Help Needed! Scared of other Horses!

Kelsey1989

New Member
Mar 4, 2016
1
0
1
34
Hi everyone! New to this but I wanted to try and get some advice! I have a ex racehorse 7 year old mare, who I have retrained and is coming along so nicley! Working on showjumping and dressage this year to hopefully event towards the end of the year. 90% of the time she is really laid back, however she does have fear of other horses when they are coming towards us! She will just panic and spin in the opposite direction and stop! She doesn't bolt off but it's often quite fast that she has had me out the side door! Because of this warm ups at shows are becoming difficult and it is slowing down our schooling as I have to wait till I can ride at home in the school on my own! If anyone has ever retrained an ex racehorse and has any advice or has had a horse that acts simillar please please let me know!
 
I saw a horse that sounds a bit like this at a Mark Rashid clinic. My write up from the clinic is below. not something I would have the confidence or experience to try but you may find it interesting/useful and your horse may not be as troubled as this one was. Though I think the timing & feel needs to be just as good with a small problem as a big one! You would need a friend on a calm horse to help you out:

Horse 3: Stressy TB with long and difficult history.

Horse was freaked initially. Rearing, threatening all the other horses who were in the arena, leaping about. Head in bits. Mark said no horse wants to feel as bad as this horse feels. All behaviour might look aggressive (attacks on other horses etc) but is really defensive. She can't cope with horses near her so she chases them away. Priority is to help her feel better. he initially got rider helping the horse just come back to earth a bit, tipping her nose, lowering the head, keeping her feet on the floor, letting her stay in a safe 'bubble'. Once she was capable of listening he started using the demo horse to work with her. She was being ridden in a circle and as the demo horse approached she flattened her ears and made threatening gestures. Mark said she has learnt that this gets rid of pressure as horse or person moves away so it makes her feel better. So that behaviour is now strongly ingrained. So she needs to learn being threatening does not make the other horse go away, whereas relaxing does. So he kept demo horse at the same distance from her, both circling, just on the edge of her 'safety zone' so she was bothered by the horse but didn't explode, then when she showed any signs of being ok, eg dropped head, glanced outside arena (a sign that she's trying to tell the other horse she's not a threat or a sign she's trying to manage her emotions by disengaging from the thing that is scary) or ears came forward then Mark would back the other horse away from her. Soon she realised she could actually make the horse leave her alone by relaxing. And this in turn helped her relax because she had some control. So quite quickly, she was able to tolerate the other horse getting nearer and nearer while staying calm. Then later she was able to ride in a group of other horses, with the rider controlling the size of the safety zone by riding her near and waiting for her to relax and then letting her move away again. I asked how Mark knew how close was too close and he said 'experience' which I guess is true enough! He also said that pushing too quickly with a horse like this teaches you how far is too far very effectively as small mistakes have very big consequences. Interesting and impressive to watch this totally stressed horse calmly trotting around an arena full of other horses by the end of the clinic. But it's not something I would ever try myself. One to be left for the experts!


In Buck Brannaman's book The Faraway Horses he also talks about a horse who is afraid of other horses and tries to run from them. He got a group of horses out in a grassy field. He asked the scared horse to trot but let him choose where to go and at first the horse kept a distance from all the other horses, but after a few minutes the horse turned towards horses and Buck let him walk. As he moved away he was asked to pick up trot again, kind of like the game 'hotter, colder.' So the horse quickly learned that he could stay as far away as he liked but would have to work. Or he could rest if he got closer. Once he was very near the horses he was allowed to stop and given a scratch. This helped the horse feel in control and also feel that other horses = comfort and release. So his view of the other horses became more positive.
 
  • Like
Reactions: AliciaA
ETA your situation is not identical to those above, but hopefully the principles described above can be adapted for you. The main aim is for her to change her mind about what other horses coming towards her means to her or feels like for her.
 
My girl went through a phase similar when younger after a reiner slid at us which scared the hell outta her.
I just picked my place in warm ups, go with the flow of horses not against it, and put a red ribbon on her so people gave us a wider berth, at home I spent a lot of time stood in the middle of the arena with her while people worked their horses around her, eventually she relaxed and realised they weren't a threat. Now she's very relaxed but if someone were to come at her at speed I think she'd still spin to kick out so its my job to make sure I don't position her somewhere that is likely to happen.
 
Hello. I have an 8 year old ex racer that I have owned for 4 years. He has never been good in warm ups and has a habit of double barrowing if a horse canter pass his arse.

Like @Jessey said I pick my warm up carefully and wear a red ribbon in his tail. I have found that I can't do a nice gentle warm up like at home I have to get on a get on with it. Keeping him activity and his mind working. I don't allow him time to think.

That said after ever comp I always go back in the warm up and walk him off he is generally much calmer then and I can let him stretch.

Good luck it does get easier they are just very sensitive souls and need some need the softy softy approach and other need you to lead them and then there are some that you need to flick between the two.
 
I'd message eml on here, she has lots of experience with Ex Racers
 
newrider.com