Marie Miller
New member
about 2 years ago i saw this rough looking brown and white paint. he was in a tiny round pen with about 2 foot of mud. he was underweight and just screamed please don't leave me here. the owner desensitized him by whapping him with random objects, no method to it, just whapping. he was so scared of her he wouldn't let her touch his head, and when she tried to mount him he looked like a scared bunny scurrying to the far side of the pen.i paid too much for him and got him out of there. he has a very sweet nature, not bossy, no meanness, and pretty willing about most things. no buck or rear. i had the vet come check him because he seemed overly spooky and it turns out he has lost about 20% vision on the back under side of his right eye from blunt force trauma. he can't see you until you are at his shoulder area and then it's more like peripheral vision. he is ride-able, i've ridden him in a ring and on a few trails, he didn't do too bad, but he is green as far as ring work and didn't have a lot of handling, but at some point learned cues for gaits and how to pivot and back. i've gotten him over his main trust issues and almost anyone can touch his head now and he is easy to catch, stands for the vet, and farrier-lil issues with the cart still, but he just backs away. he'll stand almost still to be blanketed by different people, he's still for me. he's good to be groomed and bathed. here's the problem, he will randomly spook. on monday the stroller is the coolest thing since sliced bread and he'll eat hay off of it, tuesday he ignores it, wednesday it's going to eat him, friday ignore it, saturday ignore, sunday it's apparently hungry again. he is like that with just about everything. he'll let you touch him all over with the lead, a plastic bag is only dangerous if it's far away, but simple things like when he scratches his rear on a post and his blanket makes a noise, he kicks at the air trembling then looks like a dog chasing his tail trying to find the monster. his eyes have been examined 3 times since and there is no further vision loss and his hearing is also good. the pressure release method seems to work for him as far as him tolerating things, but he's random on if the object is scary from day to day. i'm starting to think the trauma that caused the vision loss knocked something loose in his head. from the beginning to now he is a complete 180. he was terrified of people, so he's made progress, but i don't know if he will ever be a trustworthy mount. he still has not truly bonded with me or my husband. he trusts us not to hurt him, and he'll willingly tolerate most things, but when it comes to whatever he spooks over there is no trust what so ever. he has never had anything bad happen to him in the past 2 years, no illness or injury, he isn't a nervous horse or high strung. the spookiness is just so random, and he doesn't trust us enough to keep him safe. he doesn't bolt but jumps, backs, pulls, kicks at and has even bitten at the air. the vet can find nothing physically wrong with him to cause it. i'm wary of sending him to a trainer just due to the randomness and his trust issues with new people. if it's a bad experience then that's it. the nearest trainer to us with a good rep is a few hours away and i'm not sure it would help. we have questioned whether or not to find him a new home, but then we wonder if he'll regress and end up in another bad situation. he hasn't been consistently worked with over the 2 years because i had a difficult pregnancy, but for the past 7 months it's been consistent handling but still randomly spooky.even his feed pan can spook him. he'll flip it over and if he doesn't look at it the whole time as it rolls he'll catch a glimpse of it and jump sideways. does anyone have any ideas that will help? can horses have post traumatic stress disorder? sorry it's so long, he's complicated
rufus:
sorry you had trouble reading and following the info. i'll see if i can't space it out next time. but if you are unable to follow the info in the details then your answer isn't always helpful. as it is my horse has never reared or bucked, nor does he bolt. he does respond to pressure release when it comes to introducing objects. he isn't a typical spooky horse. it took almost a full year for him to be comfortable letting people touch his head, so i'm not sure sending to a stranger would benefit him at this point. especially when he is making progress in key areas. it's the randomness that i was looking for suggestions on or even how to get a horse like hime to fully trust.
victoria:
i've had his eyes checked a total of 3 times, the last time was with his spring shots. i'll have them checked again, but his line of site hasn't seemed to change. i hope he isn't a forever spooky horse. i think if he would give that last bit of trust it would make such a difference.
horssey.... :
i understand your idea and that may work for some things. i'm not sure how well it will work for him, he may do better in a more controlled situation with that method.
rufus:
sorry you had trouble reading and following the info. i'll see if i can't space it out next time. but if you are unable to follow the info in the details then your answer isn't always helpful. as it is my horse has never reared or bucked, nor does he bolt. he does respond to pressure release when it comes to introducing objects. he isn't a typical spooky horse. it took almost a full year for him to be comfortable letting people touch his head, so i'm not sure sending to a stranger would benefit him at this point. especially when he is making progress in key areas. it's the randomness that i was looking for suggestions on or even how to get a horse like hime to fully trust.
victoria:
i've had his eyes checked a total of 3 times, the last time was with his spring shots. i'll have them checked again, but his line of site hasn't seemed to change. i hope he isn't a forever spooky horse. i think if he would give that last bit of trust it would make such a difference.
horssey.... :
i understand your idea and that may work for some things. i'm not sure how well it will work for him, he may do better in a more controlled situation with that method.