Lazymare80
New User
Hi all, I'm new so will give you a bit of background. I bought an "Irish type" 12 year old mare last year in a poor state and have spent a year backing her and generally getting her sorted. I have very little history other than she spent a few years as a field pet. Possibly as a brood mare but can't find any history of injury or behavioural problems. She had real issues over food/feeding when I first got her and she would threaten to swing and bare teeth to start with, now doesn't bat an eyelid if I'm with her while she eats now. Have had her back, teeth, saddle done. Vet has given her the once over. All jabs done.
But here's the problem, she is lazy and stubborn! Once you get her going nothing fazes her. If she doesn't want to go she just plants and NOTHING (!!) seems to get her to go forward. She is a good doer and seems to live on air. I have her on top spec balancer light and Alfa a molasses free because she got so fat over winter when I first got her we had to get the vet to do a pregnancy test! (At that point she was on pasture mix, Alfa a and a bit of fast fibre. She's a nice weight at the moment and being worked 4-5 times a week between my sharer and I. But she is being a cow to even get her to walk out hacking. Once she's out she's better but I wonder if there's anything I can feed to give her more energy but without the weight gain? I'm also working on the behavioural side of refusing to move! But wondered if there was maybe a bit more fuel in the tank then she may be more willing to go forward!
But here's the problem, she is lazy and stubborn! Once you get her going nothing fazes her. If she doesn't want to go she just plants and NOTHING (!!) seems to get her to go forward. She is a good doer and seems to live on air. I have her on top spec balancer light and Alfa a molasses free because she got so fat over winter when I first got her we had to get the vet to do a pregnancy test! (At that point she was on pasture mix, Alfa a and a bit of fast fibre. She's a nice weight at the moment and being worked 4-5 times a week between my sharer and I. But she is being a cow to even get her to walk out hacking. Once she's out she's better but I wonder if there's anything I can feed to give her more energy but without the weight gain? I'm also working on the behavioural side of refusing to move! But wondered if there was maybe a bit more fuel in the tank then she may be more willing to go forward!