12.2hh project

[trudee]

Not sure where i should put this one really. At christmas we finaly found my daughter who is very nervous a perfect pony after many years of trying . She was only going to last her a year as really my daughter was tall on her, but was going to be brilliant for her confidence.
They were getting on brilliantly till beginning of april when the pony suddenly broke. She became very unconfortable in her lesson. Then after beth fell off she reared up when being led in which was very out of charecter.
We then lunged her in cavesson with and without her saddle no problems but when we put her bridle on her reaction was extreme.
She as since had deep massage under sedation. and been sent for xrays on poll and neck which have all come back clear.
There seams to be no reason for this behaviour. We thought aftr 8 weeks of and all clear given she was probably only having a bad day back then , but upon going to slowly put her bridle on, the behaviour was still there, fine to put the headpiece/browband over the ears but to try and do the throatlash up was undoable...
ALTHOUGH....we then took her to the field where we did manage to acheive it, but she still was not happy.
I am gutted for the pony as she was and is a lovely little pony and very well bred, and we just dont no what is going on in her head....and my daughter finaly had a pony to ride...and now i am gutted for my daughter who got this pony for her 13th birthday and yet again she has lost out.

We are therefore looking either for an offer of help to try and get our pony back up and going....as with 3 young children i just dont have the everyday time/finances to help her....as i no sending her away will be expensive as you still have to pay their livery while away.....i dont want to fail her either....

OR i would sell her to a good ih home....this pony can come with glowing references as to her temperment and honesty when ridden,She was a £2500 pony.... has an all clear vet report, and was a fantastic all round quality ponyclub pony. She may well be better to now ride in maybe a dr bristol where the bridle goes on in one motion and ridden in this way while still working through her bridle issue...She also has a brand new working hunter suede seat saddle company saddle which cost £500 .

I am open to any help / suggetions...i just want to do best by all.
Thanks for reading..x

[daniobrien]

Hi, might be obvious but i notice you dont mention anything about having her teeth checked? Also, if the throatlash is a problem have you had her tmj checked? I train problem ponies, but obviously i charge as its how i earn my living!

[Dragonmaster]

Is it the bridle? or is it the bit?
Obviously this needs checking out but a short term solution may be what we did with my drs pony. This was a 12.2 Welsh that had been badly 'broken in' (!) and was terrified of the bridle. So we used a western style / parelli style rope tied halter and 12ft rope. We did groundwork with this at first to get the pony listening and 'tuned in' to a handler, which was both my daughter & me. Then we started riding her in this, tying the rope back to the knot under the chin to make reins. Once she was completely OK in the field like this we started hacking out like this then gradually re-introduced a bridle & bit by putting it on top of the halter & at first actually using reins attached to the halter & not the reins attached to the bridle, then subtly changing over.
This was when my daughter was 12/13. She's 21 now. At the time the groundwork was as much fun for my daughter as riding, and she learned a lot about training horses at that age.

[milo2008]

I would love to find the answer to this. I put my 16 year old welsch x pony out on loan. the girl hacked her to the new yard, not a single issue even though not ridden for a long time. In her whole life pony never did anything, always behaved very well. 2 weeks into the loan I get phone call after phone call. Pony is bucking. Pony doesnt want to be ridden. I went to have alook as only round the corner from me luckily and saw no bucking just a groan and a leap as the girl started riding. The mother said it was the pony, the bit, the back, the saddle, the daughter. She had a vet out.
I will tell you what I know it is with my pony, she has let my pony out on long grass, lovely green grass when I specifically said no to this as pony gets laminitus. That is why I think my pony will not be ridden as she is in pain. According to the mum her vet said (brilliant!) that the pony had a little laminitus. Then after a week gave her the all clear as laminitus was suddenly cured! A miracle. She doesnt want pony anymore either as she wants her daughter to ride not learn to groom and to top it off she was going to put her horse down with Arthiritus in Coffin bone but it will cost too much so she will sell him as a companion.
Not saying this is your case, totally different but I needed to write it somewhere. You are obviously doing everything you can for your lovely pony. but this is just another side of people that cant be bothered to be nice to a horse they break. Is the pony Shod?