In pain or just difficult?

ShadowHunter

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gah, this horse is turning into a walking vet bill.. long story short my mare has become a little madam out hacking. A week ago i took her out and i only got a mile down the road before she refused to go any further, i tried to make her move but she got wound up and started jogging and sticking her head in the air, trying to spin around. I just put it down to the wind and rain as well as me being a bit tense.

However, i took her out today again and we only got 200 or so yards before the planted and tried to spin around. She was completely fine and relaxed until we got to the t-junction and turned left :confused3: I turned her the other way and walked on, she was fine. Turned her back around but she blatantly refused to go the other way. Got off and lead her down a carpark further on where we met my mum with the dogs, got back on and she was good for the rest of the route (even back up the road she refused to ride down) with just one attempt to turn around.

My first thought was pain, either ulcers or saddle fit. But then wouldn't she play up for the entire ride not just at a certain point? She isn't at all girthy though she will grind her teeth when tied up, put this down to impatience/boredom as she doesn't do it any other time. She's been fed half a scoop of speedi-beet to disguise her linseed oil with timothy hay chaff.

any ideas? chocolates for everyone who got this far.
 

Ella19

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She sounds insecure. When she was with your mum she behaved. Have you got company you can hack with for a bit to build her confidence?
 

ShadowHunter

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unfortunately we don't have an arena to ride her in, i've been meaning to hire one. we've been riding out with my parents and the dogs for the past few weeks as its just been convenient to do so. so now i've been trying to hack her out alone to remind her that she can, i wouldn't mind but the parts she's playing up on she would normally be on her own for anyway. would love to get my brother on her but he's currently away doing his part in the armed forces and wont be back until Jan.
I see a few battle of wills ahead.

ETA she hasn't been ridden in between those times due to weather and time.
 

landyandy

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my new horse was like this, we have recently had an equine sports therapist out to her, I was actually amazed at what she had wrong with her, she would stop and back up, i'm so glad I had her back and teeth checked before I made her worse by pushing her forward, as at first I thought she was just napping
 

be positive

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If she was not ridden between the two incidents and she "won" the first time then I would say it is napping due to insecurity, horses like this need a lot of time put in to build their confidence so they can go alone, a stronger rider may be able to force her to cooperate but will probably not solve the issue for you, a few lessons may help give you the confidence and some tools to deal with her when she plays up, it doesn't sound pain related to me.
 

Mitch&I

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...would love to get my brother on her but he's currently away doing his part in the armed forces and wont be back until Jan.
I see a few battle of wills ahead.

You can do it! If she isn't showing any other signs of discomfort and does ride out fine with company, I would assume she is chancing it. She's your horse - she needs to behave for you specifically and if you battle and win, the chances are that she'll give it up. I used to have one who actually feigned lameness to get out of work - because I believed him the first few times. Once we got past the yard gates, he'd give it up! It doesn't matter if she sticks her head in the air and jogs - so long as she's going in the direction you've asked for. I would get her moving forwards, then collect once she is.
 
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