Lots of good advice above. I second having a neck strap for use in case of emergency. Also, while we are all taught to begin quietly and warm up before we begin the work, there are some horses who just need to be doing just as soon as they enter the school. These need something to think about before they can begin to relax. Actually, thinking of one mare, she just wanted to canter several circuits and then her concentration switched on and we could begin.
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A simple solution would be to lunge first as a warm up then to go directly to work once you get on. Lunging might also help with the spooking so he can get his spooks out without you.
If you are going to ride him on a long rein he needs to have his business walk so it’s part of his work and not part of his “wander around and look for things to spook at” routine. Make him march.
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There is also no reason to think your walk warm-up needs to be all mounted. I frequently hand walk briskly, and do a few minutes of ground work before mounting.
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Same. I have an older, arthritic horse that has to walk and warm up before he can work but is also spooky in the indoor. If he’s “having a day” I’ll hand walk for about 10 minutes first and then get on and go right to doing all of the walk lateral work, which requires enough focus to keep his attention.
Sometimes if I get on and he’s ok except for specific areas where he’s hyper alert, I’ll let him stop as we approach and we hang out until his ears loosen up or he looks away. Usually it only takes 15-20 seconds. Sometimes we stop, walk a few more steps, stop and look, then circle right back around and approach again.
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I put my little nutjob to serious walk work right away, lots of TOF, half and full pirouettes, LY, halfpass, full pass, reinback, etc. THEN, if things go ok, we start a trot warm up with plenty of bending, lateral work and transitions, more transitions than you’d think should go into a warm up. THEN, if that all goes civilly, long rein walk begins. If it doesn’t go well, walk break is given on contact with lots of practice steering with seat and legs only. Usually by the end my little nutjob is ready to have a nice stretch. If not, she gets handwalked to cool out.
Other techniques are to use a proper working longe session to warm up - NOT to get bucks or silliness out, but to develop that day’s work ethic or using ground driving similarly.
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Thanks all!
I think the oh sh*t strap and the get right to work warmup (possibly also lunging first) may be the ticket. Making him march on that long rein doesn’t happen at first, because he is so tight in the back and compressed and will break to a jig instead of lengthening his strides. Typically with a horse that jigs, a long rein and bending helps to relax them, but he just gets more tense. So maybe it really is that he needs to go a bit before we can come back to do work. When he is like that it’s like riding a little stuffed up cranky pogo stick. He can barely walk. Very unpleasant feeling. And if asked to walk on contact long enough, he’ll start threatening to rear.
We’ll see how we do today! Thanks all!
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We own the same horse? LOL!
Take heart, in time (I’ll admit, for mine it took YEARS), eventually the ability to walk on a long rein and relax will turn up. You will however always need to be aware of the odd day where loose rein may not be able to happen at the beginning of a ride even though it’s happened for months on end. Don’t let it upset you. These sensitive, delicate flower time bombs just need to be ridden appropriately depending on which one of them (Jekyll or Hyde? lol) comes out to the sandbox that day.
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Thanks!
I think it’s particularly hard (for me…mentally) because I’ve had spooky/tense horses in my past but typically was able to sit chilly and just let them relax. His spooks are just too hard for me to sit. He is the first horse I’ve actually come off backward, which is a pretty incredible feeling TBH!
I had one who didn’t get to walk on a long rein until he was in his teens! LOL Once he worked, you could let him relax on a loose rein, but you didn’t dare take away all contact. He was a spook/spin/bolt…though he did eventually outgrow that and you could tell by the ear twitch if he was considering a spin option once he got older. But he really was a overall safe horse, just good at disappearing for anything he deemed scary when he was young.
Another mare I had needed to go right to work. Lunging made her hotter, so I would hand walk about 10 minutes all over the arena before I got straight on. It gave me a better sense of how hot she was that day and gave her the time to “warm up” a bit as once I got on we did about a lap or less of walk and went straight to trotting.
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I’ve actually had more of these, than the other way around. In my experience, lunging will take the edge off a normally calm horse when the circumstances are not favorable (i.e. no turnout due to ice or at a horse show). It won’t help a naturally hot horse settle.
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I understand this completely. I had one in training that really messed with my confidence. I should have told the owner he was insane and I didn’t want to deal … but he was so talented lol. Those years working with a horse that absolutely would not telegraph anything before losing it in the most dramatic fashion did me no favours when I got my own hot, reactive, sensitive nutjob. I love her to pieces and she is perfect in every way, but I do wonder how much easier the first few years would have gone if I hadn’t had the previous experience with the completely insane one.
It gets better as you learn each other. I can sit chilly now … and know exactly how many milliseconds I have available to hop off if sitting chilly is not the answer on that particular day 
(that happens less and less every year - I think I hopped off once in the last 12 months and was able to get right back on when she said, “Um, oops. My mistake. You’re right, no monsters.”
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why not offer him a lunge session prior to EVERY ride - until you know his brain is on and body is relaxed, why would you risk your own? The trick is to have LOOSE side reins he can work into not super tight ones that hold him. And get chickens to live with him, nothing surprises a horse after living with those, lol.
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In the winter, I probably should 
We have guinea fowl, do those count? ROFL. Today when he was I was tacking him up they were right under his feet and I’m like…why…why do you want me dead? I feed you!
He does not tolerate tight side reins at all, nor does he like the ones with the donut…they bounce too much for his taste. I have straight ones, that I adjust quite loosely. He’ll also double lunge but I have to be very careful. He has a very very sensitive mouth. He goes in a mullen with copper inlay and a copper roller, no port, no breaks. I’ve tried all manner of other bits, but that is the only one he will accept any contact on without losing his ever-loving mind.
He’s definitely the prince and the pea
My new-ish (young-ish)horse is also hyper-vigilant. We added magnesium to his diet and when he comes out on tip toe he gets on the line with long with loose side reins. He does not get chased around, the idea is that he comes out and goes to work. On the far end of the arena we can never have a long rein. But he is better now that the door is closed. I do have and use a grab strap.
Part of the problem is that I am old (and slow) and he is quick and athletic. the last time I came off he stopped after a couple stride and came back towards me…“hey mom, why are you on the ground?” He is not evil, though I did have one of those 40 years ago, his response to not enjoying the work would be to turn right and jump out of the arena (in Florida, only an outdoor).
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Guineas definitely count! Does he mind them? You may be surprised, but if they catch his attention without freaking him out, they may be good to “invite” into your riding space to give him something non-scary to focus on. My horses and ponies routinely work through a flock of chickens and ducks under foot, guess what - they don’t care whos in the isle - they have a path to pick
I have developed a liking for long split western reins - have mine on clips and use them as side reins - can make them exactly the length I want that moment by tying them… I never lunge off the bit - I just leave a halter under the bridle - safe, easy, not the flashiest looking option, but great for my horse!
Stay happy and safe with your athletic horse!
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I never thought of using western split reins for that - good idea! I hate all the fiddling necessary with side-reins and they never really seem to be the right length.
He does not mind the guineas although initially when he saw them the first time he tried actively to kill them - I’ve never seen a horse go after an animal like that before. Thankfully, despite the fact that they are really…not the smartest birds…they got away and he doesn’t seem to mind them now. They actively lurk around the arena while we’re riding, but that can be rather frightening because they tend to go into the scratchy areas around the outside, and when the leaves are crunchy “hello!”.
I may also try his soundproof bonnet. It did just dull him “enough” that things weren’t as thrilling. I forgot that I used it all last year in the indoors when there was a piece of insulation that was flapping in the wind.
Thank you! I enjoy all the thoughts - anything to keep me top-side is a good suggestion!
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If he’s difficult to work in long lines, take the time and get him comfortable working in them. It will help you get to know him and see what he does prior to a spook. Good way to see his decision making without being a lawn dart.
Attach lines to a halter underneath if he’s that sensitive but every horse should be able to long line. Might be worth investing in some lightweight lines to help the drag of the reins.
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There is so much good advice, Alterration, that I think you will get it sorted out. But, as an aside, I just wanted to say that the term “proud cut,” is an old cowboy term from the days when not everyone had a veterinarian to do the gelding. With modern veterinary practice, a botched gelding is so rare as to be almost nonexistent. Although, FWIW, when I first got my current horse, I checked his undercarriage more than once to make sure he truly was a gelding! I know the feeling. <3
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Oh no, he’s not difficult to work in them, just sensitive mouthed. Really easy to get him overbent. He lines very well.
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Hahaha, that’s good to know! You know, I’m old, so it didn’t occur to me that veterinary medicine might have solved that problem.
That being said, this horse’s background is unclear enough and his behavior stallion-like enough that a retained testicle might not have been out of the question. If he had actually mounted anyone, I might have taken blood, but he did everything but, and he’s not that cresty anyway. He definitely works more like a stallion than a gelding. His bloodlines are good enough that he would have been a stallion prospect in his breed, but he was likely rejected because his head carriage isn’t high enough in work.
I have worked with a few stallions and ex-stallions (one who was in the breeding shed until 12 when he was finally gelded), so I’m pretty familiar with behavioral patterns.
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