From: Sallie
Dear Jessica, I bought a TB gelding three years ago and didn't have a lot of time to work with him, so he has mostly been living in the pasture for the last three years. He is a quiet kind of horse, and is relaxed about most things. This last year things changed enough for me that I know I can have more time to ride him soon. I have been bringing him up to the barn at night and feeding him grain so that he can get used to a normal riding horse life where he uses his energy for riding and not just for playing in the pasture.
Here is the problem he has. When I bought him he was very quiet if you put a saddle on him and rode him, no problem of any kind. Now when I put the saddle on he starts to twitch around, and when I tighten the girth he has a fit. He tries to get away, and he stomps around and tries to rear, then he bucks! If I put the saddle on him and then round-pen him pretty fast for about twenty minutes, he is okay when I let him stop and then he is fine to ride. But I don't want to have to do this every time I ride, and what if I go somewhere that doesn't have a round pen? I know that it is not good to lunge horses fast for twenty minutes because they shouldn't work on a circle fast for that long, so I don't want to use a lunge line on him for this reason.
What do you think is causing him to have this problem and what should I do? Now that I will have time for riding, I want to ride, not have fights about the saddle and then have to round-pen him every day before I can get on without him bucking me. I have a friend who is an expert about saddle fit, and she was in town this winter and I asked her to look at his saddle. It fits perfectly, so I know that isn't the problem, but what is it?
Sallie
I strongly suggest that you have a good equine vet come out and give your horse a physical exam. In the meantime, please don't run him in the round pen any more. You're right about longeing - asking a horse to run in a circle on the longe line can certainly lead to breakdowns - but the problem isn't the presence of a longe line, it's the size of the circle and the speed of the horse! No one who was knowledgeable about longeing would run a horse fast on the longe for twenty minutes, but running him in a round pen presents exactly the same problems. He's still on a circle and he's still running...
Running your horse fast in a round pen for twenty minutes before you ride may tire him out, but it's also likely to break him down. His joints won't last long if you keep asking him to do fast work on a small circle. Twenty minutes of running in a circle wouldn't be a good idea even if the round pen diameter were 100' or larger. If its diameter is less than 70', then you're asking your horse to work on a circle that's even smaller than it would be if he were working at the end of a 35' longe line.
There are many possible reasons for your horse's behaviour, but just off the top of my head, a few very obvious possibilities come to mind, and you should plan to discuss them (and others) with your vet.
The combination of restricted activity and grain can turn a normally quiet horse into a firebreathing dragon. In many cases, when a horse that is suddenly confined and overfed begins to exhibit behaviour problems, reversing the process (turning him out 24/7 and feeding him forage, water, and salt) is all that's needed to effect a "cure." You might want to try this for a week or two. If the problems disappear, you'll know what caused them. If they don't, you'll have more information to share with your vet - and you'll want to bring him out right away.
My strongest suspicion when a horse's under-saddle behaviour changes for the worse is that something is hurting him, and I suspect that your horse is sore somewhere. He could have rolled on a hard object outdoors or in his stall and injured his withers. He could be sore in the withers, the back, and the legs from the exercise he is getting, which is much more limited, more sudden, and much more violent than the exercise he is used to getting. Or - definitely ask your vet about this - he might have gastric ulcers, which can make horses very unhappy about being saddled and positively frantic about being girthed up. Your description (a horse that rears, bucks, and flings himself about when you tighten the girth, and is then quiet once you're in the saddle) would be an excellent description of a horse with ulcers. Your vet can determine whether this is the case, and if your horse does have ulcers, your vet will be able to prescribe medication and advise you on feed and management changes.
You DO need to consider saddle fit. Even if your horse's saddle DID fit perfectly a few months ago, and even if your friend is an expert horseman and saddle-fitter with many years of experience, it's perfectly possible that your saddle no longer fits your horse well, and that it is making him sore. Horse's backs change over time with exercise, with feed changes, with general health, and with riding. Considering all of the changes in your horse's life, it's very likely that his shape has been changing and will continue to change. It's very likely that the way his saddle fits him today is not the way it fit him a month or two ago.
And finally, your horse is likely to have more energy and be stronger if you leave him out at night. He'll be healthier, all of his systems will function better, and he'll be much happier if he can spend the night moving freely, grazing, and hanging out with his friends. When you come out to ride him, you'll benefit because he'll be stronger and better able to work, and he won't be stiff from standing in a stall. Playing in the pasture - which, at night, usually means walking and grazing, nothing more - will give him MORE energy for ridden work. Living outdoors will promote his soundness, health, strength, coordination, and happiness, and will make him a better riding horse.
Good luck, and I hope you'll let me know what the vet tells you. Horses don't lie, so whenever a horse says "Ouch, there's a problem here!" you should look for a physical cause!
Jessica
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