Tips/Advice/Potential?

What would you have done? Helpful exercises for very hot, SENSITIVE gelding that has a strong hate for other trainers? He is 14 years old, been an event horse most of his life, brain is relatively fried and we are rebooting it. SUPER scopey over fences, brave as hell. Wonderful movement when not tense.





I am hoping this will be my Rolex horse in a few years. What do you think?





http://youtube.com/watch?v=dUP042YnIKsTips/Advice/Potential?
Get out of the arena. Get on the trails and the only jumps he does in in nature....clean up his mind, forget about his form, let him be a horse and just keep him in shape on the trails. (the rougher the better)....he won't forget what he knows, don't worry about that, he just doesn't need any more discipline right now...good luck.Tips/Advice/Potential?
What is he getting fed? I would be sure to have him on a low


Protein low sugar diet. I was wondering what happens if you just let him lope out some of that energy. Does it just make it worse? Or does it take some of the steam off? Like a couple of the other answers said, take him out of the arena for a while. Not just a day or two, but a week or two and see if that helps. Lots of trail rides would really help keep his mind fresh. You might could try taking him over some obstacles. Not big jumps, just fallen trees, creeks, brush, around trees/rocks and such. If you can ride him this way, that would be good to just give him some rein. Don't make him stay collected all the time. It might help him relax.


You have a great seat, and don't apologize to anyone because you have scoliosis. It's part of who you are.


Good luck with you awesome horse!
Lovely looking horse, has gr8 natural movement, he is very tense though %26amp; doesn't look to be particulary enjoying himself all that much, he definately needs some extra flexibility work, lunging combined with some loose rein work, pretty much just letting him choose his course %26amp; speed (as long as it's not a full flat, out of control gallop) so he learns to enjoy himself.


If i was you %26amp; you have the time, I would do a lot of ground work, building a strong trusting relationship with him, just simple confidence building things like, having him stand still %26amp; complient while you climb all over him etc.


I have trained %26amp; re educated many horses for people who ride in all different disciplines %26amp; this is one thing i recommend they do once having there horse nome with them, many say ';oh isn't that just natural horsemanship hype' my response is 'no, it's just building a foundation with your horse.


Many amazing horses will not allow more than 1 trainer to work with them, my stallion who has now passed was like that, very hot headed %26amp; many considered him to be dangerous, i got him when he was 7 %26amp; relatively unhandled, i succesfully showed him in 3 different disciplines over the years %26amp; did very well. Put another rider on his back, or present him with another trainer %26amp; he went back to his old ways. Some horses are simply one person horses, especially if they have been mistreated.





Best of luck
I've seen a lot of show horses just get ring sour over the years, and the best thing for them is some time off, and relaxation, and not so much cranking to get the job done all the time.





I would start desensitizing him to things a little bit if he's really touchy. Get him deader on his sides, maybe longe him with a western saddle with the stirrups bumping him until he doesn't care any more. If you don't want to do that, you can always work small circles, bending his head around, and bumping him with your leg until he gets deader on his sides. The whole goal is for him to NOT jump out from underneath you when you squeeze a little bit.





Take him out to places with a lot of activity, and just longe and longe and longe him until the situation doesn't stress him out anymore.





Take him on long trail rides, where he can just walk and be a horse and socialize with other horses.





The idea is to get him used to everything, and realize that its okay for him to be nervous, he can take the time to run and buck on the longe line, and he won't get in trouble. He needs to learn that he's not going to get crucified with somebody's legs, and he needs to learn how to have fun while being ridden again.





When you get back to working him undersaddle in the ';show'; type atmosphere, make sure you longe him before riding, then just walk him around for 30 mins before getting to work. Just walking my gelding around at shows mellows him out, lets him see everything, and just sets the ';pace'; for the day.





If your guy gets nervous in commotion you can also tie him near a riding ring, and just make him stand there for an hour and settle down. We tie our yearlings by our arena while we ride so they get used to people zooming by, and then when we start them, all the horses milling about doesn't bother them.





If you like the horse, and he's good at fences, and thats your goal with him, put a few months into figuring out his brain, and I'm sure you'll have a ton of fun together. Good luck!