Do I just have a moody mare on my hands?

[dianneS]

It sounds to me like your mare is in the second category on both counts. She is not in the right position TO canter, but she is trying to do as she's asked anyhow, the best way she knows how (which isn't a very good way, but it's all she knows).


I am pretty sure your problems are not all pilot error since she has the same trouble on the longe;

My mare is actually doing a lot better at correcting herself. When she's going in her "bad" direction, I can see her almost starting the canter on the wrong lead, then she corrects herself and strikes off on the right lead. Then she is usually fine. She used to take several attempts to get the right lead, now I can see her thinking about it!

All of the above mentioned work has been on the longe. I've only cantered her under saddle one time, and it was such a disaster, I just know she's not ready for more of that. I will only canter her on the longe and we'll just keep working on the walk and trot under saddle for now. I'm sure that I wasn't much help in asking for the canter depart when I did attempt it u/s. She sped up so much at the trot and kept making leaps to try and break into the canter that I was bouncing all over the place! She needs a lot more groundwork before I'll try that again!

Thanks for all the advice. My old mare is improving, so that's a good thing and one of the reasons I think she's just out of balance and condition. She does keep getting better and better, its just going to take time.

 

[dianneS]

I've been working with my mare either under saddle or on the ground almost every single day for months now. I can say that she's no longer "moody" when I ride her, she's perfectly cooperative when she is worked on a regular basis.

The only problem I'm having with her now (other than her still not cantering and almost rearing when asked to canter recently) is that she is so sensitive to the flies!

I just want to scream! I use fly preditors and have very few flies. I spray my mare down with fly spray and put her fly bonnet on her also treated with fly spray. There are very few flies around, but if there is even one, my mare is constantly stamping and kicking at the fly, twisting her head around to knock the fly off of her with her nose, shaking her head, wringing and wringing her tail. She will stop dead in her tracks to deal with a fly. Even if they fly is just buzzing around her and not landing on her, she makes a fuss! I don't even know what I would do with her on the trail. If the deer flies were bad in the woods, that would make for a miserable ride.

She does this on the longe too. She can't concentrate and will stop what she's doing to freak out over a fly!

I put her out to pasture the other day and put a fly sheet, mask and fly spray on her (now remember I use fly preditors and barely have any flies) I closed the gate so my mare couldn't get back to the barn area, and she had a fit! She ran the fence lines until she was soaked with sweat, she bucked and carried on til I thought she might hurt herself and I had to give in and open the gate for her to get back to the barn! She spent the whole day in the barn and grazed in the evening. It was a really nice cool breezy day too and she's got plenty of shade in the pasture, but there must have been a fly after her so she had to get back to the barn!

She is just so spoiled and prissy and overly sensitive. I've never dealt with a horse like this before? I just don't know if she's always going to be like this and all these little things are going to get in the way of our progress? I just want to give up on her some days and get another horse!

 

[ducks4you]

Have you tried a fly-repellent shampoo? Also, I use fly-predators and the info brochure suggests keeping all grass mowed, to prevent "rest places" for flies. I have become a mowing fool this year!!
Also, when (DD and) I work my QH four year old--this is daily, now--we groom his legs, feet, belly and neck first, then spray with Repel-X, THEN groom the rest, making sure to use SWAT below his eyes. After his workout, we massage with a rubber curry where the breastplace, crupper, saddle and cinch were, with clear water, then we use a Dandy brush and water to brush with the grain of the hair. When you get rid of their sweat smell, the flies are not as attracted to them. Hope this helps!!

 

[LauraM]

You might try adding 20 grams of Magnesium to her diet for 4-6 weeks and see if that makes any difference to her behavior. Some symptoms of Magnesium deficiency is overly sensitive skin (hyper-sensitivity to touch), easily irritated skin, overly dramatic reactions to stimuli (being a "drama queen"), inability to concentrate........among others.

It's virtually impossible to overdose Mg in the diet, it's water-soluble so the horse just pees out anything it doesn't need, so it's a safe thing to try.

For experimenting purposes, try a supplement that is palatable so you know the horse will get all of it.

Here is a link to one of the best on the market, Quiessence. While it is the best as far as quality and palatablity, it is also somewhat expensive. Here's a link to the Online Catalog that has the pricing.

My horses will eat feed-grade Magnesium Oxide, which can be had at most feed stores, especially those that carry cattle feeds and is relatively inexpensive. Cattle are much more sensitive to Mg deficiencies than horses are, so feed stores that deal with cattle (like a local co-op) will have Mag Ox. It's a grainy powder and generally needs to be mixed with something that can be moistened, like beet pulp, for horses to eat it, but my three readily eat it in a couple of handfulls of moist beet pulp. Some horses won't eat it, though, plus Mag Ox is only about 60% actual Magnesium and only about 40% absorbable so one has to calculate how much of it to give to equal 20 grams of actual Mg (I've got the calculations if anyone needs it) so it's best to try a commercial supplement to get an accurate result if you are first wanting to see if it will help.

 

[dianneS]

I have to update that I don't think my mare is particularly moody, just very sensitive. She's very, very thin skinned too.

She just needs consistent work. When she has time off, she thinks she's retired and she resents being asked to do anything.

I've been consitently working with her on the ground or under saddle almost every day.

She's not nearly as one-sided or off balance as I thought she was at one time. Her canter needed the most work, so we worked on the walk and trot a lot. She had issues with the canter on the longe which have been pretty much resolved with lots of groundwork. She always picks up the correct lead now.

I finally got her to canter under saddle today. Not as much of a disaster as before. Although, I did have to just hang on and let her run into it at first. After the first few canter departures done in that manner, then I was able to cue her properly and she was even picking up the canter from a walk! Its still a bit choppy and we only worked in straight lines, no circles yet, but she did really well!

She's getting softer and starting to drop her head and collect up nicely too. She's no great mystery after all. Just a horse in need of some conditioning! I'm so pleased now. (Although I did fall off during one of our sloppy canter departures this morning and I'm pretty sore! And she was the one that got rubbed down with linament!! How is that fair?? )

 

[ducks4you]

DON'T forget that helmet!!

 

[w c]

'She is just spoiled and prissy and over sensitive'.

Horses do not have the kind of brain where they can decide to be prissy. Something either is hurting them or it is not.

Horses' skin and hair coat just differ. I have a shetland pony with thick fur and a Thoroughbred, whose hair is shorter and finer and skin is thinner. The shetland can be covered with flies and she just stands there going la la la. The thoroughbred is being bitten through her shorter fine coat and it hurts her and she tries to get away from it.

They aren't being 'prissy', their skin is different and the flies bother them more. To top it off, this has been a very, very bad year for biting flies out in the pastures and paddocks, and they are different from stable flies, they are very hard on horses. Try turning your horse out at night or early in the monring when conditions are better, or bring her in if she gets upset and starts to running.

Freedom Spot 45 or a similar product that keeps repelling flies and stays on the horse. This is just how it is with the thinner skinned horse, it is not that they are prissy, spoiled or over sensitive. As the Cajun saying goes, 'Everybody pain different'.

As for the training issues, the best thing there is to get a good instructor to spot what the rider can do different. The rider can always make changes to get the horse to go better.

Some horses are just a little more sensitive in the mouth, sides, skin. They don't choose that, that is just how they are wired and how their nervous system works.

People often say a horse only tosses its head or acts fussy on the bit for one reason - bad hands or change the bit. Actually it can be so many different things. When they try to do dressage, often people try to take up a contact with the horse's mouth without getting the horse moving forward enough, he should be really 'forward up into the bridle'. The contact with the hand to the bit is very different in dressage so what works with other types of riding doesn't work the same in dressage.

As far as how much to work the horse and many other earlier questions, each old horse is different. Each one has an amount and type of work they need and what keeps them comfortable and loosened up. Some off the track horses are really hurting a lot and can't do much, for others, their time at the track was brief and did not put a lot of wear and tear on their joints and tendons. Some need more work than others, but the best schedule for an older horse is usually very consistent, and light work, frequently.