Hey, Have you tried talking to the previous owner to get their advice on how they handled him and what they used to feed him etc? They may have experienced the same thing.  It takes some horses longer than others to settle in and bond with their new owner. Perhaps with time he will settle down. If you have him checked by the vet and his tack etc and all is fine, it may just be a case of getting the right feed, excercise, routine and perhaps natural calmers. Its a case of trial and error.

Deio was abit of a night mare when he came to us. Very stressy little bugger, Npped, barged and weaved horrendously!! (it was heartbreaking as we wernt told he did this.) but now he very rarely does it! Its great. I feed him twice a day around the same times in the morning and night. He has alfa a oil, d&h leisure mix, and allen & page calm and condition (which is non heating, you just soak in cold water) in his food. He has 24/7 turnout with his friend, s regulary excercised and has ad lib hay is he also has lots of field toys like boredom breaker, gym ball, snak a ball etc which helps him blow off the extra steam!  I also do parelli with him which is a real help because it makes them think and listen to you.

The suggestion of hacking him out with a friend who has a sensible horse would be very beneficial, it will aslo help you to gain your confidence back. 

Good luck, Stay calm, and dont worry.... im sure you will conquer the silly fizzy horsey x

hi i just got a horse and she is the same dancing around wheb she gets excited. i have started doing lots of flat work with her, i have tried to keep her calm by not jumping and not letting her get excited its has worked brilliant she use to go mad when it came to jumping and bolting off over the jumps now i done so much flat work with her and got her to learn to listen to me. She now trots up to and over jumps and is doing it really well. so my suggestion would be to do loads of flat work hack out with other horses to see if it calms him down abit make sure he gets out every day dont get nervous on him just let him know whos boss and always make him do what he is told dont let him get away with anything. hope i can help :D

bear in mind also that your horse at his last home was out hunting and eventing, burning off that energy - it may well be that before you tried him he'd been out doing XC and jumping the day before to take the edge off him! Don't despair though, there's lots you can do. Have you had his back, teeth and tack checked? does he get out in the field? some horses brains magically rewire with decent amounts of turnout. You could also try feeding him a high fibre and oil diet - perhaps alfa-a-oil or similar - to keep the conditioning effect but with very low starch, giving him more slow release energy and less to "fizz" with! Stay positive, authoritative and quiet when handling him - the "firm and fair" quiet approach is usually the best way with a fizzy horse. Make sure he has a routine too - horses love a routine and this can help to calm a nervous horse if he knows exactly what's to happen next. Spend time with him on the ground too, lungeing etc, and don't rush anything with him - especially rushing to compete, you'll only cause a confidence crisis. all the best :)