Calming Strategies

[Pico_Banana]

This is inspired by the thread in H/J about SynChill containing a prohibited substance, as I use it with one of my horses.

This is my gelding who was extensively shown (before we was mine) up to PSG level. He was described to me as a super solid citizen and for the most part he is. His one weakness (really only one because he’s truly a gem) is that he does not like to be ridden outside. In an indoor, he’s 100% perfect and not spooky or looky at all. Outside, however, he is noticeably more tense and will spook on occasion, mostly at noises.

He lives at home with me and I only have an outdoor ring, so he’s ridden outside all of the time, so it’s not a question of exposure. I use SynChill on him before I ride as I find it helps just take the edge off without making him sleepy or groggy. (He’s not the most forward horse, so definitely does not need anything that makes him dull.) I also use a sound dampening ear bonnet. I’m aware of the rule about using calming substances but decided I was okay with using the SynChill on him until I saw the thread in H/J.

He eats 7 lbs of Triple Crown Senior daily so he’s got plenty of magnesium in his diet. He also has access to a 100x100 dry lot from his stall and he chooses to live outside almost 24/7, so it’s not that he is not used to being outside in general.

I’m planning to show him this summer and am trying to think of ways other than a calming supplement to help him relax and not get so worried about being ridden outside. I do notice that when we’re doing more difficult stuff and he’s really focused that it’s basically a non-issue, but he’s an old dude and I baby him immensely so we do a very long and slow warm up, which is when the spooks tend to happen.

I’m open to any and all ideas.

[JB]

How was he taken to PSG? I mean, that’s a lot of outside riding time, so what was done to help him deal then?

What do you do when he isn’t focused on you outside?

[NaturallyHappy]

At horse shows, I hand walked and hand walked and hand walked…. Mine lives w me (actually I live w him💗) so the activity at shows was always a surprise for him.

[EmilyM]

are you allowed to wear a bonnet for dressage? i think ear plugs are a no? my spooky horse is night and day with his bonnet.

[Willesdon]

Do you need to baby him so much? I always warm up carefully but it was pointed out me by a good horseman that sometimes the horse wants to do more right from the start. In this particular case, the gypsy cob, bred to trot, wanted to trot and was not interested in walking until she had got the trot out of her system. Try a couple of circuits on a loose rein then start engaging his brain. He knows his job inside out so you don’t need to teach him anything.

[theresak]

@Pico_Banana

but he’s an old dude and I baby him immensely so we do a very long and slow warm up, which is when the spooks tend to happen.

I used to have this horse. I would always get scolded by an FEI trainer that our warmup was just not helping him and taking too long/too much of his energy to work our way to a PSG frame and quality. So we adjusted our warmup to this:

• 10-15 min of walking and after 5 minutes of stretching (not just a long rein, an actual stretch), the walking was done in contact and we worked on lateral work
• Start trotting and do maybe 2 circles in a first-ish level frame
• Start doing w/t and halt/t transitions bringing the poll up and asking for a more upper level trot and some SI, etc. to align and activate the inside hind
• Canter and immediately start t/c and w/c/w transitions working towards the upper level quality canter

Including the walking, our warmup would take 20-23 minutes. Then after a break, we were ready to school the exercises that were new or work on strengthening existing skills.

You don’t want to ask for something that’s unfair to cold muscles and joints, but allowing an aging horse to go around in a long frame and possibly on the forehand is not doing them any favors.

[cnd8]

If your vet will support you in this, you could try some oral chlorapromazine when at home for outdoor riding as a teaching aid. My barrel horse was scared of the world and a few home trial rides with chlorapromazine taught him he wasn’t going to die. After that, he was fine. But I honestly don’t think he nor I would’ve survived a trail ride before having tried this. He started off as a danger even just riding between the trailer and the area (and this was a horse with an incredible handle. He just lost his mind outside of the arena). This method saved me. Never did use it again, but it got me through that learning process.

[Lost_Shoe]

7 pounds per day of grain might be a contributing factor to consider. Since you have him at home, you could discuss with your vet and do some reading about switching his senior grain for either a ration balanced or a vitamin/mineral supplement. The benefit is to have one feed used to supply the horse’s vitamin/mineral requirements and another feed used to supply the horse’s caloric requirements. A bag of senior feed supplies both. But while horses have roughly similar vitamin/mineral needs, individual horses have varying caloric needs. So, feeding the recommended amount of senior feed may simply be supplying too much energy for your horse.

Based on my personal experience, my horses would be absolutely wild if they were fed 7 pounds of senior feed per day. They get a vitamin/mineral supplement and 24/7 hay/grass.

[Demerara_Stables]

@Pico_Banana

He also has access to a 100x100 dry lot from his stall and he chooses to live outside almost 24/7, so it’s not that he is not used to being outside in general.

This is really tiny. How is his energy level in general? Is he only spooky during warm up or is he a lot of horse when he’s working as well? IIWM I’d try getting him out in a proper field and see how that helps.

[Pico_Banana]

@JB

How was he taken to PSG? I mean, that’s a lot of outside riding time, so what was done to help him deal then?

What do you do when he isn’t focused on you outside?

His previous rider struggled to get her scores at PSG. I think she just kinda powered through it with him being very tense. I know he was ridden with way stronger contact than I ride him with and I suspect not truly working over his back. (I really hate saying stuff like this about other riders!) She’s definitely a way “stronger” rider than I am. I don’t know for sure, of course, but that’s my suspicion.

When he spooks - and they are just a few strides at a quick canter or maybe very occasionally a bit more than that so nothing that is overly concerning, but still more than I want to deal with on a regular basis - I just ride him through it and we go right back to what we were working on.

[Pico_Banana]

@EmilyM

are you allowed to wear a bonnet for dressage? i think ear plugs are a no? my spooky horse is night and day with his bonnet.

Yes, you can wear a bonnet but no ear plugs. He still spooks with the bonnet on.

[Pico_Banana]

@Willesdon

Do you need to baby him so much? I always warm up carefully but it was pointed out me by a good horseman that sometimes the horse wants to do more right from the start.

@theresak

I used to have this horse. I would always get scolded by an FEI trainer that our warmup was just not helping him and taking too long/too much of his energy to work our way to a PSG frame and quality.

Good points in general and I will definitely try that later – thank you! But as of right now, we’ve been mostly out of work for the last couple of months so I think I still need to be careful to go slowly as we get back in shape.

[Pico_Banana]

@Lost_Shoe

7 pounds per day of grain might be a contributing factor to consider. Since you have him at home, you could discuss with your vet and do some reading about switching his senior grain for either a ration balanced or a vitamin/mineral supplement. The benefit is to have one feed used to supply the horse’s vitamin/mineral requirements and another feed used to supply the horse’s caloric requirements. A bag of senior feed supplies both. But while horses have roughly similar vitamin/mineral needs, individual horses have varying caloric needs. So, feeding the recommended amount of senior feed may simply be supplying too much energy for your horse.

Based on my personal experience, my horses would be absolutely wild if they were fed 7 pounds of senior feed per day. They get a vitamin/mineral supplement and 24/7 hay/grass.

He’s a hard keeper and not a great hay eater, so he needs the calories! I’m open to switching up his diet to something else as long as I can keep weight on him.

[Pico_Banana]

@Demerara_Stables

This is really tiny. How is his energy level in general? Is he only spooky during warm up or is he a lot of horse when he’s working as well? IIWM I’d try getting him out in a proper field and see how that helps.

That is just for overnight. During the day he goes out in a big field - grass in the summer - and is in group turnout with my two mares, so has plenty of room to stretch his legs. They get plenty of exercise during the day.

Energy level during turnout is pretty chill. He’s the boss.

[Demerara_Stables]

Oh that’s good!

Does he spook with other riders as well?

[Pico_Banana]

@Demerara_Stables

Does he spook with other riders as well?

Yes, he spooks with my trainer, too.

[Demerara_Stables]

Then I’d echo the other poster that said to keep his brain occupied. I’ve ridden a few TBs that are like this - if you give them a chance to find a boogie man, they will. Once you put them to work and keep their brain busy they’re much better.

[suzyq]

Try a noise cancelling ear bonnet my noise spooker shows in one and it really helps.

ETA sorry I see you’ve already tried this

[floppyammy]

Try Positude. I’ve had amazing results with spooky/anxious horses.

Positude® - All Natural Hormone Supplement for Mares, Geldings and Stallions - Equine Elixirs

[Sister7]

Triple Crown Senior is beet pulp based and contains no whole grains. I use feed it to my young OTTBs who need calories but not extra energy and it hasn’t made any of my horses hot.