Hello. First time poster hoping for some help on potential medical issues underlying behavioral problems– bucking, bolting, and general nervousness. Apologies for length. I am not sure what is relevant and want to give as complete of a picture as I can.
I bought a horse in August 2022. Friesian cross, ~11 year gelding. I am in the rural northeast; he came from the south. Things were okay for three months– he was clearly nervous about a lot of things, in the sense that he had to stop and look at things. Nothing dangerous: just sometimes he had to stop and take a close look at something, and might give it a snort or two. I was willing to take it slow so was not bothered too much by this. He was responsive under saddle and good on the ground.
Around Thanksgiving 2022, I was riding in our indoor arena during a rainstorm and he spooked badly– bolted– at the wind. This was about after 20 minutes of riding. When I woke up, I had a concussion and a broken shoulder. After that, he had ~1-1.5 months off while I healed (people were still handling him for turnout, friends were grooming him, etc., but no work).
During the time when I was not riding, people were telling me that his anxiety on the ground was worsening– there was an incident where he refused to go into his stall after coming in from the pasture, and the staff had to make a human chain to herd him in. They couldn’t go into his stall to remove his halter for a few hours after because he was so nervous. He was nervous about being blanketed, about night check, about random sounds. There was one incident where someone went in his stall for night check, and he took an aggressive step toward the guy. The guy raised his arms and the horse backed off into the corner of the stall.
Once I was feeling better, my instructor and I did groundwork only for about 1-1.5 months while I continued to heal and so that both of us could regain confidence. My first ride after the fall was in March. The weather was beautiful, the barn was quiet, and he had been lunged before. The first ten minutes were okay, but then he bolted again.
I didn’t fall, but immediately got off. (I know this is not ideal, but after my accident I did not have the courage to stay on.) I sent him to a trainer in early May: a very experienced cowboy-type trainer who has worked with many horses I know and has dealt with a lot of behavioral problems. They started with groundwork, and I was told that the horse is very well-educated in groundwork– knows all sorts of things. The trainer’s first few rides were okay, but then again the horse bolted for no discernable reason. When bolting failed to get rid of the rider, he escalated to bucking. That did remove the rider, who was not injured but was pretty badly bruised. Later that day or on the next day, he slammed the trainer around in the stall (again, this is a super-experienced guy who has seen everything).
That was when the trainer told me that he felt the horse was too dangerous to work with. He said that this is only the second time in his career he has thought that about a horse. He routinely deals with horses that buck, bolt, flip, etc.; but what he said is that he felt that this horse was completely checked out during the bolting and bucking– there was no communicating with him whatsoever.
That trainer referred us to another trainer with an extremely structured program. The horse lasted five days there: on his first ride at the new place, he bucked violently at the mounting block, and the rider again was fairly beaten up from the fall. I got the same call: horse is too dangerous to work with.
His anxiety on the ground was there since I brought him home, but is getting worse and does not seem to be related to fear that he will be ridden. The barn staff who do turn-in, for instance, were just trying to put him in his stall– there was nothing then to suggest that he was about to be ridden. When he is calm, he’s great. He’s sweet and affectionate and loves attention. But when something worries him (and it can be the tiniest of things), he’s jumping out of his skin, and sometimes, like with the trainer in the stall, it becomes dangerous. In turnout with other geldings, he isolates himself in the pasture.
We haven’t done a ton of medical exploration: his magnesium was a bit low initially, but we supplemented to get it normal. He’s on SmartTranquility from SmartPak, but it has had no calming effect whatsoever on ground or undersaddle. My vet checked his hearing at the barn and he has had his teeth floated twice in the period that I’ve had him. When I purchased him, I had x-rays done of his feet and legs, and the only thing that was found was minor sidebone that the vet said was not atypical for his age and conformation.
I don’t have a lengthy background on this horse. I bought him from a beginner owner who wanted him to be a trail horse, but he spooked on the trails and she didn’t feel comfortable riding him. She had him with a trainer friend of hers who only ever saw the anxious snorting-type behavior that I mentioned earlier. According to the woman who owned him prior to the seller, he had been used in a lesson program and was safe and solid. The sales video shows kids riding him. I am aware of the fact that sellers can lie, but none of these people have given me a specific reason to believe that they are being dishonest.
After spending a long time talking with my vet, instructor, and the two trainers who tried to work with him, I am close to euthanizing him. If it was just issues under saddle, maybe I could send him to a retirement barn, but my instructor (who is the barn owner) thought that with his issues on the ground, it wouldn’t be fair to the staff there.
But before I do that, I want to check off the major boxes with respect to medical issues. I’m near a vet school and can have things done. I don’t want to go down a never-ending rabbit hole of chasing pain symptoms, because given his escalating anxiety on the ground, it’s only a matter of time before someone (other than me!) is hurt. But I think it’s reasonable to at least check his vision and get good imaging of his head, neck, withers. What else?
Thanks very much. I am not a lifelong horse-person and am learning things as I go. I want to do the right thing by the horse while also protecting the people who have to deal with him.
