New pony woes

[NewNewForest]

Long term lurker, new poster.
Bought my daughter a lovely new pony, has been with us a month and we clearly had a around a fortnight’s initial honeymoon period where the pony was perfect (3rd pony for keen and capable 12 year old to compete, so it’s meant to be sharp and athletic sort, not a first pony type!)
Things have come unravelled in the last week ish, as pony seems to be super anxious and getting more so.
Prancing and rearing when tied up if other horses move around, whipping round and back to other horses in arena, and now most worryingly getting panicked when weight moves in saddle - ie checking girth, getting out of balance when they disagreed on a stride into a jump - and then pony tucks its bum underneath then gallops off till child falls off (now x 4 times) Still polite and mannerly to handle, but very on edge and reactive.
Child sanguine and keen to ride the pony again, but I am mindful that confidence is hard won and easy lost and it would be such a shame to be happy and capable competing 80/90 and then all go to pot.

I am pretty confident it will all come right eventually, I know it’s just a matter of time, but that somehow seems easier when you’re an adult and it’s an adults horse, children’s ponies seem to need a whole other level of emotional parenting energy 🥴 plus there is the added element of this panicking and buggering off, I don’t want to call it a bolt as the word bolting shouldn’t be used lightly, but it’s certainly a dramatic and fast flight response!
Sellers (private sale, genuine outgrown as far as we know) seemed straightforward and have said it never happened with them.

How long would you give it and what would you do while you were waiting for the pony to settle? Ground work only? Lots of police horse style despooking training? Every time the flight response happens it seems to be reinforcing the ponys fear that people moving in the saddle is cause for concern as she inevitably falls off and that frightens the pony, so tempted to avoid ridden work till more settled. I am capable/horsey myself but too heavy to ride this one unfortunately. Maybe this is the motivation to diet 😂

Thoughts from the hive mind please 🙏 ?

Another vote for ulcers brought on by stress of moving.

Back check, teeth, scope for ulcers and a lameness work up

Other than that, lots of ground work, stay out the saddle for a month

Ulcers from change of routine, grass, handler would be most likely option. Try doing some in hand work to increase the bond with her and take the workload right back and put on something like GastroPro. Then try again. If still issues then get all the other checks done like second opinion on saddle, teeth etc.

I work with horses and ponies and this sounds classic of back strain, defo needs a vet check. Also is there a possibility she got hurt in transit not uncommon to end up with a bad back from bad transport

My daughter’s pony went through something very similar when we moved her at the beginning of this year . I bought and kept her at her old owner’s yard for about 6 months so knew her well before the move. She was always slightly cheeky but not dangerous. She stepped off my trailer onto the new yard and had a personality transplant. Yours sounds very saddle/ back related but then so did mine and I don’t think it was in the end. It’s so hard to pinpoint sometimes. With mine we’ve just had to retrain her. At the beginning of the year she just would not tolerate any rider. She chucked my daughter off 7 times in her first lesson at the new yard and used every move under the Sun to do so. I think once she’d done it a few times it became a bit of a game! We then paid a very experienced lightweight adult to do the next lesson and she threw her off 6 times. I gave her an extra £20 to make up for the bruises she’d have in the morning !!! We excluded everything we could think of and had dentist, physio, saddle fitter and bit checked. In the end we retrained. She was lunged 5x a week for about a month. When she hadn’t reared, bucked or pulled any stupid moves on the lunge, we put my daughter on her on the lunge. After a couple of weeks she came off the lunge. That was last week. She chucked her off twice the first time ridden in the school, off lunge but yesterday we had an amazing full lesson, off lunge in walk, trot and canter with poles. She had one half arsed attempt at a buck in the first 5 minutes which dd rode her through and was then brilliant for the rest of it. She’s now hacking like a dream with her big sister so there’s been a massive improvement. My daughter’s 7 and has been riding for less than a year but can now sit and ride through pretty much anything. Probably not the way to do it but the little devil has definitely taught her how to ride, that’s for sure! I know it feels really desperate at the low point but it’s a case finding the problem and fixing it. Most things can be overcome with the right help time and determination. It will feel like a step back for your daughter and they’ll be lots of times when she’ll doubt herself but it’ll make her a great rider in the long term . Good luck xxx

Coming back to this thread to say:
Thank you all for your help and moral support.
Everything was checked top to toe and was absolutely fine, no ulcers, no pain (full work ups from vet and body worker, declared soundest pony ever seen, etc etc, saddle fits a treat, management is sensible so carried on with the consistency of a good routine, good forage, good company and plenty of work including lessons and a small pro rider ticking her over.
Six month point came, pony and child took a deep breath and turned a corner.
Where are we now, 15 months on? Shes now a sensible, sane but sharp kids competition pony who does everything asked of her and they just qualified for PC champs.

Sometimes they just need time and understanding 😝

God knows what we’ll do when kiddo outgrows as will not be able to sell with the fear of the new people thinking they were done over if she does New Home Stress again. Child will just have to shorten stirrups and get on with it 😆

Sore back? How does he go on the lunge? Have you changed his diet? What was the place he came from like-did he have a stable mate?

Oops-missed the Zombieness! So glad it worked out!

Fantastic that it's worked out, good luck at the Championships, I remember them being a combination of very scary and a huge achievement.

Oh well done OP 👏🏼 I'm currently going through the same thing with my daughter's new pony and I'm hoping it comes right for us as well 😭

We have 3 ponies (and previously had two others), daughter is 15 so this is meant to be her Pony Showjumper/London International type of competition pony for her last 1.5 years in BS Juniors. The pony was absolutely amazing when we tried it a few times, has qualified for HOYS a few weeks ago with a different (admittedly much better 😂) rider and at the last two shows it has all gone terribly wrong and pony started napping and rearing and simply could not be moved to do anything (even when the better rider got on him for a class). Pony getting full vet check (although very recently passed vetting/ was X-rayed etc) and then hopefully it's just a matter of persevering and them establishing a better partnership 🤞🏻

Oh gosh you poor things, much sympathy.
I’d recommend going right back to basics with lots of hacking, fun and lessons at home without the stress of entering anything away from home. It’s a fine line between persistence and resilience and diving headlong into losing confidence 🫣
Recommend surrounding yourself with the right supportive horsey tribe, not the ones who’ll chip away at you.
Good luck! 🤞 😘
Also drink wine!!!! 😆

I'm so glad to hear it all worked out okay in the end.

You do realise this is the perfect excuse not to sell her at all in the future, and keep her as a field ornament when she is outgrown, don't you.....😂

👀 👀 👀 I do already have form for this 😆