LeahK
New User
There is a grey Arabian/QH mare named Sassy at the barn where I ride. She is owned by the barn owner and no one will ride her because she can be so dangerous, so the owner keeps having me ride her. The owner is older and out of weight and no longer rides, their horses are just retirees or meant for lessons. She seems perfectly sane from the outside of the stall, but inside it she will randomly bite for no reason or occasionally kick. Perfectly nice and well behaved if she's eating or you have a handful of treats. She cannot be cross tied because she apparently panics and will break the crossties and bolt, taking out anyone in her way. So when grooming and tacking, some people tried to keep her in her stall with a halter and lead rope to try to deter biting or a second person to hold her, but as I said she can be slightly mean in a stall in general. I also don't like being in a confined, poorly lit space where she could corner me, so instead I always take her out on a lead rope and halter and let her graze while I groom her. Then, she doesn't care at all that I'm there and I can groom everything except most days picking her hind feet. Bridling is normally slightly difficult because she cant be cross tied so when you move the halter to her neck it's harder to keep her head up and prevent her from grazing forever. Sometimes I put her back in her stall to bridle her. One day I was helping new riders, so I was on the opposite side from the barn as usual and she was acting normal, but when I had the lead rope around her neck and unbuckled the halter to move down her neck, she pinned her ears, shoulder checked me slamming me to the ground, and bolted. It turns out she just ran back to her usual side of the barn to see some of her mare friends. So now I always make sure I'm on that side of the barn when bridling.
Now comes the bigger problem part. I always have to have a second person help when I start saddling. The owner recommends each of us having a crop to fend her off, but i usually just have whoever is holding the lead rope use the end of it and my hands are too full of tack to manage a crop generally. Sassy keeps her head down grazing even once you put the martingale, and saddle pads on. You can even approach with the saddle and most days put it on her back and she doesn't care. She has a worse side, so I always buckle the girth on before hand and drape it on top of the saddle beforehand. Doesn't usually react to letting the girth drop and hang either. When I reach under her for the girth she still is just grazing, but once it's in my hand and I'm pulling it through the martingale, Sassy reacts. She simultaneously lunges with brutally angry biting (full on teeth bared with intent to hurt - not a warning or playful bite at all) while also cow kicking out to the side as hard as she can. This is why it takes two people to saddle her because I can't keep her still, defend myself from both sides, and manage the tacking process. On her grumpier days she will result to bucking, bolting, or pivoting to swing her butt closer and has very nearly landed some of her kicks that way. She has been examined by the vet and chiropractor and it's not a pain issue. She's had time off, infrequent leisure rides, or a frequent consistent schedule. The girth isn't too tight as she attacks before it's even pulled up near the buckles. She wears a 48 girth and to further ensure it wasn't a tight fit issue, we've put on a 50 or 52 instead. It doesn't matter. Sometimes I try to give her a chance to work it out after I get one buckle done (so she can't dump the saddle as she frequently does) and then I simply point near the girth (no contact at all) and no matter how many times i do that or poking near it or putting my hand underneath her reaction doesn't lessen. She also reacts if you adjust your stirrups. Between every hole I let her graze a moment to calm down, though I also tried not giving her a break at the owner's suggestion. The weirdest thing is once you get to the last hole or two her reaction finally does decrease and on her best days 2 times she didnt react at all for the last hole which further suggests it's not a pain or tightness issue. Not only is this dangerous (and usually the people helping me are less experienced and terrified), but it's also very frustrating and time consuming. So I was wondering if anyone has any tips or advice. The hard part is it's not my horse and the owner doesn't seem interested in giving her any additional training or investing time in it. I'm an upper intermediate rider and lots of horse handling experience from horse rescues and a prior job, but I am not experienced at training at all. And I don't have the most time to invest in this horse as I ride up to 5 different horses per week, work full time, and have graduate course work. The owner says I can lunge her and see if that helps, but she said that in response to Sassy being difficult at the mounting block (a less frequent problem only in response to time off and she's perfectly fine under saddle or post ride). The problem is I have to wait for her to find time to teach me how to lunge (I'm planning to watch youtube videos too) and at this barn everyone lunges their horses in full tack, so that would be after going through this exhausting violent process anyway. So any advice? It's a very difficult situation and I doubt anyone can really help, but I thought I'd throw it out there and see.
Now comes the bigger problem part. I always have to have a second person help when I start saddling. The owner recommends each of us having a crop to fend her off, but i usually just have whoever is holding the lead rope use the end of it and my hands are too full of tack to manage a crop generally. Sassy keeps her head down grazing even once you put the martingale, and saddle pads on. You can even approach with the saddle and most days put it on her back and she doesn't care. She has a worse side, so I always buckle the girth on before hand and drape it on top of the saddle beforehand. Doesn't usually react to letting the girth drop and hang either. When I reach under her for the girth she still is just grazing, but once it's in my hand and I'm pulling it through the martingale, Sassy reacts. She simultaneously lunges with brutally angry biting (full on teeth bared with intent to hurt - not a warning or playful bite at all) while also cow kicking out to the side as hard as she can. This is why it takes two people to saddle her because I can't keep her still, defend myself from both sides, and manage the tacking process. On her grumpier days she will result to bucking, bolting, or pivoting to swing her butt closer and has very nearly landed some of her kicks that way. She has been examined by the vet and chiropractor and it's not a pain issue. She's had time off, infrequent leisure rides, or a frequent consistent schedule. The girth isn't too tight as she attacks before it's even pulled up near the buckles. She wears a 48 girth and to further ensure it wasn't a tight fit issue, we've put on a 50 or 52 instead. It doesn't matter. Sometimes I try to give her a chance to work it out after I get one buckle done (so she can't dump the saddle as she frequently does) and then I simply point near the girth (no contact at all) and no matter how many times i do that or poking near it or putting my hand underneath her reaction doesn't lessen. She also reacts if you adjust your stirrups. Between every hole I let her graze a moment to calm down, though I also tried not giving her a break at the owner's suggestion. The weirdest thing is once you get to the last hole or two her reaction finally does decrease and on her best days 2 times she didnt react at all for the last hole which further suggests it's not a pain or tightness issue. Not only is this dangerous (and usually the people helping me are less experienced and terrified), but it's also very frustrating and time consuming. So I was wondering if anyone has any tips or advice. The hard part is it's not my horse and the owner doesn't seem interested in giving her any additional training or investing time in it. I'm an upper intermediate rider and lots of horse handling experience from horse rescues and a prior job, but I am not experienced at training at all. And I don't have the most time to invest in this horse as I ride up to 5 different horses per week, work full time, and have graduate course work. The owner says I can lunge her and see if that helps, but she said that in response to Sassy being difficult at the mounting block (a less frequent problem only in response to time off and she's perfectly fine under saddle or post ride). The problem is I have to wait for her to find time to teach me how to lunge (I'm planning to watch youtube videos too) and at this barn everyone lunges their horses in full tack, so that would be after going through this exhausting violent process anyway. So any advice? It's a very difficult situation and I doubt anyone can really help, but I thought I'd throw it out there and see.