Turning away a sour horse............

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lucky7

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Since i have been doing more with my cob i have realised how hard work it has become to ride the sec D, took him on a fun ride 2 weeks ago and wanted to do some small xc jumps, he just didn't want to know! he was nappy with the other horse and no matter how much leg i applied he just stood like concrete and refused to go forward till my friends horse did, he ran out on the jumps which where literally logs on the ground and he felt really *meh*. He has come behind the leg in the school too so we laid off that for a while and he did come back better, he's okay hacking but he feels pretty dead to the leg and lazy at times! I just feel he's gone a bit sour? he was in work 4 - 5 days per week, schooling 1 x and hacked the rest
Riding the cob was a breath of fresh air, super forward going, really keen, jumps etc and we have a WH class planned in a few weeks. I actually look forward to riding her, also shes not sharp like the boy ( as well as being lazy he can be super sharp and spooky!!) and not spooky !!
So i have decided to turn the D away for a while, having his shoes off this week (he's due anyway) and turning him away for a few months and see hos heis in autumn plus i don't have time to ride 2. Hoping the break will do him good. He's 7.
Anyone else turned away a sour horse? how long for and did they come back refreshed?
 
I have turned away sour horses and yes it does work if they are sour. But I'm not sure your cob is. Sour horses do the same thing day in day out (usually work in a school) and they object to that but come alive (sometimes too alive) when doing something else. A sour horse should still light up on a fun ride with other horses.

Have you done the normal back / tack / teeth etc? To me this sounds more like either pain or catastrophically poor manners. That said - turning away can sometimes help with that too. If this is low grade pain then some time barefoot in a field with no stress may well help whatever it is to heal. Do make sure you do the checks when he comes back though as he will have changed shape! If it is bad manners then turning him away relaxes the pressure and you should be able to re-school as you bring him back. Although if it is the latter you might want to continue ground handling through the break so he doesn't go feral.
 
the work routine you describe doesn't like it would make a horse sour - i've only seen horses sour that are drilled into the ground work wise, riding school horses or doing a job they absolutely hate.

it genuinely sounds like your welsh d has reached his teenage years and realised he has the upper hand. The symptoms you describe sound like a horse taking the p*ss. He can move forward fine when his friends are, he can ignore your leg as it doesn't sound theres and strong reprimand for him doing it and there is no reason for a horse to run out of a log on the ground, if he was mine i'd keep him at it till he walked over it. have you tried a very strong strict rider on him?
 
Shay said:
I have turned away sour horses and yes it does work if they are sour. But I'm not sure your cob is. Sour horses do the same thing day in day out (usually work in a school) and they object to that but come alive (sometimes too alive) when doing something else. A sour horse should still light up on a fun ride with other horses.

Have you done the normal back / tack / teeth etc? To me this sounds more like either pain or catastrophically poor manners. That said - turning away can sometimes help with that too. If this is low grade pain then some time barefoot in a field with no stress may well help whatever it is to heal. Do make sure you do the checks when he comes back though as he will have changed shape! If it is bad manners then turning him away relaxes the pressure and you should be able to re-school as you bring him back. Although if it is the latter you might want to continue ground handling through the break so he doesn't go feral.
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Not worried about him going ferral, i have had him since he was a foal and done everything with him myself. Will still bring him in for grooming and a bit of groundwork etc....i just feel he needs a bit of a break and a bit of head space - i did keep him in work during winter time. He had a physio out in December and he had his saddle checked last month, all good.
My little boy goes to school in september so will have a bit more time to ride him etc
 
Have you considered that he might have PSSM? Lazy, and spooky at the same time is often how they present. Except they aren't lazy, it hurts them to move.
 
It does sound more like a physical problem rather than a mental one as in sour to be in honest, I think if he were mine I would be looking into why he has started this behaviour it could be something very simple and I would also consider pssm as ycbm has suggested.

One of my horses started to lack enthusiasm in his ridden work and just wasn't performing so well in his schooling so I did all the checks back, teeth, physio and she thought he didn't look quite right behind and he had quite a sore back which she worked on and he was better for a while but then he went lame on his nearside hind, he actually had a hole in his suspensory and I really think the leg was not right for a while and although he didn't look lame he was compensating and making his back sore, that was 2 years ago and his back being ridden and feels amazing and back to his old self now.
 
It doesn't sound like he's sour to me, it sounds like he's had a taste of an easy life and got out of the habit of doing anything, so when he does the metal blocks go up because it's just such.hard.work.

He may well have something physical underlying too, such as PSSM, or even just general physical weakness, that makes that metal almost depressed type state feel even more oppressive to him.

Generally with nappy horses, the more you work them the better they get, because it becomes routine and therefore not a big deal, and once they've got over that they often start to really enjoy work, because the mental and physical stimulation actual has a huge psychological benefit for horses that naturally tend towards backwards thinking and insecure. But if you don't have the time to really give him the work he needs then no harm at all in turning away, and probably better that than riding him infrequently and having the current issue escalate.
 
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