Horse acting funny when being ridden!

Question
Hi i have a 5yr old pure bred arab.He was 5 in January and is 15.3h at the moment.I broke him myself when he was 3yrs old and he has always been great and doing well when ridden but recently in may i took him to a show and did my first ridden class on him and i didn't wear a numnah under his saddle which usually i always do.(His saddle is a wintec synthetic one)and when i was in the collecting ring he went down to roll and did the same whilst i was in my class.He was also constantly swishing his tail against his belly and shaking his head around everytime i cantered, which he has never done so we thought he might be allergic to the synthetic material on his back without a numnah as he isn't used to not wearing one. Then in the last few weeks he will be fine to lunge with the saddle and bridle on but as soon as i get on him with tack he only walks a few steps then will stop and it takes me a while to get him walking again and he will only do a few steps of trot then stop dead and he will not even go into canter which when i ask his, back legs seem to go and he has to catch our weight but he is fine when lunging!When he stops with me on him he starts to paw at the sand (as we are in an arena) and sometimes feels like hes going to get back down and roll so i try keep him walking. But also when im leading him back down to the field hes started constantly sniffing at the floor and stopping and pawing at the ground and it takes me a while to get him to walk again.We are having his teeth checked out on thursday.We are trying to narrow it down and im going to ride him bareback in the arena to see if hes different again without the saddle.When he was abit younger he was kicked on his back leg and got a splint and sometimes it makes him a bit lame but hes never acted like this so im not sure if it this, but also he is supposed to grow to 16.1h so aswel im not sure whether hes going through a growth spurt and is abit sore in his bones etc.Can you please give me any advice ASAP as its starting to worry me!Thankyou

Answer
Hi Beth!

I need a little more specific information.  Between the time you broke him 2 yrs ago and now, was he doing all 3 gaits correctly and consistently?  Or did he not ride for awhile?

I need to know exactly how he behaved for those 2 yrs to try to determine why he now won't go for you.

As for the rolling, well that's just rude.  In the instances he wants to roll (either under saddle or when being led) he has stopped thinking about you....and you have let him.  When in fact, all that he should be thinking about is you and also waiting for his next command from you.  He has become far too comfortable around you in the passing years.  Yes, you should have a relationship of trust and comfort but, it's like a teenage son.  He should feel free to be himself around you and ask anything if confused but, he can never treat you flippintly or like a maid that is there to be neither seen nor heard.  Just someone to do his stuff for him and then he doesn't even notice.

So.  You must re-establish a connection of authority with him.  Your communciation must hold domination and threat of punishment if not obeyed.  You do not have to hit him with a 2x4 but, he must have consequences for his rude actions.  If he even looks like he is thinking about rolling, smack him with a crop or your hand on the shoulder and yell "NO!" firmly and shank him.  He should always be walked with a stud chain over his nose for attention purposes.  You are 51% of the team, right?  You want him to perform on cue, right?  Then you must communicate this dominance to him all the time....or he will start to take your presence for granted and just ignore you and do as he pleases.  Which is what I suspect is the stopping under saddle problem too....disrespect.  Not his saddle, not his teeth, not his leg....just him thinking "Why should I?"

Horses, husbands and children all test Mommy's authority to see how far they can stretch their boundries!

Go back to the basics and recapture his attenion and respect.  He may balk at first.  But, once he discovers you really mean it, he will be a good boy again.

Good luck and remember to always wear an ASTM/SEI approved helmet!

Solange