{102223}
New User
Hello all,
I was wondering if I could get some advice that might help aid my decision. I am uncertain whether my mare and I have a future together. I have noticed she is increasingly very temperamental and can be stroppy. It seems to be getting worse recently. Also she has had a rather long season which started before Christmas and has only just finished this week. She has lost most of her manners and has started barging, nipping me and acts aggressive towards other horses. She tries to dominate most of the horses in the field. I bought her with a foal in the summer, she is a standard bred of 11yrs old and was advertised as bombproof, might I add she was cheap so I wasn't expecting her to be well schooled. We visited her a couple of times with her foal and she was good as gold although we didn't get to ride her, which is my mistake I know. The previous owner told me that she hadn't been ridden for two years as she has been used as a broodmare after her racing career. I had all the time in the world for her when I bought her and after the foal was weaned from her we started to do some schooling with her and we discovered she was more green than we expected. I didn't mind this because I had a lot of time to spend on her to work through it. Might I add that we changed yards shortly after the foal was weaned so this might have added to the upset. We had her tack fitted and have had her teeth seen to by a vet. Things were progressing in the school although I hadn't taken her out hacking at this stage.
Circumstances changed a few months later I had started my full time job and with twins this was a bit of a juggle to try and fit working my mare so I went down the route of part loaning her to an Equine student, which was great at first. She'd take her out hacking with other horses at least once a week and do some schooling on her which was great. We both discovered that she is quite spooky and will not hack out alone. Now her part loaner has other commitments and cannot spend as much time with her since Christmas, which is a shame. The times when I have ridden her recently, I feel like I have an electric bum and generally don't feel safe on her as she tries to bronc with me on her in the school. Last time I took her out on the road with a friend I felt tension was building up in her like she wanted to race back to the yard. I know if I didn't work as much I'd put in the extra time with her, to try and help her and myself. I am debating whether to get some one from the uni to come and school her a few times a week and hope this sorts things out or whether I should cut my losses and sell her and spend more on buying a happy hacker that I can hack out on weekends and some evenings in the summer. She has lots of potential but she needs more time put in to her. What would you do if you were in this situation? I do adore her but I don't think she adores me. I would hate to sell her but I want to do what's best by her.
I was wondering if I could get some advice that might help aid my decision. I am uncertain whether my mare and I have a future together. I have noticed she is increasingly very temperamental and can be stroppy. It seems to be getting worse recently. Also she has had a rather long season which started before Christmas and has only just finished this week. She has lost most of her manners and has started barging, nipping me and acts aggressive towards other horses. She tries to dominate most of the horses in the field. I bought her with a foal in the summer, she is a standard bred of 11yrs old and was advertised as bombproof, might I add she was cheap so I wasn't expecting her to be well schooled. We visited her a couple of times with her foal and she was good as gold although we didn't get to ride her, which is my mistake I know. The previous owner told me that she hadn't been ridden for two years as she has been used as a broodmare after her racing career. I had all the time in the world for her when I bought her and after the foal was weaned from her we started to do some schooling with her and we discovered she was more green than we expected. I didn't mind this because I had a lot of time to spend on her to work through it. Might I add that we changed yards shortly after the foal was weaned so this might have added to the upset. We had her tack fitted and have had her teeth seen to by a vet. Things were progressing in the school although I hadn't taken her out hacking at this stage.
Circumstances changed a few months later I had started my full time job and with twins this was a bit of a juggle to try and fit working my mare so I went down the route of part loaning her to an Equine student, which was great at first. She'd take her out hacking with other horses at least once a week and do some schooling on her which was great. We both discovered that she is quite spooky and will not hack out alone. Now her part loaner has other commitments and cannot spend as much time with her since Christmas, which is a shame. The times when I have ridden her recently, I feel like I have an electric bum and generally don't feel safe on her as she tries to bronc with me on her in the school. Last time I took her out on the road with a friend I felt tension was building up in her like she wanted to race back to the yard. I know if I didn't work as much I'd put in the extra time with her, to try and help her and myself. I am debating whether to get some one from the uni to come and school her a few times a week and hope this sorts things out or whether I should cut my losses and sell her and spend more on buying a happy hacker that I can hack out on weekends and some evenings in the summer. She has lots of potential but she needs more time put in to her. What would you do if you were in this situation? I do adore her but I don't think she adores me. I would hate to sell her but I want to do what's best by her.
