What can I do for my nervous horse?

Question

I have a horse at my college- he's a 16.3hh 20 year-old Holstein gelding named Chaz. He's a very curious, but very jumpy horse. (I call him Chazzy Spazzy or something along those lines lol)

For example, he'll be calm one minute, and then a neighboring horse will snort or make the slightest noise, and he throws his head up, with his eyes bulging out of his head. He quiets down quickly, but it's frustrating and unsafe that he's like this.

I've had my suspicions that he's been hit before, probably in the head, because sometimes if i'm next to his head and I turn around slowly or even go to give him a treat or pat him gently, he suspects i'm going to hit him and throws his head up. I know he knows me well enough by now, and I've never even thought of hitting him before.

Also, I suspect his vision might not be so great, because whenever someone approaches him, even from the side, he holds his head up high and on the side to see them, making him look manacing. What can I do?

Answer 1

get a vet check and use lavender oil. rub it on his ears, and around his nostrils

Answer 2

Aside from the training that's been mentioned, you can also try a calming supplement.  I've used SmartCalm with my mare...works wonders, I highly recommend it.  That might just help getting his brain calmed down so that he can focus more on the training and other stuff you are doing with him.

http://www.smartpakequine.com/ProductCom...

Answer 3

talk to him before approaching hi, and see a vet for eye exam,

Answer 4

Also, just spend a lot of time with him talking to him until he learns to trust you.

Answer 5

I have a half-Arabian horse named Goose who used to be exactly as you describe. One day a leaf turned over in a mild breeze and he got so scared he took off running as fast as he could. Luckily I wasn't on him at the time.

Now Goose is much better, but it took a great deal of training to improve his confidence. First of all, I want to address the comment that you should talk to him to get him to trust you. I do agree you should talk to him gently, I am all for that. But that is far from all you need to get a horse to trust you.

To get a horse to trust you, it is important that he see you as a leader. In a herd of horses, whether its in a pasture or out in the wild, there is an alpha horse that leads the herd-deciding when to eat, where it is safe to go etc. The other horses are secure with that. In fact they are very happy giving up the responsibility to someone else. Horses worry a lot about their safety and well being, and although we might jump to say this horse of yours has some kind of "problem" in fact he is just being a horse. In the wild a horse has to worry about getting killed and eaten all the time, so they are always on the look out for threats.

In your case, it is up to you to become a leader for your horse and assume the role of "alpha mare". I am not talking about dominating him. You can be a leader without dominating. Does that make sense? The best way to do this is with groundwork.

Get on the web and search for the Parelli seven games. That is a good way to get started with groundwork and to bond with your horse. It will really help his confidence.

One of the game is "circling game" which is just another word for lunging. With my horse Goose, I helped increase his confidence by taking that to another level and getting him to jump barrels. He did not want to at first, but after he got used to it this was a big confidence booster for him at first. Note I am talking about having him jumping barrels in a lunge, and not when riding the horse. Typically I would put a barrel on its side against and fence and start circling him closer and closer to the barrel until he had to go over it.

Another good way to build some leadership is to make your horse pay attention to you. This means he should have both eyes focused on you when you are working. You ask him to do this by gently bumping the lead rope towards you when he is looking off into the next pasture or whatever. You can make an exercise out of this by asking him to move his forehand to the left, and then bumping him back toward you after he moves out, then ask him to move his forehand back to the right and bump him back again. Pretty soon your horse will be focusing all of his attention on you, which is a good sign he is seeing you as his leader.

When the horse sees you as his leader, then he will be looking to you to decide if something is threatening or not, and also he will trust you so will know you are not going to hit him or abuse him.

My two cents.

David

http://gentlenaturalhorseman.blogspot.co...

Answer 6

Maybe he is upset about the other horse!