What should I do

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sharonmaskell

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I have posted before on the forum re my very spooky horse. I have tried calmers, had vet out to check eyesight etc. but this year I feel he has beaten me. I am 58 years old and this year he has had me off quite a few times and my confidence is really low. I decided to put him on sales livery with my instructress. Now here is where the doubt creeps in. I love him to bits, he is not that bothered as long as he is fed! Last year I did some low key dressage on him, went on long hacks and just told him to get over himself when he went to spook. This year however I don't have the bottle. My health has not been the best this year and I wonder whether this has anything to do with it. So far we have not had much response as we have stated in the ad,rightly I think, that he has a spook in him. I just wonder if I should leave him for sale or put him on grass livery until next year when I may have my spark back. I really do not want him to be passed around which I think might happen.
 
I have exactly the same problem with my horse, even leading him out to the field will result in low sounding snorts, eyes alert and ears pricked. He spends his life 'looking' for demons, very often on a hack he will spook at about a dozen things. I used to get annoyed and shout at him but now I laugh at him, I've had him 12 years and I am used to his spooks - for instance he will spin around into the road if he sees something he is scared of (this happens on about every 25th or so hack so not very often). In all the years I've had him he has never done this into the path of a car - he is not stupid! If you go into a jumping arena, he will be looking at the sunlight on the floor, the poles on the sides of the arena, the wings in the corner of the arena, the banners on the side of the arena - all his attention is on watching, waiting and spooking! Some days he is worse than others, many, many times I can ride him for days on end and he won't have a spook in him once. I have found over the years that the harder he is worked the less he spooks. When he is in regular work he is less spooky.

I did wonder if it was me, maybe I was riding him and 'anticipating' him spooking at something, although I didn't really feel this was true. But I ruled it out by letting someone else ride him and he was a nut case for them too, spooking at everything in sight! Lots of people on the forum suggested he might be in chronic pain, so I got the vet out like you did with your horse and ruled out his eyesight, his back, his legs and had his teeth rasped. I spoke to my vet and we agreed on a fortnights bute trial - two bute a day for a week, and one for the second week. It made diddly squat difference, if anything he was slightly worse on the bute! It certainly didn't stop him spooking.

Someone said he was having barley water (run off from the boiled barley fed to the hunters) mixed in with his feed as were the other liveries. Once this was stopped his improvement was about 80% and his spooking decreased significantly. This winter if I am still at the same yard he will not have this in his feed.

Bailey will 'see' things other don't bother with. We will be walking around the ménage on the track and all of a sudden he will shy so violently to the side and walk a couple of quick steps and snort. When I look it will be because someone has used the reversible filler and hung it back up with the other pattern on display and because its not the pattern that has been on display for the last couple of weeks it is enough for him to notice immediately and shy at it! If someone places a bucket on the runway on the way down to the ménage he will spook at that simply because 'it wasn't there yesterday or the day before, or the day before that'. He won't go near the sheep that like to sleep under the tree line that runs along the side of the ménage and many a time has nearly had me off, yet he will walk the same line if there is a horse in front past the sheep without a second glance and he will lunge past them and barely a flicker of recognition in his eyes! He shies in walk, but I have found the greater the pace the more he shies. He definitely shies more on the left rein than the right rein i.e his right eye sees more than his left eye.

He nearly drives me insane bless him. But I laugh at him now as I know he will never genuinely hurt me and thank god that I have such a lovely tempered and loving horse who may be a bit sharp but is still daft as a brush!

He's been on Magic powder since March 2014 and it DOES make a difference to the amount of spooking he does. I've taken him off it twice now, and each time he reacted within days, his spooks escalated! On the powder he de-escalates much quicker, (he is quicker to bring back).

I think you need to change your way of thinking like you did before. Just laugh when he spooks instead of getting uptight and stressed. Don't think about falling off. Ask yourself how many times you have ridden and you have not fallen off him when he has spooked rather than how many times he had you off when he did spook. Invest in some lessons, try to despook him by leaving lots of objects around in his stable on his paddock spend time getting to know him again, go back to basics, try to do different things with him, like hack, polework, jumping, cantering in a field, schooling, take him swimming, to the local riding club for a ride around the grounds, hire out different arenas, put him in lots of situations. THink about going on a riding camp with a specialist instructor used to such problems.

I can honestly say in 12 years of having a very spooky horse I have not come off Bailey once due to his spooks on the road or in the school. I have come off him jumping when he has spooked at fillers a number of times but that is different ( and nearly always because I have interfered with him on the approach as the fear is more with me than him!) That photo in my siggy of us jumping - that particular fence - the fillers that they sometimes put under that made him spook a number of times before I eventually got him over it! The photo of us doing dressage - he spooked at the car twice before I could get him to walk past it like a 'normal horse', lol.
 
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Horses are meant to be our enjoyment and down time. If your no longer having that, then selling him is the right thing to do for both your sakes. You'd be better on something calmer that you can just get on and enjoy. He'd be better with someone more confident or that can laugh it off and bounce when they do come off. Does his price reflect his spooky nature?
 
What does your instructress think? She knows the horse and you better than any of us.
Is he still quite young, in which case he may calm down a bit with some chill out time on grass livery?

If he's just the quick/spooky type I'm afraid I would say sell. I suspect your spark/confidence is unlikely to grow whilst you're not riding and you'd only be delaying the decision, plus he's fit and in work now so a better prospect than a horse out of the field.

As above poster said it has to be enjoyable.
 
Could he be lacking something in his diet at this time of the year? My friend has had a nightmare with her gelding .. turns out it was a magnesium deficiency! Some supplements and he is back to his sweet little self :)
 
Thanks everyone for your replies. We have tried the magnesium route to no avail. He is 10 and I have had him 2 years. My instructress says he is not right for me so I know the sensible thing is to sell. In the stable and on the ground he is golden. If it wasn't for the spooking he would have had a home for life. When he has a real strop he throws himself sideways and then drops his shoulder and he is really quick. Gives you no warning. As for price he is full connie, 15 hands, loves jumping and has had a very successful showing career. We have advertised him for £2,995 ono.
 
Sell. It is heart breaking, but at the end of the day someone with a bit more bottle and whatever, may have the time of their life on him and youll have a great horse too. Yes it can all go wrong, but i think it goes good more times than bad, you just don't hear about the good.
 
sharonmaskell said:
I have posted before on the forum re my very spooky horse. I have tried calmers, had vet out to check eyesight etc. but this year I feel he has beaten me. I am 58 years old and this year he has had me off quite a few times and my confidence is really low. I decided to put him on sales livery with my instructress. Now here is where the doubt creeps in. I love him to bits, he is not that bothered as long as he is fed! Last year I did some low key dressage on him, went on long hacks and just told him to get over himself when he went to spook. This year however I don't have the bottle. My health has not been the best this year and I wonder whether this has anything to do with it. So far we have not had much response as we have stated in the ad,rightly I think, that he has a spook in him. I just wonder if I should leave him for sale or put him on grass livery until next year when I may have my spark back. I really do not want him to be passed around which I think might happen.
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It depends on the spookyness and what works

My gelding is spooky but in a different way to my mare, magic works a treat on him but does not on my mare. My instructor said she teaches another horse similar to mine in spookiness and HorseFirst ***Relax Me ***worked - so I tried it and what a difference within a week
 
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