Dealing with a hyperalert horse

[Summernyt]

Hi all, am new to the forum and have a question. I’ve got 4 horses…one Andalusian, one QH and two minis. We do some lower level dressage, trails and chase cows…so I guess I’m a hybrid :winkgrin:

My question: how to deal with a horse that is so hyperalert to her environment? My Andalusian is wonderful in so many ways…much like a Labrador Retriever…social, playful, loving but hyper. I always feel her mind checks in, checks out and it’s a constant effort to keep her attention. Her ears rotate like antennae. She’s a sensitive horse and I just can’t find the balance between getting her attention and being too severe, which confuses her and makes her more anxious. If she’s afraid, she’s light like a dancer and scoots out from under me, though she doesn’t go far.

I’ve had her since she was started, she’s now 10 y.o. and I’d love to keep her, but maybe she’d have a better match with a confident rider who doesn’t much care about the anxiety or can deflect it? I’m at the age where I just want a relaxing ride without having to micromanage every stride.

If there are a few tips, I’d surely appreciate them.

[matryoshka]

Is she super alert or spooky? I ask because I’ve been riding a Friesian who is very alert to his environment, but he does not act out. On any other horse, I’d be in trouble when the head went to that level and the ears were pricked, horse looking around. With him, that’s all he does. I handle it like any other horse and just ride as relaxed as possible.

If your horse reacts to all she sees, then it’s more of a problem. I handle it the same way (stay relaxed), but it is definitely harder to deal with.

Have you tried any relaxation techniques for yourself? I like to sing when I feel tense. It helps the horses, too. Eventually, I relax and then the horse relaxes, too.

[Summernyt]

I would say both hyperalert and spooky

but it’s very inconsistent and that is what gets to me. She is surprisingly good on the trail, but if something scares her, she is REALLY scared. Not a bit aggressive or wanting to run home, just needs to get away. Last time it was a bull sitting under a tree…she just wanted to get away from it. I tried to stay on, but we were on a wooded narrow section of the trail and I had to bail or get my head cut off from her spinning around to get away under the tree branches. Now I have a lovely divot scar in my rear end where I landed on a branch that was sticking up. Gotta love her, though, once she got a distance from the monster under the tree, she just stood there and waited for me because she’s very social and would never run home.

[matryoshka]

That would be tough. So “high alert” for your horse really is high alert. I was hoping it was just her way of going and that maybe you weren’t that used to trail riding. The only thing I can think of is to desensitize her. I’m pretty sure my guys would have spooked at a bull sitting under a tree, but the intensity of the spook is the question. Also, how fast they come back to you after a spook. Years ago one of my yearlings pulled me off my horse when I tried to pony him past some cows. :lol: And I was riding his mama!! It took some work to get him used to trail obstacles, and I did it all from the back of another horse.

Do you ride with a buddy? And if so, is she still so spooky? Does she just maybe need some more mileage on the trail?

I agree that a confident rider can help her, but they may be no better at preventing the spooks than you are. I’ve retrained some horses that were prone to spooking, and it took me being impervious to anything going on around us to get them through it. When I stopped reacting or focusing on the stimuli, the horse would eventually take my lead. I was aware of whatever spooky thing in question, but I wouldn’t look at it and would only react to what the horse did, not try to anticipate a reaction. That makes a difference to a lot of horses.

Other riders have success by doing a bit of dressage, bending, lateral work, etc. before and near any stimulus that is likely to cause a spook. In my experience, this would tense the horse up more. But that may be the difference in riders rather than anything inherent in the horses. We have to find out what works for us as riders as well as what works for the horse.

Here’s a book that has some good info: http://www.amazon.com/Bombproof-Your-Horse-Confident-Encounter/dp/1570762600/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1226756538&sr=1-1.

[ayrabz]

Hooboy. I ‘heard dat wi’ mah BAD ear’ ! :lol:
My guy is 11 this year. Yes, purebred crazy AYRAB. So, that alone, I guess puts us in the ‘been dealing with the hyper alert’ all along. For us, he’s our ‘one and only’…we board, only have the one horse, and he was loved before he hit the ground, out of a blessed mare we already loved.
So…my experience ? Yes. He is one that will ALWAYS be ‘alert’. It is a ride where you know it can ALWAYS happen. And his flight instinct is one that takes no prisoners when its engaged—he doesn’t know you’re around, involved, or in the picture.
Good part: we continued to grow, (as did/does (!) he) in ability to deal. The ‘youngster’ years were worse, and it does get better, but in those who will always ‘flee’, I think its more a getting better of what you know to do, what they know you will expect, etc, vs. them ever getting over it.
I think, too, its just a matter of what you’ll invest. I perfectly understand the desire for just the relaxed enjoyable ride.
My personal opinion is that it will indeed come down to that. If you are attached enough to the horse to ride each ride in a more connected way, and enjoy the time spent even in that way, then you can look forward to that relationship. If you are just unhappy with not being able to trust, daydream and mosey without awareness, then I can understand that too.
Fortunately, thats your call, and a decision you can be honest with yourself about…unfortunately (!) its not always easy to do.

[Mersy]

Actually I have found when I try to micro-manage the more sensitive horses they seem to get worse.
In most cases they need to learn some self control of their emotions/insticts and become more confidient in the rider.
For example I had a Appy that was terrified of moose. Well, here in Alaska the chances of seeing one is just a given. My first reaction when he would go into hyper drive would be to get a “handle” on him. But, as I was trying to do this, I noticed that he would just get excited more so. I do believe he felt that my correcting him was just showing I did not consider his fears and just compounded the issue.
So I took a leap of faith. Instead of taking hold of the reins I set them down and held on to the saddle in case he bolted. Then I just talked soothingly and tried to stay relaxed. This seem to relay to him that he could still be afraid but it was going to be ok. Now he never really got over his fear of moose but he was able to control himself and listen to me without bolting.

I now have a Arab that is very alert and sensitive. I do a lot of singing when I ride her and try to ignore those “scarey” things when we walk by them by focusing ahead. In most cases she gets by without to much problem.
That said, there have been some cases were I have just dismounted when I could see the horse was not going to be able to control itself. Such as when one day we came across some cows. At first she wasn’t to concerned but when they started to migrate to the fenceline to check us out she lost it. In this situation I retreated to a location where she would hold her feet still and I dismounted. I then progressed along the fenceline leading her in hand. She was still scared, but I was out of danger or at least could step out of its way. When we got passed the cows a certain distance she settled and I remounted. My plan now is to go back to where the cows are and practice a little approach and retreat to work on desensitizing her.

With sensitive horses always be aware of your surroundings, determine what might be a issue before hand and decide how to work through it in a safe manner. Stay relaxed. If you don’t feel confident enough when coming upon a situation, dismount for safeties sake then proceed after you pass the danger zone.

[Shadow14]

[QUOTE=ayrabz;3654867]
Hooboy.
My guy is 11 this year. Yes, purebred crazy AYRAB. So, that alone, I guess puts us in the ‘been dealing with the hyper alert’ all along. .[/QUOTE]

I don’t agree that purebred arabs are crazy. They are sensitive to the owner. If the owner/rider is uptight so will the horse be uptight.
I ride arabs and find them extremely stable, but then again I am stable, relaxed, confident.
Horses usually are what their riders are. I ride problem horses for people and funny those problems seem to melt away in short order.

I would really like to see a bull SITTING under a tree???:lol::lol: Make for a great picture. Could we see pictures of the scar?:lol::lol:

[Shadow14]

[QUOTE=Mersy;3655407]
. Such as when one day we came across some cows. At first she wasn’t to concerned but when they started to migrate to the fenceline to check us out she lost it. In this situation I retreated to a location where she would hold her feet still and I dismounted. I then progressed along the fenceline leading her in hand. She was still scared, but I was out of danger or at least could step out of its way. When we got passed the cows a certain distance she settled and I remounted. My plan now is to go back to where the cows are and practice a little approach and retreat to work on desensitizing her.

.[/QUOTE]

I had to introduce my young fellow to cows so every day for about a week I rode over to the field where a herd of milk cows were and just got off him, walked to the fence and just waited. Before long the whole herd migrates to our spot, they approach very slowly, but they are curious and eventually a few poke their nosed through the fence and after a few visits Rio actually would stetch out and sniff them back. It took a week but now cows don’t bother him.

[ayrabz]

umm, Shadow, that was ‘tongue in cheek.’-- I am an arab owner/lover thru and thru…and respect the breed greatly. They are my breed of choice and I am very confident in that choice.

I"ve been offered horses to train for others as well, after their witnessing of my training of my own.

I was trying to add some content to the topic of some horses always being reactive, and that it may indeed be something in certain horses that you need to work with longer than others.

[twofatponies]

I don’t know that this would work for every horse, but my older mare was the Tasmanian Devil when she saw cows. I rode her out with my trainer to demonstrate how bad it was. We did the whirling tornado past the cows, and I said, so what do you recommend? Her recommendation was “horse is not permitted to look at the cows. period”. We also used the horse my trainer was riding as a “buffer”, placing her between scaredy horse and the cows. So we rode back and forth a three or four times, with my horse’s head bent to the right or left, (whichever was away from the cows - and the first time this required some strong insistence on my part, but it got easier and easier as she started paying attention to me and not the cows). We went by the cows every week after that, and my husband used the same technique, but much less effort was required each time, and now she doesn’t need the buffer horse or the bending exercise - she just walks by them.

[Bank_of_Dad]

My next horse will be born and raised at the local zoo.

[twofatponies]

[QUOTE=Bank of Dad;3655701]
My next horse will be born and raised at the local zoo.[/QUOTE]

LOL - perhaps this is a good business to get into! Special horse-desensitization ranches full of emus and wallabies…

[Summernyt]

OK, maybe the bull wasn’t “sitting” under the tree…

…BUT it was a big black blotch obviously lying in wait for my mare so it could eat her…well, that’s probably what SHE thought. I’ve noticed she’s reactive to things under trees now that I think of it…last big spook was at a wheelbarrow under a tree, also boulders in tall grass. Makes sense I suppose.

I think it’s a matter of either being able to relax on a sensitive horse or not keeping her. There is so much to appreciate about a sensitive horse…this one is light like a dancer, hates being left alone, loves people. Last few days, I’ve been working with her and not allowing her to look at anything else “out there” but man, it is tiring to keep after her attention over and over and over again. By contrast, I took the QH down to move around Texas longhorns for the first time today (complete w/horns) and she just pushed them around because she knows she’s important and they must be insignificant. I think the Andalusian would have danced around and over them…

But all in all, hyperalert is a personality type and I have to work with it. Or not.

[Cindyg]

As soon as I read your first line, I knew it was going to be the Andalusian you’re talking about.

Will you PM me and tell me who her mom and dad are?

[Shadow14]

What breed is Merlin???

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgG_Gwy7Ysg

[Countryclips]

Yikes that Video was too much…:eek:

[tkhawk]

Arabs are great. They ae pretty sensitive and I love them. It works both ways-if you are riled up and scared-it can be scary-but if you are calm , collected, firm and relaxed-you can get them through anything . But the hyperalert horse is never going to turn into a dead broke anyone can ride horse. You just have to ride them. I like those types-not crazy-just a little alert and aware and more in tune with you…

As for cows, my mare was in pasture with cows in the neighbouring pasture. One day the cows pushed half the fence over and jumped in. The horses chased them off from the feeding area- well at least that is how they found them at the morning feed time-there were only two of them-smaller cows . She is not afraid of cows after that…

I am moving and on the way to check out my new barn-I saw an ostrich farm with trails that go right by the fence. Now I am just figuring out how to despook her to the ostriches…

[Kyzteke]

[QUOTE=Summernyt;3654227]

I’ve had her since she was started, she’s now 10 y.o. and I’d love to keep her, but maybe she’d have a better match with a confident rider who doesn’t much care about the anxiety or can deflect it? I’m at the age where I just want a relaxing ride without having to micromanage every stride.

If there are a few tips, I’d surely appreciate them.[/QUOTE]

I truly do think she would be better off with a different rider. And I think YOU are better off with a different horse.

People so often confuse Temperament with Training, and they are NOT the same. You will never change the temperament of a horse, only modify it with training & conditioning. At least, this has been my experience.

To take a hypersensitive horse and expect it to become dull is unrealistic.

You CAN train a horse to be braver, and by becoming a strong leader you can greatly reduce the reaction these type of horses might give. But that takes alot of work, alot of knowledge and takes alot of time. Meanwhile, you have to be able to stay with her during the meltdowns and that comes down to sheer riding ability.

If you have the resources to send her to a good trainer AND work with a pro to better your own riding skills at the same time, progress might be made. But, since you have other horses and you are clear what your riding goals are, I don’t see any reason you should do all this.

IMO it’s bad for a horse to have a rider come off – it can start bad habits or it simply shakes the confidence of the horse. We all come off sometimes, but as you get older, you timing DOES slow down. You are abit more fearful, which sometimes isn’t a bad thing either. And it sounds like you are coming off more often than not. One of these days you could get seriously hurt.

Placing a horse with a rider who suits it better is usually a kind thing to do, and the mare is still young enough to give someone many more years of work.

[Kyzteke]

[QUOTE=Shadow14;3656333]
What breed is Merlin???

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgG_Gwy7Ysg[/QUOTE]

Luistanio (sp?). National horse of Portugaul, I believe. Amazing athlete, isn’t he?

[matryoshka]

@Bank of Dad;3655701

My next horse will be born and raised at the local zoo.

:lol::lol::lol: