ottb Help!

Question
QUESTION: I took my ottb to his first show. We have been training for about 8 months and he has been coming along great! he is a happy horse and loves his job. We have been bending trotting and a little canter work. He knows the basics. He is usually a very calm and very happy fellow. I love him to death. I took him to a 4-H show with no intention of showing him. I just wanted to go and see how he would react and get him used to his new job without making him compete the first time. When we arrived he seemed fine enough. No calling to other horses or bolting or anything. Just placidly looking about at the going-ons. So i took him to the practice ring early before the heat or chaos set in. We lounged and he was fine. Head down and rounded. Calm as usual. I'm thinking "great!" So i tacked him up feeling pretty good. Walked him around with the saddle on to make sure everything fit fine (I wasn't using any tack different from what i usually use). I had someone to hold him when i got on. as I swung my leg over he suddenly bolted forward for a few strides then resumed a walk. Head carriage was WAY up. Like I said, nothing was different from tack, where we worked earlier. there was 1 other horses inn the ring with us too so he wasn't just insecure of being alone. So i tried to work him with the same lessons i used at home. Trotting circles, figure eights. Just the same drills. He started to calm down, lower his head. After we trotted for a while i gave him a breather and asked him to stand. He stood for maybe 30 seconds then freaked out. He dropped his head flew back spun ran for a few strides then quietly came back down and was fine. he did this every time i would try to stop him. He just seemed to forget how to move forward slowly. i ended up dismounting from a walk and working him on a lounge line and letting him stand. he was fine then. He doesn't do this at home in the ring. He sometimes gets a little fussy on the trail if we have top stop but he is never That bad. I don't know how to correct this or what to do when he does it. I try to remain calm but its scary when you know you cant stop and stand. I don't know what to do. Like i said, he is a over reactive type of horse. I love him to death but i cant stand to scared like this. I want to show(though its not a necessity) and i think his foundation is good i just don't know what he is reacting to!

ANSWER: Allie,

This is really an interesting problem. It sounds like you are really on the right track.....all the things that you did to reassure your horse were right on.

It is important that you did the right thing. You did not punish him-you tried to reassure him. You should never punish fear and it sounds like you realize this.

If you read the chapter on horses in Dr. Temple Grandin's book ANIMALS MAKE US HUMAN, she talks about the fear memory of horses. Being prey animals, of course, their fear can be self-preservation-based on a reflexive type of fear that they cannot control.

I would work your horse in the same manner. It sounds like you are lungeing him correctly-not chasing him around but trying to get him to relax and settle. For whatever reason....he is associating THAT show anyway, with something that really frightens him. Maybe go to another show at a different location. This time just lead him around, let him graze, maybe a brief lungeing period, and take him home. Do not stay very long, and do not ride him. If you have the patience, try that a few times. Even if he is acting great, do not be tempted to get on him...quit while you are ahead.

Remember that as peculiar as it may sound, his reaction to the show probably frightened him still more. He does not understand that the difficulties stem directly from him. Horses's minds do not compute like ours.
If you do this, please let me know how it goes.

Mitzi Summers
Summersdressage@aol.com
www.MitziSummers.com


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I love that idea and ill try it but he
didn't seem scared. Just excited. I was
thinking it Mayb had something to do
with his former face career and
uncanny similarities between the
fairgrounds we showed at and a race
track but I don't know.

Answer
Hello Allie,
Somehow my reply got sent before I wrote anything!

I think that what you mentioned is highly possible. I rememeber taking a client to Dressage at Saratoga (a race track). It had been five years since this mare had raced, but she was a wreck when we got there. She had been to a few other shows and had been pretty good, but they were small shows without many buildings around.

The mare was so upset that we just led her using T.E.A.M. techniques, and did some quiet lungeing, and took her home. It was fairly close, so the next day we got permission to return to the showgrounds and did the same thing.

The next year we went there again and after just a bit she settled down and showed successfully. She was a fit tense, but so much better.