I had lessons on him for about a month before the idea of buying him as a school master to ‘learn on’ was mentioned.  My lessons were such fun and he knew his job: I wanted him for general pleasure riding, hacking and jumping.  I didn’t think for a second that he would turn out to be so aggressive and dangerous in the stable.  I unknowingly through my own ignorance bought a horse in September 2014 that turned out to have serious behavioural problems.

I kept him on part livery; grooms were constantly changing and there were some very questionable interpretations of ‘horsemanship’ seen on a daily basis.  On the third day of having him, I went into his stable to change his rug; he grabbed my arm and sank his teeth in, pulling me off my feet.  It was absolute agony and I ended up at A&E with a crushed arm.  Everyone told me to ‘swap him for something else’ but believing that he could not be that bad, I kept him anyway.

I moved him across to the DIY yard in the hope that with one handler I could begin to address his behaviour.  I put up a metal stable grill for when I wasn’t around and asked everyone to ignore him and not tell him off.  Ignoring his threatening behaviour worked; people kept their distance and just left him alone.  He had an enormous personal space bubble and genuinely felt threatened by people entering his space.  I used a lot advance and retreat, rewarding him when he was calm and respectful by leaving him alone and slowly he began to respond to soft praise.  Gradually his behaviour improved and he seemed comfortable when I was around him.

 I also contacted my vet about his behaviour and he confirmed through having him scoped that he had ulcers. He received treatment, a tailored diet with as a much turnout as possible, at last we seemed to be getting somewhere!!!

The other issue I had was him running off whilst being led, this was made worse by my field being the furthest from the yard.  He would explode in seconds if something worried him or he could see other horses coming in.  He was extremely adapt at this; pulling into any pressure, setting his shoulder against me and bolting off.  I began to bring him in using a chifney as this was the only thing that would make him listen.  As the days got shorter, I had to rely on freelance grooms that soon refused to bring him in, saying he was dangerous.

I started looking into his history but did not get very far.  He was 13 years old; I was his ninth owner and he had developed a deep mistrust of people. To him sadly I was a stranger too and just one in a long line of unreliable humans.  We made progress with building a bond of trust in the stable and he was great once tacked up and doing his job.  Sadly, just as things were improving he tore his suspensory ligament in December 2015 and had to be box rested for 6 months.  The following 2 years were plagued by recurring injury and periods of box rest.  But I was determined to build a bond with this horse and prove people wrong about him.

We needed professional help to make progress, but I wanted a trainer that would teach me the skills to manage his behaviour myself without using force or fear.  I found the Intelligent Horsemanship website whilst researching horse behaviour, its ethos and approaches fitted well with the way I wanted to help my horse.  I bought Kelly’s books Perfect Manners and Perfect Partners and began trying out ideas.  I learnt so much from these books but felt I needed to see these approaches in action, so I booked myself on the Perfect Manners course in July 2017.  This was a massive turning point in both our lives. I learnt so much over those 2 days, I felt empowered that I could actually make a difference. It also brought to the surface all the emotions, fear and uncertainty that I had about whether or not I could change this horse.  I met Kelly, Sandra and Rosie that weekend and they opened my eyes to a new world of horsemanship.  I felt enlightened by their approach and I was desperate for them to meet my horse, so I booked myself on the Problem Solving Workshop in September 2017.  I wrote to Sandra explaining in more detail about his issues; I was so pleased that they actually agreed to let me take him!  

This weekend pushed us both totally out of our comfort zone and forced me to face my fears of dealing with his challenging behaviours.  True to form, he tried to run off twice, demonstrating just how good he was at it!  

 The most amazing thing about this weekend was the expertise and support I received from everyone at IH and the other students on the course.  I met a fantastic group of people that all helped me to formulate a plan.

At home we followed the groundwork plan meticulously.   Most importantly, we both valued this time together and I was able to regulate my own emotions, use breathing and body language to communicate and keep him focused.  I worked hard to show him an alternative way of dealing with his fear and capitalising on his natural curiosity to engage him with new objects and situations.  We practised pole work, working with scary objects, backing up without resistance, leading and maintaining a respectful distance even when his adrenalin began to rise.  The frequency of his running off decreased and his reactions to changes in his environment became less extreme.  Most importantly, I stopped worrying about him running off and focused all my attention on encouraging him to synchronise and rely on me to take the lead.