Anyone else's horse take over a year to settle?

[user1471517513]

I bought my mare in August 2015 as a safe happy hacker for a novice. I rode her twice before buying her and she was great. Sadly the move really threw her and she became a totally different horse, I'm sure you all know the story. I've almost sold her on a couple of occasions but have carried on with help from my instructor.

I can ride her now but she is still very spooky and still terrified of tractors (she was bombproof in traffic before the move) so much so that I have to get off and walk her past them. As I live in a rural area I spend a lot of time walking rather than riding! As I have had her over a year, I'm wondering if I should throw in the towel and look for something more suitable for me. However, as she is a lovely mare otherwise, perhaps I should hold on and maybe she will come right in the end.

I would love to hear from you if your horse took more than a year to revert to type, just for a bit of hope.

Unfortunately I suspect she has reverted to type, and you were misled by the sellers. Did you ride her past tractors when you tried her out, or were you just told she was good with them?

How old is she? They will often be far more biddable just after backing at four/five but then decide to have opinions or develop spooky behaviours when they reach five/six.

She may have been drugged when you bought her. I know of a dealer famous for drugging their horses and selling as 'novice, happy hacker, 110% bombproof' when in fact they are nothing of the sort.

What was her history?

I bought my horse after his previous owner had an accident on the road with him. He's been fine with me but I have worked on building his trust and making sure he trusts me to protect him from the scary road monsters. You need to be able to stay very calm and relaxed yourself to help the horse realise there isn't an issue.

Unfortunately horses that are very easy and calm with professionals can become very unsettled with novices but because they seem easy, they get sold to novices. Can someone experienced hack her out for you? I would be leading her off my horse to gauge how much is her reacting to the traffic and how much is her responding to rider fear. I've known owners convinced their horse is terrified of tractors/ cows/ dogs only to find the horse is very different with another rider. This is something that can be worked on though.

Can you pop another jockey on for a week or two and see how her behaviour is with them?

sorry, pressed post too soon - I thought that my horse was easy and safe and a novice ride as all I did was sit there (or so I thought), but when a novice got on him, she couldn't get him to move away from the gate for ages, then gave him a massive kick to go from trot to canter to which he showed his surprise and discomfort at by bucking and shooting off at 100 miles an hour, both of which he'd never done before.

What I'm trying to say is that it can be difficult to match horse and rider, and it's not necessarily the sellers dishonesty. If you're not there after a year, I would think about moving her on and getting another - it's supposed to be something that you enjoy.