Very eventful hack yesterday!

[Potato!]

Well moved to a livery yard about a month ago with my boy, Since then he had become quite pushy when being led to and from the field, now that he is turned out with others he has improved. However he seems to have become attached to a little mare that he is stabled next to (even though she is not in the field with him) and every time she goes out he goes nuts for about 10-15 minutes fly bucking and rearing in the doorway and generally being an idiot. He is being schooled not by my YO/trainer and im hacking him over the weekends. And apart from the mare incident he seems to have settled.

Now my horse has a bad attitude and is generally pushy with a pig headed attitude which we are working on and I have been working with since I bought him 15 or so months ago. I have been hacking him in company and alone and hunting him with no problems and he is generally very well behaved when ridden, When schooling is where I was having the issue hence my trainer is schooling him on for me till he is up and running and I will continue with lessons.

Yesterday however I whilst I was grooming him in his stable getting ready to go for a hack the mare was turned out. He went a little mad but once told off he seemed to settle a little. When I went to tack him up he disappeared into the back of the stable when I walked in with the bridle (he does tend to do this normally as I believe he previously had a bad experience with his bridle being put on). When I went to get on he tensed up and I thought he was going to buck and wouldn’t stand still which is odd for him so was walking round and thought id keep him busy whilst waiting for the others. He bounced and jogged up the lane a little but then he normally settles by the time he gets to the top of the lane. I joked that he is normally better behaved when out hunting.

Then completely out of character he kicked out at another horse so I told him off and took him to the back of the ride where he was getting would up and wouldn’t walk forward. So we were getting left behind so I had told everyone to go head as he normally settles if he is alone ( has seen other horses disappearing off into the distance before with no issues) we got to the top of the hill and round the bends and into a straight bit of road and he stopped. I gave him a little leg and told him to get on, nothing so I gave him a smack and told him to get on again and he took off, head up I tried to turn him into the hedge but it didn’t work and the red mist came down and he was going like the clappers, I shouted to the others to get out of the way as he galloped past them and down a hill on the road, I just stayed with him and didn’t fight him as he would have gone down as it was quite a slippy road. After about half a mile he stared slowing down but he leapt onto a bank and I managed to stop him before he jumped the hedge. Once he stopped I stood still for a few minutes to get myself together debating wether to get off and lead him home or ride back when one of the girls on her pony came to check on us, and I decided to ride back with her next to us. He walked back like nothing had happened at all. I put him away untacked him without saying a word and walked away, Then burst into tears.

He has never done anything like that before and I know hindsight is a wonderful thing but he was would up before he went out but I never expected him to do anything like that. No I love him to bits but he has a pig headed attitude whereas all the other horse on the yard have a willing attitude even if they don’t want to do something but his attitude is ‘well if you want me to do that then make me’ He challenges everything. Now I’m going to rule out pain as I have contacted the back person, will get his teeth looked at and saddle checked to rule out a pain issue as this seems to be out of character, but I can’t help thinking it’s a temper tantrum that just seems to escalate since the mare went out and he just wound himself up to the point that it just blew his brain.

Sorry its long , but I’ve got bacon sarnies for anyone who got this far.

 

[kaiko]

Been there with mine shortly after I moved yards, he became an beast that I just didn't even know. Tanked off with me (same as you), reared on the road, threw himself around the stable and would knock me flying if tied up outside for grooming. All of this was alien behaviour really.

His attitude is pretty similar and by god there are times I could cheerfully wring his neck. But last summer we cracked it. He needed a consistant routine to settle down at the new place (took over 6 months) and plenty of lessons and tons more hacking. If i thought he would be a knob that day (silliness before riding etc) then he would have some calmer (naf Magic). Whether it works or not is another matter but it made me relax too knowing he had it. Whacked a neck strap on too!

Hope you get through it as I loved riding him last summer, had the best riding memories for a long time and we have really bonded and settled now. It just took time, consistency and some confidence on my part to make sure he knew his boundaries.

 

[kirstyl]

Did you have similar behaviour at your previous yard?

 

[Caol Ila]

Are there other horses stabled in the same block with your horse and the mare?

I have found that if you only have two horses in a block, they can form quite the attachment to one another. My current yard had all the stables scattered in the farm buildings, so you'd get three in one building, two in another, three in another, and so on. My horse only had one other horse in her little building and went bananas if that horse was taken out for a ride. She also went nuts if I rode before the YO brought the horses in for the evening. I spent about a year only riding after 4pm. She normally has the most beautiful ground manners and is easy and chilled out to work with, and in the 13 years I'd had her, I never ever had this issue. It was like she got a personality transplant; when she was in that barn alone, she was in full flight mode and there was no getting through to her. There was something about the geography of the barn that she didn't like. I know how to slowly desensitize a horse to a companion being taken out for brief periods of time, but that requires the companion's owner being prepared to spend quite a lot of time working with you and your horse, and in this case, not a chance of that happening. Anyway, the YO built a shiny new American style barn and all 16 horses at the yard are now stabled together. Overnight, our problems vanished. My horse is still a little bit attached to this other mare, but she doesn't go totally nuts when that horse isn't there -- she might neigh once or twice but that's it -- and I can bring her in to ride at whatever time of day I want.

They are funny creatures.

 

[Potato!]

Not not really as I just rented a field before but had a mare there for a few weeks and he got very attached to her. I moved him as i needed the use of the facilities and wanted him to have company with turned out i couldnt afford another horse so thought that livery would be better for him knowing he had been in livery yards before without other issues.

There are the two big tb gelding in the same barn which he is turned out with. But he dosent bother if they go out before he does.

I was talking to a friend who used to be on the yard that this mare came from and she used to have alot of problems with her gelding while she was there. Its a real pitty as the mare couldn't care less about the gelding and really cant be arsed with them at all.

 

[kaiko]

Give him time. I moved mine from a field to livery and it took awhile. Get a good routine in there and little and often away from the mare. He'll settle after he's tested your patience a bit

 

[Potato!]

It's only when the mare goes out in the field or out for a ride he throws his strops threateing to go over the door and being a complete t**t, then he settles and is fine after about 15 minutes, But its like this everyday but i think that because we were getting ready to go out aswell he just wound himself right up. I hoping it's a one off!!

I might talk to the YO to see if i can move him to the other end of the barn so the tack room is between the pair of them. Im aware that its all fairly new to him but what happened was downright dangerous. If there has been a car coming, the road wasn't straight or there had been a junction i dread to think what may have happened. Also he has to learn that kicking out at other horses is a huge no no as he hunts and i will not have it! He is better behaved in a field of 70 out hunting than the 6 of us there was yesterday out hacking.

 

[kaiko]

Sounds like a good idea. I put oldie in a seperate block for the first winter to enforce the separation. They both hated it at first but it was needed and it worked. Their happier and settled now.

I agree it was bloody dangerous and it took something similar for me to put an action plan together before it got out of hand completely.

 

[OWLIE185]

Cut down his feed and start hacking him out by himself each day so that this becomes a routine.

If you think this is a pain issue then get your vet to refer him to a specialist equine hospital such as Rossadles in Newmarket for them to completely check him out.

 

[mastermax]

You are one VERY brave girl!! Have to be honest this is the first time in forty years of riding I have ever seen a horse BOLT. Frightend the living c@*p out of me as you both galloped past!. Between us all, we will sort the little ****** out. WELL SAT. x

 

[Potato!]

He isn't on any feed other than a small scoop of Hifi lite and spillers lite balancer and hay. Hacking out he is fine on his own I took him out on his own on Saturday. I'm getting his back teeth etc to rule out pain first but in my gut I feel it's not pain related. Although I will be more than happy to be wrong as if its a pain issue can be dealt with easier than temper tantrums.

 

[OWLIE185]

Gradually cut out the Hi-Fi Lite as it has Mollassis in it and replace it with Hi-Fi Mollassis Free. Soak the hay for 30 minutes. See if that helps at all.

 

[Potato!]

I dont feel that its the molasses in his feed as he used to have a the local feed merchants mix and mollichaff and not have this problem either. And he has gone from haying haylege 3 months ago to hay. He has been having his feed since the end of the summer. He doesnt get enough hifi to warrant a change in his behaviour so suddenly,

With his riding he has to have an argument everytime he has a schooling session, the throws his toys out of the pram then works nicely. He has to challenge everything all the time. Its his nature and i expected a hissy fit but not a full on bolt.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

I'd take him off the Hi-Fi, as it contains both alfalfa and molasses, both of which can turn horses loopy.

ETA. IME it is not always somehting new in the feed which causes the problems but the build-up over time of ingredients which the horse struggles with.