Terrified Horse

[jennifer]

My young filly has been boarded at a facility where they do a lot of cow work competitions.
There are about 110 horses here and it is a hectic place, but she has always been a calm non-spooky animal. (As a two year old she had a helecopter land on the street where I was walking her and she acted like it was just another car.)

Something has happened and I don't know what to do.

I noticed a few weeks ago that when the buzzer for the team roping went off she started pacing and bucking in her coral. She has been exposed to the sound every Tuesday for over a year and never responded to it before.

I thought she was just in a mood - didn't make a fuss, figured she would be okay.

I was wrong - this past Tuesday (the only night they use the buzzer) she went off like a 7 day alarm. I couldn't coax her down with food or talk or anything - she was pure adrenelin - ran into the side of the coral, flipped herself, got up and kept bucking, running and acting like she was going to be eaten.

I am afraid she is going to hurt herself, but afraid she will seriously injure me if I try to go in with her when she is nuts. I certainly don't want to be on her back and have the buzzer go off.

Any suggestions on what to do?

Thanks,
Jennifer

[Ash]

Hi Jennifer!

I'm wondering...has this filly been previously boarded at a place where she could be outside? They way you describe the situation now, it seems like she is in a stall most of the time. Is this correct? This could be a factor. She is cooped up and is expected to deal with this as well as all the new sounds and activity.

On Tuesdays when the buzzer goes off is there any way you could be working with her in a safer area but still within distance of the noise? Such as a round pen? If you can be working with her and getting to her feet in spite of the distractions (practice before Tuesday to make sure she understands what you want), you may have a better chance of getting her attention on you and helping her to realize that the difference in sounds and activity is much less alarming. Give her a job to do and have her follow your lead so that she will not resort to that behavior in her stall.

Just a few ideas. It'll be interesting to see what the more experienced members say.

Ash

[rsandi5218]

Something had to have happened for this to start, but whatever...... it's here now so one must go on.

Do you have access to a calm horse that you can pony from that will let you trot fast, around in a circle in the roping arena when, preferrably, there is little other activity happening?

Can somebody be available to hit the buzzer for a short burst, if possible, as you are trotting around? If things hang together, hit it again?

If no pony horse could a person ride the filly around at a good fast trot while somebody hits the buzzer? That's probably where I would start and skip the ponying part if the horse is a riding horse.

Randy