then ridden. Lowering head really reduces stress levels :)
 
Can you take him along to some event where he doesn't compete, just ride around and do your own thing, the pressure comes off and outings become more fun less stressful?

Also I would take a look at his diet and see if it is balance a deficency / excess can create issues - which is normally when things like Mag work well if there isn't a deficency they wont help.
 
I would check other threads on here about magnesium as others have found it does not help...think it led to a calcium deficiency. Do look at your feed but if the behaviour is restricted to actually competing in the arena, then It is also very likely that your horse is picking up on your stress. I would go back, rent an indoor school and do loads of dummy tests. When competing, get in the arena as quickly as you can and trot around and play a little to keep your horse focused on you, so change rein, transition, shoulder in, whatever to keep his attention.
 
The feed he has, has vits and mins in - including magnesium. We do have an indoor school locally so I will do that. I didnt think I was particularly stressed as I try to use our competitions as a learning tool - I.e when doing a dressage test I go through our routine like at home, flexing/bending and yeilding. He is a fantastic horse but this tension is letting him down as concentration goes out the Window when he does his giraffe impression! Lol.

Just to add, he does have regular physio/chiro session's and tack/teeth checks.
 
I feed equine America Magnitude daily as our grazing is on low magnesium soil and my mare suffers from tension/anxiety. It seems to be the cheapest pure magnesium supplement and I think it gives good results for minor behaviour modifications.

I have just started this week feeding a cup of well brewed camomile tea with her feeds :rolleyes: saw a facebook post about its uses and thought for the price of a packet of tea bags (75p in Tesco for 20!) would be worth a try. I only feed calmers for tension which is especially noticeable in the stable (cow kicking, biting, pacing and girthy mare – not just a case of bad manners as very intermittent, probably hormone related but cant justify lots of £s a month for mare supplements) weirdly she does seem more settled in the last few days despite horrid windy cold weather which usually brings the snorting out! So going to give the tea a bit more time - never know your luck!

PS I have heard FEI are likely to ban the use of Magnesium for horses competing under their rules in 2014 so im now starting to look for alternatives :confused:.
 
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