sleepykitten
Well-Known Member
Hi,
Haven't been on here for ages, apologies.
Just wondering if you could offer some advice. I have an old mare at home and she has had a few injuries in the past so is basically a happy hacker these days. I wanted to try and get back into a bit of competing, and my mum also rides but can't keep a horse at home because she already has my sister's old pony. Long story short, we've bought a ned between us so mum can hack out with me and I can start jumping again. She is a very sweet ISH and is 9 years old. We bought her from a guy who had shipped her over from Ireland about 6 weeks ago. We have had her a week and a day.
She has settled really well, the first few days I put her in a paddock across a farm track from my old mare and they neighed at each other a bit but all fine. Then after a day or two, I took my old girl out for a mooch. New girl didn't mind at all, but old girl neighed her head off the entire ride! Anyway, at the weekend we took them both out together twice and they were both good as gold so I decided to put them in the same field together. Strangely, the new girl seems to be dominant! Anyway, now I'm having a few little issues. New girl looked a bit stiff so I got the back lady out to her yesterday, so now I have some exercises to do with her. Each time I've tried to do them she has tried to kick me. She is not great at having her feet picked up at the best of times, and I admit she may well be sore from manipulation yesterday, but I'm not keen on this behaviour! She got a slap on the bum for it yesterday then I wondered whether that might have been the wrong approach so when I tried her exercises this morning, and she tried to hoof me again, this time I ignored the bad behaviour and persevered until she did as asked.
Last night after doing these exercises, I decided to take the old girl out for a ride, bearing in mind I had done this a few days ago and new girl didn't bat an eyelid, I presumed she would be fine. Instead she ran round the paddock neighing and neighing and getting her, and my old girl, in a right state! So we cut our ride short and came home to make sure she hadn't hurt herself.
Bear in mind that this horse was bought for mum to hack out alone while I am at work as well, and I need to hack mine out too by herself (old girl will go alone but just neighs) and bear in mind that when we tried her we hacked her alone, and she was fine, I need to nip this in the bud before it gets out of hand!
The feet I am working on and think I can persevere with that no problem, not sure if she is sore, untrained or just trying it on, but I think I can manage that by myself. Our plan was to take the new girl out by herself on Saturday, (well, I think mum or I will ride and the other walk just in case), as I don't want to leave it too long before getting her out alone, and my plan for the old girl is to give her some more grass (they are strip grazed atm, as old girl lives on fresh air) so I think filling her belly should keep her quiet, just I'm not sure how the new girl is going to react. I have led her away from the field by herself before so she was out of eyeshot but not earshot of the old girl and she neighed a bit but didn't get too stressed!
Just wondering if anyone had any other ideas for me to nip this anxiety in the bud before it becomes a big issue? They will hack together as well some of the time but need to cope with being alone as well. My other thought was to split them up again so they are in separate fields.
Haven't been on here for ages, apologies.
Just wondering if you could offer some advice. I have an old mare at home and she has had a few injuries in the past so is basically a happy hacker these days. I wanted to try and get back into a bit of competing, and my mum also rides but can't keep a horse at home because she already has my sister's old pony. Long story short, we've bought a ned between us so mum can hack out with me and I can start jumping again. She is a very sweet ISH and is 9 years old. We bought her from a guy who had shipped her over from Ireland about 6 weeks ago. We have had her a week and a day.
She has settled really well, the first few days I put her in a paddock across a farm track from my old mare and they neighed at each other a bit but all fine. Then after a day or two, I took my old girl out for a mooch. New girl didn't mind at all, but old girl neighed her head off the entire ride! Anyway, at the weekend we took them both out together twice and they were both good as gold so I decided to put them in the same field together. Strangely, the new girl seems to be dominant! Anyway, now I'm having a few little issues. New girl looked a bit stiff so I got the back lady out to her yesterday, so now I have some exercises to do with her. Each time I've tried to do them she has tried to kick me. She is not great at having her feet picked up at the best of times, and I admit she may well be sore from manipulation yesterday, but I'm not keen on this behaviour! She got a slap on the bum for it yesterday then I wondered whether that might have been the wrong approach so when I tried her exercises this morning, and she tried to hoof me again, this time I ignored the bad behaviour and persevered until she did as asked.
Last night after doing these exercises, I decided to take the old girl out for a ride, bearing in mind I had done this a few days ago and new girl didn't bat an eyelid, I presumed she would be fine. Instead she ran round the paddock neighing and neighing and getting her, and my old girl, in a right state! So we cut our ride short and came home to make sure she hadn't hurt herself.
Bear in mind that this horse was bought for mum to hack out alone while I am at work as well, and I need to hack mine out too by herself (old girl will go alone but just neighs) and bear in mind that when we tried her we hacked her alone, and she was fine, I need to nip this in the bud before it gets out of hand!
The feet I am working on and think I can persevere with that no problem, not sure if she is sore, untrained or just trying it on, but I think I can manage that by myself. Our plan was to take the new girl out by herself on Saturday, (well, I think mum or I will ride and the other walk just in case), as I don't want to leave it too long before getting her out alone, and my plan for the old girl is to give her some more grass (they are strip grazed atm, as old girl lives on fresh air) so I think filling her belly should keep her quiet, just I'm not sure how the new girl is going to react. I have led her away from the field by herself before so she was out of eyeshot but not earshot of the old girl and she neighed a bit but didn't get too stressed!
Just wondering if anyone had any other ideas for me to nip this anxiety in the bud before it becomes a big issue? They will hack together as well some of the time but need to cope with being alone as well. My other thought was to split them up again so they are in separate fields.