AABBCC
Active Member
Sorry, it's a lot of reading, It's kind of a vent as well as a cry for help!
As title says; I recently got my first horse, a gorgeous 8yo 15.1/15.2hh thoroughbred mare called Nellie. Some background; she competed about BE100 with her previous owners and did quite well. I went to try her in a big open field and she was great, didn’t speed up at other horses and listened to me perfectly, after we ought her she went to my trainers yard for about 3 weeks where I’d see her + ride her every day. She was amazing to ride but she did have a few testy times with her manners (slightly nippy/girthy but not too bad, a bit bargy going to the field). She has recently been moved up to my livery which we are both new to and she has now been there for about a week now, settling in really well and being impeccably behaved, to begin with…
Obviously I was really excited of the prospect of everything we could do; pony club, competitions and I was planning that eventually it’d be her to take me up the levels of jumping but, she has really quickly gotten worse and worse both riding and on the ground and she is beginning to knock my confidence (I’m not a confident person to begin with) and even scare me which has gotten me really down in the dumps because I really don’t feel like she is listening to me at all and it is making me feel like I am not a good enough rider for her.
Basically, on the ground, she is getting more bargy and I have to hold her tightly all the way to the field and have my wits about me otherwise she drifts into me getting my caught between her and the fences, a place I really don’t feel comfortable in! I tried lunging her today to take some energy off as I thought that might be part off my issue but she went a bit mad and wouldn’t listen to my cues at all; running off without me asking and not slowing down.
To ride; she was a dream for the first we weeks at my trainers and the first few days up at my yard, a bit spooky but nothing serious. However, the past couple of days she’s not listening to me at all and doing whatever she wants. For example, she spooked at a fox outside the arena and decided to bomb around the arena afterwards and then the same thing the next morning about a car, she is getting more and more difficult to slow down and it is beginning to scare me. She shakes her head around and generally uses her strength to do whatever she damn well pleases.
I don’t really want to just put her in a strong bit etc because I want to solve the problem but I’m geniounly starting to get really nervous and scared around her as she is beginning to use her strength against me. I am planning on getting the vet out and having her teeth checked in the up coming weeks, I’m also planning on having natural horsemanship lessons with her every week to try and build a rapport and get her to respect me and she really doesn’t at the moment. She’ll be going back to my trainer for 3 weeks in a few weeks time which isn’t ideal as she’s moving around but it has to be done due to other things.
If anyone could give me some advice on getting her to listen to me and help building my confidence I’d appreciate any help as I definitely don’t want to ‘give up’ on her but as I keep saying, I haven’t got a tonne of confidence in myself all the time and she is scaring me, not the way I imagined my first horse at all :-/ got me really far down in the dumps…
As title says; I recently got my first horse, a gorgeous 8yo 15.1/15.2hh thoroughbred mare called Nellie. Some background; she competed about BE100 with her previous owners and did quite well. I went to try her in a big open field and she was great, didn’t speed up at other horses and listened to me perfectly, after we ought her she went to my trainers yard for about 3 weeks where I’d see her + ride her every day. She was amazing to ride but she did have a few testy times with her manners (slightly nippy/girthy but not too bad, a bit bargy going to the field). She has recently been moved up to my livery which we are both new to and she has now been there for about a week now, settling in really well and being impeccably behaved, to begin with…
Obviously I was really excited of the prospect of everything we could do; pony club, competitions and I was planning that eventually it’d be her to take me up the levels of jumping but, she has really quickly gotten worse and worse both riding and on the ground and she is beginning to knock my confidence (I’m not a confident person to begin with) and even scare me which has gotten me really down in the dumps because I really don’t feel like she is listening to me at all and it is making me feel like I am not a good enough rider for her.
Basically, on the ground, she is getting more bargy and I have to hold her tightly all the way to the field and have my wits about me otherwise she drifts into me getting my caught between her and the fences, a place I really don’t feel comfortable in! I tried lunging her today to take some energy off as I thought that might be part off my issue but she went a bit mad and wouldn’t listen to my cues at all; running off without me asking and not slowing down.
To ride; she was a dream for the first we weeks at my trainers and the first few days up at my yard, a bit spooky but nothing serious. However, the past couple of days she’s not listening to me at all and doing whatever she wants. For example, she spooked at a fox outside the arena and decided to bomb around the arena afterwards and then the same thing the next morning about a car, she is getting more and more difficult to slow down and it is beginning to scare me. She shakes her head around and generally uses her strength to do whatever she damn well pleases.
I don’t really want to just put her in a strong bit etc because I want to solve the problem but I’m geniounly starting to get really nervous and scared around her as she is beginning to use her strength against me. I am planning on getting the vet out and having her teeth checked in the up coming weeks, I’m also planning on having natural horsemanship lessons with her every week to try and build a rapport and get her to respect me and she really doesn’t at the moment. She’ll be going back to my trainer for 3 weeks in a few weeks time which isn’t ideal as she’s moving around but it has to be done due to other things.
If anyone could give me some advice on getting her to listen to me and help building my confidence I’d appreciate any help as I definitely don’t want to ‘give up’ on her but as I keep saying, I haven’t got a tonne of confidence in myself all the time and she is scaring me, not the way I imagined my first horse at all :-/ got me really far down in the dumps…
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