Wimped out

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Nari

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I'm still feeling like a total prat despite a friend reassuring me that I'm not.

I wanted to take Jim for a quick jog round the village this morning - he doesn't do a lot of hacking & isn't the best at it but he's ok on this one. For some reason he got himself in a total state before we even left the yard today & I didn't get more than a few hundred yards down the lane before I decided discretion was the better part of valour & came back - his back was up, he was screaming, shaking, totally inattentive & couldn't even maintain a four beat walk! Thought I'd go in the school instead as that's what he does well. However he was no better in there - more screaming, shaking, freezing to the spot & within minutes it reached the stage where I felt totally unsafe & decided to call it a day so walked half a 10m circle & dismounted.

I now feel like a totally fool - was I? This horse is seriously big (16.2 ID, built like a powerhouse), sharp & has a hell of a buck when stressed coupled with a tendancy to take off if things get too much. That said he's generally a very sweet kind person who'll try his heart out. Today I just couldn't seem to get through to him, he was feeling tenser with every moment I stayed on & I really really felt like he was going to lose the plot completely - the last time he felt like that he bolted & ended up hitting a quarry wall
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What would any of you have done? Lunging isn't an option (if it was I would have) & from painful experience I know that getting after him may occassionally work but is just as likely to make matters worse. He was very jumpy & spooky when I turned him out though he did seem to settle a bit when his best friend came over. The slightest noise was causing him to fling his head up & starte though. Do you think the weather upsets them? Is he just an ill mannered thug at times (don't think so myself, he felt & looked like he was bordering on panic)? Do I just need to get a grip & try to ride him through it, hoping that it doesn't make him worse? The odds are he'll be fine tomorrow!
 
My boy used to be very like yours. He is slowly getting over it now but it has taken 4 years.
My boy gets very uptight on hacks and tries to run home. The more you hold the tenser and more wound up he gets. The way I found to get him over it is repleating the same ride every day until he realised there is nothing scary that is going to get him. At times I felt very unsafe and worried if I met a car would I be able to get out the way, but he is slowly getting better, and the more work I do with him the better he is. It just takes time.
Is he on a calmer? It may just help take the edge off, my boy is on Net Tex Nice and Easy which works well on him.
 
In reality I prob would have got off and chucked him back in the field lol, but if I was feeling brave I would try and get him to focus by constantly asking something different. Say, do a 3 loop serpentine then a couple of 10m circles straight after, followed by a change the rein, then a couple of half circles - just literally one school movement after another so he HAS to think. If you do that then he should be so busy thinking about which way you are going next, he will forget all about whats going on elsewhere and what was bothering him before! Works a treat with mine when he feels like that, anyway
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He normally is on a calmer but he seemed more chilled recently & had got fussy about eating it so I'd cut it out. Needless to say he's back on it tonight!

He's always had this tendancy (he's 9 now & I've had him since a 2yo) but very very rarely to the extent that I feel unsafe on him. Normally sending him forwards, a slap with my hand on his neck if he starts shouting & a "don't be ridiculous" voice works & he starts to settle but today it was as if he'd forgotten I was there. It's virtually unheard of for him not to settle in the school, I can literally only think of two other occassions! Likewise the incessent screaming - he may call once or twice to see whos around but this was non-stop & frantic.

Anyone got some spare Valium? Enough for both of us please!
 
Jumpthemoon that's exactly what I was trying (well nothing as big as a 3 loop) with plenty of transitions & alternating bend but he wasn't having any of it. It normally works a treat!
 
Nope, no new horses.

I've been up to bring him & his friend in for the night & he's still rather jumpy & rolly eyed. Something's definately got him wound up
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Deeble you gave me an idea & I've just been back up to the yard to check him & see if it could be right. I think it may be at least part of the problem!

Earlier this week I moved his field & there's slightly less grass. He's been getting extra hay at night to compensate but the last couple of days I've been running very low on his good hay so I've been padding it out with some of my pony's hay which is ok but not to his lordship's taste. He hasn't really been eating it but I figured he would if he was hungry enough. When I went back up he was a much more chilled out lad but he'd nearly eaten all of "his" hay & was rooting through the other stuff taking the occassional mouthful then spitting it out. I've put him in the last of my good hay & now I'm desperately hoping I get some more tomorrow!! This really could have been a big part of the problem because we suspect he has low level ulcers & if he doesn't have truly adlib hay he gets grumpy & edgy - I can't believe I was so stupid that I didn't notice he was leaving all the pony hay & didn't wonder what time his normal hay had been finished!

Thanks Deeble for making me think about what had changed
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I'm glad I managed to help, albeit in a roundabout way! I usually find that my horses problems stem from either the field management or feeding management.
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