Young horse - changing eyes under saddle = bolt!

[Boomer]

It’s been 4 years since this post but…cowboy worked with him about 4 months. He never bolted with the cowboy b/c he could feel when things were starting to go sideways and derail it. He said if the rider tensed up at all, then yes, you’d get a bolt. He also rode bucking horses and said that he had a buck in him. I asked for an honest opinion at this point. Cowboy said this was not an ammy’s horse - you had to be on your game 100% of the time. Every day was re-teaching what you just taught him. Maybe a pro who loves projects.
I brought him home and tried some more. Yep, he bolted with me several times but not with the trainer. One day he bucked me off like a yard dart - out of the blue- trainer was there when it happened and didn’t see any reason he should’ve done it. I had a vet do yet another work up on him (we’d already gotten a EQ Saddle science due to the tiny mineralizations in the back muscle, no KS though). We’d xray’d the neck in the past with a different vet. A little C6/C7 but nothing to get excited about. A different vet chose to ultrasound the entire neck… then we found at C4 a deformed vertebrae.
Vet said maybe a job with a loose rein could work for him, maybe not.
I was super fortunate to find someone (after nearly 7 months of searching) that took him as a pasture pet - I still am in touch with them and he’s close enough for me to look in on. If I hadn’t found this person, I likely would’ve had to put him down or give up riding. I can’t afford two horses.

I hope your horse has a better outcome I am sorry you’re having to go through this.

Feel free to message me. This was a horse that you had evaluate very closely before even thinking about getting on - what is his body language telling me? What is his eye expression? The day he bucked me off, we probably missed a que because he was tense to get on at the mounting block. I should’ve gotten right back off.

[NaturalSelection]

Thank you for replying. I really appreciate a follow up story, especially this one. Reminds me to check and double check physical aspect of the horse when things aren’t adding up.

[lm1089]

Thank you so much for responding! And I’m sorry to hear that, sounds like a win for the horse but still a disappointment to go through I’m sure. Do you think the problem was caused by his c4 for sure or had a behavioral component?

I had a similar story with mounting up and noticing that my horse was tense (he was oddly still when previously he’d refused to stand for mounting) looking back I know he was in a freeze state but I made the wrong choice and decided to get on anyway and ended up with a $3000 ER bill and a limp for 8 weeks.

I’m going to give my guy 90 days of training (if the trainer decides she wants to stick with him) and just hope for the best. I already have one horse with chronic laminitis so I don’t even want to think about the alternatives at this point if we can’t fix the issue

[Boomer]

I’m sorry to hear you are experiencing the same thing and definitely hate to hear about your ER visit. I was badly bruised up after I got bucked off. Didn’t hit my head thankfully but I did go to ER for a check over. I’m in my 50’s but I’m a tough old bat apparently. Bone density says I have the bones of a 25 year old, lol.

I really believe it’s a physical problem. Some days I could ride him and he was perfect, amazing and fun. Other days… not the same horse. Perfect on the ground (could do anything you wanted with him) but as soon as you put a rider up it was a whole different story. I think the C4 is/was the issue - I think of it like this - I have L5/S1 disk issues. When they first herniated I could be walking ok, but if I stepped on uneven ground, I could get a jolt of pain that about would take me to my knees. That could explain why my guy would be perfect some days and others not - depending on how his body felt that day. Or maybe while he was trotting that day he got a jolt of neck pain that made him buck - my trainer said if there’d been a 5’ fence in front of us, we woulda cleared it no problem.

I do feel it was a win for my guy to find a non-riding home - I said no to a lot of ppl - there was definitely interest in a 6 yo trakehner gelding that was free to a good home and was sound - W/T/C, pass flexions no problem. But you need a “yoga butt” seat and hyper-focus to ride him.

How old is your horse?

[PonyPenny]

It seems like many young horse I know have issues tracking right. My friend’s Dutch horse was great as a four year old, but as soon as he turned five, tracking right was a big nope. Same with my friends young Thoroughbred; fine when started at four, a big nope at five. Both horses went to the cowboy for boot camp and came back tracking right fine. Not sure why this is, but the cowboy’s approach to not make a big deal out of it, is the right approach.

[beowulf]

I am really sorry to read this outcome. Good on you for listening to the horse and watching his eye - I agree with you those kinds of horses you have to really be in tune to their body language and eye expression. It’s so hard. I just wanted to say I am grateful also for the update - so often we get these threads and the posters disappear, we don’t learn the final outcome whatever it is, to add to our toolbox of things to watch out for. I’m sorry you had to go through this experience, though I appreciate you sharing it with us.

[Boomer]

Thanks. It was really hard/unfortunate. He would’ve been an amazing horse, but his body said “I just can’t”.

[lm1089]

This is interesting to hear as my horse is also 5.

Unfortunately with mine things weren’t really working out with the trainer as he stopped making any visible progress so he’s coming home and I’m going to let him chill out and just do groundwork with him for a month. Also considering looking into treating him for ulcers as he was shipped across the country when I got him which I know can be a big cause and I feel it’s worth a shot

[Boomer]

I did ulcer treatment also. And same with trainers - just could not make progress. The cowboy put it like this: if you have a child, there are “milestones” that parents watch to see they are hitting. Some are on the “average” others might be a little slower, some a little faster. My gelding was not hitting the normal under saddle milestones - everyday was starting over building on what you just taught. And after a couple of days off, you definitely were starting over.

In-hand work was totally different - very easy to teach/learn.

I really hope you find a fixable cause, it is so heartbreaking.

[lm1089]

The other frustrating thing is the trainer is only able to ride him 2 days a week because she doesn’t feel comfortable on him without a person there on the ground and only has someone to help 2 days a week…I just don’t think he’s being ridden often to actually hit those milestones because it IS starting over every time.

Who knows, maybe the ulcer treatment will bring some progress and I’ll come back in a few months with a positive update, fingers crossed!

[endlessclimb]

He should still be progressing with 2 rides a week. It won’t be as profound, but time off on youngsters doesn’t set them back as much as people think. It’s more acclimating than anything.