What to do - advice please

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Hovis_and_SidsMum

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Yesterday was not a good day. Following last weeks sucess hubby and friend took omar and hovis blood hounding again.
All seemed well again so I followed the supporters in my car to the first point we would be able to see them. When I got there everyone else trooped past - no omar and no hovis. One of the riders yelled there'd been a problem and they turned back. To cut a long story short Omar had thrown an absolute hissy about 2 miles in and had bronked hubby off. for everyones safety hubby walked him back to the lorry.

The question is what to do with omar?
We've had him a year and he is about the most inconsistant horse i've ever met. When he's on form he's amazing. He's stunning to look at, can work beautifully, can be an angel to hack out and generally is lovely.
But its like theres something wired wrong in his brain. One day he's an angel - the next day he's scared of his own shadow, won't load, spooks at things he's seen a thousand times and generally behaves like a total knob. Theres just no consistancy at all.
It can be anything - one day he's refusing to cross a trotting pole on the ground - the next day he will happily pop 75cm like its not there. No obvious triggers - nothing.
He's irish draft cross TB and i joke he's got the ID looks and the TB brain but its not funny.
Has anyone else come across anything similar? Any advice anyone can give? It just feels poor hubby takes 2 steps forward with him and 40 backwards. Hubby swings between being on top of the world and really proud of him to wanting to sell him and give up. I just don't know what to do. I daren't ride him - he scares me to death so ulitmately its down to hubby but he's so torn.
Help anyone?
 
Gosh, sorry I don't have any useful advice but just wanted to say hope you're able to sort Omar out.

How is he on undemanding hacks? Would he be suitable to sell on as a pleaure hack to someone who doesn't hunt, jump or school?
 
Some horses find hunting very exciting and can take a few meets in to calm down. May be worth asking one of the hunt staff to hunt him for half a season for you......
 
The problem is he's a tit with everything when the mood strikes.
He CAN jump, he does the most beautiful dressage and hacks beautifully. When he wants to.......
He's just tapped. We took him to the Xc course. Was terrified of the logs yet jumped coffins and ditches like he'd been doing it all his life.
Its seriously like its two different horses - "on form" Omar and "being a prat" omar
 
I just wondered if he'd be less inclinded to kick off and get himself worked up if he wasn't asked to do much?

I know my homebred TB mare was a stroppy troll when asked to school. She'd do about 10 minutes, then just stop. She'd point her ears back, raise her head to look back at me and then argue like a demon if asked to carry on. She'd switch from 100% fine, into a worked up, hysterical lunatic, in 10 minutes flat. Once she'd gotten herself worked up like that, that was it. Everything would stress her out and she'd be hopeless for the rest of that ride. Mine was just a stroppy mare who simply didn't like being asked to do what she didn't like doing. I can well see how this inclination in her behaviour could have spread into other areas of her work under different circumstance.

Your chap inevitably isn't exactly like my mare, but perhaps there are triggers which set him off too - maybe stemming from way before you got him. Things you'll probably never recognise and therefore won't be able to avoid.

It would be interested to see what would happen if he wasn't 'schooled', jumped or travelled anywhere for a few weeks, and was just hacked in a totally undemanding way. If after a month or so, he was still inconsistent... then you would know it was something deeper in his psychie. On the other hand, if he likes bumming about 'doing nothing' and improves... you could consider the hacking home option for him.
 
Can't give a lot of advice, sorry! Take it you have had a full work out? You know, saddle teeth etc? From past experience it MIGHT be worth asking vet to check eyesight.The spooky one that I sold turned out to have a cataract.How old is he?That might be worth checking as well if possible.Never believe what you are told.Otherwise ask the army man and promise him you won't all throw your toys out the pram if what he says isn't what you want to hear. I had to do that as instructors are wary of giving bad news incase everyone stomps off.At the end of the day though, this is meant to be fun!It doesn't sound as though its fun at the moment.Sell if necessary and start again with a new one.One of the things I truly regret is struggling so long with an unsuitable pony.It was wasted time/money/fun and confidence.
 
He's almost the opposite!! He can be a prat in the school until he's really asked to work - then he settles wonderfully.
In fairness hacking as long as you are confident he's pretty fine - although has been known to spook at things he's seen a million times.
The jumping thing is so odd. One day he's backing off, refusing and generally being a prat. The next day he's attacking fences, sorting himself out and being a babe.
He wasn't backed until he was 6 and then had a lady owner who sold him because she lost her nerve with him. He is as green as grass so you can forgive a lack of finesse.
He's just utterly fustrating. There is no logic to him at all.
If he consistantly wouldn't do something we'd say "ok he's not a jumper" (or whatever) but on a bad day he's not up for anything. On a good day he's brilliant. He's never trong - hubby does everyhting with him in a snaffle but he's a total pratt.
The only way to describe it is like something just switches in his head.
We are just at a loss of what to do next.
 
Army mans view is to sell him - we already asked
frown.gif
 
This will sound like a drop in the ocean type comment but my friend started to feed my mares Calmag (Calcified magnesium) to her gelding and it sorted out the random paddys about evil monsters and voices in his head. Not to the point that they went away altogether but to the point where he could still hear her through them.

My Vet says that the diet we feed our horses is very low in magnesium and it is an essential mineral to balance the eqine nervous system (I was given it as a substitute to regumate for my crazy mare) Apparently we should look at it as feeding a suppliment rather than a calmer.

Its £8 for 20kgs - might be woth a try

Hope you get something sorted
 
Anything is worth a try til we figure out what to do. I know some of you reading this will be thinking "just sell him" - but my question is sell him as what?
Hes great to hack - when hes on a good day.
Talented at dressage - when hes on a good day
Can jump - when hes on a good day
Do you see the problem?!
The only stable thing in his favour is hes very well mannered on the ground and has looks to die for!!
 
How frustrating for you! Good advice above to check eyes as well as back/teeth etc

Don't know if helps at all but a friend of mine in Australia has been through the same situation with a horse she bought a few years ago to event. Had been backed quite late and not brought on particularly sympathetically - he had enormous potential but was sooooo inconsistent. He, too, would be an angel one day and then acting like a baby the next. She alteranted between thinking what a fab horse he was and pulling her hair out with frustration. She didn't give up on him and he is now winning at novice eventing consistently and is competing at medium dressage! It just took a lot of time and patience and going back to basics. I know not all horses are the same but maybe he just needs time?
 
This is a slightly random thought but could he have gastric ulcers?

My friend's horse sounds a little bit like Omar. One day Mr Cool, the next Mr Stresshead who would rear and spin at the drop of a hat if hacking or just throw all his toys out if schooling.

She tried him on Gastric Gold (I think - can check if you want to follow it up) and the change was noticable in a few weeks.

He still has his 'moments' but the real strops have disappeared.
 
Someone somewhere will love him.Its horses for courses.For instance I don't like challenges in a horse, I like straightforward.The newbie is just that but his last owner just got bored with him.Some people like challenges and have the necessary skills to deal with them.How experienced is your OH?Honestly? i am not implying anything here honestly as I don't know him or his riding.He sounds as though he is a confident rider but one day he will have just that one fall too many and his confidence will start to fail. Its very hard to get back.Ask the army man again how he would sell him.He just MAY have someone he would suit.Its no reflection on you or your OH.Some people are meant to be others aren't. Some horse and rider combinations are meant to be, others aren't. My very brave NH instructor says that some ID/TB crosses can be very unpredictable.She says that the two breeds she gets called out to most often are the Welsh Cobs and the ID/TBs. However, when you get a good one, she says, they are crackers.I had a near TB who was a saint.Sorry rambling.
 
I'd try him on a calmer I think, first of all. My Welshy could be like this and he was so much better on Topspec calmer; it took the silliness away but without losing the sparkle. He still had silly moments but it stopped the dangerous behaviour.

How experienced a rider is your OH? It might be worth considering sending him to a pro to school for a couple of weeks, see what sort of tune they get out of him.

I'd also be inclined to get the vet to check him out. My IDxTB started with similar behaviour early this year - one day he'd jump like a stag, the next it would be as though he'd never seen a jump before. Had me off a few times and my ribs are still not quite the same! FWIW, he was diagnosed with hock spavins in June and since having them treated, all of the silliness has stopped. He's consistent now, schools nicely, jumps consistently. I might be way off the mark but mine was a pain while he was warming up but once he got moving, and I guess worked through (or just got used to) the pain of his spavins, he was better. It's worth getting the vet. I don't think I'd go down the route of physio/back check. IME, the physio picked up on soreness in his back but it was treating the symptom and not the cause. Once the spavins were treated, the symptoms went away.

Finally, I would say try to remember that horses are supposed to be fun. Give yourselves a deadline, say 2 months, to either get to the root of the problem and solve it, or to see a positive change in Omar. He will be costing you a lot of money to keep and it costs the same to keep a good horse as it does to keep one who doesn't do the job for you.
 
how long have you had him? Some horses just take a while longer to settle down and will always test out the rider from time to time or seek some further reassurance if he is being spooky.

I always think and feel there is always a reason.. and with that reason comes an answer so do go down some trials and errors or allow time to do it's job.

Who knows though!
x
 
Another vote for a magnesium calmer, it helps one of mine a lot.

If no different it might be worth scoping for ulcers just to set your mind at rest.

Finally if nothing else works, could it be a trapped nerve? It's a long shot but I have known of one other really inconsistent horse (PSG dressage) that has a trapped nerve. When he is OK he is great, when the nerve gets trapped you can;t do anything with him.
 
My first loan horse was a TB & he would get really upset if ANYTHING in his routine was changed. If I was 30 mins late to come & turn him out he'd be like a demon. The slightest thing would send him into an uncooperative b##### - for the rest of the day. I stuggled for ayear & then realised that daily battles are not fun - this is my leisure time, I gave him back & bought a calm, friendly 'same every day (well mostly) horse.
 
I'd try a calmer first as well. I had my boy on nupafeed and it made a world of difference, rather than throw his toys out of the pram straight away when I asked him to do something he didn't understand, he'd actually let me ride him and work with me to figure it out. After about a year on it I started to reduce it as he was doing so much better. Then he went lame and I took him off it completely (he too is great to handle so doesn't need it for that). He's now back hacking and stayed off it as he's always been ok to hack but I'm hoping that he won't need it when he's back in the school now that he knows it's not going to kill him to co-operate.
 
Just one more thing to think about. Try also keeping a diary (your own diary - NOT Hovis's) of when the "occasions" happen. Is there anything that links them such as weather, time of day, length of time after feeding, anything that happened on the yard that's not normal yard routine (e.g. a new horse moving in, the muck heap being moved by a digger etc.,). Refer back to the diary to see if you can find any sort of pattern.

One of mine would always nod his head up and down (not head shaking, but still annoying) at odd times. It took us ages to figure out what it was - it turned out to be when going from light to dark quickly - e.g hacking out on a bright summers day and going into shadow, or hacking underneath trees where the sun shone through and left dappled patches of light on the ground. Once we'd figured that out, it was easy to work around it.

Also, watch to see if "treats" have an effect on him. Carrots and apples can all give a horse a sugar rush. Mine don't get treats very often, as I like to restrict their intake of sugar, but on the odd occasion that a neighbour gives me a bag of windfalls for the horses, I can literally see the sugar rush going to the heads of my gang - who will then charge around their paddock like total lunatics for 20 minutes or so.

Just some thoughts!
 
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