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Post by moondogie1 on Oct 9, 2007 18:28:30 GMT -5
I'm always ranting it seems - LOL... Today was such a frustrating day tho. I was ready to sell my mare! Called DH while I was still out riding - in tears. Windy might be in heat - I"m not sure. She's kind of a silent heat horse. My pasture pet mare is a real floozy. Windy had quite a bit of discharge and acted strange back in august so I marked that down as her heat. Counting the days and where we are at now -- the timing is right. Anyway..... the last two rides, I had a hell of a time getting her in the horse trailer. I needed the buggy whip. Then as we're on our way leaving the trailer, she didn't want to go. She'll go but at a snails pace and she kept her head cocked to one side -- back towards the trailer. I keep her going but she doesn't like it. Alot of tail swishing and ears go back. At this point, we are not happy with each other but I don't give in to her. After about an hour and a half out, I turn around to go back and now she wants to go like a banchie!!!! Head bowed and trying to high tail it back. NO WAY!!! I keep her walking but today she was getting quite upset with me and thinking about being naughty and so I got off and walked her about a mile. I'm not an extremely confident rider these days. Got back on her and she was fine. But the closer we got to the trailer she wanted to take off again so..... I took her off onto another trail and made her go up and on a longer ride. She didn't like that at all. Again... head cocked to one side and walking at a snails pace. Once I decided to turn around, off she tried to go. Now this isn't like her at all. Suggestions.. tips...?? If it's her heat cycle, I'm not too worried. She still needs to work thru it but at least it won't be a constant behavior - i HOPE. My old mare when she was being ridden -- right before her heat cycle, she was HELL to ride. She spooked at everything and was just horrible. During her heat she was still leary of everything but she was overly affectionate. Once she was out of heat, she went back to her "normal" self.
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Post by Calaminty Jane on Oct 9, 2007 20:18:12 GMT -5
There is a drug that they give to mares when they show them. I don't know the name of it but I will find out and get back to you. I was just at the tack shop looking at it sort of . I noticed it on the shelf but since I don't have a mare, I didn't really pay attention. I still advocate doing ground work as it will give you more ways to counteract her behavior.
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Post by Calaminty Jane on Oct 9, 2007 20:25:46 GMT -5
The drug is regumate. The woman where I used to board gave it to a mare that was a total witch when she came in heat. It enabled her to show that horse and the horse didn't act up at all.
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Post by moondogie1 on Oct 10, 2007 9:25:44 GMT -5
I did some more internet searching yesterday and talked with a lady on the phone who sells - "mare magic". It's just an herb - raspberry leaf. Supposed to help with heats and even given to geldings who are cranky. It's worth a try anyway and it's not expensive. Ground work - yes, I agree BUT, things are totally different when out on the trail. The wind could be blowing - the smell is different etc... That is one thing I disagree with in the parelli stuff. They say you need to completely train them and not get on them until you are "safe" on the ground and in the arena. I totally disagree. Things change and are different out there in the open world and horses being prey animals are going to act differently when confronted with the outside world. I was warned by the previous owner - she was upfront with me so I can't complain about her hiding anything from me. Windy over reacts to new and (to her) scary stuff out there. She needs a rider that doesn't react at all. If the rider gets uptight or nervous - it makes her worse. I'm NOT that kind of rider. I just can't do it - right now anyway. My husband is that type of rider. We had a mare who was just awful when she was a youngster. She could jump in the air like a cat and spin and be going the other way and he'd just sit there and laugh at her. She became a very good, stable horse in her later years. If we need to, I might try and get him to ride Windy for a while. When Windy is about to over react and loose her mind, I get off and walk. This weekend I'm going to ride my neighbor's appy mare who I love to ride. I feel very safe on her. She spooks at things but she doesn't over react. I need to get out and have fun rather than be afraid of getting hurt. DH doesn't want to sell Windy - he really likes her. So, I told him, if I can't ride her, she's yours. I'm hoping the raspberry leaf will help some. Time will tell. Windy is terrified of moving boxes - I got a box and put it in her paddock and worked with her with it and then let her be with it. She's fine with it and will move it around with her nose. We ran into a smaller box out on the trail the other day and all hell broke loose. I got off her and worked her around it but the wind was blowing a bit too much and she wanted nothing to do with it. It smelled different and it just wasn't "her" box.
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Post by Calaminty Jane on Oct 10, 2007 11:55:52 GMT -5
If Ace spooks at a rock ( we have big rocks along the trails ) I take the time to ride him back and forth next to that rock, always turning him toward the rock, but not looking at it myself. We work on bending, turning, sideways, whatever and the next rock isn't as scary because he knows that he will be doing twice as much work if he spooks. You have to focus straight ahead and not notice the rock or box because your body language will tell Windy that you are looking at the box and because you know that Windy will spook at the box she feels that and says my rider is worried so I must be also. You can ride your horse while you are teaching, however if you had asked Windy to do circles and disengages and sideways as you were walking along with her, she would likely have settled more by the time you got back on her. The ground work gives you a feel about how she is going to behave when you get on her and translates to riding tools. The best thing you can do is get off when things seem unsafe to you. Then it is time to move her feet more than just forward. Watch your videos and try the groundwork but read the books. That is where the step by step instructions are. I know it works just give it a little time. How can you disagree that getting them safe in the arena isn't going to help on the trail? Just keep using the same techniques on the trail and she can only get better.
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Post by moondogie1 on Oct 10, 2007 14:52:30 GMT -5
If Ace spooks at a rock ( we have big rocks along the trails ) I take the time to ride him back and forth next to that rock, always turning him toward the rock, but not looking at it myself. We work on bending, turning, sideways, whatever and the next rock isn't as scary because he knows that he will be doing twice as much work if he spooks. You have to focus straight ahead and not notice the rock or box because your body language will tell Windy that you are looking at the box and because you know that Windy will spook at the box she feels that and says my rider is worried so I must be also. You can ride your horse while you are teaching, however if you had asked Windy to do circles and disengages and sideways as you were walking along with her, she would likely have settled more by the time you got back on her. The ground work gives you a feel about how she is going to behave when you get on her and translates to riding tools. The best thing you can do is get off when things seem unsafe to you. Then it is time to move her feet more than just forward. Watch your videos and try the groundwork but read the books. That is where the step by step instructions are. I know it works just give it a little time. How can you disagree that getting them safe in the arena isn't going to help on the trail? Just keep using the same techniques on the trail and she can only get better. All that makes more sense -- what you just said above. I believe in arena work and I do believe it helps but.... I don't believe it's a cure all. When people say, "you have to have a perfectly behaved horse in the arena before you take them out on the trail, then you won't have the problems.." that's when I give the ole My old endurance horse... I started her out in the arena and she knew all her cues and did fantastic. I worked her over logs and just about everything I could invent. Took her out on the trail -- a whole other ball of wax. Different color dirt set her off. Mud, puddles, different colored logs, birds - it was as if she had never had all the work done in the arena. And I did get off her and we worked around the objects and she calmed down or if I could stay on her while working her around the object - I did that also. It was always something different. And I had to just hang on and go with the flow of things. With Windy, LOL -- when I remember!... I look away from objects she is staring at and it really does work - most of the time. Unless it moves. If it moves, that's when I get off and we work around it. Yesterday, there was a small gate with a bar across the bottom half so motorized vehicles can't go thru and I thought to myself, there is NO WAY in hell she is going over that! So, I got off and attached her long lead that i ride with, I stepped over it and was planning on giving her alot of extra rope so she can deal with the problem. Lo and behold she stepped over it right after me without stepping on me or jumping over it. She's a big clumsy oaf so she stepped over it with her front feet and stumbled over it with her rears. I had to just laugh at her and told her "what a GOOD GIRL!!!" I know I have to give it time. I had such a bad day yesterday. She was so distracted and being an airhead. She wanted to take off with me going back to the trailer and that never bothered me on my other horses but she is so powerful and strong --- putting her in circles (which worked on my last 3 mares) does NOT work on Windy! Makes her worse. So, I'm not quite sure what to do with that except get off and walk her out. It was turning into a fight and I could feel her getting ready to explode. After walking her a good mile or so, I got back on and she walked nicely. It's just really hard for me to sit on her and totally relax when she starts to panic or get scared. I keep telling myself.... just keep at it and it will get better for her and ME. I have been off of horses for about 4 years til I got her (around June). I feel very comfortable on my neighbor's horse since she's not a real big spooker or anything. She's pretty much a steady eddy. She has her perks tho... doesn't stand still while mounting and moves constantly while being saddled. UGH!! But she is fun to ride. DH isn't about to let me give up on Windy so I''ll plug along with her. At least she's not mean spirited - that, I couldn't handle. She's 10 years old but in those years put together, she's only been ridden for about a year. So, she's not a real young horse in years but under saddle, she's like a 3 year old.
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Post by Calaminty Jane on Oct 10, 2007 17:18:26 GMT -5
One thing that I found useful on a walking horse that I had for a while was to bend him to a stop every time that he took one step faster than I had asked for. He was great when riding away from the barn, but he had a gps system like no other. As soon as we headed back to the barn or trailer, he would grab the bit and bolt. I changed to a snaffle bit so he couldn't grab the shank and started bending him to a stop. He would go round in circles at first , but after a while when I slid my hand down the rein, he would bend and stop. After a while, all I had to do was lift one rein and he would stop. Try that with Windy, it might work for you. That other horse that won't stand when saddled. Try backing her up every time she moves around. Do some half circles and then offer to let her stop and I bet she will stand.
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