I would just like to chime in to add that 10 months is really not very long for a horse in this situation. So give yourself some grace. I’ve ridden horses like this pretty much exclusively with varying degrees of success, different things worked a little better with each horse, but the one common thread is that it takes a lot of time. It might be worth it to slow things down, just hack out as one poster suggested. I know Denny Emerson can be a polarizing subject on this forum 
but his method is probably worth reading a little about. He would tell you to just go on long boring relaxing walks for quite some time
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That’s how my body “wants” to ride apparently so maybe I should give in LOL. Minus the leaning…that does seem to make him worse. I have to repeat “chest up” like a mantra to myself.
Thanks…I know, it is a short period of time! I confess to falling into a little bit of the comparison trap and wanting to show a bit. And I have read Denny Emerson on this stuff…that’s where my “puttering” plan came from haha. The first time I read it it made a lot of sense to me, and seeing how this horse responds to pressure (he can cope until he…can’t) has proven that it’s probably a pretty overlooked method by a lot of people. I’ve found that a lot of riders and trainers are convinced that you can just push through these issues.
I’ve had 2 OTTBs like this—including my current guy. He’s super smart, also anticipates, and gets pretty anxious when I’m not asking him to do what he thinks comes next. He seems to have been restarted very well, because he can do a lot of basic dressage things but he thinks we walk trot, canter, reverse, walk, trot, and canter and when I don’t do that—he gets tense. After we trot awhile, he anticipates cantering. So I don’t. I can second tips from posters above. Keeping my chest up and shoulders back when he gets tense helps. I steer, ask, and slow solely with my seat—he’s pretty amazing that way. Half halts or simply closing my knees/thighs slows him instantly without a fuss.
He doesn’t mind leg on at all. And he WILL crow-hop and bounce around a bunch when we start, until I just firmly just set him down. Then it stops. He’s turned out 24x7 but has tons of energy. I have 90 acres here to roam around on “boring” trail rides, but he never gets bored!!
I also ride with a very light hand, but even a light constant feel bothered him. I changed to a Baucher bit with a lozenge and that has made a BIG difference for him. He’s much less fussy. I also decided early on that we just walk around and do lots of trotting and not do a predictable workout. As a result, he’s starting to trust me that it’s OK to just walk, and he has started reaching down and stretching more often.
So…I’ve decided that we go as slow as we need and it’s OK. I’ve had him just over a year, so agree that 10 months isn’t a long time.
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Thanks! These are more great tips. Your guy sounds a lot like mine in a lot of ways. As for bits, he goes in a loose ring Myler level 1 (no hooks or anything) and he’s pretty happy in it. He hated a single jointed mouthpiece and fussed and hung on the hands. I do still need more “stopping power” in him…but that won’t come from a bit. Just convincing him that the answer to the question can often be slower, not faster.
It sounds like he needs to do about 15000 transitions. Better get started on your next ride because it takes a while to get there. I aim for about 50 a ride minimum when this is the case 
It works, trust me 
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I’m curious about doing so many transitions - for my anxious mare, this kind of work REALLY sets her off. Do you feel like you have to work through some real ugliness before it gets better?
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oh 100%. Thats the training part Working through the tough stuff, its going to get ugly. Sticking with your plan, and obviously being soft and understanding. Taking your time, maybe involve treats. I have the hottest mare on the planet, like chesnut mare TB all the stereotypes…absolute hot mess and couldn’t do a decent dressage test to save our life. We went back to the basics. Start stop and turn. From there moved on, shes a different ride today. If your horse is anxious and you can’t actually “ride” through things, then the very basics are missing. Once improving the basics, the rest will follow.
You have to instill the half halt, and mastering transitions will get you there. Add them in along with lateral work but keep it very chill and basic. There has to be no timeline, only patience. Once a horse learns they can relax into a soft hand, they will start to do it more and more and it will snowball into eventually being all the time.
Does your horse have a cue to stretch down and relax from asking for flexion? If not, start there.
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I already do a lot but you’re right, I need to do more. I put a huge emphasis on walk/trot transitions to prep for the canter over the summer…I would literally do a few dozen in each ride. The trot to canter transition is the one that gets him pumped up, so I’ll have to build to that one. He can handle a few, but if you string them together one after another he starts to freak out and try to take over.
He does actually know to relax into a soft hand and will stretch. It just goes out the window once he things he can guess what’s coming next.
You have a good starting point then, just add more. The more you do, the less exciting it will be. You can also add transitions within the gait, or during lateral work like leg yield or shoulder in. Another good one is lengthen, working, collected trot on a big 20m circle.
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This is all great. Thank y’all!
I don’t ride him nearly enough, and that’s on me. But in spite of our sporadic saddle time, we still make progress and that’s what I love about my OTTBs. Smart, forgiving (in spite of our combined mental quirks), and just the best feeling in the world when things come together.
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@Natalie I think there are a lot of great responses here. I would add in something that I don’t believe has been said yet (but could have been).
I would get off for a bit and take this to groundwork. It sounds like he needs to feel both secure in your relationship with him and also confident in his ability to process and stay calm. Groundwork can be a great way to introduce him to things like obstacle courses or target training that allow him to get used to new, interesting, sometimes scary situations, and become calm while doing it instead of amped up.
There is a great Noelle Floyd Masterclass (several actually) with Tik Maynard that have a ton of useful techniques to begin this sort of work - in fact, in one video he works with a young hot TB that also processes information quickly and gets hot when overfaced, bored, etc - at the least it will be very interesting for you to watch!
Check to see if there’s someone in your area who specializes in it as well, as it’s sometimes hard to replicate what Tik does without outside help. It’s sometimes not as “fun” as being in the saddle, but it yields so much in the end, and you can just do it once or twice a week to start / add it into your routine. I’m about to start it with my young mare with a local trainer who specializes in it and I can’t wait to see what it adds to our time in the saddle together!
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I used a level 2 Myler D-ring with a little roller, but I learned that when I adopted him, they were riding him in a baucher. I wasn’t familiar with a baucher, but I did some online research and then was able to borrow one from my neighbor (a dressage trainer) and tried it and the difference was hugely noticeable. I’ve ridden all my OTTBs in the Myler and they’ve all been happy in it, but this guy does better in the baucher.
THanks for tipping me off to that resource!
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I also wanted to add to my comments that when working and they get anxious, if they can’t come back to center mentally, always go down a gait, and if needed all the way to walk. Walk and relax on a long rein with lots of pets until relaxed, then start again.
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Thanks. I tend to be a path of least resistance type of rider, for better or worse. So I tend to say, ok, this makes you anxious, let’s do something that doesn’t make you anxious instead of increasing the resistance and anxiety… but I think I get your point that sometimes you have to ride through the ugly to come out the other side.
I think all of us with sensitive/anxious horses have been here 
There’s a sweet spot between doing enough to stretch them out of their comfort zone but not so much that they become so anxious they can’t learn. And where that sweet spot lies varies day by day too …
I do this, or halt and stand on a loose rein, until my guy lets out a proper relaxing breath
Lots of great suggestions here, I’ll be trying some of them
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Yes exactly! I had a coach who said you have to push yourself out of your comfort zone little by little every day, some days you just relax or stretch etc and some days you push harder than normal. Otherwise there isn’t growth. Find a balance that works for you.
A couple of thoughts.
How much praise do you give when he’s cruising along nicely? Say you were doing transitions between trot and canter, are you praising in some form or just releasing the aids and going to the next thing? Your horse might need more frequent reassuring that what he’s doing is correct.
I have a horse who gets anxious about giving the “right” answer. In his early days under saddle I used to praise, halt, and give him a carrot chunk (he will work for food). Then when we did something new I praised, and he slammed on the brakes and looked for his carrot. Yes, this sounds like a spoiled monster in the making. It wasn’t.
What happened was that when he was confident he was doing it right, praise just made him puff up a bit with an “I know!” as he continued doing the thing. When he’s not sure and I praise, he will slow right down and turn his head with the question “was that really what you wanted?” He needs frequent praise whether vocal or a little one finger/knuckle stroke along his neck when things are going well, and bigger praise with short thinking breaks when he’s anxious.
The other thing - magnesium helped my horse slow down just enough to let him think about it instead of just reacting. This allowed me to insert some training between anxiety and reaction. I accidentally started him on half the maintenance dose (loading dose was double maintenance for two weeks) and I still noticed improvement in 7-10 days. It’s inexpensive and if your horse needs the extra magnesium you’ll see a difference before the first container is used up. My horse gets 9mg daily and it costs $20 for 3-4 months supply.
Third thing I just remembered - the anticipation when doing a pattern, try harnessing it instead of trying to eradicate it. I’ve found that when my horse is anticipating a transition or figure or whatever, if I tell them “yes, but not yet” all the way to the “do X now” aids they are less anxious about finding the right answer.
Telling them they’re right keeps them engaged, ready to do the thing, and not worrying about what the different right answer is. The active “do X now!” aids teach the horse to pay attention to my aids rather than just wait for the moment I stop saying “not yet” and allow them to do X. It’s “not yet… not yet… do X now!” versus “not yet… not yet… okay” you see.
Have fun figuring out what works for your boy!
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I’ve got a similar one who failed out of racing because he got so stressed he basically ran the race before he got near the track. He’s also a big boy with a naturally slow cadence and a massive stride so really struggled to fit in an arena. The best thing for him was hacki ng out. He hacked and hacked and hacked. We went for miles just cruising in walk/trot/canter. I could try things out without having to be constantly turning and disrupt his rhythm. I could get into a proper half seat in canter and let him find his rhythm and cadence without the inherent balance needed for say a 20m circle. I played a lot with changes in the pace using my seat while hacking and also just let him stretch his neck and find a rhythm in the walk (his worst gait as he would just invert as soon as you tried to take up the reins).
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