Trainer fried nice horse's brain. How to unfry?

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SkewbyTwo

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As title, has anyone experienced anything similar? Trying to do right by my lovely youngster, I sent him away for breaking in early spring. He did wonderfully, but unfortunately due to a very simple pain issue (sheath hideously swollen and sore with hardened smegma - missed by the individual I entrusted him to, despite my reminding him to check that very area as he has suffered before) he began to object very violently to any and all ridden work. Of course he would have given many warnings, but those were clearly ignored. That is a different story.

I quickly took the horse back, but it was too late. I had last seen him, his happy and normal self, sleepy head low over the door on a deserted stable yard. I loaded him up one evening after work and all seemed fine. However on getting him off I realised how thin he was. But mainly, how wired he was. One thing I did notice as soon as we got him into a stable, was that he'd attempt to barge out of it. I stopped this straight away and he never did it again, but it concerned me greatly. He adored his stable prior to going away.

I've owned the horse since a yearling and he's the most laid back I've ever owned or dealt with. So I was really alarmed, and let the 'trainer' know immediately. I told him that I was quite sure at that stage that the horse had been left, when he had claimed to have been working with him, and handled by his hugely inexperienced staff (the great staff at the yard when the horse arrived, left shortly after).

He gave no reply whatsoever and I never heard from him again. Despite the fact that I had never forwarded payment for the last few months my horse was at his yard. He charged me £200 per week, and was always very on the ball, where finance was concerned.

I decided to turn my lad away with his previous lovely herd and let them do the work for me in bringing him back down many notches. They have done a wonderful job. He's once again beautifully calm and confident in the field, but this horse now looks to his herdmates for his reassurance and security and safety, and no longer to me. He also becomes insanely wound up if left on his own. He's just so worried about everything. I re-teach his basic manners and praise him hugely. But I always get only so far, as his adrenaline remains too high. He has also developed a highly dangerous habit of flinging his head about when being led. His neck is long, lithe and powerful, and he is lightning fast.

I'm going to start lunging the horse this week and see how he goes. I've no saddle for him as yet, but to be honest we are a way off that. He is 5 and I should have had my long awaited first season competing him! He's the only baby I ever bought, and my only concern is to get him right. I am very lucky in that I have another horse to ride and compete so there is no pressure on him. Only to try and do right by him.

So my questions are many, I think As time goes on, I'm realising the damage done was more than I originally thought. Is there any benefit in attempting to pin this guy down, and find out more about what happened? My gut feeling is not.

My greatest concern right now, is how to stop him flinging his head about. It's SO dangerous. I use a rope round his nose which is normally WAY too much pressure for him. But he doesn't seem to care. His adrenaline goes sky high, the second you ask him to do anything other than eat grass.

I'd like to start working with him on the lunge. I'd like to get him into the idea of work as a nice thing, and create the opportunity for something he does well. I used to take him for walks, but until the head flinging is sorted, this is a no-no. He's knocked me to the ground just turning him out - all because I left him alone to finish a feed (as I'd previously done, all his life).

He's literally horrible right now, and I am feeling awfully guilty. He's also a naturally gifted boy, he took to ridden work beautifully as he found it so very easy. And this was a big part of his downfall, as the 'trainer' initially explained away his broncing explosions as "talented horses often have quirks". I'm quite sure, that not once, did he bother to respond to the horse's pleas for him to listen.

All ideas for moving forward welcomed.

Also re the trainer, anyone thinking of sending a horse away to a Gloucestershire-based eventer, please pm me first so I can tell you about my experience.

TIA xxx
 
Agree with GS... You seem to be blaming the trainer and noticing the swollen willy area for a whole host if problems
 
If you can rule out physical problems, I would start over and use positive reinforcement for every step of the way. Get a book on clicker training, you don't have to use a clicker but it is a way of learning that is fun, and you can begin by just rewarding for leading, building to bridling, having a saddle on etc. You might well find that he begins to enjoy and you get your nice horse back. But the memory will always be there and I guess this will be a horse who can't cope with any kind of coercion so you will have to be inventive as to how to get him offering a good behaviour you can reward.
Sadly I think you might struggle with getting some kind of recompense, the Supply of Goods and Services Act says you are entitled to "repair replace or refund". My guess is the so-called trainer, once pinned down, will offer to "repair" i.e. have the horse back for further training and in your shoes that is the last thing I would want to happen. Speak to the BHS legal advice about required standards when you send a horse for training?
 
As others said I think you need to rule out all physical problems. The flinging head may be tooth pain (had same with a 5yr old before)

I would then use a good controller head collar BUT be sure to show him how to use it, horses don't automatically know how to release pressure from these

Maybe worth getting a reputable behaviourist to help
 
RE the leading, have you ever tried something like a Dually halter. They work on pressure across the nose when you need it and then it slackens off as soon as you release it. We have a lovely connie who got a big too big for his boots at one stage yet was terrified of being told off and it really helped.
 
I have had something like this but not as bad, the trainer 'disciplined' my horse to the point of panic, fortunately I was there when
it happened and my daughter was a nice soft rider so he never associated her with what happened but it did happen again with another trainer when he did something 'wrong'.
I think they have been worried to the point that they think they can not do anything right and the flight response takes over. I have no experience of clicker training so I have no idea how effective it is, but the horse has to find a safe place where he finds comfort.
With young animals I always buddy up with an older one so perhaps he needs to going back to be a baby, with an older companion with a very set routine that he relax in to.
I think that in the effort to make a living from horses riders take to many horses on and the horse becomes a product, we are paying for the result and no matter how often you say I do not want them pushed they do in the effort to impress. What happened with my horse reduced me to frozen speechlessness, my daughter to tears and the thing was it could all have been avoided if machismo had not taken over, the person did not want to be seen to lose to the horse in front of us. In the end the horse ended up a gibbering wreck and the rider looked foolish and cruel.
I think these people can never understand the hurt they cause, you have trusted them with your trusting partner and abused that trust leaving you to pick up the consequences where they can shrug their shoulders and move on to the next blaming the horse when it was their own stupidity that caused the problem.
 
Have you long reined him? You can do alot of work on these.
I would go back to complete basics and try to regain the trust, as said above, can you buddy him up with an older horse?
Sadly, sometimes they never forget the harshness that they have faced but if they can learn to trust you, you will at least get somewhere with him.


How long was he with this person for?
 
Wouldn't bother with the trainer, you'll never be told the truth. A check of all the usual would be in order to start, teeth, back saddle etc. Also rule out ulcers. After that maybe start experimenting with calmers to bring his stress levels down a notch
 
Agree with what everyone has said. Possibly a random suggestion but after research my YO has switched the yard over to Pure feeds. She started with the 2 most stressy and spooky horses on the yard, her own and mine. It has made a real difference. Mine is still sharp but not quite so wired and hers is the same. Hers was quite capable of standing up when asked to halt in his dressage test as he just got so worried about everything. 5th in his last Novice (BE) this season and qualified for 1*. I have just seen that sometimes horses that get really stressed just keep perpetuating the stress. YO own horse is seriously talented but this stress behaviour has taken her a very long time to sort..but the good news was she did it. She has never pushed this horse, she is very quiet with him and built a good relationship in the floor. This is the sort of horse who would scare himself if his tail caught up (he sports a show horse length now), but she is/has sorted it and right now, this horse is rewarding her as neither she nor her trainer think they have come anyway near seeing how far this boy will go.
 
I think, like the others, that an overall physical check would be a good start by a vet first and then a chartered physio. Maybe the horse got a sharp pull on the headcollar rope, or tried to pull back and has hurt his poll area, hence the head flinging.

Then think about a different approach so you are not repeating what the trainer did, look into clicker training or the books by Linda Tellington-Jones.

It is so disappointing and sad when you have entrusted your pride and joy to someone and they mess up.
 
Can I suggest contacting someone who may have worked at the yard or still does, rather than asking the trainer direct? I think it would be very valuable to know exactly what happened to your horse. Other than that you sound like you're doing good work regaining his trust. If he is fussy to lead, is he better if you have another horse in tandem with him? Obviously you'd need help the first few time you tried it in case it upset him - but, it could be a useful starting point to wean him back onto being led on his own eventually. Good luck with his rehab. :)
 
my sons gelding is the same, he gets hysterical when his sheath needs cleaning, it took us a while to recognise what was going on and he was being really hard to get through to. He is fine now but just yesterday he humped his back and sure enough things were pretty unpleasant down there!
 
Another vote for long reining! I think learning/seeing new things gives a horse lots of opportunities to be told how clever they are, as long as you don't push them too much. Long reining does wonders for their confidence and your relationship. I think many horses are a little 'feral' after being turned away for a while, they normally soon come round with a consistent work routine. Don't panic, I'm sure you'll get that good relationship back with time.
 
If he was underweight when he came back - get him scoped for ulcers. Every horse I know that has had a traumatic time somewhere that is also underweight has had ulcers on top of their other issues, so definitely worth getting that checked out.

I dont think its worth trying to go back to the trainer to find out what happened, you'll never get an honest answer - but as someone has said, if you can get hold of a staff member who you think you can trust that might be worth a try. Or one of the staff that left, they'll probably have heard stories from the yard but take it all with a pinch of salt if its a former employee, they may be bitter about something and want to damage his reputation.

I'm so sorry this has happened, I have a wonderful yearling who has the loveliest temperament out of any yearling I've ever come across, I'd be devastated if this happened to me so I can only imagine how hard this is for you. I'd get all the health checks done first as others have said (full MOT - teeth, back etc etc). Then maybe have a few groundwork lessons with a natural horsemanship trainer (that kind of thing - doesnt need to be full blown Parelli etc), often these are just very experienced horsemen/women who are great with problem horses and they should be able to help. Try long-reining and lunging, long-reining is preferable as it puts less pressure on joints going round and round in circles.

Good luck and be patient - I'm sure in time he'll rebuild the relationship with you.
 
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