Managing Anxious Horses with Paul Austin

This article is from the July 2020 Horse Deals magazine.

Hot, horse-shy behaviour, walking fencelines, or attachment issues; it’s enough to drive any horse-owner mad. There’s been many a successful anxious horse though, and as you’ll find, it’s all about managing them effectively.

Paul Austin & Marquise

Which of your competition horses has been the most anxious and what traits did they have? We were fortunate to be able to show a beautiful horse called Marquise (Bailey) owned by Courtney and Lisa Bird in Victoria. He is a Thoroughbred by Johar and showed great promise as a racehorse. Being a show horse has been a lot more successful.

Bailey came to us and as soon as he got off the truck, he had to be Mrs Mangel, (from the TV show Neighbours) and know what’s going on over there and over here. He was a horse that was worried what any other horse, dog, cane toad, feather or drag queen was doing. But he did have plenty of spunk. He could also be likened to a meerkat. 

What are some examples of his anxious behaviour? He was a horse that was stimulated by activity. If you had any other horse arrive, Bailey would be unsettled, marching around the place, calling out etc. After a good 30 minutes, he would then get back to being just inquisitive of who the new girl was on the block. His world had gone back to normal. 

His manners on the ground were impeccable and thankfully he always had an appetite. Much like me really. There are many people that saw the hairy rides I had on this horse. We got there — wins at HOTY’s, many a Royal Show and a Runner Up at the Grand Nationals after he went back and was produced by Lisa and Courtney. A truly beautiful animal that would give Hugh Jackman a run as ‘The Greatest Showman.’ My greatest ride on him would have to be where he was third at EA Nationals in his Newcomer Year. 

How do you manage your anxious horses around the stables? It depends on the situation. For the ones that need company, we will put them in a middle stable, with a mate on each side to chat to. Same goes for the paddock. We have a row of eight paddocks on one side, we will first let them settle in the round yard and then move them into one of those paddocks. Generally not one on the end or one with empty paddocks on each side of them. There is also the other extent where they feel threatened and will try and get away from everyone, kick fences, walls etc. We have two stables in the big barn that are fully enclosed on three sides, with a window at the back and bars at the front. They have paddock views and can see the rest of the horses opposite. These are for the kicking ones. Generally horses settle in the stables with consistent, repetitious handling, timing and routine.

It’s also important to match up horses that compliment each other. We would not put two active ‘meerkat’ type horses next to each other. We would try and put the sleeper under the tree next to the meerkat. We do find that if a few of them get unsettled then they all start, even the quiet ones. Common sense and routine are always good to live by with fit, full of feed athletes. 

Most horses want to be the first horse out of the stable and first one in. If you have a horse like this then make sure it’s not left by itself, make sure your routine is accommodating to its needs. We know who has to go out first here at home. It just works. Our rule when they are coming in of an afternoon is to start at the back of the property, bringing those ones in first and working your way forward. If you put all the front ones in first and there is one lonely horse all the way at the back, of course he will become anxious.  Once again, common sense. 

After the weekend, my horses are a little fresh from having a couple of days off and full of feed. Every horse benefits from paddock time. The routine of going out and coming in, grazing and chilling under that tree is great for them. Also the rolling in their favourite dirt patch. We are lucky here to have irrigation.  Good pasture a plenty. Great for the horses as it is natural, but also so good for gut health. If we have horses in yards for whatever reason, we always make sure they have ample hay to nibble on. We feed a lot of rhodes grass hay. A firm belief here, a happy horse in the gut goes a long way for a happy horse in day to day life.

What are your tips for competing an anxious horse? There are many ways of dealing and showing an anxious horse. My number one rule is: don’t set the horse up to fail. Don’t over face the horse, but make sure you have all the groundings at home. May it be respect on the ground, trust under saddle with power steering and ABS. It is then that the horse will give you its trust and hopefully you trust it back.  

Every horse is different. You cannot cookie cutter them. Some horses will be ready to head out after eight weeks, some 12. Some will need a spell and time to think it over. With an anxious horse, you cannot be in a rush and must be consistent and follow a routine. If you are not going well at home, the atmosphere, pressure and stimulation of a show environment will not make the horse go any better. Sometimes taking a horse to a show is not a good idea. Pick your timing and as previously mentioned, common sense and don’t set them up to fail. 

How do you change your warm up routine to suit? At the show, give yourself plenty of time. For everything. Arena familiarisation, make up, patterns, getting dressed. Being in a frantic rush will only serve to unsettle the anxious horse. 
Make sure you give your horse plenty of work down at the show or even the day before. Atmosphere and being on show for both horse and rider can cause tension. We will quite often just take a young horse to a show and tie it to the truck all day, go for a little ride around, no pressure and let them take it all in. We are never in a rush to get into the ring and don’t want to set them up to fail. 

What is your favourite exercise to help with their nervous energy? I feel that any horse that is anxious or in tune with the rider needs to do lots of transitions. Be repetitive and make the horse think about what you are asking, using its brain. The horse must be switched on and in tune with the rider. I don’t think cutting crop circles is the answer to an anxious horse. Maybe a little lateral or leg yielding to keep the horse in front of your leg and you in control of the power and speed. We will free lunge a horse if we don’t have enough time to ride it. Purely to use up some energy but this is not my go-to. 

My warm up exercise is to have the horse over the back and in a soft frame, I then sit it up and put it in a show frame when I am in the ring. A big thing that can help with any anxious horse is ear plugs, they are best to be put in the horses ears as you arrive to block out any noise and allow the horse to relax. I would keep these in the horse up to when its finished competing. I would try any horse that hasn’t had plugs in before at home for a couple of hours and they do stop shaking their head normally ten minutes after having them in. 

Back to basics… The baby must learn to crawl before it walks. Make sure you have ABS and power steering before you think of hitting the ring. Allow each horse to tell you when they are ready to head out. I often see people who are having trouble at home with canter leads etc, but really want to go to a show and wonder why it didn’t go well. Shows are a great training ground for future royal show horses but the best training is the days, weeks and months of work done at home. 

Gastric ulcers are a big thing with horses. There is so much information out there to read. We have seen huge changes in horses after treatment and will most likely start here with anything that is not eating well, manure is not great and generally not looking or acting like the chilled out, happy horses that we want. If you are concerned, always start with your vet. We use the Kelato Gastro Aid products with great success.

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