Fell off Xavier - Advice Welcome!!

[KP nut]

Ouch.

He has been so much more chilled recently, so I've been really pleased with him. Well there is a kids riding holiday on at the yard all week, and today I was riding before the children started their day. He was working really nicely in walk in the arena, more relaxed than I had ever known him. He was even stretching down quite a bit and working long and low. Then the kids started arriving and leaning over the gate to watch. He tensed up but I thought it was a good opportunity for a bit of desensitization so I just ignored them and carried on riding him round in walk.

Then as we were walking towards the gate a child ran across the yard and Xav spooked, spun and bolted. He did a flat out gallop towards a solid wall at the far end of the arena, which I assumed we would crash into as he was totally impervious to my attempts to turn or brake, but he skidded round the corner then flat out galloped towards the other end, at which point I decided I'd had enough and let go when I was well away from walls or fences. I did not hit anything but it was a very high speed fall and I ache all over now. He stopped soon after I was off. And I led him round in walk for a short while then remounted. All the children w]ere silent and still as church-mice after that! Xav seemed to put it behind him and I rode for a good 20 minutes after that in walk and trot without further incident.

I understand why he spooked. I don't understand why he bolted, especially as once he had turned the corner he was running TOWARDS the place where he first saw the 'danger'. This is similar to what I have found before with him - he loses the ability to think and his mind just blows. Up till know his response has been to freeze when he gets scared. Today I saw him in flight mode. I prefer freeze mode personally! Poor little guy. 5 steps forward 4 steps back.... But we'll get there. Any advice from anyone who has worked with worried little pony-folk most welcome.

 

[Dannii5691]

Womble has this issue, he has hospitalised me a few times as he is a complete panic bolter.
If he doesn't like the look of something he will tense and short but I can ride him through it. If something spooks him he will blind panic bolt and of your with him your with him. If your not ... well hope for a soft landing.

I've had him 3 years and I'd confidently say we are past it (though when he comes back into work at Christmas post baby it will be in the back of my mind he is capable of it) but it has took alot of work, but we're talking about the horse that would bolt at every ride.

I found the best way to approach the situation was once I had identified his triggers, lost of desensitisation
Twin 1 & 2 can come in helpful here

If a child appearing from no where is his spook trigger, desensitise him to it, will he lunge or long rein? Can you loose school him while they are pottering about?

Unfortunately things appearing by Suprise is something they all encounter day to day riding wise - a bunny out of a hedge etc ...
But getting him to a point where his first response is not to blind panic bolt would be my first point of call.

Sympathy and hugs, it's not a nice thing to deal with :/ hope your not to achey

 

[Jessey]

Ouch, at least no serious injury or lasting effects on him though. That does sound like a true blind panic bolt given he went towards the scary thing and the fact that you say he looses the ability to think makes me think of magnesium deficiency, when they are deficient they tent to react before thinking, the reaction in turn depletes more mag and the merry-go-round downhill begins, it might be worth a try giving him a mag calmer and see if it improves his ability to think in sticky situations, if it isn't that he will just pee it out no harm done

 

[KP nut]

He is already on a supplement with Mag Ox in it but probably only a small amount as it's a general supplement for all round health. Do you know what sort of dose he'd need to have a calming effect, if he is overly reactive?

 

[Jessey]

The dose seems to vary depending on the exact source of the mag, but it would be a lot higher than is in a general supplement but for mag ox I think its 1-3g/100kg, I just brought Bo EA Magnitude as at 20 quid for a tub that lasted months and a low feeding rate as it was from a highly available form it was the easiest way to go

 

[KP nut]

Just bought some 88% mag ox. See if he can keep his brain on-line a but more.

The other thing I don't understand is why having a rider on his back makes him more scared when he is no longer scared of being ridden. I am sure that had he just been loose in the arena and he saw the child he would also have spooked but he would have stopped - as indeed he did once we had parted company... It's as if, once his brain had flipped into fear EVERYTHING was scary including having me on his back so getting rid of me was necessary for him to calm down, even though I was not the thing that scared him in the first place. Does that make sense? I don;t mind sitting spooks on him but I don''t want his default position when he gets scared to be to dump his rider. Though he wasn't bucking at all. It was 'just' the bolt.

 

[KP nut]

I've been re-reading my Mark Rashid notes from the clinic in Hampshire 3 years ago as I remembered there was scared, spooky pony there but I'd forgotten what MR did about it! I found this:

"Mark then worked on getting his head down for 2 reasons:
1 - lowering the head, lowers the heart rate and then improves the breathing,
2 - when head is up horse sees distance. When head is normal horse sees middle distance, only when head is lowered can horse see close up. So a head-the-air horse spooks at EVERYTHING because everything looms up on him unexpectedly because his focus on firmly on scanning things at distance. Also noises etc scare him because he isn't aware of what is around him close by."

I'd forgotten that completely but it makes sense. Xav's head was in the air because the kids at the gate were worrying him so the running kid will just have been a blur zooming into his line of vision that he couldn't make sense of. So when I ride Xav I need him to lower his head!

I also wrote:

"Mark got the head down by applying tiny pressure on the nose and releasing. Also by 'connecting to the inside of the horse' more of which later. Weird but astonishingly effective and moving.
Anyway within a few minutes he was stood quietly with his nose almost on the ground which owner said was a posture she had never seen him in before. Then they tried leading. Horse always led because he had not had direction before so took it on himself to decide where to go and at what speed. This made him anxious as horses are born followers. Mark made him back up whenever his head came in front. By the end of the session horse was being led around calmly. And today they rode in the arena, redirecting energy. Moving him slowly nearer the 'scary people', gradually expanding his comfort zone. Mark said horses are dominated by FEAR and CURIOSITY. First reaction will be FEAR and flight, but then the horse will want to know what the thing that scared it was, so it can find out if it's dangerous. So instead of using desensitisation where you keep presenting the feared object, just let the horses natural curiosity do the job for you And sure enough within a few minutes horse had ambled his way right up to the spectators.

What was amazing with this horse was the connection Mark seemed to have with him. He seemed to know exactly how he was feeling, what he was thinking and what he was 2 seconds from doing at any time! When rider obeyed a sudden instruction like 'turn him right' nothing happened. Ie horse just turned and it was all fine. However, when she was slow, or turned the 'wrong' way the horse got upset. Mark could see the build up of tension or anxiety and do something really simply to redirect the horses energy or attention. It was magical to see. And made me realise that however familiar these concepts are it is the subtlety of their application that is the key - and that's a lifetime's work....."

So basically if I were more skilled this just would not have happened, I would have known how to re-direct Xav. But that's ok. He's where he is on his learning path and I am where I am and we both have quite a long way to go!!

 

[squidsin]

I think a lot of horses' default position when freaked out is to dump the rider. My old horse was like that. I guess they're ridding themselves of anything that might potentially be a hazard, and also, having you on his back hinders his attempt to flee.
Hope you're OK! I've been in your position a few times before, and it's not fun at all.

 

[KP nut]

@Dannii5691 yes people seem to trigger him more than other things like concrete mixers, cows, flappy plastic etc. So using the twins as spook busters is a great idea. Thanks for reply

 

[KP nut]

@squidsin that makes sense. Plus predators attack by jumping on backs so in blind panic mode I imagine they find being mounted threatening. Like a lift suddenly seeming too small if you get stuck! Being trapped is the problem and before the lift gets stuck the size feels fine but once you are scared then other things suddenly feel threatening too.

 

[KP nut]

Took @Dannii5691 advice and took advantage of the kids on the riding holiday being at the yard to do some desensitisation work with Xav. I lunged him while kids were leaning over the gate and I asked them to be generally noisy and to run about!. Xav did not like it much at first but soon settled.

I then rode him focusing on getting his head low. Actually this worked surprisingly well and he quickly learnt that when I picked up a contact I wanted him to drop his head. So we walked around with his head nice and low and he stayed chilled out. Nice happy Xav face most of thr time! Actually, despite his blip yesterday, his whole demeanor is gradually changing. You see him with a droopy lower lip and relaxed eyes so much more often now.

 

[newforest]

I am sorry to read this, I don't have anything useful to add as I wouldn't be on board yet.
I would still be going through all my groundwork, building my foundation and seeing what makes him tick or not tick. Observing the body language that's in front of me. So my advice in that respect is to relook at your groundwork.

The taking off part makes me think of a sensory overload. They are flight animals first. If he was calmer without you on board, it could be he saw you as part of the problem even though you didn't cause it, but more likely being on the ground showed him support.
So although he will freeze if worried and look and think, if scared he goes and just cant.

From my own experience with mine and this is what I am basing my reply on, if he doesn't know the one rein stop teach it. It's stopped mine taking off on more than one occasion. Teach it in the bit, the halter and the headcollar.
Watch for those changes in body language, they could be very slight and subtle. I have ploughed through our school gate twice when mine went, if they go they sure do blow!
For mine I can tell her confidence level by the speed of her walk, not impulsion and going forwards, it's a different walk. She also has the high ooh what's that, that's interesting verses the oh crap high head linked to the feet. We also bend like a banana.
She used to do it when led and I have sat on my backside more than once.

I really hope this behaviour isn't why he was left in the field.