Any ideas? Bucking, excitable mare....

Just to add also, my mare cant cope on even the tiniest amounts of alfafa, not only does it make her footy but she turns into a nutball too!
 
Alyth said:
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....
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As i said in my original post, everything has been checked within the last three months. My instructor rode her at the weekend and said its behavioural. I am going to call out the chiropractor again but, as Khalswitz said, horses do buck from excitment.
 
Yes! excitement can cause a buck or two and then the horse calms down....bucking is also a symptom of pain or fear....the trick is to find the real cause, not make assumptions!!
 
If she were mine and I had completely ruled out a pain response. I did know a mare who behaved like this and she was found to have cysts on her ovaries ... I would put her on a magnesium calmer...make sure she isn't getting any apples/carrots,lower her feed,as others have said before lunge her with side reins for a good ammount of time... Then school her after that... Then go out on a calm hack in company, or box her up and take her somewhere else or do a lot of slow road work with her.. Find some nice big long hills :)
 
Alyth said:
Yes! excitement can cause a buck or two and then the horse calms down....bucking is also a symptom of pain or fear....the trick is to find the real cause, not make assumptions!!
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It can also be psychological, or a learned behaviour... so don't make the assumption it's pain, like you said don't assume! Especially as the OP has said she has had regular back checks etc, the likelihood of it being back pain related is low. My horse will bronk if I hold him back in company - not a pain thing, he just gets peed off and prefers to be in front. Perhaps the OP's horse is being a bit of a madam and wanting her own way too.

If the horse is absolutely fine in the school, with circles, tight turns etc, and there has been no decrease in performance there whilst this has been happening out hacking, then I would be very surprised if it was pain related - most horses find hacking easier if sore as it is straight lines. If this bucking behaviour was noted in the school as well then you could query that, but it sounds scenario based.
 
khalswitz said:
It can also be psychological, or a learned behaviour... so don't make the assumption it's pain, like you said don't assume! Especially as the OP has said she has had regular back checks etc, the likelihood of it being back pain related is low. My horse will bronk if I hold him back in company - not a pain thing, he just gets peed off and prefers to be in front. Perhaps the OP's horse is being a bit of a madam and wanting her own way too.

Thi

If the horse is absolutely fine in the school, with circles, tight turns etc, and there has been no decrease in performance there whilst this has been happening out hacking, then I would be very surprised if it was pain related - most horses find hacking easier if sore as it is straight lines. If this bucking behaviour was noted in the school as well then you could query that, but it sounds scenario based.
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This is exactly my point. She is an angel in the school and lunging. She likes to jig along when we're on roads, and it is literally when we hit soft ground, her ears go forward and she just gets herself in a tiz as she is so excited.

She is not an easy horse all round, very dominant and will absolutely try it on with anyone she think she can. She has perfect manners now but thats because I don't give an inch and she respects that. However, I feel when I am on board she is pushing the boundaries again because she wants to do something and I am not letting her, i.e. Go for a gallop. I say no, so she bucks.
 
angeldarcy said:
If she were mine and I had completely ruled out a pain response. I did know a mare who behaved like this and she was found to have cysts on her ovaries ... I would put her on a magnesium calmer...make sure she isn't getting any apples/carrots,lower her feed,as others have said before lunge her with side reins for a good ammount of time... Then school her after that... Then go out on a calm hack in company, or box her up and take her somewhere else or do a lot of slow road work with her.. Find some nice big long hills :)
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Thank you. I am going to try upping her time schooling/lunging before we hack out, get her listening and hope this helps. I do carrot lunges with her every day so will look to switching the carrots for something with less sugar.
 
Tally-lah said:
She is not an easy horse all round, very dominant and will absolutely try it on with anyone she think she can. She has perfect manners now but thats because I don't give an inch and she respects that. However, I feel when I am on board she is pushing the boundaries again because she wants to do something and I am not letting her, i.e. Go for a gallop. I say no, so she bucks.
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Mine is like this, very dominant and just throws a strop when he doesn't get his own way. I just have to ride it out, and then get his concentration back with transitions, bending, leg yielding. Maybe worth keeping your hacks very calm and quiet, and not going to her 'gallop place' until she stops jigging on the road, so she doesn;t associate and you aren;t having to argue with her? I know with my dominant boy I try to avoid setting myself up for arguments as he will argue right back...
 
Bless her... I suggested the carrots because my friends mare goes nutty on them and she had to cut everything out an look at everything she was getting fed and it turned out it was carrots
 
angeldarcy said:
Bless her... I suggested the carrots because my friends mare goes nutty on them and she had to cut everything out an look at everything she was getting fed and it turned out it was carrots
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This makes sense, I'm going to cut out the carrots, up the time lunging and schooling and keep our hacks to walk/jigs. I think I'll avoid the woods for a week or so and keep to the roads and see if there's any improvement.
 
we have a mare who sounds a little similar to yours,and she would always become impossible to ride when in season. We put her on Hormoneze,which did help but I also noticed that her weight was continuing to fluctuate,so after a couple of months.also started giving her Ulcercalm. This has made a huge difference to her behaviour and has also regulated her weight - maybe worth a try,particularly if she is a stressy type.
 
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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Errrr......yes they do.


OP I had a horse like this. He got worse as he got older/more wily ;)
I tried trotting him ( in an outline and working) everywhere on a hack. Like, from the moment I got onto the drive until we were nearly home. Road, track, field, just trot trot boring trot. After a couple of weeks he'd settled quite a bit and I started to introduce a few strides of canter on a track, then straight back to boring old trot.
Gradually he did get much better but if I didn't ride for a few days he'd be back to his old tricks.
He too was fine to school. Also, I used to hunt him and he'd buck over the first field then settle for the rest of the day.
But he was always just very silly to hack at home.

It was v frustrating, good luck with yours and hope you can find the key to her improvement! :)
 
gothedistance said:
we have a mare who sounds a little similar to yours,and she would always become impossible to ride when in season. We put her on Hormoneze,which did help but I also noticed that her weight was continuing to fluctuate,so after a couple of months.also started giving her Ulcercalm. This has made a huge difference to her behaviour and has also regulated her weight - maybe worth a try,particularly if she is a stressy type.
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This is really interesting and definitely something worth looking into - she is absolutely the stressy type. Thanks for the suggestion.
 
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