Any ideas? Bucking, excitable mare....

Tally-lah

Tally-lah

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Hi all,

been following the forum for a few months but this is my first post, so I'm a bit nervous...

I have a 16hh mare who is very forward going, she's not keen on walk and prefers to jog, which, while annoying, is manageable until we get onto soft ground (we generally hack into the woods five minutes from the yard) where she goes nuts. Its a real fight to keep her from tanking off with me the moment her feet hit the earth and then she gets annoyed and starts to buck. Not little bucks either, big, BIG bucks. It gets worse when I do ask for canter, she'll manage a couple of strides, try to gallop, I wont let her and then we're back to the bucking again - mid air, mid canter!

She's had her back checked recently (and is checked every six months). She's only recently had a new saddle, properly fitted by a professional. She's only recently seen the dentist who said her teeth are perfect. She had a check up by the vet in September when she had her jabs. So I'm as sure as I can be its not pain related.

My instructor says its excitement (she does it when jumping too) which I agree with but I'm starting to dread our hacks as its a constant battle and wandered if anyone had any tips on how to curb this behaviour?

Chocolate buttons and tea for anyone who read this far.
 
She has a scoop of fast fibre mixed with a scoop of dengie's hi-fi and ad lib hay. She lives out with my other three and is exercised five times a week.
 
Hello :)

It sounds like it's a shame your yard doesn't have a canter track you could knacker her out on first! Have you tried lunging before you ride?

Edit- just seen that she's on 24/7 turnout.
 
EmmyMD said:
what is she fed, just out of interest?
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Poor you; sounds horrible! I too would be looking at feed issues if you have checked out other medical type things. My ex racer went snorty and stupid when I tried to give her the local feed shop cool mix and when I put her back on her normal low sugar stuff she was fine. I'd be looking into sugar although appreciate your horse may just find hacking HIGHLY exciting which I guess is just a case of repetition. Can you go out with a very calm companion horse?
 
We do tend to stick to the woods close to the yard during the week as I have less time but at weekends we go further. I always make sure we go different routes once in the woods and enter in different places.
 
Less food ,more turnout ,more work for a start and that may be hard to achieve this time of year.
Idealy work needs to be long and slow and two sessions day may help.
Leading from another horse is often a good way to get calm work into them but if the horse is excitable I dont think I would do that in a public place .
Does she ever settle if so when ?
It might be worth trying feeding her some magnesium oxide to see if it calms her.
And dont discount the fact something pain wise may be bugging her keep an open mind on that one.
 
Billabongchick said:
Poor you; sounds horrible! I too would be looking at feed issues if you have checked out other medical type things. My ex racer went snorty and stupid when I tried to give her the local feed shop cool mix and when I put her back on her normal low sugar stuff she was fine. I'd be looking into sugar although appreciate your horse may just find hacking HIGHLY exciting which I guess is just a case of repetition. Can you go out with a very calm companion horse?
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Thanks. Its not too bad, I never feel as though I'm going to come off but it's really annoying and makes for a very stressful hack!

Sorry, I should have mentioned, she's on molasses free hi-fi and the fast fibre is sugar-free anyway. I am very aware she'd be even more of a handful with sugar in her system.

I'm on a private yard so only have my horses and my other mare is quite spooky too, although she's a total plod compared with this one. When they're out together they tend to get very excited.
 
How long have you had her and has she always been like this, or a recent problem?

If she has always been like this and you are certain it is not pain related, then I would get a trusted, more experienced rider to to hack her out a few times a week for a few weeks to try and re-school her - along with feeding a calmer.

If you're not competing, giving some valerian the night before and the morning of riding can really help with mares particularly. I wouldn't do this long term, but just to help her to settle during re-schooling.

And also, I would be sticking to long slow hacks for the time being - I know it's boring, but you need it to be boring so she doesn't get so excited!

Good luck
x
 
Goldenstar said:
Well it's not likely to be the food .
Was she like this when you got her ?
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I bought her as an unbroken four year old. When I first backed her she was pretty calm but as she's got more used to going out and about (she's seven now) she's got her confidence up and with it the excitement of being out. She always has her ears forward and genuinely seems to love going out.

She's very good to lunge/school. I went through a stage of lunging her before riding to try to get rid of some energy but it didn't make the slightest difference.
 
Happy H said:
How long have you had her and has she always been like this, or a recent problem?

If she has always been like this and you are certain it is not pain related, then I would get a trusted, more experienced rider to to hack her out a few times a week for a few weeks to try and re-school her - along with feeding a calmer.

If you're not competing, giving some valerian the night before and the morning of riding can really help with mares particularly. I wouldn't do this long term, but just to help her to settle during re-schooling.

And also, I would be sticking to long slow hacks for the time being - I know it's boring, but you need it to be boring so she doesn't get so excited!

Good luck
x
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I'll try the calmer idea.

I do try to do the boring hacks. Today we schooled for forty minutes and then went for a hack which, as I explained to her, was going to be slow. She had other ideas and, although she didn't get to canter/gallop, we did spend the whole ride jigging along with the intermittent buck thrown in.
 
You just have to be disciplined and never give in to the temptation to give her own way .
Lots and lots of slow work.
Do you have transport ?
If you load her places to work make her life busier but with lots of calm work .
 
I agree with all that has been said - less food, more work, and make it slow, calming work, just lots of it.

Just out of interest (your horse sounds excitable rather than this) I did know a horse once who was agoraphobic. Great in the school, ok to hack on narrow tracks or roads with hedges etc., but take him in a jump field or onto the open moor/open fields hacking/forestry tracks etc and he went ballistic, would bronk until he had you and go home. Proper fear reaction too, you could feel his heart racing and his breathing sped right up. We just had to accept that hacking wasn't his thing, and he was a star in the school.
 
Have you thought about feed allergies, or allergies in general leading to discomfort.

Could you try taking all food off her expect grass and see if that improved then start feeding each bit separately and see when it gets worse. Also my mare was a lot worse when her saddle pad had sheepskin on it and having read a recently article about allergies in H&H sheepskin is becomming more common. So same with tack strip to barebones ie saddle without numnah and work up.
Also have you through about bitting/nosebands is she having a strong reaction against them are you bitting her up and she is fighting it? As someone else said perhaps get someone professionaly who is used to problem horses to take a look/ride and see what they think.
 
i would lunge for at least 30 mins and have side reins on....make the lunging very disciplined with lots of transitions to make her listen to you, then i would get on in the school(take side reins off first) and ride her for another 30 mins with lots of transitions and changes of direction to make her mentally more tired and then try hacking out...and keep to walk only and trot if she is good,no cantering for a while.... i know its quite a lot but sounds like she is just so excited to be out she is exploding.......this really helped with my mare when she was younger and more loony than she is now..
 
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Templebar said:
Have you thought about feed allergies, or allergies in general leading to discomfort.

Could you try taking all food off her expect grass and see if that improved then start feeding each bit separately and see when it gets worse. Also my mare was a lot worse when her saddle pad had sheepskin on it and having read a recently article about allergies in H&H sheepskin is becomming more common. So same with tack strip to barebones ie saddle without numnah and work up.
Also have you through about bitting/nosebands is she having a strong reaction against them are you bitting her up and she is fighting it? As someone else said perhaps get someone professionaly who is used to problem horses to take a look/ride and see what they think.
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One of mine hates dead sheep clothing !!!
 
Yes, she has. I'm pretty sure its not her teeth but may get the chiropractor out again, although she was only out in September but feel its worth a check....
 
Could you also soak the hay? I know its a PITA!
I'd try a calmer too and up the work and transitions / lateral while out hacking to get her mind on you as best you can.
Good luck:)
 
Does she behave like this on the way out and on the way back? Or just going out?
Do you give her specific gallop points along the hack? Does she actually enjoy the hack?
 
Our ponies went loopy on a very small amount of Alfa. It may be an idea just to feed an unmollassed chaff or even just hay, for a little while, and if she improves gradually re-introduce other feeds one at a time.
 
Why on earth are you riding her in those conditions? I would check everything out - saddle fit, bridle fit, teeth, hooves as well as diet, and start right at the beginning, watching her body language to see what is causing the bucking. Horses don't buck for fun, there is a reason and it is up to you to find the reason and remove it....
 
Alyth said:
Horses don't buck for fun, there is a reason and it is up to you to find the reason and remove it....
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Just to be devil's advocate, in my experience, some do. High spirits can definitely be the cause of bucking, particularly if getting too much feed/too little exercise, or if a bit fresh/it's a windy day. Not saying that is the cause here, but that is a bit of a blanket statement...
 
Just a thought but what sort of hay do you feed. Rye is really high in sugar. My mare has just started on hay and gone a little bit highly strung but had no change to her routine apart from the hay. Anyway I contacted my hay guy and he said his hay is a mix of grasses including rye. That explains it all:)
 
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