No Seriously..I'm Not Breaking her....She's Broke and Trained!!
Could you possibly believe that I have a mare that is 9 years old and has regressed to the mental age of a 2 year old?!?! Seriously, I don't know what her problem is... This mare we bought 2 years ago and she was a great trail riding horse, I was not able to ride her when we got her because I was only a month and half out from breaking my back. But the intention for this mare was she would be DD's horse. Well when we bought her she was in foal so she had that filly Spring '08, while she was further along in her pregnancy we of course did not ride her and after her foal was born we choose to wait a few months till weaning and then we would get her back into shape.. So the first few times we took her out she did OK, she was not responding exactly right but with patience she could be ridden. Well we decided to send her to our friend who trains horses and have him give her a tune up. So he had her for a little over a month and when we went to get her she was easily ride-able, she was trained more of a cutting horse style so DD went over everything with them and she was doing great. I rode her when we brought her home and she was OK, but it was like she wanted to throw a fit because of the change again?? Anyhoo, I've mentioned before that we took her to have DD show her in 4H halter classes and then at the practice meeting they decided to ride well we only brought Ebony so DD said yes she would ride her. So I ran home got her tack and headed back. We got her all saddled up and then DD proceeded to walk her out and after a few steps Ebony kind of crow hopped. So my friend Cowboy S got on her and had that come to Jesus meeting I told you about before and still she was acting up. So after that we had the farrier out and he determined that her back was out and at the trainers they had her shod and when we got her home 2 fell off and so we wanted the other 2 off so the farrier found 2 nails about 1 1/2 - 2" long drove into the quick of her hooves. So our farrier said he believes she is acting this way because she is in pain, which seems logical to me. But we have looked for an Equine Chiropractor and can't find one, the one we were given the number for won't return Hubby's call. So what am I to do, I can't sit here and let all of this money spent on training go to waste so I decided I will start riding her lightly since my farrier said the spot in her back that's out can probably be something she gets used to, or it won't bother her as much.So today we worked on ground manners, longing, some bending exercising, and lots more. Then I take her out into the field because of course Hubby isn't liking this one bit, he won't even come watch to tell me exactly what she's doing with her feet. So I asked DD if she wanted to come and she said sure and she wanted to take pictures so I told her she could. Well after getting a refresher on the exercises in the field I did some standing in the saddle, moving around to see if she would react and she was fine. So I asked her to walk out and BOOM she explodes!! Starts trying to buck me off, which would not be a good thing LOL!! So I get her head around and then dismount and longe her some more. We repeated this multiple times with her bucking and then me longing her. We finished on a semi good note, I got in the saddle and dismounted without any further blow ups but that's because I only asked for a short walk. Now I am obviously trying to not let her win the bucking battle but there is only so much I can do with her because of my back... I can't risk getting thrown and so therefore I'm fairly frustrated on what to do with this mare. It's pretty sad that she did so well until she had her foal and ever since then...Nothing!So I'm hoping you all can give your opinions or things you've done or seen?!?!Stretching her neck out to make sure she's not being stiff
Right after her first session of buck, now I'm trying to get the reins back in order LOL!
Now Longing...
And More....
Gotta go both directions!
Umm can you clearly tell it's my 10 yr old daughter taking pictures LOL!! I think she was startled because Ebony was starting to throw herself around here..
So then she got more longing...Yes I am gritting my teeth :)
She longes perfect and responds just like she's supposed to... Which just adds to her mystery...
Last easy ride off
Is it just me or is this picture sideways?!?! Gonna have to talk to DD about that LOL!! So here is where we ended short walk..
Giving you a bit of 'tude, is she? I can't tell if it's windy, but it looks like she's swishing her tail, and you can definitely see her throwing herself around. Glad you were able to get the win and quit before anyone got hurt. I'll be interested to see how it goes next time.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you may have your work cut out for you.... I'm not sure with what happens to some horses... We had a gelding once that was perfect - rode him out west and he was wonderful (my horse); then all of sudden we began having farrier problems (which wasn't to blame but was a start) it continued and continued and he ended up being a real a_ _; and he couldn't be trusted... Good luck, don't get hurt and keep in mind that there are too many good horses out there to have a bad one.
ReplyDeleteThose are great shots and the horse is a beauty but I know nothing about horses .
ReplyDeleteI just hope that you don't get hurt trying to make her a better horse.
Thanks for sharing.
That is a tough spot to be in. I've been there (had a bunch of rides put on a horse and then wasnt able to use her and so it all went to pot). Sounds like her back might be the issue..I'd be worried that if that is the problem, she might get some serious attitude about being ridden (because of the pain in her back) and that once you get rid of that pain (get her adjusted) she might continue to be pissy about riding because she has it in her head she doesnt like the saddle much anymore (just forgets why). Did that make sense? My only advice is to try to find someone, even a vet, to come out and look at her. I'd hate to see you get hurt trying to ride her through this. Good luck and I'm sorry for your troubles:-)
ReplyDeletePS- Thank you for taking the time to read and lend your support on my last post. I really apprecaie the support from my friends in bloggerland:)
We do a couple stretches on our horses - 1 - take her halter in one hand, tail in the other and slowley bring nose to tail - this give flex in the body and 2 - lift front leg like a farrier is placing the hoof on the stand as you lift her foot, she's gonna like this and she's gonna lower her shoulder in to the stretch. You'll think she's trying to pull back but she's just leaning into that stretch. She'll release when she's done.
ReplyDeleteThanks ladies for the advice!! I am going to call this Equine Chiropractor again.. I talked with the trainer tonight and he said she never offered a buck there but that could simply be her being a better kid at someone else's place LOL!! She did throw her head a bit but that was about all..
ReplyDeleteAOAHCM~ I totally agree with what your saying here.. I'm really hoping that doesn't happen. I won't get on her again until I can get that guy out here..
Paula~ I am really excited to try these stretches with her and see how she responds! And thanks for getting that # for me!!
I've been thinking about this since yesterday and I think you got some good advice for the stretching.
ReplyDeleteThere are a few other things that pop into my mind though...#1 have you had her teeth done within the last year? I didn't used to think about the teeth that much, but I've had a few horses that it made a tremendous difference on.
#2-It really looks like she does not like the bit you are using-could be teeth, could be it doesn't suit her mouth. I'd try a simple ring snaffle and see how she responds.
How a horse responds when/if they are out in their back/neck depends more on where they are out and what type of horse they are. The average horse can function reasonably well even if they are all out of whack. It's only when you ask for specific things that you'll notice they are struggling or they freak out. A horse with high pain tolerance will grit their way through.
But a horse with a low pain threshold can become ridiculous at the slightest provocation. Interestingly enough-coal black mares have a tendency to have a low pain threshold.
I think your best course right now would be to pursue the chiro(although I know how frustrating that can be) and work on easy, gentle stretching. If you do want to exercise her-I would either put her on a much longer line(the smaller the circles the more stress and potential pain) or pony her.
Good luck...and be careful.;)
BEC~ Thanks for the advice!! I have thought about her teeth, I talked to a friend last night and he suggested we get that looked at so I will be doing that as well. I will see how she does with the bit after that, this bit that I am using her previous owners sent to me because they SWEAR that's the only bit she likes?! My SIL and I have switched it out a couple of times and always go back to that one.. And yes longing her I do use a longer line, just at that time I wasn't because we were out in a field riding.. That is very interesting info about coal black mares.. Thanks a bunch for the help!!
ReplyDelete