What should I do?

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Belleoftheball

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I've nearly had it with my current loan horse. I've had him for 8/9 months and in that time ive taught him to jump, basic lateral work, cantering on the right leg, bending etc etc. Hes always been forward and responsive but since about last month hes became really lazy and unenthusiastic. Hes always been very spooky but now hes just using it to be naughty, one of our arenas is by the car park and he will of passed it fine a few times but then he will do a violent spook and nearly get me off, same if ANYTHING changes in the arenas.

Theres no use taking any of this to his owner as she doesnt care as long as she can hack him a few times a month, I thought he could of been bored of being ridden constantly in the arenas so i started to attempt to school him in the fields but he just gets out of control and canters off all the time and then when i go back into the arenas hes X10 more spooky.

For schooling hes ridden in a hanging cheek snaffle and a flash noseband and for jumping and open spaces hes ridden in a french link dutch gag.
 
I tend to find lots of circles figures of 8, trotting poles raised trotting poles Ect help!
Keep him interested and listening to you, each session try to constantly challenge him!
Starts on a 20m circle then spiral in and spiral out again hope this helps!
 
HI, I'd check that with the increase and change in his work that he's put on muscle and perhaps his saddle is pinching. I'd certainly rule out pain somewhere before thinking it was behavioural. It's unusual in my experience to have a normally forward responsive horse become lazy and unenthusiastic unless something is hurting.
 
Given he's been fine until about a month ago when he's started misbehaving I'd be getting everything checked out to make sure he's not in pain. A horse in pain is often much more spooky than a comfortable horse. Have a vet, physio and saddler check him out.
 
I'm working with a 4 year old right now and we just overcame some pretty major spooking issues. It started on the ground doing lots of desensitizing. We started with just desensitizing to flinging a rope all over her body, around her legs etc, then desensitized to long lines (hard for a lot of horses), then the lunge whip slapping the ground and whizzing over her head, walking over plywood, umbrellas, plastic bag, tarp.

Under saddle with spooky horses I do this exercise that is scary at first, but really effective.

Starting at the walk...ride the horse around the arena, even past spooky areas on a loose (ish) rein...i dont ride on the buckle at this point but i'm not asking for contact. Have the rein long enough to not really be asking for contact but not so long you'll lose control. Take a deep breath because you are baiting your horse for a spook.

The SECOND your horse spooks, pick up contact and ask for a trot and do 5-10 minutes of hard trot work doing small circles, figure 8's, leg yielding, circle spirals, etc. Head back to the area where you were and drop contact and just ask for a quiet walk around the perimeter. If your horse is quiet and doesn't spook, let them keep walking on a loose-ish rein. The second they even veer away from something walking, send them into the middle of the arena (or whatever direction they would like to go) and put their butt into work again...trot circles, figure 8's, serpentines, back up, leg yield, canter transitions....come back to area they spooked. Walk on a loose rein. Keep walking indefinitely until a spook comes up...as soon as spook happens back to work.

It will take your horse like 2 or 3 rides to figure out that spooking means working your butt off and trusting mom's opinion on what's scary is waayyyy less work.

Be SUPER strict about any avoidance behavior. Even just a light avoidance of an area means they are making a decision about what is safe and what isn't. They should be looking to you for that decision. If they veer off the path you set out...they can do a few minutes of hard work. If you go where you point them and trust your judgement, life is nice and easy.

The first 2 or 3 days you do this, just stick to a walk. I always warm up and cool down with this activity. I figure the dressage is secondary to them being a safe riding horse so it doesn't hurt to spend a few days on just building this language between the two of you. Eventually it can just be warm up/cool down.

Once your horse can quietly go at a walk on a loose rein all the way around without spooks, progress to trot. Trot on loose rein, if spooks, they can go wherever they wanted to go and do hard dressage work on contact.

Once they have mastered walk and trot, work your way up to the canter.

This is one of the most important lessons to teach a horse so take your time and get excited with baby steps! It takes them a bit to figure it out, but once they do you're golden!

To give you an idea of the timing of when to put on pressure and when to release https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zG5DhgEbiDk

It's crucial that the horse has zero pressure in the scary area (not contact, not kicking, just let him be), and has all the pressure in the area he wants to be. It's hard for many people to avoid tensing up where they know a spook is coming but it's literally the most important thing you have to do :)

Sorry to write a short novel but I literally just worked my horse through this exact problem!
 
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If he canters off, teach him to one rein stop and shut him down the second he starts to take off with you. It starts on the ground in a halter teaching him to bend lightly. Progress to bit from the ground. Then practice practice practice at all 3 gaits in the arena. This becomes a great tool for a horse who runs away when you're out in the field, but is useless if the horse doesn't know it through loads of practice.
 
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