Scared of other horses!

[helen03]

Please help i want to start doing some show jumping with my tb x id , but when i got him at the ages of 5 unbroken, he had never left his field , i bought him to my yard and progressed to break him in.he is going really nicely , but when i take him to a show he is petrified of other horses to the point where i can't ride him cos he stands and shakes violently!he doesn't seem to understand that other horses exsist!i have tried taking him to shows just to look around , but he doesn't seem to be getting over this.he's fine with the horses in his field and is field boss and can cope with horses in fields that we ride past as long as their on the other side of a fence.What can i do , I don't want him to be a waste!
Also he suffered a tendon injury in december , and when he recovered fully (which was in fact very quickly) , the vet told me he would never be able to jump again, yet after fittening him up he can jump and gallop fine and has stayed 100% sound.I had him fitted with some rubber pads in his shoes to raise his heels.Has anyone else had this kind of ecperince?he does have a swelling where the tendon healed but that is the only signs that he ever suffered any injury.

[Rakeli]

Are you sure that he's not just acting out of excitement? Many horse get funny at shows - it's so exciting!

Also, do you take him on his own? If he is genuinly nervous of other horses then it sounds as though he may have been bullied in the past. He may now be settled with his stable herd, but other horses and the insecurity involved with them may still frighten him. If it's that, try to take him with one of his companions, preferably his pairbond. This would give him some security as he would know someone there.

[Evol_or_revert]

Hey, When i first got my TB charlie I couldn't ride with any horses in site. He would be his normal self racing around at trot or canter back then there was no such thing as walk for him. As soon as a horse came in to site he would start shaking and then start rearing and jumping sideways and spinning around, trotting by lifting his legs right up to his chest, cantering on the spot, head up tail up, it was pretty much a mess. going to shows he would do all that plus rearing up on against the float.

What i did was after my horse finally calmed down by himself on the lunge, I got one friend to ride in the paddock while i was lunging the horse then i got her to ride around the outside of my circle. That did work so i coudln't finally ride him at home with other horses. I would have done the same thing at shows, but after 14 months with a horse trying to kill you most times you ride i lost all my confidents and gave the horse away.(Dont worry the guy who has the horse knows how the horse behaves and knew the horse before he got him)


Good luck with your horsey :D

[helen03]

He doesn't seem to have a pair bond.He is always off by himself in the field.Don't get me wrong he is not in the slightest unhappy , he just seems contented off on his tod!I think the problem stems from where i got him from , like i said he hadn't left his field, and also never left his mother , a 5 yr old horse unweaned!it's funny though because he does have a very special bond with me , like a replacement mother he absolutley adores me!to the point where he fights the other horses away from me.iw onder if he maybe is scared he can;t keep all the horses away from me at shows!oh , he is also genuinely scared of other horses, it's definatley not excitement!

[virtuallyhorses]

Instead of taking him to shows and letting him concentrate on being frightened - lunge him for a few minutes or give him a job. When he does his job, praise him and take him home. Make sure that you aren't starting too big - the show should be very local, low key affair - perhaps a local pony club or riding school would be a better starting place.

Umm you say he was unweaned - do you mean he was still suckling at 5 ?! (which is what unweaned means) I'm a bit concerned that you bought the horse, knowing his background and are finding this a problem. Did you not plan a long socialisation program for him based on his sheltered background?

[FreedomStar]

could you maybe get a companion for him, like a goat? Or maybe he just finds the whole show atmosphere too overwhelming, or maybe he had a bad experience in the past. Ask his previous owners if they had ever taken him to a show before, if they hadn't, then that might explain that he's nervous because he's suddenly popped into show activity and bustle when he'd been off for so long.