Disappointing ride annoyed at myself.

tessybear

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Tacked a moody in season TB mare up and hopped on and slowly got the coiled spring feeling. Ignored this and asked for trot everything was going smoothly till she squealed, dropped her head and tried to put in some rodeo bucks so pushed her on again and out of this.

Then she was testing me by falling in all the blooming time, rushing to avoid doing things and when asking for canter decided it was great to turn back into her former racing self lol !

In the end i finished on a nice trot and hopped off early, if it was Tess i would have stuck it out but i just didn't feel safe on her today. I don't know her well enough to get into an argument and nor do i want to put myself in that situation.

Did i do the right thing ? looking back im thinking she has won and got out of work should i have stayed on :( But my gut was saying your not safe, leave it here ?


Agh :( Feeling like a completely Novice at the mo, my riding seems to be going downhill.
 
you finished with some nice trot, so you finished on a good note?

sounds like the best time to stop to me:):)

My mum drilled that into me finish on a good note always and we did.

Just feel a bit useless im sure a more experienced rider could have managed her and pushed her on :o
 
I definately think you did the right thing. I always go with my gut xx

Same lovely ! x I just don't know her enough to feel safe to go into an argument i wouldn't put it past her to go up with me as she thinks backwards a lot :( But then i will never know how she will react till i do it ? :o agh
 
You did fine! If she looks a bit fresh next time why not canter her around onthe lunge for a bit to take the sting out of her tail before riding. Spring grass coming through now!
 
I would say you did completely the right thing. My tb mare reared on Saturday and I came off she is a little nappy at the best of times but spring grass and being in season exaggerated that!! Hacked today and felt confident enough to put her in front she was good for a bit but then started being silly which made me feel unsafe (confidence has taken a knock) so popped her back behind the others. There is nothing wrong with walking away from a battle you are not up to winning :)
 
My mum drilled that into me finish on a good note always and we did.

Just feel a bit useless im sure a more experienced rider could have managed her and pushed her on :o

you and the horse are fit and well to tackle another day, if you were feeling unsafe then you did the right thing, listening to your instinct and the horses mood is an important way to keep safe. mares in season can be very unpredictable for a few days and when they ovulate they can sometimes be in quite a lot of discomfort she may be a bit more amenable in a few days.
its easy to make excuses for a horse but it is also easy not to listen to a horse, there is a very fine line between the 2
 
You did fine! If she looks a bit fresh next time why not canter her around onthe lunge for a bit to take the sting out of her tail before riding. Spring grass coming through now!

Found out from her owner she hasn't been ridden since sunday when i last rrode her or lunged :rolleyes: Next time this will be the protocol. We turned up a little bit late so rushed... was asking for trouble really !

I would say you did completely the right thing. My tb mare reared on Saturday and I came off she is a little nappy at the best of times but spring grass and being in season exaggerated that!! Hacked today and felt confident enough to put her in front she was good for a bit but then started being silly which made me feel unsafe (confidence has taken a knock) so popped her back behind the others. There is nothing wrong with walking away from a battle you are not up to winning :)

Oh yes, must have been scary i can sit bucks 90% of the time but rears it goes to pot with me lol ! Very true my heart wasn't in it , i think because she wasn't my horse i didnt feel confident to push her
 
Better to be safe than sorry! I opted out of riding my tb completely today because he was too much of a handful!
 
You did the right thing - you finished on a good note.

I don't know if this is helpful, because I don't know the horse. But I have had plenty of those coiled spring TB moments (we had a number through our stables off the track), and the last one did a very good line in rodeo shows (sadly because he hurt). Anyhow...

I used to find that sometimes they were in the mood, and sometimes they weren't. And when they weren't the only way to get them to stop thinking about exploding was to out-think them. So, every few paces, do something different. If you were planning on trotting around the arena, don't - do six paces of trot, a half halt, 10 paces more, a 10 metre circle one way, a 10m circle the other, transitions down, transitions up, semi flex in walk, semi flexi in trot, ask to soften, send them on, serpentine, 20m circle, transition again, canter a few strides across the school coming quickly to walk...you get the picture:D. Also, when they want to run on, let them, but bring them back and ask again, and again, so you have no more than 3 -4 strides of canter. Do the ever changing thing, even if they are not listening, are poking their nose and doing their damnedest to avoid your seat and are falling on the forehand. If you keep changing what they are doing before they get the upper hand, you've won. And you'll find that half way through they won't be trying to out do you and will start behaving. End with a really nice trot and reward with a long rein walk.:)

Oh, and I'm all for lunging first if there's time.
 
you and the horse are fit and well to tackle another day, if you were feeling unsafe then you did the right thing, listening to your instinct and the horses mood is an important way to keep safe. mares in season can be very unpredictable for a few days and when they ovulate they can sometimes be in quite a lot of discomfort she may be a bit more amenable in a few days.
its easy to make excuses for a horse but it is also easy not to listen to a horse, there is a very fine line between the 2

Thank you, knocked some sense into me !
 
If she's in season she could be feeling tight across her back, which would make her grumpy and unwilling to canter. Our little mare suffered terribly with her seasons, and got very tense and would hump her back and buck a lot when she was in season. I'd say it's just that, and so let her be and just mooch about until she's less in-season! Horses get period pains too ;)
 
You did the right thing - you finished on a good note.

I don't know if this is helpful, because I don't know the horse. But I have had plenty of those coiled spring TB moments (we had a number through our stables off the track), and the last one did a very good line in rodeo shows (sadly because he hurt). Anyhow...

I used to find that sometimes they were in the mood, and sometimes they weren't. And when they weren't the only way to get them to stop thinking about exploding was to out-think them. So, every few paces, do something different. If you were planning on trotting around the arena, don't - do six paces of trot, a half halt, 10 paces more, a 10 metre circle one way, a 10m circle the other, transitions down, transitions up, semi flex in walk, semi flexi in trot, ask to soften, send them on, serpentine, 20m circle, transition again, canter a few strides across the school coming quickly to walk...you get the picture:D. Also, when they want to run on, let them, but bring them back and ask again, and again, so you have no more than 3 -4 strides of canter. Do the ever changing thing, even if they are not listening, are poking their nose and doing their damnedest to avoid your seat and are falling on the forehand. If you keep changing what they are doing before they get the upper hand, you've won. And you'll find that half way through they won't be trying to out do you and will start behaving. End with a really nice trot and reward with a long rein walk.:)

Oh, and I'm all for lunging first if there's time.



Thank you for such great advice ! I did do things to keep her ticking and thinking as she is very backwards thinking and would go up during a strop so tried to stay ahead. Im exhausted and wasn't up to it i suppose ! (im used to riding a cob that throws a 2min tantrum then gets on with it not a 15 mins one lol) !
 
In future, I would have got off and stuck her on the lunge in side reins till she was working well then got back on for 10 mins of hopefully better schooling.
Glad you got a good trot out if her though :)
 
If she's in season she could be feeling tight across her back, which would make her grumpy and unwilling to canter. Our little mare suffered terribly with her seasons, and got very tense and would hump her back and buck a lot when she was in season. I'd say it's just that, and so let her be and just mooch about until she's less in-season! Horses get period pains too ;)

Ah thank you ! It was out of character, she is excitable but generally rideable :) Will bear this in mind she is having the weekend off so hopefully next week i can lunge and see how she is feelin :)
 
In future, I would have got off and stuck her on the lunge in side reins till she was working well then got back on for 10 mins of hopefully better schooling.
Glad you got a good trot out if her though :)

Next time will lunge her before to avoid this, but thank you I could have done that and next time will :)
 
I think you did the right thing!!

My youngster sometimes feels like this and i usually just concentrate on transitions, walk to halt etc, changes of rein, getting him working on his straightness, practice him bending round my leg just basically get him listening to my seat and leg before we even attempt trot. He is only allowed to trot when he is calm and relaxed. And then again in trot. If he gets to much in trot and wont listen, it goes back to walk so he gets bored. Sometimes i dont even attempt canter if he is in a mood like that.
 
With a tb in a wild mood ending on a good note is sometimes all you can hope for :) tomorrow will be fine

She was certainly full of bean squeeling and farting ! Her owner is riding her tomorrow so i hope so as she is quite nervous. But if we bring her in lunge her and see how she is. If she has back pain from Season might just suggest owner leaves her to it
 
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