Help - Having Problems with my Mare

[~Shannon~]

Hi guys. I ask that you read all of this as I really need some advise, thank you. I own a 13 year old mare who is mentally a lot younger called Donkey (Welsh Section D.) I've had a year now and we've had saddle problems up until December time ish along with back problems. After this was sorted everything went according to plan and she started to learn how to be ridden (canter, bend, jump etc.) We had just qualified for NWSJC when my sister fell off and everything's gone wrong from there. She had already had back problems which I mentioned before and this hurt her back so she had physio in to fix it. We had the saddle checked and her back was sorted but life for her has become terrifying. I have tried de-sensitising her and lunging, but she's not really safe anymore. Whenever you ask for anything the head goes in the air and she tries to take off even getting on, turning, asking for transitions. I have completely lost my confidence and get terrified to get on her, and there doesn't seem to be anything I can do about it. She just freaks at anything. We know the problem is not her back as that has been fixed. My mum mentioned that she though it would be better to sell her for she doesn't want to keep paying people to try and re-school her for its not really doing anything. My sister (12) can't ride her because she cant hold her when she goes and once you've lost your balance, she bucks, twists and you're off. I don't want to be one of these people who give up on their horse but I'm beginning to think about my safety and she nearly broke my back once. I want something that I can enjoy riding and get out and about and do things on, but I don't want to give up on her. I need advise fast. I apologise for it being so long, please help. Thank you, ~Shannon~.

 

[hnmisty]

That's very sad.

Have you had her teeth done as well? When you are lunging her, is that with her saddle on or not? If it's on, have you tried lunging her without it? If so, what's she like then? The problem with her back may have been solved, but if she's made the association that saddle = pain, then unfortunately she's not going to break that link quickly or without putting in some work. what's she like to take out in hand?

Do you know what caused her the back problem in the first place? If she's that severe it could be woth getting the vet out to rule out things such as kissing spines.

My thought on selling her is that you cannot honestly sell her as a riding horse. You'd have to sell her as a companion and if they asked you why, you'd have to admit she was dangerous to ride. In the current climate I would be worried about who would take a pony with that history on.

Good luck, and hopefully you'll get some better suggestions than mine!

 

[be positive]

There may be an underlying reason for her back problem, not just a poorly fitting saddle, it could be her back, pelvis, hocks, feet or anywhere else, having a physio come in once or twice to fix the muscular issues is not always getting to the root cause. If it is just due to soreness and the saddle the horse still requires correct work, under physios advice to build up the muscles again and allow the horse to relax and work properly.
No physio treatment can fix something fairly deep rooted without the following rehab work they should have followed up with further assessment to see how she has responded, or in this case not, then referred her to your vet for her to be properly looked at in case there is more going on, I would suggest that is the next step as until you really know why she is reacting as she is you cannot begin to deal with it and her behaviour sounds like a response to pain even if there is no obvious lameness.

 

[~Shannon~]

Thank you, it's truly heart breaking as I love her dearly and she is my first horse.

She has had her teeth checked by the vet and they were all filed. And we choose to lunge it she needs her quick wiz to get her excitement out her system. She is lunged with and without her saddle on and she is perfectly fine. That's what we thought and we did this last winter with her being scared of the saddle, and once she had you off she would just keep bucking next to you or run away. My mum was concerned as she didn't want to go through all this again. And she is an angle in hand, where she gets her name Donkey, buy she goes from that to a physco very fast.

We don't know much about her past apart from the fact she was a broodmare up until she was 9, and had quite few foals, but other than that we don't believe we know what has caused it as we've only had her a year. I had never heard of kissing spines, I will do some research on it.

That's what I thought about selling her too. Yet she has so much potential and is a lot of fun when she is sane, which is why I think there is an underlying problem as she has been an angle all summer. She's never malicious, only when she's scared/hurt but can be a prat, which makes it hard to tell if she's just being a prat or there is actually a problem.

Thank you for your help!

 

[~Shannon~]

There may be an underlying reason for her back problem, not just a poorly fitting saddle, it could be her back, pelvis, hocks, feet or anywhere else, having a physio come in once or twice to fix the muscular issues is not always getting to the root cause. If it is just due to soreness and the saddle the horse still requires correct work, under physios advice to build up the muscles again and allow the horse to relax and work properly.
No physio treatment can fix something fairly deep rooted without the following rehab work they should have followed up with further assessment to see how she has responded, or in this case not, then referred her to your vet for her to be properly looked at in case there is more going on, I would suggest that is the next step as until you really know why she is reacting as she is you cannot begin to deal with it and her behaviour sounds like a response to pain even if there is no obvious lameness.

Thank you, we are considering getting the vet out