Gaining trust of an abused horse

[Bays4days]

Seeking advice for a horse I’ve recently acquired.
I have a dressage mare whom I purchased recently. She was wonderful when I tried her and passed her PPE.

I get her home and settled in but quickly noticed skittish behaviors . When I went to start riding her I noticed she was very tense and wanted to “run” the whole time.
I brought her to Aiken with me for the winter. The weather is helping our progress. It took me 3 weeks for me to be able to pat her on the neck or bum; She’s even worse if I go to adjust my stirrups. Her body language suggests she has been abused.

I got a gastroscopy done on her and bought a calming supplement.
I got a treat pouch with the intentions to start using those during our rides.
I hack a lot; She has gotten a lot more relaxed and started to enjoy it.

Adding that we did a drug screening for PPE.

Does anyone have any exercises I can do in hand and under saddle to help her gain my trust and be less reactive and gain confidence?

Note: I am a UL rider so I find myself capable of working with her, it’s just been a while since I’ve had one with emotional baggage!

[Scribbler]

@Bays4days

Seeking advice for a horse I’ve recently acquired.
I have a dressage mare whom I purchased recently. She was wonderful when I tried her and passed her PPE.

I get her home and settled in but quickly noticed skittish behaviors . When I went to start riding her I noticed she was very tense and wanted to “run” the whole time.
I brought her to Aiken with me for the winter. The weather is helping our progress. It took me 3 weeks for me to be able to pat her on the neck or bum; She’s even worse if I go to adjust my stirrups. Her body language suggests she has been abused.

I got a gastroscopy done on her and bought a calming supplement.
I got a treat pouch with the intentions to start using those during our rides.
I hack a lot; She has gotten a lot more relaxed and started to enjoy it.

Adding that we did a drug screening for PPE.

Does anyone have any exercises I can do in hand and under saddle to help her gain my trust and be less reactive and gain confidence?

Note: I am a UL rider so I find myself capable of working with her, it’s just been a while since I’ve had one with emotional baggage!

Abuse is a very wide term. Unless you know exactly what precipitated a behavior it’s pretty much useless to try to analyze. It’s pretty hard to tell “abuse” from “feral and green.” Both can make a horse skittish.

It’s rare a horse has been universally brutalized. More likely to have had isolated bad experiences loading in a trailer or with a farrier or vet or being ridden very badly. It’s much more likely the horse just doesn’t know anything at all about life.

I expect from what you say about her racing under saddle she is greener than advertised maybe barely broke and may have back pain.

I would stay off her back and do intensive liberty and ground work.

You say you are an upper level rider but I don’t know what that means. Lots of people can ride 4th or PSG but have no experience with green horses or with problem solving. You are going to need to learn a whole new discipline

Just treat her as an unbroken horse that needs starting from scratch and fill in the training holes you find.

[NoSuchPerson]

@Bays4days

Her body language suggests she has been abused.

I had a horse that I bred and raised at home. He was always under my supervision until I sent him off to a colt starter. Before that, he wasn’t really handled by anyone other than me, my vet, and my farrier (I was always present). That horse was the most skittish, suspicious horse I’ve ever had. He emerged from the womb that way.

One day I was whining to my vet about him and I told her that if I hadn’t raised him myself and knew better, I would swear someone had abused him in the past. She said some horses are just that way and there isn’t much you can do about it.

My horse did improve over time with calm, careful handling, respecting his quirks, and, I think, just more life experience and age to settle down.

[Bays4days]

Thank you for this!

[Bays4days]

You’re right; I shouldn’t assume. It’s odd because if I move a certain way she reacts as if I am going to hit her.
She has schooled third level dressage; I have literally ruled out everything physical so that is checked off the list.
I should clarify, I’ve done the whole starting, restarting, bringing a horse up the levels thing….but i am no cowboy
Thanks for the advise!

[Scribbler]

@Bays4days

You’re right; I shouldn’t assume. It’s odd because if I move a certain way she reacts as if I am going to hit her.
She has schooled third level dressage; I have literally ruled out everything physical so that is checked off the list.
I should clarify, I’ve done the whole starting, restarting, bringing a horse up the levels thing….but i am no cowboy
Thanks for the advise!

Well, if you can identify an action on your part that triggers her, you can work through de escalating her reaction.

Have you had her vision checked?

[Demerara_Stables]

I hate to say it, but time is what I’ve found works the best. Are you boarding her out or do you have her where you’re living in Aiken? It’s helpful if you can see/handle her daily or even multiple times a day. Bonus points if you’re the food lady.

I’ve had a few that are very suspicious, even dangerously so, and while I don’t tolerate biting/kicking/running me over, in general I just handle them normally, give lots of positive reinforcement via voice or strokes/pats/scratches, whatever they like, and let them figure out that I’m ok. I’ve tried to “force” them to get over things by working on whatever it is they have an issue with, or doing more groundwork/handling, but none of that works as well as time does. They just have to learn to trust you.

[MunchingonHay]

I used to care for a morgan… his name was Duke. The people that owned him, had him most of his life. His nickname was Spooky Duky. I also cared for his full brother who lived with him his whole life. He was as sane and saintly as they come, a bomb could go off and he would just stand there. Some are just born a little… extra.

I would also see if she is in season and if regumate or something like that would help. And I also thought about the lighting in the barn and her vision.

Does your saddle /girth fit well?

Other than that, I would suggest time and just spending time with her … although Spooky Duky never grew out of his spookyness, we learned his triggers and were extra slow and kind with him.

[Moss]

This is the answer.

I had a horse that definitely had some issues-- I’ve ridden a lot of horses and helped rehab a number of horses and no one knows reactive or explosive like last my girl-- but she also had poor breeding that contributed to some of her neuroses. My last trainer also said something that clicked with me: don’t view a horse through the lens of trauma. That’s setting them up for failure. Be patient and meet the horse where they’re at.

[Belmont]

I have a gelding that is very watchy on the ground and can be quite sensitive and jumpy, even when on his back. However, when he’s working or on a cow - he’s working and has no care in the world what I do on the saddle or if a bag floats by him in the wind.

My husband bought him in utero. He’s owned him, trained him, and ridden him his whole entire life. No abuse. It’s just how he is, but if he wound up down the road somewhere else - I’m sure someone would think he was abused.

I think some horses are just like that. The more we tried to train on him and “desensitize” him from being watchy, the worse it got. Ultimately, I find that if I pretend like he isn’t doing anything silly and the less I coddle him with treats and kisses, he is better. If I don’t react when he yanks his head back when I go to brush his face - he immediately is fine. If I stop and let him sniff the saddle he’s had on his back 1000 times, he’s worse about me throwing it up there, where as if I ignore him blowing at it and just put it on - he’s fine. I’ve learned that if I don’t react, he doesn’t react. FWIW, his vision has been checked and is fine. He is also seven.

Unfortunately, your mare may just be that way. Maybe she was really settled in her old home and wasn’t as bad when you went to try her. I know you ran a tox, but it’s possible they used a natural calmer that didn’t pop on a drug screen.

ETA: Have you checked her for ulcers? My gelding did improve some after being treated for ulcers and on a prevention.

[Bays4days]

Thank you for the advice!
Yes, her gastroscopy was PERFECT

[RMJacobs]

I had a pony (gelding) who acted like he’d been abused. I got him through a rescue who said they got him from the kill pen at an auction. He would flinch whenever someone moved a hand anywhere near him. It took months, but with a concerted effort by my daughter (ten years old at the time), my husband and me, we got him over it. We just treated him with consistent kindness except for the one time he bit my daughter. Then he was sure he was going to die (although we didn’t actually touch him).

He got to where he enjoyed being groomed, instead of constantly reacting. He developed impeccable ground manners. One time I was cleaning a back hoof and a small branch fell on him from the tree overhead. He was upset but he didn’t move a muscle.

He was always a brat under saddle, to the point that my daughter refused to ride him any more. I asked her if she’d mind if I taught him to drive, and she thought that was a great idea. The whole family worked on it, and it became clear he’d done it before. He was a solid citizen in harness, totally unflappable except with a drone overhead. Even then, he didn’t act up–but it was clear he was very unhappy with that annoying sound right over him.

Rebecca

[NaturallyHappy]

@NoSuchPerson

One day I was whining to my vet about him and I told her that if I hadn’t raised him myself and knew better, I would swear someone had abused him in the past. She said some horses are just that way and there isn’t much you can do about it.

We had a wonderful GSD who was born in my house and lived her entire life w us. She was very, very sensitive. Her full sister was a bulldozer.

[NaturallyHappy]

@Belmont

I know you ran a tox, but it’s possible they used a natural calmer that didn’t pop on a drug screen.

Jeepers. I always tell people to pull blood. I never thought much about natural calmers, but I now know SynChill works.

[jherold]

I’d still treat for ulcers. Scoping doesn’t reach hindgut ulcers. I’d do both carafate and ulcerguard.

As far as abuse, I had a mare that was very food aggressive. She was being leased to teenager. The parent said she must have been starved. We all had a good laugh when I told him she was born on my farm and had never missed a meal in her life! At my house she was taught to go to the back of her stall and wait with her ears up until I had left. The discipline wasn’t continued at the barn she was leased at.

[Scribbler]

There is so much information these days about dog psychology and signs of abuse and etc, so I think there is some confusion whereby people think that any horse that doesn’t act like a big friendly dog must have been abused. But the species are very different.

Dogs live more intimate lives with humans, and are held to higher standards of behavior. The range of things that could be considered abuse in dogs and lead to neurotic behavior ranges from tying them alone in the back yard overnight, leaving the dog at a shelter, puppy mills, yelling and kicking dog for barking, etc. I mean dogs are inherently kind of neurotic, way over focused on their person, very very needy most of the time. That’s why we love them.

Horses live away from people and only interact for a few hours a day. A horse loose on a field without people is extremely happy. Horses have some innate social aggression but they don’t have the innate food aggression of carnivore hunters, and barging people over for grain or treats is learned behavior.

Horses don’t have the innate desire for physical contact with humans that you get in almost all dogs. An anxious dog might fawn (I said neurotic!) while an anxious horse is just more likely to avoid or walk away.

Now well socialized pet horses can be a delightful mix of decent manners and extreme focus on humans. But that’s learned behavior not innate as it is in dogs.

Likewise, we are so much bigger than dogs that using force to discipline a dog could completely fry his brain. But horses actually respond well to short sharp corrections when needed, because that’s what they do to each other, nip or kick, then forget about it.

Horses can also have situational issues that reflect poor handling or “abuse” in given scenarios.

Trailer loading is one. It’s totally unnatural and needs to be taught systematically. There are horses out there who are absolutely calm and happy with their people, but had some bad (borderline or really abusive, but not recognized as such) loading incident that makes then unwilling to ever load. As an example.

[chestnutmarebeware]

My OTTB (whom I was given straight off the track) was an amazingly easy-going girl — so much so that I allowed her to be used for a beginner lesson once a week just a month or two after I started working with her as a riding horse.

Less than a year later (after I had to leave her behind for two months) when I was transferred and was looking for the right boarding stable, she became dangerous under saddle, to the point where she managed to dump me three times in three rides. She was also leery of being touched or groomed.

I assumed that she had been used without my permission while I was in another state and been poorly treated.

But when my new vet came out, she was diagnosed with severe kissing spine, and it was pain causing her to react the way she was.

I opted to retire her at age 6 (she’s still happily spending my money on full board at the same boarding barn at age 23 ) and she appears to remain pain-free without any medical intervention.

Anyway, I was 100% sure that she had been traumatized while I couldn’t check on her, but it turned out to be a medical issue. So maybe something similar is going on with your horse.

[Hej]

Routine. Sensitive horses often do very well if most if their daily pattern stays consistent. The way you do things is possibly just different enough from what he’s used to to unnerve him a bit
Feed and turn out at the approximately the same times, and, in a barn w/multiple horses, in the same order.
Groom in the same place and with a regular sequence of actions. The order you do things in is not important, doing them the same way every time is.
Structure your warmup and rides very consistently for a while.
Once he settles in to his new routines he may be more able to cope with the normal variations of horse life.
Establishing routines has helped some pretty quirky critters. It seems that once the trust the routine they trust you as well. I sometimes refer to this as “boring them into submission”.

[red_mares]

I had one like that. I bought her at 4, but had known her since she hit the ground. My mother had a horse at the barn. The horse had never been abused. She was however, spoiled rotten. When I sent her to a trainer he made comments more than once about abuse. She was uneducated (functionally illiterate) and spoiled.