a horses spirit

[notimeforfear]

has anyone ever heard that once a horses spirit is broken it can never be regained? where i board my horses there is this amazing paint stud. absolutly gorgeous. he is bred in cutting. well he used to be a horse that loved working and loved being ridden. well he went into some hardcore training by a guy at the ranch for an upcomming show. they worked him twice a day. and i mean WORKED him. to an unbelievable lather. turns out it did no good bc by the time they were done with him he was so burned out he flipped out at the show rearing and bucking. ever since then he hasnt been the same. hes harder then....to bridle and he just doesnt want to work anymore. i got offered the oppertunity to start working with him. so i guess my question is, is there a way that i can make him enjoy work again and get his personality back

 

[FarmGirl10]

To some extent you he will be his old self, but it will probably take a while. There will be a lot of ground work and probably trust training, so if you have the time and patience I'd try it.

 

[cross_7]

he could be injured.
if he is burned out, a change of scenery, an open pasture instead of a stall and a job to give him a purpose and to clear his head.

 

[IA Show Mom]

This happens to show horses all the time!!! Some trainers burn their horses out with the yanking, spuring, etc that the horse just can't take it and burns out.

First all you need to find out if the horse is hurting. They may be out of alignment or their feet may be sore etc or if the trainer was that hard on them they may have some sever ulcer issues that are causing them constant pain. If he is just hard to bridle and not hard to put the halter on you need to look maybe there are some dental issues or the trainer may have actually damaged his mouth. Have you seen some of the nasty bits out there and the hard hands that use them. It can be pretty scary! One of my friends has a mare that was a futurity winner as a two year old but the trainer actually broke this mares jaw and no one knew about it. The mare is now 5 and she can be ridden but the second anyone goes to grab her face and make her collect she will flip out and flip over backwards. This mare will never be the same no matter how much time off you give her!!! She is great to ride around the pasture or trail ride but you can't grab her face or she just short circuits.

After you rule out soreness and pain you need to let the horse just be a horse for a while. As much turn out as is possiable will help pasture is the best but drylot if that is all you have. Lots of brushing and just plain messing around with him will help.

 

[peg4x4]

Poor guy~~~~~~ It'll take a lot to get his enjoyment in his work back----I'll bet that "trainer" never let him know when he did something right,just kept jerking and spuring .. You might try letting him know for sure when he does right.

 

[angela dawn]

I just want to tell you how much I appreciate what you are trying to do for this horse. There are so many people that have no compassion for animals. I hope you are able to get him back to normal. I had a horse that my brother abused so badly that he would rear anytime you tride to get on him. After alot of TLC you could get on him but he would still rear when you tried to do anything with him that wasn't his idea. I'm not bragging but I am pretty good with horses and never could get him out of it. I tried everything to reasure him but nothing was working. I even tried some of the not so nice old cowboy ways like stepping off and pulling him on over backwards, "baking" him out with a tarp, filling a water hose and letting the water run from between his ears (it's supposed to make him think he is bleeding and scare him). Finally, I ran him through a horse auction (I had almost rather put one down than do that) someone bought him and I heard they finally shot him after he injured someone. It wasn't my call to sell him he actually belonged to my dad. I still can't help but feel like that person's injury is on my hands because I knew he was an outlaw. :cry2:

 

[spinandslide]

I would give him a through vet exam..a sudden change in behavior and a heavy workload..my cowhorse mare gets adjusted by the chiropactor and gets legend shots, to keep her happy throughout the season.

I imagine its a bad case of burnout or an underlying physical issue.

For burnout, my mare was soured whe I got her..we did LOADS AND LOADS of trotting in the fields and trails. took her mind off the arena.