Hello fellow Members!
I am a small-town girl from Kansas. I have been working with horses since I was 5 years old. But my whole life I have trained trick horses and trail horses. I have now decided to take on a very energetic and spooky Thoroughbred Quarter horse mix. I took the horse in after seeing him very scared in the arena at the sale barn, with a slaughterhouse employee ready to buy him out. This horse is about as good looking as they come, and I know he has potential to be great with much slow work.
Any suggestions on an approach to this horse would be greatly appreciated.
FOR THE RECORD-
This horse was put under saddle once.
Very hot. Very spooky. No Manners.
Start with the basics on the ground like he is an un-broke, untrained colt which basically he is. When your working with him keep his mind engaged do lots of direction changes, transitions, have him work over ground poles, small jumps, through ditches, up hills. Sometimes a hot nervous horse just needs education and a job and they will calm down. Sometimes you cannot tire them with work so you have focus more on calming their brain lots of transitions and direction changes. Either way concentrated training, wet saddle pads, and long trail rides will make him broke. Trick training will be perfect as it will engage his brain. But you have start at the very beginning like you would a colt that knows nothing.
Do desensitizing exercises after he has worked and is ready to do more then then reacting. Approach and retreat, find your starting point and work from there. Don't ask for to much at once reward he slightest try and build his confidence.
In general you might consider thinking of just developing the horse through correct work (in your discipline of choice) so that he learns to use himself in the way that you want. This will also occupy and calm his mind. One thing I would be very careful of doing is letting him run wide-open on a big loose rein - though you'll want to get someday to where you could and still be in-control. Develop a way between you to calm him as he begins to get too hot, a kind of 'reset button' so that he doesn't just heat up and get carried away (taking you with him).
Another thing that can make your job tons easier is just to ensure that he gets enough free turnout, preferably with other horses. That natural uncontolled energy has to and will come out somewhere - personally I'd rather it be when I'm not on him. Over time, he will develop more habit and discipline and then you should be able to get on him fresh. Posted via Mobile Device
This horse screams insecure. I agree with starting from the absolute basics and working up. Not to "retrain" but to build confidence in every interaction you have with this animal
His name is Chance. He isn't quite as bad as the horse as the second video.
But he is very insecure and will pull your arm out of socket or run you over getting away from what it is he is afraid of.
Yup... I agree with everyone else... He is either a horse that is trying telling you he really isn't broke yet, or that he was pushed too far, too fast and needs a good refresher (or both). If he really only had one ride on him before, it is really I affair to expect him to be ok about steering and understanding he needs to be soft in the mouth.
Either way, I would slow down and go back to basics. Work on general leading and barn manners. In a halter make sure you can move his body around and still be safe. Then once he is relaxing with you progress to lunging and then side reins to reeducate his mouth. Once he can handle that mentally, it is time to reback him. Only move onto the next stage when he is soft the the body, relaxing and really ok with that step. When you push a horse past a step, they start being frightened. Even a hot horse relaxes once they understand the job needed of them. Posted via Mobile Device
Approach him as if he is a wild young horse who has never seen a human before.
START FROM COMPLETE SCRATCH. If he's been worked with before, some of it may come back quickly to him. But if you start with the very basic of training, then you know you won't miss any steps.
So start with simple things like halter breaking, leading, ground work, respect, sacking out, etc.
"Hot" horses do not do well with desensitizing as it is practiced by so many. Calm consistent handling by a calm, knowledgeable handler goes much further.
Keep your movements and voice low key and work on basics.
Check feed too as that might be hyping him up more than needs to be.
I knew the people that had Chance for 4 years. He was like this before. He has been at my place for a month now getting used to the changes.
I have been working with him on ground work and desensitizing him as of the last two days. I won't even think about putting a saddle or bit on this horse until I know for sure he is ready and has moved nicely through basics and can complete basics without hesitation.
Do lots of groundwork (backing away from pressure, yielding hind quarters and forequarters, desensitizing, and lunging with lots of changes of direction) Try to do desensitizing in between all your sensitizing (that would be the lunging, backing, and yielding stuff)
I think how frequently you work is very important with a sensitive horse. I prefer to work in short, frequent sessions, and to be consistent with time as much as I can, such as keeping the training sessions at the same time every day. The horse will come to expect it and enjoy it. This goes a long way in building confidence in a horse, as well as what others have said here.
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