What to do? horse lunging when ridden,help!

m3gan

m3gan

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I have had my ned for 3years in Feb next year. He is an Arab (chestnut) but not crazy, he was bought as a safe sensible ride, 10yrs when I got him. He was bought for the owners daughter as a colt, broken and then remained in the home until the daughter got married and moved away. He was not worked much apart from out on loan twice, once to a lady who did not manage him, and second time to a colleague of owner who turned out to defraud them so ned was brought back home.

I have had to move him 3 times since I have had him and the current yard he is in is perfect he lives with one other Arab, and usually one other to help eat the grass down in the summer. This will be the second winter that he has been at the yard.

Last winter after the new grass came through he became different he was very much fitter than he has ever been and would get very impatient when we return towards home, and started to lunge (going down on his hocks as if to rear) he didn't actually rear but it was not very pleasant !The way I dealt with this was by making him do circles until he came to his senses, and realised that he wouldn't get home fast by this behaviour.

He was very good for some months and I thought he was out of the habit, then today he tried it again, so we did the circles and he gave up.

I am going to cut out his coarse mix to just a handful and just mix it with chaff. I wonder if
the fact that in the last 2 weeks i have upped his coarse mix by a small amount i.e from about a quarter of a scoop to half could be a contributing factor. I am also thinking of not putting his light weight rug on him ATM, or is that mean? He isn't clipped at the moment and lives out with plenty of natural shelter and a field shelter. He has also just been moved onto a new field with more grass in it. He is a bit fat as well!

I am feeling pretty fed up about this behaviour as I don't have the same confidence in riding him anymore, am wondering if I should put him on loan to some one younger and more brave then me! Or do I get someone else to ride him for me. We did do some lessons fro a while and he was fine with that. I ride 3 times a week, normally for at least 90 mins. often 2 and half hours.

Thank you for reading this far! Any suggestions welcome!
 
Sounds like he's feeling a bit too well? perhaps with the combination of the new grass (we've had a surge of spring type grass this October) and maybe the Chaff (some chaffs can be high in sugar, check your bag) could just be making him a bit silly, specially if he's reasonably fit, grass belly will the big giveaway.

If he's getting plenty of goodness from his grazing, perhaps cut his food out for a bit, maybe just give him an allround vit/min supplement so he's having to use up his extra energy on his usual daily things rather than when your just working him.

Also you could try a calmer, Equimins Serenity is fantastic stuff, my lad's been off it for about 3 weeks now and I can see the difference, I'll be visiting our local feed store before this weekend put it that way.
 
Thank you Kenzo,
Is Equimins palatable because my lad is a bit damn fussy I tried horse first relax me and the b*****r wouldn't touch it!
 
m3gan said:
Thank you Kenzo,
Is Equimins palatable because my lad is a bit damn fussy I tried horse first relax me and the b*****r wouldn't touch it!
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Well it smell quite minty, just introduce it slowly at a very small amout, you could add a bit of garlic which will take any taste or smell away, but be honest it doesn't really smell much, just chalky.

Not only that but it's guaranteed, if it doesn't work, you get your money back, give the guy at Equimins a ring, he's very helpful and won't give you the hard sell neither. :)
 
Tempi said:
What are you actually feeding him?

I wouldnt stop rugging him as tbh thats just quite mean making him freeze outside if hes not used to it......
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I agree it wouldnt really be good to put him out at night naked even though he is a bit fat and wooly!
I am feeding him a small amount of coarse mix (about half a small scoop) with a handful of chaff, but I am going to change it the other way round, small handful coarse mix to more chaff.
 
Kenzo said:
Well it smell quite minty, just introduce it slowly at a very small amout, you could add a bit of garlic which will take any taste or smell away, but be honest it doesn't really smell much, just chalky.

Not only that but it's guaranteed, if it doesn't work, you get your money back, give the guy at Equimins a ring, he's very helpful and won't give you the hard sell neither. :)
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I have just spoken to David at Equimins and what a helpful man he is! He has very kindly offered to send me a sample of both kinds to try out, that is what I call true service!
Thank you for recommending phoning him!!!
 
m3gan said:
I have just spoken to David at Equimins and what a helpful man he is! He has very kindly offered to send me a sample of both kinds to try out, that is what I call true service!
Thank you for recommending phoning him!!!
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Yep, he's a star.

Might not solve things of course, but it's worth a try. :)
 
once you have the feed issue sorted (molichaff calmer is brilliant and not expensive) learn to relax when riding him i can picture you taking a hold of those reins because you know and can feel what he is going to do (start lunging) hold a horse and it will want to get away from you, simple!! please stop the circling it really doesnt achieve anything apart from twisted legs and worn out shoes/feet and/or stepping on other legs and possibly injuring the horse. If you really feel you have to do this rather turn around and ride away from the yard again and then turn around and keep doing this until he settles that way but stop taking a hold, relax and enjoy
 
Hi,
My boy has funny phases where he suddenly goes from placid donkey to launching skyward for no apparent reason, usually around the change in clocks march and october. lasts a couple of weeks and scares me sensless but I just hack out in walk during these times so I dont lose too much confidence. Also agree with trying to cut out the mix/sugar content. have eventually ended up on just safe and sound and a multivit, when in harder work and needed more protein and energy I gave him stay power cubes as more slow release. He is a BIG 16.3 and does really well on this. I would really say dont challenge yourself too much as it takes along time to get confidence back when lost and recognising you need help now rather than forcing through it is great,
 
beeswax said:
once you have the feed issue sorted (molichaff calmer is brilliant and not expensive) learn to relax when riding him i can picture you taking a hold of those reins because you know and can feel what he is going to do (start lunging) hold a horse and it will want to get away from you, simple!! please stop the circling it really doesnt achieve anything apart from twisted legs and worn out shoes/feet and/or stepping on other legs and possibly injuring the horse. If you really feel you have to do this rather turn around and ride away from the yard again and then turn around and keep doing this until he settles that way but stop taking a hold, relax and enjoy
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Thanks for the reply!
I wil try harder to ensure that I am not holding him too tight , I don't normally as he is very good and doesn't pull, he is ridden in a Dr Cook bridle, and a martingale as he has a tendency to star gaze! I am going to tighten the martingale by one hole as he is able to get his head up so far before he starts trying to lunge.
When I circle him it is not on a hard surface it is on the moor and I do fairly large circles which I wouldn't have thought could hurt or damage his legs/feet?
Will make a BIG effort to relax
 
JLD said:
Hi,
My boy has funny phases where he suddenly goes from placid donkey to launching skyward for no apparent reason, usually around the change in clocks march and october. lasts a couple of weeks and scares me sensless but I just hack out in walk during these times so I dont lose too much confidence. Also agree with trying to cut out the mix/sugar content. have eventually ended up on just safe and sound and a multivit, when in harder work and needed more protein and energy I gave him stay power cubes as more slow release. He is a BIG 16.3 and does really well on this. I would really say dont challenge yourself too much as it takes along time to get confidence back when lost and recognising you need help now rather than forcing through it is great,
Click to expand...

Thank you for your advice, this evening I gave my boy only tiny bit of coarse mix and two big handfuls of lite chaff and, don't shoot me down in flames, turned him out naked! It is not cold here and the forecast is ok, and as he is overweight it won't harm him to loose a little condition!(he does have a field shelter as well as a wooly coat)!
 
m3gan said:
I agree it wouldnt really be good to put him out at night naked even though he is a bit fat and wooly!
I am feeding him a small amount of coarse mix (about half a small scoop) with a handful of chaff, but I am going to change it the other way round, small handful coarse mix to more chaff.
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If he is woolly, he'll be fine without a rug, unless it is very wet and windy or there is no natural shelter in his field. Arabs are able to withstand very low night-time desert temperatures.
It sounds to me as though he is getting too much feed, possibly of the wrong sort. Try cutting out the mix and check that your chaff has no sugar or alfalfa (which can affect some horses' behaviour).
I'm sure that your way of dealing with this behaviour -making him circle - will continue to be effective. Good luck!
 
Pearlsasinger said:
If he is woolly, he'll be fine without a rug, unless it is very wet and windy or there is no natural shelter in his field. Arabs are able to withstand very low night-time desert temperatures.
It sounds to me as though he is getting too much feed, possibly of the wrong sort. Try cutting out the mix and check that your chaff has no sugar or alfalfa (which can affect some horses' behaviour).
I'm sure that your way of dealing with this behaviour -making him circle - will continue to be effective. Good luck!
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Thank you Pearlsasinger for your reassuring reply, I don't feel such a bad mum now! Hopefully with the new feed regime there will be an improvement!
 
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