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"I thought she was super safe - and seemed to be when we purchased her"
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Dear Keith...
Monday, June 18, 2007
I have a beautiful Paint mare that I bought for my daughter. I was so excited to "find" her..thought she was just the perfect horse for us. She was a lesson horse for about 4 years previously to us owning her. She seemed to be just what we were looking for. She was to be my daughters first horse. I thought she was super safe..and seemed to be when we purchased her. My daughter even took a lesson on her with the previous owner and things went very well.
Well we got Lil home and everything just went nuts! After being here a day she seemed to be in excruciating pain whenever touched on her whithers or cinch area. I had my friend who is a horse trainer come and look at her and Lil tried to bite her when the trainer touched her. We tried saddling her and each time we attempted she would act as though she was in total pain and would attempt to bite us and whatever else was nearby. I immediately called the vet thinking she has a terrible physical ailment. He found nothing..gave her a pain killer and said to go out and touch her in an hour..if she acted the same way her problem was not physical. Well he was right.
It was a relief to know her problem was pshychological or behavioral. She has gotten better..we have worked and worked with her and she is MUCH milder with her temper when we saddle her. She does have other issues..she hates to back..throws her head straight up in the air, when she is ridden alone I must swat her with a crop in order to get her to go (doesn't even respond to spurs). When she is trail riding with other horses she does fine for about 30 minutes and then she starts whipping her head up and lowering it, messing with the bit.
My conclusion. She has had kids on her for so many years that she just hates being ridden. What do you think. How do I instill back in her the joy of riding. She is 13. We no longer call her our daughters horse. My husband and i actually decided she would be a brood mare and so we bred her. She was having horrible horrible heat cycles and I'd had enough so we bred her. But...I think at this point she is my horse. I want to instill that love in her of riding. Any ideas?
What resources do you recommend that would help us?
If you get time let me know!
Karen W |
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Suggested Article: "Cinchy Horses"
It certainly doesn't take them long to learn that a saddle on their backs means they're getting put to work pretty quick – so it's no wonder that so many bad habits develop along this point. They weren't born yesterday: You approaching with a...
from our Saddle Breaking a Horse series > read more |
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Suggested Article: "Keys To Improvement"
How many times do you think you've ridden your horse? A thousand? Five hundred? Just guess. What if every time you got on, you improved something, no matter how small? If you could just see some little improvement for each of those thousand...
from our How to Train a Horse series > read more |
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Suggested Article: "Thought vs Action"
When you think different, you are different. The more you raise your expectations, the better your horse will become. Those two thoughts bring us to a concept called "Thought vs Action." Riding an "action" is how ninety-nine percent of the people...
from our Learning to Ride a Horse series > read more |
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Suggested Article: "Scared of My Horse"
Your horse wants to eat, sleep and poop. "Bonding" has never been high on his list.
You can have a terrific relationship, but it takes respect – and respect must be earned. Begin by realizing that you're the one paying the bills. Your...
from our Ask a Horse Trainer series > read more |
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Suggested Article: "Rider Checklists"
I'm going to give you three "Rider Checklists" today. Together they'll keep you safer and accelerate your training to boot. How accelerate? They'll keep you rational; they'll keep you from "losing it" – which has the effect of setting your...
from our Trail Horse Training series > read more |
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Kids
Horse Summer Camps: I'm looking for a horse-riding camp for my daughter |
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Cinchy
Fitting Saddles: I have been accused of over tightening the cinch for 20 years |
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Older Horse Care
Retraining the Older Horse: Is it too late to break her to ride? |
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