Horse "feeling his oats"

From: Annett Sullivan

Dear Jessica,

I have found your archives to be a very helpful resource that answers a lot of questions that I have had.

At the moment I'm wavering back and forth on whether I should sell my horse, and was wondering whether you might have some insight.

I got my horse (my first), a 6 yr old racing type QH, about a year ago. He was spoiled, had terrible manners and was barely broke, but had very nice conformation, a kind eye, was sound and in my price range, so I bought him. He spent 45 days with a professional to get through the basics of respecting space, leading, tying and basic riding. For the past 10 months I have been riding him, taking lessons twice a month, and things have been going well - he's the first horse I've ever ridden that's raised his back for me when I ask with my seat. We're currently working on getting a slower canter, and doing laid-back short trail rides.

But a month ago, when I was riding him one evening, he was paying no attention to me at all, and started to buck and bolt & I ended up coming off against the arena wall (no permanent damage thanks to my helmet & safety stirrups). I later found out that he had been getting grain, and that's probably what made him act like that. But my riding confidence (not too strong to begin with) is way down. After this happened, a very experienced friend rode him twice and said that although, yes, he was a nice horse, she considered him to be a brat, and that his misbehaving was not fear (he bucked at the canter with her). I'm now riding again and things are returning to normal, but I'm not sure I will ever completely trust him again (even though that extreme behavior only happened one time, we still have other small problems - like nipping).

My trainer (who I respect v much) and several friends feel very strongly that it would be a mistake to sell him b/c he is such a nice horse & that he has changed so much for the better already since I got him. My experienced friend said that in order to keep him I would have to "change my personality" and be ready to discipline him if he ever behaves like that again. I keep changing my mind about whether to keep him or not. One person suggested that what he needs is to know what it's like to work for a living, and I know of someone who could take him to be a pack/dude horse this summer into the mountains (pretty rough country).

What do you think of that option, and do you have any suggestions? My purpose in riding is purely pleasure - to relax away from the pressures of being a grad student.

Thanks very much,

Annett Sullivan

Your horse sounds lovely -- a real pleasure. He doesn't need to be punished, but, like any other horse, he DOES need to be fed according to his size and the amount of work he is doing. If he is your pleasure horse, and you want to enjoy him quietly -- you're not actually preparing him for a race or a three-day event -- he may do very well on hay (or grass), water and salt.

Feeding too much can create a monster -- depending on whether the food is stored or used for energy, you will end up with either a fat horse or one that seems on the edge (or past the edge) of being out of control.

Many years ago, I made the mistake of thinking that more was better, and I overfed one of my own horses. It would have been easy if the horse had simply gotten fat -- but no, it didn't do THAT, it simply got more and more energetic until it was just about bouncing out of its skin. Under normal conditions, this horse was calm about bicycles, tractors, goats, sheep, and screaming children -- but when it was "high" on too much feed, even a falling leaf was enough to provoke a buck or a bolt. Finally, the horse got aggressive, and bit me -- it took THAT much before I figured out what was wrong, and put it right. I hadn't thought of feed being a problem, because the horse hadn't gotten fat...

After ten days on SUITABLE feed, everything was normal again and I had my sweet horse back. Some years after that, it happened again, but this time I recognized the signs. This time, it turned out that the owners of my new boarding barn couldn't believe that a big horse could stay healthy without a lot of grain, so they tripled the amount I had asked them to feed! The horse turned into a fire-breathing dragon with aerial capabilities, but when we straightened out the feed situation, the horse returned to normal very quickly.

As for your own confidence, I suggest that you drop back a little and spend your next few lessons (and riding time between lessons) working on things you've done before, and things that don't make you worry about losing control. Your instructor (who sounds VERY sensible, by the way!) can suggest lots of exercises that will make your horse more attentive and make YOU more secure in the saddle. You can't go wrong with walk-trot work and lots and lots of transitions! In fact, if you did only walk and trot and transitions and a little lateral work for the next twelve months, it wouldn't hurt you or the horse at all, and when you went back to cantering, you would both be better-balanced and much more secure.

Changing your personality is not a reasonable suggestion! Why would you want to do that? Your personality is fine, and so is your horse's, the two of you like each other and enjoy each other's company, and you've already improved the horse in the time that you've owned him. You don't need to change anything. Be kind, be clear, be consistent -- that's how to deal with ANY horse.

Don't punish the horse for being fed too much, or for being frantic and active if he's been confined to a stall. Those things are NOT his fault.

Don't send him off to be a pack horse! He's a horse, not a human -- he won't have any idea that he's being punished, let alone being punished for being overfed. You can't create a "work ethic" in a horse -- he has no concept of what that means, and you won't be able to teach him that concept. It's pointless -- and silly. You may have to remind your "helpful" friends that this is a HORSE, not a HUMAN. Many people want to ascribe human motivations to horses, but that's a big mistake -- horse motivations are really quite simple. They want to feel safe, they want to be able to move around freely, and they want to eat. When someone tells you that a horse got dirty on purpose to inconvenience the groom, or hit a jump in order to embarrass the rider in front of her boyfriend, or that it stepped on someone's foot on purpose to hurt that person -- just close your ears to this kind of nonsense. It's not accurate, it's not useful, and thinking like that will get in the way of your work with your horse.

It sounds to me as though what you need to do is drop back a level in whatever you are doing, work on simple things until you feel strong and confident again, and then go back out and enjoy yourself and your horse. And watch his diet -- now that you know what happens when he's getting the high-octane fuel, keep him on "regular." ;-)

Jessica

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