As far im concerned, shes family. I will do whatever i can to make it work. Thank you so much for posting i needed that. A step forward for me is any step in the right direction, no matter how small.
I donāt know anyone up in Oregon. And I would be very careful of the bute test if you have a horse with ulcersā¦as the bute can make them worseā¦but that can be a cheaper way to see if there is a physical issue but it doesnāt work for everything. Iām one who does turn out a lot of my OTTBs. But Iām often buying them as 3 year olds and turn them out the same way as I would with my homebred sport horses. They have been broke for the track, given a job, now they can have down time and grow up some more while I focus on the older horses. Iām not turning them out so much because of the racing. But it can take a while to get their muscular to change from racingā¦some let down with just time offā¦others need to go to work and will change with training. There is more than one road to Rome.
Iāve had some OTTBs who were going to their first horse show less than 30 days after their last raceā¦and others who it took a year before I took them out in public. Most are somewhere in between. I have ones that are my personal riding horsesā¦and others who are with professional trainers (typically we aim to sell them when they are at FEI levels). Some I keep at home and hack out for several months before they go into a training program. But MOST of my horses do best in a 6-7 day a week program whether they are with me or a professional. I know some horses do just fine with lessā¦but never seems to be the ones that I own until they are further along in their training. So perhaps this Professionals program isnāt ideal for this horse.
To give you an ideaā¦this gelding raced quite a lot as a youngster. He got some down time when I got him after racing just because we had no time (and it was winter)ā¦then we did a bunch of hacking out with him at my farm before I sent him down to the trainers because he is one who really prefers 6-7 days a week and I thought would do better with the professionals I sent him too (out of state but good friends of mine). In less than 6 months professional training, he went BN eventingā¦after just one xc school (video ). He will be going novice at the next outing and probably moving up to Training pretty quickly (schooling training level already). He looks relatively quiet jumping in this videoā¦but before he was worked well 6 days a weekā¦he was a hot little number and reactiveā¦very quick to show off his athletic bucking! But I could tell he really wasnāt hot, and just needed a job. https://www.facebook.com/melissa.stuā¦13266167118598. I shared this because some would have called this horse a tougher one to retrain. Iād say he was more middle toughā¦in the wrong hands, he would not have progressed this well or this fast. So it really is most often getting them into the right program and the right situation.
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I am in Oregon. Depending on which direction you are in an hour from PDX (south or east?), I can probably recommend some decent trainers that have boat loads of OTTB-specific experience and can put a proper dressage foundation on this horse (assuming since you are posting in the Eventing forum, that you are either an eventer or would like to event in the future?). You can PM me if you donāt want to put your location here (click on my username and you should be able to send a private message).
Clinton Anderson is probably not the first methodology Iād select for the average OTTB. If the trainer is simply using it as a groundwork tool that might be OK, but his under saddle technique is not really conducive to correct dressage work.
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Agreeā¦it is a bit too backwards IMO.
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To add, I think youāve gotten a lot of helpful advice-
Does the Omperzole youāre feeding have a buffering agent? If it doesnāt, its probably not helping your horse much.
Also, I second trying ace for a couple days worth of rides to see what happens and then bute for a couple days and see what happens. (or perhaps bute-less bute, Iāve never used it so, I canāt say that it does work)
One thing, that Iāve found that works on hotter horses (Iām an exercise rider and have re-schooled plenty of ottbās) is to just kind of ignore them a little- which is not an easy task. I kind of throw the reins at them a little bit, stay as quiet/serine as possible and then do my own thing, even though Iām riding them. I tend to think about giving any horse Iām on perimeters that they need to stay within and they can do whatever they want with in those-different horses and their needs get different sized āboxā that they need to stay within (Iām super visual learner and thinker).
So with this horse, right now, they would have a larger āboxā that they need to stay within. So, say, weāre trotting along and Iām ignoring her-doing my own thing- Iām quietly riding the rhythm and pace that I want in the direction I want, doing circles/changes of direction etc, and she speeds up too much, Iāll just make a smaller circle, without making a big deal about it until she comes back to me-then Iād praise her and go on. At this point I do not care if she flips her head everywhere or is super crooked, counter bent (a horse with a smaller āboxā may not allowed to be crooked or flip their head etc) or screaming to friends. Right now, you may not get out of the walk, or you may only trot during your ride, I wouldnāt even really try to do transitions yet. When she starts to take a breath and feel like shes willing to work with you, go with it for a min or two, praise her a lot and get off. Donāt be afraid to talk to her a bit and tell her shes being good when she is, that seems to make a big difference with these types. This is hard, you have to have quite a bit of body and mind control, so when they make that forward/sensitive bid, instead of instinctively taking back-you need to be able to take a breath and let her but also at the same time change the discussion without being offensive. You will find, that eventually, she will start feeling like she will work with you a bit and you can start building on that and be able to do more āthings.ā
Iām another one that is not a huge fan of Clint Andersonās methods for an OTTB- but I am a fan of doing some round pen work and rope halters and such.
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Ok this sounds very similar to what the trainer is doing. She kind of doing CAās ācruisingā but since my mare is hot she doesnt ask her to come down and stand still, she does a small circle and gradually brings her to a stop, then starts over. It does seem to be working. Maybe we (trainer and myself) are just being antsy. Shes really not doing anything terribly wrong shes not an out of control beast, more like a energizer bunny who feels a little frisky. I have a call into my vet ( who also is our local track vet) to pick her brain and talk to her about ulcers, bute, ACE etc.
I do feel like we need to take a different approach with her. Thank you for your advice!
3 Cheers for Gumtreeā¦He wrote what I was thinking by the time I got to his postā¦well saidā¦all of itā¦
I donāt think this has been asked, but what sort of diet is she on? Iāve had more than one horse act like a nutter only when on certain grainsā¦
She has been on Lmf showtime. I switched her to lmf gentle balance this week along with Renew Gold to keep her up in weight.
Thatās right, you did mention that, sorry. Hopefully the switch will have a positive effect!
hopefully!
I know how you feel! My horse was quite hot when he gained weight and started being ridden on a regular basis. Several people thought I should sell him because he was so difficult. But I saw through the anxiety and worry and now heās great. After much experimentation, what worked for us was- me being the kind but firm boss mare on the ground and in the saddle, adjusting his feed- about 1.5 lbs rice bran pellets + 4 lbs showtime / day and all the hay he wants, and the addition of Purina Outlast (wish I had this sooner but itās a new product). Also, when he gets a bit āhappyā under saddle, instead of bringing him to a halt or circling (like I used to do) I push him forward at the trot and make 20m circles until he starts listeningā¦ Itās like he says, oh boy this is hard work. I keep him at a very forward trot until his ears are on me. Then he can go back to a working trot. It took about 2 years for me to discover what works but in the last 6 months, itās been awesome. Heās 8 too. Good luck!!!
Thank you! I really think shes close to closing it. Hopefully with the diet change sheāll be more settled. I know shes a hot horse, but shes not naughty or disobedient really, she tries really hard plus shes a total love. I just cant give up on her, its in there:)
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I seriously recommend trying the Purina Outlast. Itās not expensive and it really helped my horse. In 1 day at a show he went from nervous to relaxed. I will never look back!! Donāt let her push you around eitherā¦ Just watch a couple Warwick Schiller videos. He gives very good advise. Even if you donāt do the groundwork, he is right on with the mentality of it all.
ill keep that in mind. Thanks!
Lots of great advice on this thread. Iāll add my own experience with a hot OTTB straight off the track who raced several years. He was frankly reactive and erratic enough to scare people and I know I gave my trainer and friends a few gray hairs worrying about how it would work out for me.
Two years later (yes, a long time) and heās a great riding horse and companion who I can load up and take to shows, schooling XC, trail rides, etc and have fun on. It took treating ulcers, getting a saddle that fit him well, making sure he had enough turnout and steady work, immense amounts of patience, and establishing myself as a predictable, fair person (I had to undergo as much training as he did, really). It also helped to have compassion for him as an anxious horse while sticking to the plan and continuing to establish expectations of how he should behave. My trainer helped me tremendously but I really had to do much of the work myself.
Iāll echo other posters to say Iām not a fan of Clinton Anderson for OTTBs. And not a fan of many NH techniques for a sensitive horse. Especially not a lot of halting and backing, and pulling around in small circles.
I would not be too schedule bound and would work alongside any trainer you use. And Festina Lente / Make Haste Slowly as the saying goes.
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Thank you! Im not giving up:) your boy is beautiful! Thats a great picture!
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[ATTACH=JSON]{ādata-alignā:ānoneā,ādata-sizeā:ālargeā,ādata-attachmentidā:9825286}[/ATTACH] This is going to make me sound like a meanie and thatās not my intention in the slightest. One thing that I have learnt is that not all horses suit all people. Should you find yourself in the situation that you have tried everything that you possibly can and discover that sheās still not a safe horse for you, I urge you to re-home her.
One of my favourite horses (TB) came to me from an owner who loved him very much but she was actively scared of him. Over the years she had sent him to various trainers in the hope of him becoming a horse that she could manage but he never did. He did pick up a lot of education and was awesome to ride but he never became the horse she needed him to be. I owned him until he sadly had to be put down because of a bone infection at the age of nineteen. That was a couple of years ago and to this day I still miss him.
Im sorry for your lossā¦
I used a similar concept to what @Hey Mickey described with a hot TB mare I rode in college. Like your mare, this one was quiet and easy on the ground. And she wasnāt spooky ā she was just a lot of horse. Every ride started the same way. We walked on the buckle for about five minutes. Then we trotted on the buckle/on a loop until she settled in and was ready to go to work. During that warm-up time, the only rule was she had to trot. She could trot fast, slow, crooked, invertedā¦ I didnāt care about anything except being in the requested gait, and enough steering to not run into other horses.
She worked six days a week and seven would have been better. The first ride after a day off was always trot sets, and I had no expectation of doing anything but taking the edge off. And this was a horse that lived out 24/7. Definitely treat the (probable) ulcers, but it sounds like you mostly have a horse that just needs a job. Make sure the rules are the same every time sheās ridden and put her to work!
