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little advice please?
had a show today took both of my horses, and they were nuts together. short story my 3 1/2 year old who i never take(bc he is to young to do poles and barrels with) acted nuts nothing like i every seen before, he would paw with me on him and was crazy and the one i always take acted some what crazy but was fine unless the other one neigh to him. so i put the one i never take put him in the trailer, bc with so many horses and people i thought it was best bc my husband was holding him and he was pawing really high and other things, and then my other horse was back to normal. here is the funny thing of all this. i can take my 3 1/2 yr old by himself to indoor arena, trail ride and mount shoot off him with no problem and he is an angel, but today he was another horse.and my other one acted some what crazy but nothing as crazy as my 3 1/2 yr old. will they every be able to go to shows together. like i said i can ride them by there self most of the time away from home, but at home has a little problem but nothing like at the show.i know you going to say buddy sour, but i don't think it that, maybe with so many more horses and all the action. and he is a people horse loves people and love pleasing.also what is up with the pawing crap, i hit his leg but it doesn't work..no rude comments helpful help only..have anyone else had this problem
how to break this
when they trail ride together they can go away from each other, this is the only place they did it at since i had them
they go places together and go alone all the time, it was at this show, it was his first show, i wanted to get him use to a show
4 Answers
- zakiitLv 71 decade agoFavourite answer
The reason for his behaviour? Too much information coming into his tiny little mind! Too much new sights, sounds, smells etc! He had an anxiety attack! Not surprising. Many young horses and a lot of older horses get on their toes when there is so much going on around them!
Better to take him to a few shows and just ride him around the show ground. Let him look at the tents, the flags and all the other new things. Calmly stroke him, ask him to stand still or keep moving. Ride in the warm up arena and once he is going calmly take him back to the box and leave it at that.
After a few times he will become quite blase about it all when he realises it is not a big deal. Then you can enter one class. Start with normal warm up, walking around, then when he is calm with that ask for trot. Circle, turns and serpentines and lots of changes of rein so it keeps him focussed and finally a short canter if he is up to it. Bring him back to the box, brush him down and tidy him up and then keep him walking around until it is time to go into the ring.
Source(s): Riding instructor, ex show jumping groom for olympic show jumper. Many young horses! - Anonymous1 decade ago
They were probably feeling insecure because it's a new environment (especially for the baby) so were looking to eachother for support and then making one another play up, and getting stressed because they don't know what's going on and where the rest of the 'herd' has gotten to. This is not good but fortunately should work itsself out with practise. A show isn't always the best place to practise taking mad horses out together though unfortunately :P If you have your own transport I suggest taking them on a drive together and visiting a friend at their yard, or going to a new bridleway. If there is a beach near you that could be great? Something like that anyway, so they can get used to being in new surroundings together without getting silly.
But remember- a horse's first show is a pretty stressful experience for them, so try not to judge him too harshly :) he will probably be better next time anyway jst because he knows what to expect
- AzeriLv 71 decade ago
The reason for the difference in behaviour is that if you take a horse there by himself, he knows his herd-mate isn't there, so he doesn't look for him, doesn't really miss him. When you take them together, and one of them goes out of sight, the other horse gets upset because he knows his herd-mate is there, somewhere, but has left him and the feeling the horse has is normal - - it's anxiety because the herd-mate has left but is still somewhere nearby, and they want very badly to know where each other is.
How to deal with it?
With time and experience it should diminish, but that depends on how naturally insecure the horse(s) is (are). The best thing to do for now is to take them both whenever you can, and once there, take one away out of sight but not for long, go back, repeat the process, leaving again, and gradually increase the amount of time of separation. If the horses are smart and fairly secure, they will realize that the herd-mate "always comes back." You have to let them kind of figure this out. There's no way to "console" them.
Right, well it was all new to him - all the other horses and activity, which would have made him more insecure. He just needs mileage.
- AleechawaLv 41 decade ago
I agree with you, they are NOT herd sour. they were just over-excited & had a bit of a tizzy since there was so many new sights, sounds, smells & a lot of fancy 'horsey talk' going on for that baby & the baby was asking his buddy;"hey, what are they saying? who is that what do i do? wait for me! I'm scared! help! don't leave me! where is mama!" and so on! But I feel you should do this again & again. this is the only way they will learn to work together & calm down. don't worry, no harm was done. remember, they are 'our' babies & we do have to teach them with a soft but firm firm hand. I admire you for your first step today. just Smile as tou go to sleep tonight ok!? and good luck.
