When you realise why the 6 year old project pony is unbroken...

[Lintel]

So we have an appointment for the vet and physio in August to give him a good going over and I'm hoping find a pain issue that we can resolve but sadly doubting it.
Having worked with and broken in plenty of frightened, silly and damn right energetic ponies I have never come across one so terrified of things by his side/on his back.
He really blocks things out and won't move when I tie items by his side's- today he blind bolted and threw himself over a gate- thankfully he is fine and the gate latch broke and open. I did not expect this whatsoever and I've been left feeling very guilty!

He has been bitted, copes well with being saddled and girthed, follows you about like a lost dog, is learning to lunge well and is good with traffic.
But the poor boy I do wonder what has happened to him.. and how many homes he has had as he is 7 next year!

 

[Gloi]

What sort of pony is he? Do you think he could have been in harness and traumatised by bolting attached to something.

 

[Lintel]

He is a coblet so yes, I'm sure the gypsies have completely ruined him at some point sadly!

 

[buzyizzy]

Aw poor thing. Hopefully he will get over this with your help

 

[Charla]

I bought a 6 year old little Oldenburg mare December last year. Pretty feral as had bred a foal and been left even since. Never been backed or worked with. I was so worried about taking on a nervous, unhandled 6 year old. she used to bolt when teaching her to long rein (with a professional), sheer panic. Once she was over this she turned a corner and just accepted it all! We are now 6 months in to ridden work and she’s a obviously now a 7 year old and what a fab, willing attitude she has! She’s so much fun and tries so hard. Not sharp or difficult and surprisingly bold and confident! Can’t wait to compete her. I hope yours also comes round!

 

[Lintel]

Thanks for the lovely story charla so nice to hear your mare is doing well. My heart really breaks for this pony, I really hope he turns out well and that perhaps the physio or vet can find some explainable reason why he is so petrified. I fear that gloi may be along the right lines though

 

[cundlegreen]

Thanks for the lovely story charla so nice to hear your mare is doing well. My heart really breaks for this pony, I really hope he turns out well and that perhaps the physio or vet can find some explainable reason why he is so petrified. I fear that gloi may be along the right lines though

The trouble is they seem to remember the bad things more! I bought a young cob, who was uncatchable and very nervous of anything over the top of him. He turned out to be a super ride and drive sort, but it took a year to get him trusting me.

 

[Gloi]

Good luck, take your time getting his trust and hopefully things will improve.

 

[Caracarrie]

He is a coblet so yes, I'm sure the gypsies have completely ruined him at some point sadly!

My friend had a mare who had been locked in a windowless shed by the do as you likeys, and probably given a sound beating when she was in there - being Welsh probably didn't help. As a result she would go crazy in a stable, rearing at the door, destroying her bed and sweating herself to a frazzle. But open the door and she was fine and would stay inside generally, quite happily. Poor little pony.

 

[conniegirl]

I had a beautiful coloured warmblood type who had been mistreated bt the same type of people. We are 99% that he had gone over in harness despite me getting him when he was 2.5yrs old.
He bolted at anything in his eyeline behind his saddle area. I persisted with him for 3 years and eventually got there with regaining his trust but in that time we found he had several major physical injuries that had never been given time to heal. He was a very very stoic little lad and was 100% sound on a full lameness work up, I insisted on a bone scan despite the major vet hospital saying i was wasting my money and the insurance saying they wouldnt pay out if nothing was found.
The behaviour just didnt sit right with me as he was such a lovely and calm, trusting pony otherwise.

They found an unhealed fractured pelvis and fractured skull.

As i said pony was completely sound and showed no external signs of there being anything wrong with him (and yes i had more that one vet practice look at him, poor lad was poked and proded by every vet in 100 mile radius)

Once give time to heal and given a lot of slow and steady restarting (think it took me nearly 8 months to go fom saddle on his back to rider on his back) he came round and whilst he was always a very sharp ride we did get there with him and he did do well in the show ring under saddle

 

[millikins]

I will never buy another "unbroken" gelding over the age of three. Unless you have known them your self you can pretty much be sure that someone somewhere has tried to break them in and messed them up. I've been caught out twice, one lovely 5 year old with an undisclosed injury and another 6 year old, sold to me by a "friend" which bolted. It also kicked; humans, dogs, other horses and bit. Unlikely he was mistreated, just spoiled and had no respect for anything. Both were pts as I couldn't guarantee a pain free future for the first and the second was potentially very dangerous for children (Shetland).
Current project is a little Welsh type, allegedly unbroken but he's a do as you likey pony and has certainly been driven and terrified. (He was rather a pity buy, couldn't leave him there) If he comes round and drives it would be great but he was also bought as a companion for my other small pony and he's doing that just fine, if he ever needs a home he would be fine as lead rein/companion as he's a sweetie.

 

[pistolpete]

This is so interesting. I’m in a similar situation with a lovely highland with massive trust issues. Going to try tellington touch method with him as ground work has failed to improve the situation.

 

[SEL]

I follow a lady on FB who uses clicker training to regain trust with these type of horses.

 

[3OldPonies]

Interesting this thread. I've recently taken on a horse with issues of having things done round his head and being caught. He's been driven in the past and had a really bad accident at one point, looks like his side was punctured by a broken shaft, and I've been told that a physio who saw him once thought he'd been hit hard on the head at some point. He's a lovely sweet kind hearted horse, but nervous of loud voices and sudden movements as well as the catching and head shyness. I'm thinking that he may have do as they likeys in his background somewhere. We're doing mounting block training, very slowly right now as I'm often on my own and don't have anyone to leg me up. It'll probably take a while, but we'll get there.

 

[Lintel]

Terrible that horses are ruined in this way so easily
We are making baby steps of progress now, he is getting the idea of join up and is lunging very well to voice. He is coping well the the stirrups flapping and I've been "pretending" to mount him- foot in stirrup and back out. He is now focussing and not just blocking what's happening out

 

[WelshD]

Well done for persevering.

I sold a lovely unspoiled unbroken 4 year old last year, the buyer said it was surprisingly hard to find something totally unspoiled these days. Having been on Facebook for some years it's frankly astonishing to see the number of very young ponies bought by total novices and being played around excessively. I'm currently off Facebook as a challenge for six weeks and am definitely not missing the horsey groups!!

 

[Marigold4]

Slightly off topic, but I too have a small Oldenburg mare, Charla, who sounds extremely similar! She has had 2 foals and is now 8. I'm trying to back her but she is supersensitive and has had some unexpected/dangerous reactions to some parts of the process so going very, very slowly. I'm beginning to wonder if I'll ever be able to do anything very much with her. Was there anything you did that made your mare "turn the corner" as you say in your post?