Help!! Nervous Horse

[kerryjean]

Hi Everyone,



Just wondered if anyone has come across a horse like mine and if so do you have any advice on how to overcome our issues?

Basically, he is completely terrified of most normal everyday objects. A few examples are:



His treat ball - he will use it if I am with him but over night he will avoid it – I can tell because it is full and the bedding around it is clean!

His feed bowl - if you move it (say out of the way of the door) or if he accidently knocks it with his feet he will try to rush out the stable door.

Grooming brushes - If I accidently drop a brush when grooming him he panics and snorts.

Anything flapping or moving just slightly will be distressing for him i.e. a rug hanging over his stable door and moving in the breeze – he will spend all day at the back of the stable.

He is very bad in traffic, but I have been trying to work on these phobias before encountering traffic!



He is not unmanageable, never nasty but he is just not a happy horse and I would like him to be able to relax more.

I have had him a year now and his confidence in me has grown considerably but not his self-confidence.



I wish I could to get him to understand that these things won’t hurt him. Actually, his treat ball is supposed to be a nice thing in his life.

How is it he will readily eat his dinner from his feed bowl but as soon as it’s empty he’s too scared to go near it?

His eye sight, back, teeth etc. have been checked and all fine. He is also on a magnesium supplement.



Sorry for the long post, any or your experiences or advice would be gratefully received

Many thanks 😊

[lizpurlo]

Oh dear, I have one of these too!

What age is your chap, and what is his history? Is it just that he has a nervous temperament, or has something happened in the past which has totally unnerved him? Is he rideable, or just a youngster?

I think sometimes we can be too sensitive and apprehensive around these types of horses, and I know with my boy that if I just adopt the attitude of 'ah just come on now, we're going to do this anyway' it seems to settle him far better than if I react to his snortiness with too much sympathy, if you get what I mean. It's all too easy to reflect, and thus reinforce, the horse's nerviness oneself without really realising.

Groundwork is good, and Kelly's book Perfect Manners has some brilliant exercises. My chap enjoys working over poles, and oddly enough when he's focussing on how he's going to get over/through them he stops being nervous and even seems to enjoy working out these little problems, like just where to put his feet!

You could also give these people a ring - they're very helpful and the Equifeast products appear to have worked incredibly well on nervous neddies. equifeast-shop.com/

I'm sorry to admit that I have largely given up on my fella...... he went off to a good trainer for seven weeks, but she could make nothing of him, and warned me that he would never be safely rideable, in her opinion. So he is now just a gorgeous and much loved paddock ornament. Were I 25, with the professional setup I had in my younger days, he'd have been riding out and hunting and doing riding club events by now, but alas, he's come along far too late in my life for that!

Good luck with your boy, he's very lucky to have such a committed and caring owner.

[kerryjean]

Hi lizpurlo

Thank you so much for your reply – nice to know I’m not on my own with this!
He’s a Welsh D x Warmblood/Tb and he’s rising 8. I have been in touch with the breeder and seen his relatives all of whom are perfectly confident well-adjusted horses. I don’t know much about his history, he lived a quiet life on the breeder’s farm was sold at the sales aged 5. Looks like soon after being sold he was broken in and between then and coming to me he’s had 3 different homes and been sent to various local trainers.

I did ride him to begin with, he is very tense and forward going and just doesn’t look happy. If something worries him he suddenly gets very tense and bucks – he had me off a couple of times.
At first I thought it was me, because when I went to try him he was a completely different horse (looking back he was probably worked hard before or worse…..) but my instructor said it isn’t me, he’s been very scared at some point in his education and advised me not to ride him and start him again from the beginning. I let him have a couple of months off to settle and hopefully realise he is here to stay. I still caught him in from the field every day to handle him and for a massage to try to get rid of the tension he holds in his body. I started working with him again in November, just small things like taking him for short walks, sitting on him in the yard and general playing with him.
He is lunging beautifully and calmly now and I am working on preparing him for long lining.

I think your absolutely right, thinking about it I am probably far too sensitive to his jumps and snorts and not meaning to but reinforcing his behaviour. I am very quick to tell I’m ‘its OK, wont let it hurt you, good boy!
I think in the past people have given him lots tip bits to get round him, as he used to constantly mug you for food and then shoot back as if then someone had smacked him on the nose for it. – perhaps this behaviour is a bit of a habit now?

I have called Equifeast who have recommended a supplement so I’ll give him that and see how he goes.

Aww, your boy is very luck also. So many horse with problems given up on and moved on. I know exactly what you mean, we don’t have an arena and the land owner will only let us use the fields to school in if they are dry enough not to get cut up which makes consistent work difficult, but spring is nearly here so no holding us back then!

Thank you again for your reply and advice – really appreciate it!

[VeronicaF]

Hi kerryjean, great advice from Liz, and agree with liz your boy has found his hoofs coming to you.

he is only 8yrs bless him,so still very young,and I think you have it spot on with his past.

I personally think with his age being so young contacting a Recommened assocaite under horse help would be able to help you and your boy.

I think he has been backed wrong,and not seen much in life,and not understood what was being asked of him,and got scared.and got smacked for it in his past.

An IH Trainer would be able to help your boy I am so sure.
please keep in touch

let us know if you do get a IH trainer and keep us posted with updates in your progress with him.

[VeronicaF]

ps a tiny example of what might have happened in his past

your half the way there as your horse trusts you!!!

if he was forced in any of his training-being backed in the past or any training of his past it could have inforced his fear of any objects coming towards him.

[kerryjean]

Hi Veronica,

Thank you so much for your advice – the video clips are great!

I think you are spot on about his past. RA Adam Goodfellow has been out to see him and has shown me how to handle him as his leader and what to do when Comet gets nervous and things get a bit tricky. We have a long way to go but Adam seems confident we will get there. I would like to have Adam again soon but its money I just can’t afford at the moment, we are getting married in a few months and moving house so finances are a bit stretched. However, Adam has left us with lots of homework and said I can call him anytime!

I feel like we have really made some progress this past few days, Comet seems much more relaxed and happier in himself - even in the wind yesterday! He lives on a very small yard which is also a working farm, he calmly and confidently walked passed the tractor with me this morning and he is even starting to put his head over the stable door – He just peeps out usually and if anyone walks past he violently throws his head up and jumps to the back of his stable often whacking his head (I have padded the top of his door and there is a note on his door so everyone is aware). He doesn’t do this with me, just people he doesn’t have much to do with.

I really hope his self-confidence will grow and his fear of objects moving towards him will fade for his sake. Sunday morning, I went to his stable to find him stood at the back, he’d obviously been there for some time – my old pony Bryn had pushed his rugs over into Comet’s stable! Poor Comet!

Thank you again, its so nice to talk things through with like-minded people. Thank you for your support, I will keep you updated on our progress.

[VeronicaF]

Ahh well done Kerryjean, comet is such a lucky boy to have such a caring owner, lucky boy!!

your get there ,look what your doing already ,the diffrence in him,well done!!

you will some times go 10 steps forwards and then for no reason you might go back a few steps before it all comes together.

what you need to know is its normal if you do, don't feel "oh its not working" just go back a few steps,things he is good at, so he and you get your confidence back again.

I don't know what adam said about the stable issue? maybe give him a ring and ask for suggestions?

I have a minitaure, well I have two, but one before I had her wasn't handled, only grabbed to be clipped which made her fearful of people,she is loads better with people now but really still only trusts me,she lost her trust in humans.but if I say its alright she relax's in trust,she is called sunshine and there is loads of videos on here of her .

no understanding of what is being done to them makes them not trust and be fearful.
with a owner like you he will over come his fears and will gain trust,it will take time but you will get there

keep us up to date with he progress and how things are going.

[lizpurlo]

Hi Kerryjean - my fella is pure Welsh Cob! There's no doubt that they are terribly sensitive, I always think they are the equine equivalent of Border Collies, and like collies, they can quickly get muddled and lose confidence, and then behaviour problems inevitably surface. Your poor boy has had a pretty torrid time of it, having been passed around from trainer to trainer and from one home to another, no wonder he's so confused and worried about life.

That's brilliant that you've had Adam out to see you both, certainly IH methods work really well for these types, and it was IH methods which helped me to catch Echo (my boy) when he was a wild and mishandled weanling...... I'd never have believed it possible for me eventually to be able to put a rope halter on him, all on my own, but I did, and it was one of the most amazing and memorable horsey things I've ever done.

I'm also on a working farm here, and Echo's 'comfort zone' is the farmyard, full of tractors and parked up trailers and farm implements as it is! Rather like your boy, he likes everything to be the same, all the time, and changes worry him terribly. He comes into his stable loose at night, following my other two, and just for fun I arrange the empty feed buckets slightly differently every night outside his door, so he has to walk in past a sort of bucket 'guard of honour', and he's usually torn between being really snorty and terrified, and wanting to get in for his tea! One IH tip which has worked very well for us is to let the horse follow the object he's worried about, but I'm sure Adam will have got you doing that anyway.

Looking back to my younger days, and imagining what we'd have done with Echo then, my ex and I were on a farm in Devon with lots of quiet country lanes and Dartmoor just ten minutes' hack away. Nothing like as much traffic in they days either! My ex was a real old fashioned horseman, hunting and racing background, and we used to back lots of youngsters and ride them away. My ex loathed lungeing, though he was a great fan of long reining, so we used to get them going on long reins in a little round pen - but the other thing we did was ride and lead. Two of us on sensible hunters, one of us leading the youngster with the other just there to help in case of any problems. We'd go out for an hour or more at a time and of course the youngster gained confidence from the older horses as well as getting used to people above him. And when the time was right, one of us would hop on board the youngster (we'd have practised this for a few days in the pen) with the other on the older horse, with the youngster still on a long lead rein. Off round the block again.... and once the youngster had got used to this new arrangement, and the rider's legs on his sides, the leader could unclip him and allow the rider to do a bit of steering and so forth, while going round this now familiar block.

We got any number of young horses and ponies started like this without any major dramas occurring, and the Echos of this world would just have been obliged to settle down and get on with it. Looking back now, I think this worked so well because horses seem to enjoy getting out and about and having a look at the scenery, and certainly the other horse, totally unconcerned, would give him confidence that everything was okay and completely normal. I would think that it would be the equivalent of a nice country walk for us, which leaves us tired but relaxed and happy. Compare this with an hour in a school or a round pen - no horse in nature would ever trot round and round and round in the same small place for an hour, and I imagine that this would leave him feeling more as we do after an hour in a hectic office environment, or even in a busy and noisy gym! Tired, but sweaty and stressed out.

Anyway, that's my theory as to why so many young horses seem to fail in training yards nowadays. The problem is of course that our method from all these years ago requires two competent riders, at least two sane hunters which don't mind silly youngsters bumping into them and are bombproof in all circumstances, and miles of quiet lanes and tracks to ride on. Sadly incredibly difficult to find nowadays.

But anyway.... we have to work with what we have. I still love ride and lead, and even a turn or two round the yard would be a great thing to do, if you have access to an older and saner horse to use!

I am so pleased to see that you are making headway. Keep a diary, record every tiny improvement as it happens, and you will be amazed at the progress that you'll make, as he gains more and more confidence. I'll be really interested to hear how you get on, and especially whether you find the Equifeast supplement useful - I've heard great things about it.

And congratulations on your forthcoming wedding!

[kerryjean]

Thank you Liz, its very exciting but a bit stressful as the vicar seems to have gone awol!
When i was at school (i'm 33 now) i used to help an elderly man with his horses a few times a week. He was well known for taking in the troubled and dangerous horses and giving them a permanent home. He used to re start them and bring them on the same way you describe and eventually they all came round in their own time. I think it helps enormously if you have help from another person you trust, whether that's from the ground or on another horse, he used to leg me up and away i went!

Thank you both for your kind words and all your support. I will keep you updated on our progress. Is it possible to put pictures and video's on here?

Thank you both again

[VeronicaF]

Hi Kerryjean, yes please keep updating, you can put videos on youtube and post them on here,and you can load photos to photobucket and then put them on here, it will be lovely to put faces to horses, you know what I mean tee hee :)what I am trying to say