show turned into a night mare

[holly]

well i wish i had never taking him, it just went from bad to worst. The classes his companion were in went fine. But then came handsome horse, it went badly wrong. AZ went crazy were upon i now feel like s**t. He tried to cow kick me three times and box with his front feet and bight all in one go , oh and he meant business. All because of his companion. I just feel as though all the trust we built up has gone because of one stupid show.

[shep]

Awww, don't be sad, you had to give it a go or you would never have known what he would be like; these things are sent to try us! Keep working with him, I am sure the trust will soon come back xx

[Cathy248]

Try not to worry... Things won't seem half as bad in a day or two. Does he go most places with his companion? If you do maybe lots of hacking out on your own until he's totally happy and then going to a show with a horse he's only met on the lorry, if he's ok with meeting new horses, or even on his own then he won't been worrying about rushing back to his friend. A friend's horse was an absolute pig at a show if his companion was there and an angle on his own! You could always work on shows on his own until he's used to the atmosphere and then start going with your friend then.

[☺Smithy☺]

Hi,
couldn't you take him to his next show without his companion?
At our first show a lady parked far too close tied her ponies up to her trailer took one away,the other lost it and kicked our motor!
Good thing my three year old fell pony behaved and got placed in both his classes otherwise the day would have been a dissaster!

[Cathy248]

Oh another thought... Might he be better ridden? Sometimes they seem to chill out a bit once someone's on board.

[holly]

cheers guys i just feel as though we have come so far and seemed to have got through the worst and then this. My friend said i should have got first for best handler lol. Every one was panicking round me to see if i was hurt, but thank fully AZ has trained me well on how not to get kicked.
I just feel as though we had a good partnership developing and now i feel awful.
He always loads first time, but on the way to come home he refused, but i was not in my normal frame of mind. By the time we got home he was lathered and it all my doing he was just being a horse i suppose but why did he try and hurt me i would never hurt him.

[muckshifter]

Holly, read through your thread as if it was written by someone else and then you can detach yourself a little from your disappointment. Your horse panicked when not with his friend and now you feel hurt and embarrassed. You are not alone! Many of us know just how that feels and it's so much worse in public. Try and concentrate on the positive things. You knew what to do when he reacted and didn't get hurt. That's a BIG positive! Perhaps next time you could just take him to an event and not go in the ring, just let him get used to the sights and sounds and build up his confidence that way. I also agree with the other posts, you need to wean him off always being with a companion. Above all, believe he was not trying to hurt you. You know that deep down inside. You said it yourself, he was just being a horse. We all feel terrible when things go wrong. If you're not sure you can cope on your own, ask someone more experienced to help you. Judging by his picture, he would certainly do well in a handsomest horse class. You'll get there. It might just take a bit more time!

[sunnylynn11]

Whereabouts are you Holly?, we went to a show with a handsomest gelding class & I saw a horse kick in that. It was Thurrock Riding Club fun show.

[holly]

it was eckington chic

[nikki]

I was going to suggest the same as muckshifter. Maybe it was too much for him to cope with this time, showgrounds can be very exciting places!

If you take him out to lots of shows but just lead him around and let him get used to the sounds and the atmosphere, I'm sure he'll get used to it.

Try to let it go Holly and think about all the positive things you've done together recently.

[jen1]

holly with out sounding harsh, and not wanting to judge, but what made you think your horse was ready for the show? i have worked with barney for 3 years and its only now he is rock steady would i contemplate taking him anywhere, shows rightly or wrongly are electic[stressy palces] at the best of time, i havnt read all your threads about AZ but i know you have had some issues, hindsight is a wonderfull thing and maybe if he was ready and ok in his own skin
as his own person he would have been truly ready,! when i took fleur to her first show [my yearling] who is a model what a yealing should be, took a real shine to rosy ,jo-rs horse,who she had known for 8 hours? and we had a problem in the seperation, she had her little wobbler in the show ring, and in hindsight, i shouldnt have done more than to merly travel and walk round, i think performing was a step too far,am i making any sense,?lol probably not,!lol, i then over the following weeks worked on her seperation thing with her field mate,so maybe if you did the same with az,and keep it all light hearted and short, Sorry things didnt go well, but the anwers are all there in you post,

[pip]

My sister had 2 horses and took both to one show - these were well behaved, mature horses - and they both spent the whole time neighing to each other, including in the dressage tests! She vowed NEVER to take them together ever again. If you take the horse's friend then they will want them to be near them, better to go and YOU are the friend and the one your horse wants to relate to.

I also took my horse to a show when he was young, and he had been to quite a few shows so wasn't a complete novice. Everything was fine until the coloured horses and ponies went into the adjoining ring and he THOUGHT he could see his friend (a coloured pony left at home) and turned into an idiot. The judge just said it was a shame he didn't do himself justice, which was a bit of an understatement!

Just keep working on the "pay attention to ME" with your horse and take him with no equine friend next time.You could also try giving him a good workout at home before you go to try and take some of the bounce out of him although that will mean getting up even earlier. Best of luck.

[speckshuman]

don't despair! horses are very forgiving creatures (but we should not abuse that)
I agree with the people who said to take hthe horse to the show just to walk around. the first thing I went to was a chicken run, where you could compete properlry ,be ledaround, or even just lead your horse around (that was me!!) and still get a ribbon just for turning up!
any way at least you managed to load you horse,I was so stressed at a show I went to, I gave up and let someone else load my horse.

[kaleigh]

oh sweetie dont take it to heart. horses can be so unpredictable. sometimes it does pay to travel the horse alone. i took my arab x filly to her first show last sun. shes called 'psycho delicious' a very apt name, but suprisingly after a nasty accident with the lorrt, she behaved brilliantly there. i spent a long time walking & calming her down away from all the other horses. though i know if she had of gone with one of her buddies, it would have been a very different story...dont give up, try again...alone...good luck!

[Caz]

In my opinion your horse will always have a stronger bond with it's companion, there's no point trying to get a stronger relationship than that because you'd just set yourself up for dissapointment.
Try not to take what happened to heart. It can be a good idea having a well behaved companion around for the first show but only if you're not going to enter anything & you're going to stay together at all times.
Next time try taking your horse by himself, you'll be suprised at how different he is. Honestly! He'll look to you for support & reassurance.
Don't worry give it another go.