In the equine community and in life there is a stigma when it comes to quitting. But sometimes calling it a day is the best thing for horse and rider, physically and mentally!
Love the animal before the sport.
Last year was quite difficult for Bilboa and I, we started off really strong and went out to some One Day Events, placing every time out! But as the year progress my social life and family life caught up with me and left me in a three month depression where I had to turn Billy away. This turned out to have been extremely beneficial for Billy, as he came back into work better than ever! He ready to learn again and put his mind to something! I spent a couple of months building his strength up again before taking him off property to school over some fences.
Before I dive into this; Billy has always been quite highly strung at shows when going with another horse. When competing by himself he had always been an absolute dream, but if you went out with someone else he was an absolute nightmare! He would need leading to the warm up otherwise he would just throw his moves all the way back to the trailer, he would have to go straight from the warm up into the ring, if he got had a second where he wasn't doing anything he would do his damnedest to get back to the trailer, which of course is NOT ideal as he could not only injure either of us, but someone else or another horse! The last time we took him out with another horse was in March 2019, to a clear round jumping day, where for our last round we had to lead the accompanying horse into the ring, get Bill in and quickly whip the other horse out without Billy noticing! After that I said we were never doing it again!
Although after talking to his owner she stated that she'd had quite the opposite issue with him. When I took Billy on, on loan I knew he wasn't a good loader (it took us nearly an hour to load him to bring him home, with sedation), but his owner has since told me that he would point blank refuse to go anywhere near the trailer without another horse and was difficult to do anything with when out without another horse. This is a side of Billy I have never seen. Although he was terrible to load in the beginning, we have with plenty of patience and reassurance turned that around and he is now a dream to load!
Back to our first excursion after his break! Billy loaded perfectly, travelled great as usual, and stood fine in the trailer and tried up at the show. However, when I warmed him up in the indoor arena he felt tight and very on edge! He was fine going around the edge, but threw some moves into the mix every time we did a circle, changed direction, or another horse came near him, which was completely unlike him (even when we'd taken him out with other horses, he'd never been like this). Every time he heard the latch go on the gate into the warm up he was determent to leave!
Bilboa Jumping at Golden Cross in September 2019 (His First Off Property Schooling Since Before His Break)
As you can see from the video above, although nappy in the warm up he did go around the course very well (despite trying to kill me when I asked for a flying change!) We jumped an 80cm round and two 90cm rounds, improving each time! He was a little sticking in the related distance that was next to the gate, but other than that went very well, I was over the moon at how well he jumped.
After a few more outings Billy had regained his confidence, until December, where I frankly really don't know what happened! If you follow me on Instagram (@equineintheorem) you would have already seen the following videos...
4th December 2019 (The Second Time Billy Behaved This Way, I Didn't Let The First Time On Camera)
The above video is of the second day Billy started behaving so poorly! The first day (the day prior to the above video) I thought he might be fresh, as he had been fully clipped the day before. The second day he wasn't as bad (the first day I literally thought he was going to kill me!), but as you can see he wasn't happy!
5th December 2019 (The Third Day Billy Had Been Behaving This Way)
In this video you can hear Billy squealing whilst walking behind the camera, this is the A end of the arena. Billy has always been extremely sharp and the A end is a particularly busy area, behind it is the neighbours' garden usually full with barking dogs, the gardener, or the tree cutter. In the corner by K are barrels that every horse seems to think are hiding something! And to top it all off the sheep usually run down and jump the river at this end!
During this ride Billy was better at the C end, but was reluctant to walk down the diagonal to A or to follow the track round at A, and as you can hear he was stating his opinion at this end too. Gifted with this evidence to everyone it appeared that he was just being really nappy! But as he had been behaving this way consistently for three days at this point I decided to get him checked by the vet, saddler, and physio... All came back with nothing.
11th December 2019 (Tried Varying Billy's Routine In The School)
As the vet, etc, had all told me that Billy was completely fine physically I then went on to deal with the issue as an patch of sourness. I went back to basics with Billy, basically re-backing him to see if I could improve his outlook on ridden work. He wasn't cold backed every time I got on and didn't throw in any special moves until we'd started trotting on some rides. I went back and worked Billy in a pattern on the ground, long-reined him, did lots of pole work, and things he really enjoyed doing like liberty, positive reinforcement based work, and trick training, which was very beneficial as it kept his mind very active. I slowing started tacking him up at liberty, letting him choose what was enough, and if he didn't want to do anything. Billy was enjoying being in the arena again!
But when it came to getting back in the saddle, Billy was completely reluctant to walk forward. So I went back a few steps and kept trying and trying, making sure to give Billy positive experiences and not to push my luck!
Although I was managing to ride Billy again, he still wasn't super happy. He felt great in the bridle and was using his body well, but he was still reluctant! I tried varying his work in the arena, never just doing flat work, I would always make sure he had something to think about, some kind of pole work, and he did improve for a couple of weeks. The video above is from the first time I jumped him since he became 'sour'. Billy has always LOVED jumping!! It's what he lives for, he has such a big scopey jump, and he is absolutely INCREDIBLE round cross country! So I thought a little grid work might help him to like working again... As you can see, I was wrong.
After this I went back to ground work again and at the end of December I decided to try Billy schooling away from home.
Schooling at Petley Wood, 28th December 2019 (Billy Was Foot Perfect and Loving Every Minute)
On December 28th we went schooling at Petley Wood Equestrian Centre, our most local show centre. Billy felt absolutely incredible this day! He didn't throw any extra moves in! Billy was quite sharp in the beginning, as Petley is quite a spooky arena with lots of banners and a Devil's Dyke, so I was expecting this, but as soon as we started jumping Billy was on fire! we schooled around a course of varying fences, from 80cm to 1m, finishing with working down a related distance. The distance was a long two stride double, then five strides to an oxer, finishing with a 1.20m fence and oxer (the biggest I've jumped Billy for quite some time). After this successful trip to Petley in January I decided that we would return to competing to see if there had been any change in Billy perspective...
85cm Midway Progressive at Petley Wood, 5th January 2020 (Far From a Good Start)
As you can see, Billy was not impressed with competing again!
What's frustrating is that he loaded perfectly! After eight months of refusing to go anywhere near the trailer without another horse, Billy basically self-loads now! Once we arrived Billy stood perfectly in the trailer and hen perfectly tired up to the trailer all day!
At Petley Billy stood perfectly to be mounted, but as soon as we started to walk down the car park, he said "ABSOLUTELY NOT!" and nearly threw me off! So we retreated to the trailer and got my lovely Father to lead Billy to the warm up where he was a nightmare! He was behaving the same as he would at home and began kicking out every time another horse came near him, which is completely unlike him, Billy is a lot of things, but a nasty or mean horse is not one of them (we have been out hunting and horses have run into him bucking and kicking and he has just stood there and not reacted)!
My Father lead us into the ring as the last competitor was finishing their course. Billy walked around fine, until the other horse went to leave, then he had a melt down! I managed to contain him until the previous competitor had left the arena, and what happened next is in the video, not Billy's worst tantrum, but it left me un-confident in the ring expecting him to try and throw me on the deck any minute. Billy was also so tense in the ring, he was above the bit, and quite uncontrollable. Somehow we went clear and came 5th in a large competitive class.
90cm at Petley Wood, 5th January 2020
After the 85cm class we had a rethink about the best and safest way to proceed and do the 90cm (we had planned to do the 1m as well, but decided against it for obvious reasons). I decided to scrap the warm up, we were last to go in the 85cm and 3rd to do in the 90cm, so I threw a rug of Bill to keep his muscles warm and walked him in hand around the car park until it was time to go. My Father lead me into the ring again, and Billy was much more civilised, but still tense and above the bridle! We were quite, but got an unlucky pole leaving us with 4 faults and plenty to think about.
In December I had contacted Billy's owner as he was out on loan to me, requesting to terminate the loan agreement, as I could not see the point in spending so much money on a 'hobby' that was causing me so much heartache. I had stated that I would keep him until the end of March and hope that something would change. In January I had the vet, physio, and saddler again, and still no issue was found. I informed his owner of this and she had seen all of the videos. The reply I got was: "Ok thanks Rose, I will arrange to have Billy put down in March". This sentence broke my heart! I became lost and couldn't see much point in working Billy, he spent a lot more time in the field, and the only 'work' he did was at liberty and positive reinforcement.
In February we moved yards to a nice little four horse yard, basically in the owners' backyard, with a nice arena, and tidy little yard with plenty of space and roomy stables. Billy has never been so relaxed! He loves being the 'man of the house' as his new companions are three mares (7 year old gypsy rescue, 5 year old thoroughbred, and 30 year old pony) and three elderly sheep! Bill now lies down every night and during the day sometimes too, I actually saw Billy lying down the other day for the first time ever! Billy isn't desperate to be at the stable door anymore, he's not sharp, and he's no longer on edge! Over the past month Billy has really blossomed! He still doesn't wish to be ridden, which is ok, but he is amazing on the lunge, so RELAXED(!!!!!!!!!), he now canters with his nose on the floor, at the previous yard he would somewhat relax in walk and trot, but in canter he was a giraffe! We do a little pole and cavaletti work on the lunge, liberty, and plenty of trick training! Billy has mastered the Spanish Walk, Smile, and Rear. He has almost got Lying Down and Bowing. And he is even learning to Fetch and Play Football (with the fetch I can throw an object and he will run after it and pick it up, what we are just trying to get is the bringing back, he's nearly there!)!
After months of trying to get hold of his owner and see if there was any other option and why she'd come to that decision, with no answer, I decided that I would find the money somewhere to buy him, if we could agree on a low enough price for the horse with all the talent in the world that doesn't WANT to do anything! This worked, money talks after all, and we agreed on a price. At the end of March Billy will become mine.
I have no expectations for Bill, after all I have always said that I would be stupid to buy him (even when we were competing at 1.10m). I am quite happy for him to be a field donkey, I will always challenge his mind with trick training and puzzle solving activities, but if he never wants to be ridden again, that's ok, and if I do ride again and he doesn't want to compete, that's ok! We will just value each other's company. I have always said that Billy is like a person, he is SO expressive (and vocal), you always know exactly what he's thinking and he almost talks back, he is truly special and truly one of a kind.
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