How to calm down a hot/spooky horse on the spot?

Question

Okay, well me and my horse just recently won a show and so we took the victory lap around the arena but my horse is normally not spooky or anything but wen he saw someone in the stand stand up quickly he like spooked and then he felt like he just wanted to bolt and after my ride we hade someone look at him to se if he was in pain in anyway but they said he looked fine so im going under the assumption that he just got a little nervous from the people in the stands and having to "gallop" around other horses...i know of ways to prepare him not to do this next time but lets just say that i didnt prepare him or anything and he did it again...is there any way i can calm him down on the spot(spot meaning right then and there without having to walk/trot)?

Answer 1

go back to some basic ground work.  he'll be comfortable with this.  start adding scary elements.  despook from the ground, then undersaddle.

you say "hot".  recheck his diet.  you may be feeding him up...if that makes sense.  you may want to have your vet check out your complete feed program.

best of luck.

Answer 2

I recommend parelli. It totally calmed my horse down coz youll find your horse prob doesnt see you as a leader. someone he can follow and trust . no offence but the same things happened with me. or if you dont wanna do that try bridging the reins that always helps.

Good luck =]

Answer 3

sit down deep, control your canter (/get a canter)  and get him thinking about YOU.  Bending or whatever you can do to get him thinking about you will make him stop and listen to you as opposed to watching everyone else.  

Answer 4

I would just pat him on the side of the neck and let him know it's ok in a calm voice.  If you're calm then he'll sense that.

Answer 5

okay, you won, so what does it matter after the fact that he spooked?

horses are flight or flight animals, so yeah i wouldnt really care if i just won if my horse spooked over someone, i'd walk,trot or whatever it took to get him undercontrol and then restart with the lap after that.

Answer 6

You could try natural horsemanship to create a bond so that he will feel safe with you all the time and won't spook as much. I had the same problem and it worked wonders!  

Answer 7

if i was in this situation. and if you feel as if your an experienced enough rider. have somebody suddenly re stand up, as if to rein-act the situation. do this multiple times and your horse  should get to learn that this is not as scary\harmful as it seems,

Good luck

Answer 8

Your probably just got really tense because you knew everyone was watching you, and you were excited because you just one. You were sending all these emotions down to your horse, and he tensed up, and that caused him to spook at something that he wouldn't normally spook at.

Answer 9

I agree with TBeventer. In that situation he is focused somewhere else when he needs to be focused on you. Sit deep in the saddle give him a clear and firm half halt with one hand, preferably away from what is distracting him, and keep giving them until he focuses back on you. I also say a little something to my guy when he's fixated on something to snap him out of it. For me it's a firm and calm "hey" or "boy" but use whatever your horse is used to. **CAUTION** Be very careful of this though and stay far far away from comforting or coddling. Saying things like "it's ok, its ok" over and over again in a high squeaky voice will only feed his excited/nervous energy and possible make him worse, so don't use your voice if you got startled or nervous when he did. Your voice easily conveys your emotions so leave it out if you don't think you can trust it to be calm.

Other than that just pretend like nothing happened and act like he is just the silliest thing in the world. Horses are going to startle, thats just part of their nature, the important thing is how they recover from it. If you pretend like nothing happened, he will follow your lead and move on.

Congrats on your win

Answer 10

do a one rein stop. grab one rein to turn in a circle until he stops his feet.