Young Horse Fears

[LaurenD]

Don't know if anyone has any suggestions?
I've been riding a young 14.2 cob for about 6 months now. She's 7. Her owners suspect she has been mistreated before they bought her as she had a phobia of the lunge whip and anything that moved. They had her for about 3 years now and she has made leaps and bounds. She is no longer afraid of the lunge whip and is an absolute angel being groomed however, she is VERY sensitive when being ridden and you cannot have your legs on her otherwise she shoots off. She also rushes in the trot, as If she is running from something.
Mounting her is also a problem. As soon as the rider goes round her left side she starts to back up. She hates the mounting block as well.
Any suggestions or ideas of how to overcome these fears would be very much appreciated! I understand these problems aren't going to be cured over night.
Many thanks!

 

[Charlie007]

Hi laurend. It sounds to me that you need to go right back to basics, with lunging and long reining. Make everything easy and calm. You need to do lots of desensitisation. Do everything from both sides. Stand her by the mounting block with no intention of getting on. Once she stands, may take a while, praise and leave it for the day. Keep building on it so you ask her to stand near block, praise, do it again then leave it. When she is Very comfortable doing this lean over and repeat. Sounds to me as thoughshe has cone on greatly she is still lacking the confidence and the basics. Could you get and instructor to come and help.

 

[Cortez]

If the horse has been with the owners for 3 years then they have had plenty of time to overcome whatever has supposedly happened to her before their ownership. It sounds as if she just needs some proper schooling and a quiet, confidence-inspiring rider.

 

[Dry Rot]

Surely, this is a matter of desensitising the horse to those things that cause it to react? Yes, proper schooling too. This is done by exposing the horse to the very minimum of what upsets it while at the same time attempting to distract it (possibly with treats, stroking, etc) so it tolerates more and more each day. Yes, it takes time. The cause of he problem is irrelevant at this point. The object is to reduce the sensitivity. Trainers do this every day, regardless of the species, and it is called "eroding the threshold". Some owners will have an animal all it's life and will never manage to cure these sorts of issues because they go about it the wrong way.

 

[LaurenD]

Thank you for all your suggestions!