Mare Not Responding to Regumate / Dressage woes

VAO26

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Hi All,

I wondered if anyone could shed any light on reasons why my mare may not be responding to Regumate.

The mare in question is 20 years young but very low mileage, having had a few foals in the past in-between some low level eventing. We purchased her 3 years ago, spent a year bringing her back into work and now we're unsuccessfully eventing / SJ at 90/100. She is sound, fit and healthy, and enjoys her work.

Whilst not being particularly mareish to handle or ride on a day to day basis, as soon as we go to a competition she turns into a very squirty flashy lady, and can't seem to handle herself or her excitement, which is leading to lots of cricket score dressage tests as I basically just have to hold her together for the length of the test whilst she's trying to do every movement in canter. We have the same experience at pure dressage shows, so it doesn't seem to be due to being on grass / in an arena / in an indoor etc.

At home and in lessons she schools beautifully, although can be somewhat sensitive and exuberant (The joys of warmbloods!) So something about the competition atmosphere seems to turn her into a bomb. We've tried warming up lots, not warming up much, no canter in the warmup etc.

We have tried all the usual calmers, cookies, Oestress and i've just finished a litre bottle of Regumate, and even on a double dose this on the vets recommendation has not had any impact on her behavior. Back / teeth / vet consultations have all been done with no findings, and we're now at a total loss of what to try next!

Wondering if anyone has experienced anything similar and could advise on their experiences. She's a lovely mare with all of the movement and ability, we just don't seem to be able to channel it within the white boards! I'm not sure if it's the dressage element or the mare element. She is hot but rideable in the SJ and XC phases, however after 3 years of trying, and very little success, it's fair to say i'm becoming somewhat disheartened.

TIA
 

Iznurgle

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Surely if she is fine at home it's nothing to do with the regumate not working, it sounds like it's just being away from home at a show that is causing her behaviour to change.

This sounds like part of the issue alright - VAO, have you gone to an arena hire or small training/RC shows and had the same experience?
 

VAO26

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Surely if she is fine at home it's nothing to do with the regumate not working, it sounds like it's just being away from home at a show that is causing her behaviour to change.
At home she doesn't do any of the mareish stuff, she's just sensitive and onward, which we can handle.
What doesn't make sense is that if we go to a SJ competition she doesn't do it. Not sure if it's something to do with all the other horses in a dressage warm up that start making her mareish, or if the jumps just take her mind off it when at a SJ comp. She doesn't show any other signs of stress at competitions....loads and unloads fine, stands tied to the box, will stand on the box even if her mates are taken away. Sometimes will warm up perfectly well and just does it in the actual test, others she will be a nightmare in both. The squirting that accompanies the behaviour would suggest it's something to do with hormones. Just wondered if anyone had experienced anything similar.
 

VAO26

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Yes
This sounds like part of the issue alright - VAO, have you gone to an arena hire or small training/RC shows and had the same experience?
Yes she's similar at smaller shows but not as bad, wondering if it's something to do with the amount of other horses at ODE's vs RC/local where there tend to be less and you're on your own in the arena rather than with others next to you/in the distance.
Her little strops being accompanied by her suddenly displaying strong signs of being in season are what's making us question whether it's to do with hormones, and if so why regumate isn't taking the edge off. ?
 

Coblover63

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You've said she's sensitive..... could she just need picking up on your nerves? They're so intuitive. Maybe you've got into this "expectation" loop and are more tense than you realise in the actually test situation and your mare is picking up on that. Have you had anyone else ride a test for you to see if she's any different?
 
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