Where to draw the line with this horse?
Bought December of 2016. 2009, 17hh, OTTB, gelding, was malnourished (BCS 1.5), very green.
Great conformation, seemingly calm, was meant for casual eventing. We mostly hack, and train heavily whilst hacking (hill work) and the hall is out of service for the next 3 months.
When he arrived he had some serious issues undersaddle. Namely rearing, bolting, bucking, and napping (ultimately leading to simultaneous rearing and bucking fits). He was a dangerous horse. We put it down to both gaining muscle and fatigue from lack of fat.
Feed was addressed, he gained condition and some confidence. The issues seemed to be masked from summer to winter. He was worst March to June.
I was recommended in Summer 2017 (May/June) to either sell him or put him down.
We pulled through and he showed some improvement with training so I had decided to keep him, hoping the worst was behind us.
He has improved, but some days his old self returns and it is very dangerous for myself. He will spot something, and suddenly begin to nap dangerously. He goes into flight panic mode and there is no aid he will listen to. The only thing that I can attempt to stop the rearing is pulling his face to my knee, he completely and utterly ignores leg and seat. However, he still somehow manages to rear in this position.
I cannot sit a rapid buck to rear change and he's also unseated my trainer. I dismount when it becomes dangerous and will walk him past whichever obstacle he saw them remount.
When he bolts he goes at such speed a one rein stop could be deadly if he were to trip whilst so being heavy on the forehand.
On the 4th of this month he bolted with me again, no hopes of stopping him, used all of my strength and he only stopped where we normally end our canters whilst hacking. On the 6th (yesterday) he started napped only 5 minutes away from home when he saw cyclists (something he's usually not afraid of!). He reared then bucked continuously, I brought us through the field to try to avoid the cyclists, but he whipped around and brought us to a sloped area where he reared many times again. I did an emergency dismount and was not able to hang onto the reins and as such he bolted home, across a street nonetheless.
So, my question, when is it too much? Should I keep, sell, euthanize? This is utterly discouraging and honestly I don't really want to die just yet.
He does have health issues that need watching so if he sells it would be for around 500$. I don't know if I could even sell him in good conscience knowing he's dangerous.
At the moment he wears a 3 ring gag double broken lozenge snaffle with copper and sweet iron, he is ridden in a market harborough whilst hacking. The main reins go in the snaffle section and the market harborough attachments go through the leveraged 3rd ring.
After the days he bolts, I use a 4 ring gag Waterford, the reins attach to the 3rd ring, and the harborough attachments through the 4th, (very mean I know!) using very very light hands, he can't pull through with this one. I use it maybe 1-2x a month as a reminder (doesn't seem to remind him enough!)
Some days are great. I can do lots of things and he trusts me to reassure him for most things. But other times his mind completely and utterly switches and there's no hope that I can force, persuade, or comfort him into anything he doesn't want to.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Submitted May 07, 2018 at 05:41AM by WoodSapphire
via reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/Horses/comments/8hmudh/where_to_draw_the_line_with_this_horse/?utm_source=ifttt
No comments :
Post a Comment