Backing & competing a pony previously used as a broodmare

[cheeryplatypus]

Hello
I have been on the lookout for a young pony to bring on. I was looking for a gelding but a really nicely bred and out together mare has come up, she's 7 and has had 3 foals. Been sat on but not backed properly.

Just wondering if there are any difficulties in bringin an ex brood mare into ridden work? Will there likely be back or ligament problems from carrying foals, is she going to shout and spray when there are stallions in the collecting areas at shows etc. etc.

A the moment she's got a very saggy tummy (had a foal this year) will it come back with correct work? Or should I just go with the 4yo gelding I originally had in mind? (Not had a mare before but she's very nice!)

 

[Cowpony]

My mare was previously used as a broodmare. She must have been about 7 when she was broken in and is now 10. She was broken in by a family who kept her for about 18 months and then I bought her. She's the sweetest mare, and the only issues I've had from her being a broodmare are that she definitely knows what boys are for, so tends to go over to the fence when the boys are in the next field and flirt a bit (not great when you've tried to keep her out of a section of field and she shimmies under the tape!); and when we were in a broodmare class with a mare who had a coloured foal at foot, mine seemed to think the foal was hers, kept calling to it and trying to catch up with it! Neither are real problems and certainly not a reason not to buy an ex brood mare. We haven't had any ligament problems (touch wood!) and she doesn't get terribly mare-ish. I put her on Oestress the first year because she has swollen and leaking udders, but that seemed to solve the problem and when it ran out I didn't replace it and haven't had any problems since. I guess it all depends on the individual mare.