“Fast forward a year, I decide to switch career tracks and move to a city, thus giving up my grooming job and leaving my horse back home with the same trainers for a few months. During this period of time I don’t know entirely what happened, but he was kept in work. However, I came down to take a lesson at one point and his demeanor had completely changed. He was not the relaxed, agreeable horse I knew, but instead noticeably tense and overreactive to my aids.”
Occam’s Razor says the trainers over worked and abused him while you were in the city for a few months. You can easily destroy a horse in a few months with bad rides and abuse.
Thank you! This was so helpful. I’m starting to realize that some of my efforts to “desensitize” are probably just causing him to focus even more on what the scary thing is, as opposed to just listening to what I’m asking and responding to my aids. I’ve been trying to work him adjacent (10 feet or so distance) to the spooky object on a circle and have him move laterally, counter canter, halt, turn on the haunches, pick up canter again, so on and so forth… and after about 3-4 minutes, he gets a walk break which just so happens to take place right as we pass the scary thing, where we halt… until he drops his head and takes a breath, and then we go do something else.
I have also had some success lunging him over a couple of ground poles and, while he was still a drama queen at first, he seemed to appreciate the ability to figure out the scary stuff on his own without interference from a rider (I’m sure that, as much as I try to prevent it, I probably tense up a bit when I think he’s going to spook). The first couple of approaches he sprayed out to one side, third approach he half-stopped and then deer jumped the thing like it was a three foot wall, fourth approach went over normally albeit from a massive distance. I had a lunge whip in hand but didn’t need to use it; he was responsive enough to my voice and body language.
With this approach I got from plain ground pole to small cavaletti and as soon as he handled these like a normal horse in both directions, I let him be done and took him out to graze. Noticed a significant improvement in the spookiness when riding the next day. I can tell he is much more confident when he can look at me standing next to him and see my reaction (read: bored) to the objects he thinks are scary, so now I have to figure out how to translate all that to when I’m on his back. As silly as it sounds, this horse does see me as his “herd leader” and is truly wants to comply with what I ask - if anything, sometimes he overdoes it (leg yield? I have to be careful not to apply too much pressure or he’ll leg yield us straight through the wall). He is incredibly willing and his ground manners are wonderful, so I have that to be thankful for.
Holding off on depo until we see what the ulcer treatment does for at least a few weeks. Still waiting on the vet to come back to do the Lyme titer.
Sounds like there’s some progress, so that’s good! But, rather than focusing on desensitizing, because I’m not sure one can (or should attempt to) remove startle response from a horse, what if you worked on relaxation instead? I mean, it’s kind of the same thing, but slightly different focus.
How much praise do you offer when you’re riding? I’ve found when you rub their neck when they do something you like, when they relax or step under or whatever it is, the more they want to do the thing you are praising them for. I don’t pat them when they spook, but I will reward them for listening to my leg. This seems to circumvent some of the spooking altogether, when they trust you and relax into the work; or if they do spook, they get over it more quickly, because leg = relax and go forward.
This would be assuming no physical issues.
And, yes, to checking if you are holding tension in your own body. I know I have a tendency to tense up my arms so I have to be conscious of relaxing them and riding off my leg.
Even if the tests for Lyme, EPM, or ulcers came back negative, some horses respond well to treatment. I’d start him on Doxy for the Lyme, sucralfate and misoprostol for ulcers, and (if it’s in the budget) Marquis for EPM. I’d also consider going back on depo. Some horses are totally different on it.
If that’s working, then keep going that direction. With my mare, if I make it about the scary corner, it just turns into a fight. If I focus on keeping relaxation and then making it about how she’s coming off the aids, it’s much more successful. She tries to use the spook as a distraction. If I ignore the drama and instead just say “no, hey, let’s talk about that right leg” and stay super patient and consistent, I get the best reaction.
I still think there’s something else going on with your horse, due to the change of behavior and strangeness of it.
But your approach sounds great. Sometimes thinking “you need to move off my right leg and oops there was a pole in the way and you went over it, good boy” works better than “you will go over that pole!”
First things that come to mind are: have his eyes checked by an ophthalmologist…regular vets sometimes aren’t good at finding odd things …next on the list would be Lyme & epm …send out blood …next would be to check for neck and back pain
