Ahrena
Well-Known Member
Ok so I've had my 4 year old mare about 3 months now(or maybe 4, not sure!)
When she arrived she was quite timid and shy which given she had a big overhaul in her lifestyle (she came from Germany), is fair enough, and she is settling in and coming out of her shell.
However she is pretty handy with her back legs, and I think it's split between 2 different issues.
As a general rule, she is lovely to handle. She is not a nasty horse, she is affectionate and you can walk round behind her, brush her back legs ect fine.
She is very suspicious of things by her back legs that she doesn't understand. I.e. When I got her she cow kicked to hood pick and kicked out at the hose if I washed her down. Just through practise this is much better, she occasionally will snatch her hind legs when hoof picking, but is improving.
The same thing with back boots - will lift her legs when she feels them but is improving with handling, so am putting it down to lack of handling.
However if something catches her by surprise behind her, her initial reaction is to kick. My boyfriend fell victim to this in the field when we were poo picking and she was having a bit of a hoon around, and he sort of made himself big to send her out of his space as it's not great to have an overexcited 4 year old galloping and bucking in circles around you, and she kicked him. In all fairness it could of been a buck as she was bucking anyway but all the same - not ideal.
Yesterday we were doing a photoshoot I won, and he was leading her around a bit to keep her quiet and I walked vaguely behind her to go and get changed, must of caught her by surprise and she kicked out. I wasn't anywhere near enough to her to get hit (obviously we're very mindful now!), but all the same, its not great.
Is very much a 'Argh there's something there!' rather than a nasty kick I.e. Ears didn't go back and she spun round snorting her head off, eyes wide ect after.
Is there anything I can do to desensitise her to this sort of thing? Having seen recent videos on here of people being kicked after a fall, I can only too easily imagine that will be her reaction! And obviously it's inevitable that I'll come off at some stage.
Issue two is other horses. I've had to separate her from my gelding as I've seen her try to kick him a couple of times and he came in yesterday with a chunk of hair missing on his quarters under a hood print on his rug. Given she can do that through a rug with no shoes, I'm concerned about what she can do with shoes! He's the type not to say boo to a goose so I've split them up.
At first he was boss, although i only know because I fed him in the field once, she came over and he just put his ears back and she went away. Obviously she is now getting a bit big for ber boots and asserting herself, and he is so passive he let's her.
I also hacked her out with another gelding a few days ago, and had to keep her behind as everytime we went alongside, she tried to wheel round to kick. He only had to pin his ears back to her once and she stopped, so i think, as harsh as it sounds, someone just needs to put her in her place.
So I'm going to put her out with my dominant pony mare for a while to teach her some manners - am hoping to god no one will get hurt, but neither has shoes on so hoping it will be okay and that she just needs to be told once to stop her throwing her weight around!
So main issue is the spooking business really. Any thoughts?
When she arrived she was quite timid and shy which given she had a big overhaul in her lifestyle (she came from Germany), is fair enough, and she is settling in and coming out of her shell.
However she is pretty handy with her back legs, and I think it's split between 2 different issues.
As a general rule, she is lovely to handle. She is not a nasty horse, she is affectionate and you can walk round behind her, brush her back legs ect fine.
She is very suspicious of things by her back legs that she doesn't understand. I.e. When I got her she cow kicked to hood pick and kicked out at the hose if I washed her down. Just through practise this is much better, she occasionally will snatch her hind legs when hoof picking, but is improving.
The same thing with back boots - will lift her legs when she feels them but is improving with handling, so am putting it down to lack of handling.
However if something catches her by surprise behind her, her initial reaction is to kick. My boyfriend fell victim to this in the field when we were poo picking and she was having a bit of a hoon around, and he sort of made himself big to send her out of his space as it's not great to have an overexcited 4 year old galloping and bucking in circles around you, and she kicked him. In all fairness it could of been a buck as she was bucking anyway but all the same - not ideal.
Yesterday we were doing a photoshoot I won, and he was leading her around a bit to keep her quiet and I walked vaguely behind her to go and get changed, must of caught her by surprise and she kicked out. I wasn't anywhere near enough to her to get hit (obviously we're very mindful now!), but all the same, its not great.
Is very much a 'Argh there's something there!' rather than a nasty kick I.e. Ears didn't go back and she spun round snorting her head off, eyes wide ect after.
Is there anything I can do to desensitise her to this sort of thing? Having seen recent videos on here of people being kicked after a fall, I can only too easily imagine that will be her reaction! And obviously it's inevitable that I'll come off at some stage.
Issue two is other horses. I've had to separate her from my gelding as I've seen her try to kick him a couple of times and he came in yesterday with a chunk of hair missing on his quarters under a hood print on his rug. Given she can do that through a rug with no shoes, I'm concerned about what she can do with shoes! He's the type not to say boo to a goose so I've split them up.
At first he was boss, although i only know because I fed him in the field once, she came over and he just put his ears back and she went away. Obviously she is now getting a bit big for ber boots and asserting herself, and he is so passive he let's her.
I also hacked her out with another gelding a few days ago, and had to keep her behind as everytime we went alongside, she tried to wheel round to kick. He only had to pin his ears back to her once and she stopped, so i think, as harsh as it sounds, someone just needs to put her in her place.
So I'm going to put her out with my dominant pony mare for a while to teach her some manners - am hoping to god no one will get hurt, but neither has shoes on so hoping it will be okay and that she just needs to be told once to stop her throwing her weight around!
So main issue is the spooking business really. Any thoughts?
