help pls, stroppy irish mare!

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guccigivi2001

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hiya guys, just wondering if anyone had any ideas on how i can get my arguementative and rather strong willed irish mare to have some respect for me? she isnt too bad on the ground however will try to drag me everywhere on occasions, likes to flatten me and is very bulshy and rude when it comes to day to day things. also when im riding her she feels the urge (even more than on the ground) to argue with me when i ask her to slow down in any circumstance, do lateral work and sometimes even steering :rolleyes: teeth back etc all done and she is totally ok, riding isntructor and horse whisperer horsemanship lady have put it down to her having no respect and generally being irish and a mare! its difficult as she is 16hh/16.1 and im only 5ft2, i always put my foot down and insist she does things on my terms but she always feels the need to argue with me and its gets to the point where i win the arguement and all of a sudden she has a tantrum and tries to flatten me/expell me from the sadlle
any ideas would be appreciated as would like to crack it for end of summer so i can sell her on/loan her :)
 
Well according to your answer to my thread below, it sounds like you are feeding her quite a high sugar diet, have you tried changing this? :)
 
weve had her on low sugar diets, calmers the lot, god knows how many feed combinations in the 3 yrs weve had her, snd she was worse than she is now when we got her and she was eating hifi and cool cubes... shes been better since weve bonded and shes gotten to know me however its does seem she is just rude. would it be both getting the natural horse lady to do some sessions with us or is there something else we can do? as im going to be selling her i would like to see if i can get her to be a bit less rude around the other horse owners at the yard so we dont scare off potential buyers
 
Hi, she sounds rather like my mare, who incidentally is irish as well! With her we started being strict on the ground. Every time she barged off with me, I asked her to halt, then we continued. If she pushed through me then I asked her to step back a couple of steps. Stuck to this absolutly every time (took an age some days to turn her out!). I found a controller halter useful for leading her as I just needed something so I had a chance in hell of having her notice what I was asking. I used this one http://www.horseweb-uk.com/features/benice.htm V useful when used on a pressure and release basis. Can't tie up in it either as it has no break point, but v handy for leading! She also did the gobby ignoring steering and braking requests! For steering we used a full cheek for a while. With the brakes, she tended to lean on the bit, so when I asked her to slow she just continued to lean and carried right on. She has a large tongue and low palate so I needed to find a bit that gave her tongue space (when she had pressure on her tongue she leant on the bit more as a reaction to it feeling uncomfortable for her). She had a ns verbind and a myler MB32. Both were a big help, but for hacking we found that the myler was the best. We use the ns for schooling as we have better steering in it!
hth, bit of a long haul but def worth it to have a mannered horse! I have had my mare for a year now and she is massively better. She still trys it on rather more often than I would like, but I just make sure that I stop her, and insist on her behaving properly. She is a s*d as if I'm tired and let myself slip even the smallest bit, then she is a right arse for ages after until we establish the rules again!! For her sugar makes her loads worse as she just goes off her head - she is now on restricted grazing, soaked hay and no molasses chaff with her supplements - much better!
 
This used to be like my mare, out of season lovely, in season totoal COW bag! I had tried low sugar feeds then a friend who works at Allen and Page suggested to me Fast Fibre and Ride and Relax and now i swear by it. Its Molasses free and it has totoally changed her, she is polite in all months of the year, non bolshey, she listens more and even though she still has all her character she is easy to handle.

I must admit I wasnt so sure that a feed could change her so much but it. I would suggest giving it a go if you can.
 
It sound like she is in need of some schooling. Try to find someone who does groundwork, such as an RA, or another trainer who uses natural horsemanship. They will be able to establish ground control and obedience, and hopefully be able to teach you to be firmer with her so you are the boss, and not her. i would agree that its best to take her off any mollased feeds or carbs. If she is quite forward going and excitable, maybe cutting out hard feed and just give unmollased sugar beet and hay. She may not even need any hard feed with her workload.
 
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