Dealing with a spooky horse?

Question

I'm leasing a horse from my trainer, as she has cancer and is going through chemo. This is a horse that I had ridden before, for about a year, who has some training issues(very pushy on the ground, bites, occasionally bucks and bolts under saddle). I was the only student left who stuck around after my trainer got sick who was capable of dealing with the horse.

My trainer has also told me that this mare was spooky, but at that point I had ridden much spookier. She would spook at typical things like the hay truck driving by the arena, or loud sudden noises. The spooks were just small starts. However, since I moved her to my own barn in November she has become dangerously spooky, and I know it has to be something I'm doing, because she wasn't like this before I moved her and took over her care.

She's been violently spooky, under saddle and on the ground. She will spook at small things, like someone walking by the arena gates or a small noise in the barn aisle. Her spooks are huge, and she'll spin, drop her shoulder, and bolt. She's even spooked like that at absolutely nothing (at least nothing I could see or her). She spooks when I'm leading her, when I'm lunging her, and when I'm riding her at all gaits. I have another trainer that was helping me briefly with her, and we had just had a long but great ride. We stopped, and I let out the reins for free walk. We both relaxed, she dropped her head well below her withers, then 30 seconds later she spooked at nothing, jumped, spun, and dumped me. So I always have to ride her as if she's about to dump me, and she usually comes close to every ride. I know my tenseness makes her more spooky, so we're in this endless loop right now. I have to figure this out or stop riding her, as I have back problems (compression fractures in my spine) and can't afford another bad fall.

When I leased her, she wasn't spooky like this, but she was so skinny. No way was she getting fed enough. She's a 16 hh TB, roughly around 1000 lbs. She was getting two feedings a day of 2 flakes of grass hay and literally a plastic disposable bowl (like a cereal bowl) of Allegra Senior. She had a bcs of 4, and you could see every rib. She got turned out for most of the day in a small pasture about 200ft at the largest part, so not huge. She was turned out by herself and worked herself into a nervous frenzy about it a lot. She was stalled in a 12x12 box stall when not turned out. I've been the only one riding her since probably June, and my back took me out of commission for a lot of the summer, so at best she was ridden twice a week, at worst, once every 3 weeks. At that point, she was not spooky.

I took her to my barn in November. I immediately changed her diet, because I was not okay with her weight. I switched her over to Nutrena Senior without Molasses, as it's my favorite grain for old hot horses. I barely upped the grain, as I was afraid of it making her act crazy. So she gets 1 quart (about 1/2 lb) am/pm. She also gets 2 cups (probably 1/4 lb) of rice bran am/pm as well as 1/2 lb of beet pulp am/pm. Over the course of the day she gets 6 flakes of hay (about 20 lbs). She's put on weight nicely, and is a solid 5 now. I have a feeling that the food is what's making her crazy, but I am not okay with having a skinny horse...But if anyone has ideas of how to change her feed (and keep in mind that she is a hot, hard-keeper 16 year old TB so free-choice hay isn't going to do it) I would appreciate it.

She gets daily turnout (weather permitting) with my gelding in a small pasture, probably 1/2 acre for around 4 hours a day. I've told my barn that she needs to be out as much as possible, so she sometimes gets more. From what I've seen, she mostly walks around the pasture, eats, and flirts with my gelding during turnout time (no more running around like an idiot). When she's not out she's in her 12x12 stall with a 40' attached run.

I've tried free-lunging before riding, as well as lunging her hard in side-reins,with really no effect on her spookiness. I have recently tried vitamin b-1, as well as a moody mare supplement (Smart Mare Harmony from SmartPak), with no effect. My trainer (her owner) advised me to free-lunge her hard, at a gallop before I ride, and ride her forward, overbent. My other trainer's advise for when my gelding spooks is to make him work HARD immediately. Neither of those work to prevent her from spooking.

Any ideas would be appreciated. I'm considering supplementing her with magnesium. Having the vet out is another option that I will do before I give up on her. And in case anyone is wondering, she has been adjusted by a chiropractor recently. I wish my trainer could help me, but she's too sick from chemo to come out and teach and doesn't particularly want me to work her horse with my other trainer. Any thoughts on what I could do would be apprecia

Answer 1

She sounds like a bit of a terror! If i were in your position i would try to start again from basics, building up trust with her. Start on the ground spending extra time grooming and petting, try to get her to accept that you are in charge. I know it's not to everyone's taste but my horse has changed dramatically since i tried joining up with him. Maybe it's something you could look into doing as it will improve the bond between you and your horse. I don't know if you do but try to talk to your horse more when you ride, this sometimes reassures them that you are going to keep them safe and ride with a positive attitude. When she spooks try to ignore it, she may just want a reaction from you.

It maybe to do with the amount of bran she is given, some horses aren't affected by the bran so much but high maintenance horses, such as TB's, it can sometimes have adverse effects on the horses behavior. To keep your horses weight level you could use other food stuffs to bulk her diet up such as chaff. It could also be to do with any pain she has, so i agree you could try getting a vet out to have a look at her, or a back specialist. Also one other thing, when I moved my horse to my current yard, his behavior changed, it did take him a while but i found taking him for hacks once a week to let off some steam helped and leaving him out in the field for longer time also helped.

I hope some of my advice has been a little bit helpful to you and i hope you get over her problem!

Answer 2

I had a horse similar to that. She wasn't that bad, but she spooked at literally everything. What i did was expose her to everything. i would put her on a longe line, and have a whip with a paper sack on the end and wave it around. You might need the help of a professional horse trainer that knows a lot about desensitizing horses. Also, check out some Clinton Anderson videos. He does a lot of demos on that sort of thing. You could also try Monty Roberts. I hope this helped.

Answer 3

You need to ride your horse forward. I no this sounds strange but as you are on a spooky horse if they are being pushed forward when they are being ridden, they don't tend to look at silly things as much because they are concentrating on the job.

You need to get the mare to be thinking. Figure of eights, Transitions, serpentines, circles will get her thinking. Try not to ride on the straight as well.



When your riding, make sure when your horse is spooking that you don't pat him because you are rewarding behaviour you don't want.

Also never punish your horse for being spooky as it comes from fear.



Good luck and make sure when you get on your horse that you don't have that frame of mind where you are going to fall off. Think that you are going to have a great ride.

Answer 4

Your horse has lost all confidence. Has no trust, is very fearful. Lots of ground work on-line. Do not lunge this horse at all. You never want to chase her away from you. You want her to seek you out as a good place to be, to find comfort in being with you. Work with her closer to you and she will grow to trust you and you can form a bond with her. While you do that, you must gain control of her feet. You cannot control her mind unless you control her feet and you have to control her feet on the ground before attempting to control her under saddle. If you perfect the ground work, translating it under saddle will be a breeze but you have to do it, you cannot skip any part of the work. It will not be easy and will take lots of time, but if you want to be able to handle this horse, there is no other alternative. You have to help her get over her issues but it has nothing to do with riding her. You should not ride this horse the way things are now as you described. She is dangerous and unpredictable. Again, if you want to help her, get a rope halter and heavy marine lead line and go to work on the ground. This horse has never had any foundation training and something has caused her to be extremely fearful and distrusting of humans. Treat her like a green horse and help her. Good luck.

Answer 5

You should try walking her past the main things that spook her again and again in hand until she realizes it will not hurt her! :-) if you talk calmly to her and show her that everything is ok she should stay calm aswell! when you've dealt with the main problems this should hopefully minimise the silly spooks! :-)

hope i helped! xx