I can't give any great advice without being able to see you and your horse but...here are a few thoughts/suggestions from my 20+ years as a pro
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Reading this entry I thought immediately of something I read in Bill Dorrance's "True horsemanship Through Feel." On p. 9 Bill talks about 'overexposing the horse';
It doesn't really matter how much experience a person has with horses, sooner or later something will be done, or not done, that will cause a horse to become what's called 'overexposed.' This refers to anything the horse can't adjust to, can't handle, or that doesn't fit into the way he understands things. He gets far away from the place where he is comfortable, and he gets way off his connections. This lack of understanding about things can put the horse in a real bothered mental state....
(Then Bill goes on to give examples of lots of things to avoid doing because they can cause a horse to become overexposed.)
One more thing on overexposing the horse. It's not a matter of if this will happen, because it will. Sometime. And when it does it ought to be looked on as an opportunity to learn how to do things a little different the next time. People need to know this is not
( ... )
not that I didn't already write a monstrously long comment, but 2 more things;
flist--make a custom group! go to your home page, click on friends-->click on "manage custom group" then set one up. I have one for horsey stuff, and then post more general stuff under a regular friends lock.
and random thought on Beej; how well does he give to pressure on his poll? If you press will he lower his head? One of the most effective things I've found for Thea is getting the head lowering thing down pat. Because then when she gets anxious I just ask her to lower her head, and yes it's up in the air again .2 seconds later but I just ask again...and there are physiological reasons why that does help. Now I just have to figure out how to keep that a really clear 'safety word' in the saddle too. (Any thoughts?)
Just kind of ties in with what Bill was saying about needing the basics to be really clear so the horse can rely on them when the shit hits the fan. Or, that is my hope anyway.
Jazz did this twice to me. Was scary as all get out. She just wasn't there. She would stand and stare into space and completely blank out as if she was just overloaded mentally and shut down.
Any attempt to get her to move was dangerous as she would rear and throw herself about - it was as if she was catatonic.
Good luck mate, perhaps he needs a spell? time out to be a horse in a big paddock
Still reading your comments... but Jackson gets all blitzed out sometimes. I actually think of it (in my head) as he goes to Beejay land. I wonder if they meet up????
Anyway, Jacky does it mostly on the ground where all of a sudden he's like a stone statue. STARING. Once in a while does it under saddle too. I MUCH prefer a spook because there is at least MOTION there, but this frozen STARE freaks me out. If I get too up in his face, when he "wakes up" it is like he panics.
If I'm say, pulling on the lead shank and saying his name and trying to get him to snap out of it, and then he does, whatever Im doing is OMG WAY TOO MUCH. Probably because it is so sudden and "random" to him. He missed the gentle tug, the bump, etc, and "wakes up "with the ginormous YANK.
I'm not sure how to combat this. I do know that it has happened less and less frequently since he's been on SmartCalm Ultra, which is B vitamins, Magnesium and Ltryptophan (sp?)
Wow. Well, even though this has been a trying couple of rides with him, I must say that in reading this, it sounds like you are handling it well -- for the most part, you know what to do when he gets like this now. I'm not sure what else you can do in these situations, but others have given good advice, so I will just wish you good luck! The zoning out sure sounds scary... the only time I have dealt with that was on Theo when he spooked and bolted at that train last year. My normally docile and unfazed horse completely LOST his brain... he wasn't there AT ALL. Definitely terrifying on a horse as big as strong as him!
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It doesn't really matter how much experience a person has with horses, sooner or later something will be done, or not done, that will cause a horse to become what's called 'overexposed.' This refers to anything the horse can't adjust to, can't handle, or that doesn't fit into the way he understands things. He gets far away from the place where he is comfortable, and he gets way off his connections. This lack of understanding about things can put the horse in a real bothered mental state....
(Then Bill goes on to give examples of lots of things to avoid doing because they can cause a horse to become overexposed.)
One more thing on overexposing the horse. It's not a matter of if this will happen, because it will. Sometime. And when it does it ought to be looked on as an opportunity to learn how to do things a little different the next time. People need to know this is not ( ... )
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flist--make a custom group! go to your home page, click on friends-->click on "manage custom group" then set one up. I have one for horsey stuff, and then post more general stuff under a regular friends lock.
and random thought on Beej; how well does he give to pressure on his poll? If you press will he lower his head? One of the most effective things I've found for Thea is getting the head lowering thing down pat. Because then when she gets anxious I just ask her to lower her head, and yes it's up in the air again .2 seconds later but I just ask again...and there are physiological reasons why that does help. Now I just have to figure out how to keep that a really clear 'safety word' in the saddle too. (Any thoughts?)
Just kind of ties in with what Bill was saying about needing the basics to be really clear so the horse can rely on them when the shit hits the fan. Or, that is my hope anyway.
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Was scary as all get out. She just wasn't there. She would stand and stare into space and completely blank out as if she was just overloaded mentally and shut down.
Any attempt to get her to move was dangerous as she would rear and throw herself about - it was as if she was catatonic.
Good luck mate, perhaps he needs a spell? time out to be a horse in a big paddock
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Anyway, Jacky does it mostly on the ground where all of a sudden he's like a stone statue. STARING. Once in a while does it under saddle too. I MUCH prefer a spook because there is at least MOTION there, but this frozen STARE freaks me out. If I get too up in his face, when he "wakes up" it is like he panics.
If I'm say, pulling on the lead shank and saying his name and trying to get him to snap out of it, and then he does, whatever Im doing is OMG WAY TOO MUCH. Probably because it is so sudden and "random" to him. He missed the gentle tug, the bump, etc, and "wakes up "with the ginormous YANK.
I'm not sure how to combat this. I do know that it has happened less and less frequently since he's been on SmartCalm Ultra, which is B vitamins, Magnesium and Ltryptophan (sp?)
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