do you think she will change??

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swampdonkey

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I've had my mare for 12 weeks now and my problem is she is so spooky and jumpy on the yard and in the school. It doesn't seem to be getting any better. She does seem quite settled in other ways, happy to turn and and bring in, happy with the herd. She has no awareness of my feet when she spooks and getting a bit tired of being jumped on. Don't tell her off just continue and ignore spook. She has never spooked hacking out, wierd. Do you think this will settle down or is she just jumpy?
Please tell me it will improve.
 
Have you tried doing some groundwork with her to get her more aware of you and where you are? Simple stuff like leading her across and around poles and build up to a bit of despooking. It sounds like she is so interested in whats around her that she forgets you are there. Might also be a bit of seperation anxiety when you take her away from the herd, either way if you can gain her attention then life will be easier for both of you.
 
12 weeks isnt long at all so she should settle. i agree with ladyinred, if she has more respect for your space she will spook but not ontop of you, try groundwork, maybe some simple monty roberts bonding excersises, she will see you as an equal and not be inconsiderate with her space.
my boy is very like that, he will see something in the corner of his eye and have to swing round to look, flattening me in the process, you just have to let her know you're there, if you ignore it she might not realise you're there and keep doing it
setting up a relationship or using distraction techniques will draw her attention to you n away from the other things.
 
12 weeks isn't that long tbh. After 6 months my mare was still spooking and landing on me, despite working an awful lot on her ground manners and being v consistent with her. She has always been wonderful under saddle, so it was just a prob on the ground. At a year now I have at last started to get to know the real her, she has respect for me (and my feet!) and knows that if she must spook, it really isn't done to land on her slave!! I would just recommend being very consistent in her handling and helping her to understand that your space must be respected (learning to 'back' at a quiet word I think is the most useful thing we learnt for that).
 
Thanks will definately do more groundwork with her. Spoke to the chap I got her from today and he said she is not a spooky mare so just be a bit firmer with her and tell her to get on with it.
 
My mare was really spooky when I first bought her home particularly if she was alone on the yard and couldn't see any other horses. She also used to stand on top of me as if she wanted me to protect her and when I walked her round the school before a lunging session she would spook and land on my feet, push into me.

As the others suggested I did lots of groundwork with her and when she was fidgetting on the yard (and she was really bad) just putting her back where I wanted her to stand and carrying on with whatever it was I was doing. She eventually settled down and is now generally a very good girl but if someone else looks after her when I'm on holiday she tries it on with them!

I can definitely recommend lots of groundwork, good luck!
 
swampdonkey said:
I've had my mare for 12 weeks now and my problem is she is so spooky and jumpy on the yard and in the school. It doesn't seem to be getting any better. She does seem quite settled in other ways, happy to turn and and bring in, happy with the herd. She has no awareness of my feet when she spooks and getting a bit tired of being jumped on. Don't tell her off just continue and ignore spook. She has never spooked hacking out, wierd. Do you think this will settle down or is she just jumpy?
Please tell me it will improve.
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She will improve when you start letting her know that you don't like it. I agree with some horses that it is better to just ignore any silly behaviour because if you make a fuss they can get wound up but yours need to settle down and respect the boundaries IMO. If she's not spooky out hacking then there's no reason for her to be so in the school.
 
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