So I have a lovely 9 year old OTTB. He is smart, sweet, moves quite nicely, and has a great jump. Until I take him off the farm, that is. Then he melts into a great big puddle of sheer panic and anxiety. I try to hand walk him, lunge him, and talk to him to try to keep his focus on me, all to no effect. He has been on SmartCalm Ultra, as well as Nupafeed. I don’t know what to do since I am DYING to get out eventing again, but if he keeps having these meltdowns, it is never going to happen. Does anyone have experience with this or have tips with what else to try? Right now we are in the “We are going everywhere as often as possible” phase, but I just want it to start helping him. Thanks in advance!!!
Second the “go everywhere as often as possible.” 
I’d say bring a [horse] buddy, but that can occasionally backfire and they get attached to their trailermate… so in this case, I wouldn’t.
I would also give him a dose of Ulcergard and 60 ccs of an antacid of your choice (U-gard, Papaya juice, aloe vera juice) and/or sucralfate.
iMHO make him pack up and go. have a trailer? find a steady eddie and a friend to go with you. or ask your trainer - “hey, dobbin’s been making me nervous - can you come with me to XYZ and give me a lesson?” have your trainer help you, make sure you are not doing anything inadvertently that may fuel his anxiety - your trainer should be able to point out any handling errors if there even are any. hack him out. walk him in hand up and down the road. change your routine - if you normally just walk him around the barn when you are at home, take him all the way out behind the woods (if that is allowed, etc). don’t fall into the guise of sticking with the routine just because you don’t ruffle any feathers that way.
it’s okay if the first few times out he is upset - don’t get on him right away if you are worried. you need to be in the right state of mind too. take him to a farm or somewhere quiet, hang out by the trailer and brush and curry him - bring hay. i have one currently that is very nervous when he steps off the trainer (also green OTTB) and i always get there a half hour early and just walk around in hand and let him be a tourist.
if he’s an OTTB it’s not like he’s never been anywhere strange before – he probably just needs to be reminded that it is okay and learn to look at you for guidance.
A friend of mine rode a free lease horse that was very nice at home and a nut job at shows. That’s why the horse’s lease was free to my friend; owner wanted to show but the horse was too spazzy to focus at showgrounds.
My pal took the mare to a show about a year later with owner’s permission, and as predicted she was pacing in her stall, calling, almost uncontrollable in hand or undersaddle. She reared up in one of the schooling rings and broke my friend’s nose before show even started 
Next day my determined friend got ready for her classes. The mare was a different horse! 24 hours later she was all business and they even placed. It was a 3 day show and my friend had a blast, black eye and all! The owner had never kept the mare at a showground more than 24 hours because she was so panicky/anxious. I tell you this tale as you never know if you could have this type of horse.
Ideally you could take your OTTB to a 2 or 3 day clinic setting and work with someone who has solid experience working with your horse’s issue. He may act up as the strange farm may elicit his anxiety, but you’ll have a skilled professional who can give you tools on how to handle it going forward with continued travel exposure?
PS: I’ve never had an anxious horse respond to feed through calming supplements at home or away.
What are you doing to ensure he’s having a positive experience where he goes? It only works to go everywhere as often as possible if you’re ensuring a positive experience. It’s probably easier to do this at a larger barn where your horse can just ride on the trailer with everyone else to shows/clinics and just hang out all day.
[QUOTE=arapaloosa_lady;8511195]
What are you doing to ensure he’s having a positive experience where he goes? It only works to go everywhere as often as possible if you’re ensuring a positive experience. It’s probably easier to do this at a larger barn where your horse can just ride on the trailer with everyone else to shows/clinics and just hang out all day.[/QUOTE]
Sometimes I have taken him off the trailer, walked him a hundred yards (calmly) let him look for a moment, and taken him home. He gets a cookie and praised and gets to go back in his pasture. He’s also been to very relaxed clinics, and was an angel in his stall, and when I hand walked him out. When I hopped up in the saddle he became agitated. Ironically, if I take him to either of my trainers barns, he is chill!!! Might have young “I don’t want to work” moments, but he is relaxed otherwise!!!
I have one who has just completed his “go everywhere and deal with it” year. He may be hotter than yours generally (sweet, angel, don’t really ring a bell) but he was controllable at home and terrifying elsewhere.
My suggestion–this might sound counter intuitive, but IME a lot of TBs don’t respond that well to “quiet” behavior–handwalking, walking on a loose rein, etc. It just gives the mind a bit too much space. Make him focus–get on him, get him on the aids, put him to work. Make him go forward if he thinks about being silly, make him move laterally off each leg, etc. When he is listening to you and on the aids he can’t carry on.
With my TB, if she’s already “up” she gets more worried and thinks I’ve abandoned her if I try to let her do anything on a loose rein. What works for her is to be ON her and making her focus. Trust me, I know it can be scary to get on a horse that was previously dancing around just being hand-walked, but she responds much better. Of course you know your horse best, but with my mare she needs me to be on her and doing half-passes, leg yields, anything to get her paying attention to my leg and seat.
If you can find some local barns to trailer to and have an ‘overnight trip’, where you arrive one day, handwalk/graze/lunge, he stays overnight, and you school the next day, may be helpful to allow him to adjust and give more positive experiences. Getting a stall at a weekend show, just to allow him to ‘be’ there for the weekend (with lots of hand walking, lunging, schooling of course), is good also.
Like a couple others mentioned, my TB cannot be given a chance to find things to freak out about. I have to constantly keep his attention on what I’m asking him to do, or his naughty little brain will wander down disastrous paths.
I also have to ignore any freak outs that do occur; otherwise it positively reinforces his behavior. If we were trotting a 20m circle and he explodes, I solely focus on going back to trotting a 20m circle as if I didn’t just take a bronc ride. No punishment or emotion on my part, just insistence on returning to the exercise at hand. He eventually figures out he’s making a big fuss over nothing and gets over himself.
Unfortunately we’ve had to revisit this problem after a loooong layoff due to injury. I have confidence he’ll stop being a dumbass again, but yeesh I forgot how exhausting it is! My condolences, OP!
I have found that it is helpful to make sure a horse like this can stretch his head and neck down on command both under saddle (think stretchy circle type stretch) as well as when you put a finger on his poll. Relaxed horses put their head down, but it also works the other way. If you can get a tense horse to put his head down in obedience he will be “forced” to relax to accomplish it.
The longitudinal stretch–where the horse seeks the bit and lowers his head and neck–is helpful here too. This really has to be finessed, but it has some additional benefits other than just lowering the head especially with an OTTB. Nothing winds a tense horse up more than shutting the front door and being resistant with your hands/bit. You can’t ask a horse to stretch without showing him the door open in front of him.
Ideally, I have my young horses at home very flexible and obediant to stretching, since obviously it is much more difficult to get a tense horse to do this, but I have found it very helpful.
PS: I’ve never had an anxious horse respond to feed through calming supplements at home or away.[/QUOTE]
I would absolutely agree until I had my horse on smart calm ultra, other vitamin B combos until I found Smart Tranquility, its a blend of herbs this works for my gelding. I really started studying and looking into the mixtures being a pharmacist it came naturally for me to do so. If the vitamin B/Magnesium elemental supplements don’t work try the ones with an herbal blend :lol:
[QUOTE=wintersoldier87;8511236]
Sometimes I have taken him off the trailer, walked him a hundred yards (calmly) let him look for a moment, and taken him home. He gets a cookie and praised and gets to go back in his pasture. He’s also been to very relaxed clinics, and was an angel in his stall, and when I hand walked him out. When I hopped up in the saddle he became agitated. Ironically, if I take him to either of my trainers barns, he is chill!!! Might have young “I don’t want to work” moments, but he is relaxed otherwise!!![/QUOTE]
Do you think he has performance anxiety and feeds off of your internal stress or feelings?
I only mention this because I noticed how differently I ride when I am at home or schooling vs a competition. In dressage at home I tend to be very relaxed but in competition I tend to tense up and my horse notices this. But when I am on the cross-country course if I am schooling I am more laid-back and not as determined because hey I can always jump the fence again. But if I am in competition on a cross-country course I know I had better stay on my horse because if I fall off I’m going home.
The horses I have owned that are more sensitive really tend to pick up on my internal feelings way more than the horses that are not as sensitive. This is something that I have really had to work on.
