Getting to the end of my tether

[ChiefClerkDrumknott]

Sorry, this is long!
I’m at a loss about how to move forward with my welsh D gelding. I’ve had him since he was 2, he was lovely for the first couple of years, was still entire until he was 3 then cut, then broken at 4. Was babyish but well behaved, willing and listened, fairly sensible for a young horse. Turned away over the winter and brought back in at 5, which is when the problems started.
He literally turned in to a different horse, is very reactive and over the top spooky, jumping at nothing, snorting, planting, trying to shoot off (I know D’s are dramatic, my other horse is half D and I broke him too, but this was something else). I would describe him as a ball of tension, he’d fling his head up, set his neck and feel as though he was about to bolt.
Sent him away to a professional who did a good job but still v tense all the time. For the last 2 years I’ve been taking him out to shows in-hand and he’s now brilliant in the ring in-hand.
His behaviour was slowly chipping away at my confidence and I dreaded riding him because he’d get tense then I’d be tense and it was a vicious circle. As a last resort I put him on Equifeast in May and it really made a difference, for the first time in 3 years I was able to ride without spooking or tension. He was coming along great, having lessons and even took him to a dressage test, until 3 weeks ago.
Took him to a weekend show, somewhere he’s been before, and the old him emerged as soon as we got there. He was so ott that he almost broke my foot leaping away from something and landing on me. I was in tears that evening because it felt as though all my work was for nothing. A friend helped me lunge him and he was a little better, but the tension was still there. I was going to take him in a novice ridden class but couldn’t due to his behaviour. He was good as usual in the in-hands.
Since then the old him is back. He’s decided one side of the school is terrifying and won’t go near it, despite being fine all summer. I think the bushes there are starting to lose their leaves and he can see through them a bit, but the over-reaction to this is very hard to cope with.
Last night I thought I’d long rein him around the school, something he normally enjoys, to get him used to the scary side without too much pressure. It was a complete disaster. He was tense and jogging, I asked him to walk and he swung his bum in towards the school, so I tapped him with the whip to move him over (he’s well used to this). He hunched his back and went to kick out so I tapped him again to walk on and he exploded, went sideways and managed to get away from me (never done this before) then proceeded to trot/canter around the school with the reins trailing behind. It was awful, I felt sick watching him. How he didn’t rip his mouth open or fall over I’ll never know. I managed to catch him eventually but he is now convinced the school is terrifying.
I’ve lost all confidence tbh and I’ve been in tears over this. He’s been so good over the summer and now we’re back to not even square one, we’re back beyond that. I feel awful as it’s partly my fault for not being confident enough to deal with this behaviour and I will admit I didn’t handle things very well last night. Part of me wants to sell him to someone who can deal with him. I’m only not at the moment as a couple of people have offered to help me. I’m at a loss as to how to move forward with him. It was going so well and now my confidence is rock bottom again
He’s had back/teeth etc checked, no problems btw.

He’s out at night in during the day with a haynet at the moment. He’s fed 200g pink mash with a handful of Alpha-A to have his supplements in the morning and evening. That’s all the feed he has

Have you considered getting a IH trainer in or chatting to Ben Hart? Or working at liberty in the school - just let him explore, mooch, explode until he relaxes....

Does the three weeks coincide with the grass coming through after the drought we had over the summer? The grass at the moment is very much like the spring grass we get! Has your routine changed? Anything happened on the yard that might unsettle him?

Thanks both. He’s worked at liberty in the school and Saturday I let him mooch in hand up and down the scary side picking at fallen leaves. A friend rode him yesterday and he was ok, a bit tense but better. Unfortunately as soon as I went to get on a drone appeared out of nowhere directly opposite us! I couldn’t believe it, the worst timing ever! That was it, couldn’t get him near the ‘scary’ side in any way, not even in hand @Witchery nothing’s happened to unsettle him that I know of (very small yard) and routine is the same. I did wonder if it was the grass/change of season but he’s not been this bad before

Oh and I think he’s worse with me because he’s quite protective of me. Being a dominant horse he’s always ‘on alert’ looking out for danger so in his own way he’s trying to look after me. But why the behaviour has escalated this badly I don’t know

Most horses don't want to take the role of leader/protector so that could be a clue - he's stepping up to that role instead of looking to you for leadership. Again, I would look to a professional and impartial trainer to assess the situation and help you.

Yes you’re right, he’s very bonded to me and he’s the dominant horse in the field so he thinks he needs to do this for me. I do have an instructor and she’s coming over tonight. We had a good lesson Friday and then the disaster Sunday, it really knocked me for six

There's a fantastic book that introduces the training system of Equitation Science. This system feels that 'conflict behaviours' such as you are describing comes from a poorly-understood response to pressure. You are obviously a thoughtful rider and trainer, so I'd be working through the in-hand and under saddle exercises from scratch, taking him back to the very basics and hopefully identifying a training gap. It's aimed at young riders so is really simple and I've had lots of success training and re-training with this method.
www.esi-education.com/product/horses-hate-surprise-parties-equitation-science-young-riders/

Thanks @AGapInTheMarket, I’ll have a look at that

You’re right about going back to basics. I’m going to speak with my instructor later and suggest doing this, even if I have to spend the lesson walking with him tonight I don’t mind. I just want to get to the bottom of this massive reactionary behaviour. It’s so ott it has to be seen to be believed.

He was started when he was quite young, started going for walks in hand from 2 then was long reined once he was strong enough at around 3. He wasn’t really worked as a 4 year old as he was still developing physically, just lightly backed which he seemed to take in his stride. It was as a 5 year old the reactive behaviour started, but he was at a different yard so something could have triggered it there

Good luck with him, love the Welshies. Equitation Science has revolutionised how I ride and train. It really makes you focus on 'what' is happening, rather than getting bogged down in the 'why' - improving the basic responses makes all horses easier to ride. Lots of traditional training is based on anthropomorphism - a horse's brain is the size of a lemon! and without a prefrontal cortex, logic is beyond them.
Andrew McLean is the real guru in this method but I love the book in my link above as a really accessible introduction.

I’ll look in to that, thanks, and Andrew McLean

Although my trainer is primarily a dressage rider, she’s very open to using methods of all sorts. She had me using techniques used in Western riding and Classical dressage before, rather than just the ‘German/British’ style dressage iykwim, so she’s very open to trying whatever works for the horse and having to ride ‘ugly’ if it means working with the horse, rather than worry about what it looks like. She’d be open to that helping me with whatever method works

Might be worth joining the Warwick Schiller FB group and subscribing to his videos. He is a horsemanship trainer but he's discovered some focus work in the last year or so that all his followers are trying and getting incredible results. It's based on the theory that horses pick up "rabbits" (fears) and only have room for so many. You can have 1, 2, 3, etc rabbits and horse copes. Then suddenly horse sees the 10th scary thing and its worry cup overflows and then you get a big reaction that seems OTT to us. The focus work needs a lot of patience but it helps teach them how to let down and relax.

I would also get the vet if you haven't already. Could be neurological or pain related?

Thanks @puppymoise I’ll look in to that too. I’m willing to try anything at this stage.

He’s been checked by Physio, had teeth done, farrier checks his feet (not shod). Tbh it doesn’t really seem to make a difference whether he’s had these things done or not, the behaviour is the same. Yesterday and Sunday I wasn’t riding him and he blew up so I’m fairly sure it’s not pain, plus he visibly relaxes on both reins on the ‘safe’ side of the school and works well there, so it does seem to be in his head. I’ve had the Physio twice to him and there was an old injury that needed treating, but the behaviour started before that injury happened. I have the vet to do jabs next Tuesday so I’ll have a chat with them then. I was thinking of getting the Physio out again to check them both so I’ll contact her. He is due his teeth, I’ll make an appointment

Ulcers?

Having had some behaviour like this myself I wouldn't ride him for now. Mine has only just come back into ridden work after four months due to back and stifle pain. He's now barefoot and at a rehab yard. I have worked him on the ground 6 days a week in this time, hacking in hand, poles, backing up, lateral work, the focus stuff i mentioned and some lunging. Getting back on we are a different duo. Some of this will be because he's a lot more comfortable but I just think groundwork is like horse magic for working through issues. The biggest breakthroughs I've had have all been thanks to time spent together not riding. Good luck

Thanks again for that. I did spend some time when he was brought back in to work after the winter doing groundwork but haven’t lately. I’ll speak with my trainer tonight

Oh OP I really feel for you. You've had some great advice here and try not to despair. If you're confident there's no physical issue then I'd put my money on it being a touch of the 'Kevin's' which can happen around this age (where they get to the horsey 'teenage' stage where they feel a bit stronger and more confident, and suddenly start pushing boundaries and being a bolshy so and so!), combined perhaps with the change of the seasons. I don't know if it's the fairly sudden cold snap or the grass but mine have certainly been even madder than usual this last week...

I'd be enlisting all the help you can get, and discouraging though it is, stop trusting him and treat him as though he's at a much earlier stage of his education than he is. So that might mean giving him a good workout on the lunge before you ride, or always leading him in bridle or dually headcollar if he's started pulling away from you. You might want to consider sending him back to the pro yard for a few weeks 'bootcamp'? How is he to hack? If he's good that would be a nice way to rebuild your confidence whilst keeping his fitness up and continuing his education (many people would say it's better to school youngsters on hacks than in the arena anyway).

Re shows I would stick to small friendly venues for now, somewhere you are able to school him through any issues or naughtiness and which give both of you a positive experience. Maybe even hire an arena rather than going for an actual event, so he learns about settling and working away from home in a less pressured/busy environment? Not saying this is what you've done but I wouldn't want him to get the idea that being a prat away from home = back on the box and home for tea!

Best of luck, keep us updated?

I agree with the "Kevin" scenario but I would reiterate that a behaviourist would be a better option than a trainer if you want to understand why he is acting up and how to persuade, rather than force, him to work with you.

And also to understand what changes you need to make to your approach!

Thanks everyone, certainly good advise and helping me think this through.

This evening I decided not to ride but do some basic groundwork instead. Got him moving away, sideways, backwards and forwards, getting him listening to me rather than gawping at everything. It really helped, got him thinking about listening rather than panicking about everything. This may be the way forward for now, building some trust and respect (in a horsey sense) rather than a flight response.

He’s never been put back on the box and brought back home when he’s played up at shows. He seems to really enjoy showing off in the ring even when he’s stresses outside. But I get what you mean, I’ll try to book a few sessions at a venue he’s been to before repeat the sort of thing we did tonight.

Having had a good think about it, he was never taught the basics before I got him, which is now showing big time. He wouldn’t lead, wouldn’t load, wouldn’t trot inhand or tie up. I had to teach him these things when he was almost 2 and this was not good! He’d taught himself to rear vertically and I had to teach him this was not fun, too (he went over a couple of times due to unbalancing himself and that stopped that). I’ve had a look at some of the ideas and trainers posted and think getting back to absolute basics, as a lot of you have said, is how I’m going to proceed. Treat him like an unbroken youngster and go from there

Sounds perfect @ChiefClerkDrumknott

I have a WB, now retired, who was very spooky and flighty but improved immensely on equifeast. However he needed his magnesium adjusting at different times of the year depending on what the grass was doing. As the grass came through he would need extra magnesium or he would go back to being loopy. Might be worth a try?

@Booboostwo He’s on the bombproofing stuff and improved hugely over the summer whilst one it, when there was no grass. Once the grass came back in he got a bit worse again but not hugely, so I started adding magnesium they sent me to see if it helped. Tbh it doesn’t seem to have made a difference so I’ve cut that out. I’m now wondering if the sugars in grass are not helping (as a PP said) and perhaps I need to soak the hay he’s having (he loves soaked hay lol). He’s not on hugely rich grass and not in a massive field but is very sensitive to changes to in feed

I've just signed up for Ben Hart's online course (£29,95) - will let you know how it goes :)

I’ll have a look at that @Sarahlou63