I have a 6 year old who was broke 3 months ago, moved to my place from large turn out, group of horses on large acreage to smaller paddock with in and out stall. He is getting better on ground, I have join up with him and basic ground manners. He is good under saddle so far, sensible, although did get frightened by a white horse, and did bolt once. Problem is he paces the fence of his paddock, Haynets are out at all time, has another horse next door he can touch. He is eating well. I don't know what to do, when he came to me a month ago he had not left his property at all. He is not spooky or flighty, but I feel has a lot of anxiety. Would a pacifier help, or continue with my leadership work with him. Any advice is appreciated.
Emma
Emma
I've been thinking a couple of days about your horse's problem. You say he lived in a "large turn out, group of horses on large acreage" and now in a smaller paddock. You also say that after a longer session with you, he is more relaxed and eats.
So here are my two cents:
A large field with many horses provides him with so many things to do all day and I find myself wondering how large his current field is compared to the old one and how much stimuli it provides for him? (Grazing, roaming, playing, running etc)
If he has been used to, for the better part of his life to a lot of freedom, his mind and body are tuned to that and still operating on a basis of reacting to a lot of stimuli. If that isn't provided, the horse will feel under-stimulated and the pacing is then a sign of frustration over the situation. (Horses kept indoors might start cribbing or weaving instead.)
Consequently, when you take him out and work with new things both his mind and body are engaged and he gets that "fix" (for lack of a better word) he craves.
I'm thinking you have on your hands a very intelligent horse who really likes to experience and learn new things - but, on the flip side, you will need to provide him with more and more of that to keep him happy.
I don't have any solutions for you, since I don't really know how it looks where you are and what means (time, energy, economy, space etc) to work with.
Still, I can make a few suggestions and if I'm way off base, just ignore this! :) :) :)
If he can't have a larger (or more exciting) field maybe one idea could be to work with him twice a day, but I do know time and energy isn't always with us there. Or put some sort of toys in his paddock. Is it grass or sand! Can you spread out food in different places for him to move between?
I bought him some toys, a ball and a Licket toy today. Hopefully that helps. I live in a city, so there is not an oppurtunity for a large pasture, just out on grass , small paddock,for about 2 hours a day.
I am trying to figure out if his pacing is anxiety or boredom or frustration. He was on Zylkene for 3 weeks, not much difference. So, I think your frustration theary is a good one. Once I get him more broke, my plan is to jump him, hopefully up to 1.20m ,and going to lots of trail riding for cardio, but he us not quite broke enough yet. A lot has happened after he turned 6 in June, he was broke and moved off his property for the first time, bought by me, trailered 14 hours ( including a ferry) , to a all new place. Poor pumpkin. I plan to own him for his whole life, so I want to put in a good foundation, Monty is helping a lot!
There are several exercises that you might use in addition to his saddle training that would reinforce your role as a leader in his world. [5 separate piles of hay scattered in different places in his paddock. the chair challenge in his paddock. and also the spirit walks that that build an inseparable bond between you two, that could take place anywhere that you choose to walk with your guy]. All of these can found in the comments with different individuals on this forum. I always shoot for a soft leadership position when I do these exercises with my horses. This approach helps to keep coercion, on my part as a leader of the two of you, to minimum. You could mix-up these exercises with on-going riding lessons to keep your horse`s mind stimulated while being in the role as a leader in his life. I believe that this approach, if thought out before implementing, is just what your horse might be looking for from you.
Anyway, that`s my two cents worth. I wish many hours of enjoyment as you lead your guy in his new life with you. Please keeps us posted as you progress with him
Bud
You boy sound lovely, welcome to Monty's Online Uni.
There is one little thing I need to ask, is there an option for a horse to be in the paddock with him? From my studies of fencing, if a horse a paddock to himself, he is still alone even if a horse is in the next field, they can tend to stand resting in the middle of a paddock always on alert or if the herd are close to the fence they will huddle together. Part of the herd movement is to follow each other, which fencing does not allow for if the horse next door moves away from the perimeter and he cannot follow he could in his mind not be part of the herd. Being in DIY places I have seen lots of horses on their own in one paddock and you see the pace lines along the fenceline, if horses are on both sides of a single horse paddock, then whichever herd they are accepted with over the fence they will then tend to walk the fence line with that herd. Coming from a big herd also he will be missing that leadership movement that happens within a herd. Could another horse be put with him?
Something to keep him more occupied in the paddock, is where Bud has suggested put the hay around the paddock, put a piece of fruit or veg in each pile of hay so he can smell and sift it out. Make the piles small for his ration sizes and bury a piece in it. So a piece of carrot in one pile, an apple in the next, a pear and so on. This will help with his natural desire to forage. A little test of his intelligence and to see what he favors, put the fruit in exactly the same place each day for a week and see which pile he chooses first after you have put the fruit in it. Then rotate the fruit and see how he finds his favorite :D
Mel
x
I had him in with my older horse together, I opened the gate between the two paddocks. It did not change anything, he is bonded to my older horse now, but I have taken him on trail rides and walks off the property and he neither frets or calls, so I am not thinking it is a lack of social interaction. He is coming along wonderfully under saddle, he learns extremely quickly and so far has been a very willing partner. I can tell he is relaxing now, he is more aware of his surrounding, almost a little more spooky, but nothing major, I feel he is lokoking to me for leadership now. He is still pacing though, but not as much, I put the food in a few places, but he lives a a friends house and she doesn't always fill his net. I work with him every day. I am thinking he had this behaviour before I got him, but nevertheless, he is trying very hard to be good. I will own him his whole life, I will be looking for a place with more pasture, but that is hard where I live. Cheers Emma
My young horse is much more settled!! Not pacing nearly as much, even relaxed to lay down in the stall portion of the run out at night. Huge progress.
Now, problem number two, under saddle he has been great, even jumping a little, leaning fast. But yesterday he did spook, drop his shoulder and run and buck twice. It landed me on the ground :( I have down join up, his ground manners are good, never in my space, we have done the plastic bag desentization, really good. He is great with many stimulus, there is many around our semi urban barn. But every once and a while on the lunge or under saddle he suddenly really does a flight response, which often has a buck associated with it. I know he will out grow this, but what can I do in meantime. Specifically to I face a scary object ( if I see it beforehand), do I flex his neck? Disengage hind end? Circle?
It has only happened twice in 3 months that I have ridden him, and I ride 6 days a week, so it's not often, but I do hit the ground !!
Any help appreciated. Also, he is not that great with forward, I made a giddy up rope and this has helped, but how do I get him snappier to my leg, without using a whip, of course.
Emma
This pertains mainly to the things you've said about his prolonged stress in the paddock - I'm happy to hear he is more accepting now - the lack of constant access to feed, coupled with his lack of forward-going and the odd flight responses.
Have you considered the effects on his digestive system? The stress and reduced food might affect his gut and that will make him tense in his back and that in turn affects his gut etc, so there's a downward spiral there that will cause the behaviors in a horse that you have described. Also the flight might not be a result from outer "threats" but pains/cramps inside when a limb or vertebrae is in a certain position.
I would not have thought about the gut problem for my horse as his digestive system seems OK - looking at feces, eating habits, type of food etc. - BUT he is getting minimum of straw because of being fat and this is on the vet's recommendation. He typically doesn't react negatively when I touch his belly region either, BUT (again) when someone who knew where and how to touch, he sure told us what he thought of that. Which definitely explains his "Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde-behavior" when I groom/work with him.
At this point I have no suggestions for how to improve your circumstances, just passing on a suggestion of what might cause them and hope you can work from there.