Cold Weather Craziness?

[acoustic11]

I'm posting this for a friend of mine who is new to LJ and can't figure out how to join the community. I've ridden with her my whole life and she is a very capable rider and trainer. However, neither of us can figure out what is up with her latest project. She's hoping that someone here has dealt with a horse like this before or as any ideas as

Comments

[buymeaclue]

Guess you know how he ended up at the auction, eh?

Maybe there's something I'm missing, but...

he’ll ONLY act up on brisk, windy, or colder days.

...that sounds pretty typical to me. Sounds like he gets a little fresh with the weather change and has figured out that doing so is a pretty sweet deal. I'd ditch the stopping him and just put somebody up who can stay on and ride him forward through whatever--not aggressively, but very business-like--and see how he does with that ride for a while.

[acoustic11]

I thought it was pretty typical, too, being around horses all of my life. I know how it goes - nice chilly day, horses are all up. It's just the drastic change in him - 70 degrees one day and you need two inch spurs to get a trot out of him, 63 the next day and it's like a rodeo.

We've tried just riding him through it and riding him forward, but that just puts the track in his head and he turns on the gas and wants to run forever.

[buymeaclue]

So you bend him, you pop him off the inside leg, you put him on some figures, etc. Unless he's hurting--which sounds unlikely--it doesn't really matter why he's doing it, you know? If he's spooking and bucking and bolting, you just ride him like you would any other spook-buck-bolter. So he's a little more reactive about it than most horses. 's okay. He can still learn to handle himself appropriately.

[acoustic11]

True that. I agree with you.

[vanraf]

this is what I was thinking... if he wants to be an ass, he can work harder until he settles.

not necessarily riding him in a straight line around and around, but making him bend, figure 8's and circles where he can't get away from you and bolt but where he'll work down until he's ready to be civil.

I guess that's just the eventer in myself and buymeaclue - working with fit OTTB's in cold weather definitely has its exciting days!

[bluelinegoddess]

This is what I do with my mare when she's in heat - well, I did it once. When she figured out being pissy wasn't going to get her out of work, her whole attitude changed - now she doesn't have those Pissy Mare Syndrome moments under saddle!

[misspacific]

This. My OTTB mare is the same way. People who see her during the summer NEVER believe that she nuts during the winter. People seeing her during the winter think I'm crazy for getting on her.

Making her work (and think) harder forces her to focus her attention-span-of-a-goldfish brain on something productive.