Moody mare - Any help appreciated!!

[Jools88]

Just looking for a bit of advice really. I currently help look after and ride my friend's two horses. One is a New Forest - very cheeky and a lovely boy The other is a cob - complete opposite! She is a very moody mare!

I started riding them both regularly (5 times a week) about 2 and a half years ago. About six months after I first started going down the mare backed me into a corner and lashed out at me with her back legs - her hooves were inches from my face which caused me to completely lose my confidence with her. Looking back, I can admit that I didn't do too well in setting the boundaries of what she could 'get away with' in terms of behaviour. She can be very intimidating in her behaviour and even though at first it didn't bother me I think over time I started to allow her to get away with certain things I shouldn't have done because I was started to feel intimidated by her, which then led up to her 'challenging' me as such. I do not think she meant to hurt me - she is not vicious at all (just moody!!), I think she just wanted to see how/if I would assert my place in the 'herd' as such.

I only really got up the confidence to really start working with her again properly the start of this year, and made good progress with her going back to basics until she unfortunately got laminitis in the summer. This unfortunately also made her more moody as she loves to work (she has a personality transplant when she is being ridden and is a great ride!).

I am now riding her again, but my friend tacks her up and grooms her as I am not at that stage just yet - before she got laminitis I was at pretty much at that stage which is really frustrating!! But I want to take it one step at a time again and establish boundaries etc and what is not acceptable behaviour. Any ideas on how to do this would be really appreciated.

Sorry for the really long post!!

 

[el_Snowflakes]

I have a mare and yes they are complex creatures......but so unbelievably rewarding. The behaviour you describe is aggressive. Im sorry but that is completely unnacceptable behaviour in any horse. This is not typical marish behaviour. We cannot allow mares away with aggressive and dangerous behaviour. I would do groundwork with her. Are you experienced with horses? If not I would pass her onto someone else (who can teach you also) to teach her some manners. Do not put yourself at risk. The odd nip or ears back is one things- double barrelling a human is quite another!! :O I currently own a dominant mare and if she did that to me I think she would be out the door tbh! .....

 

[Jools88]

It was completely unacceptable, and because I was shaken up I did not let her know that.

I started doing groundwork with her before I started riding her again - before she got laminitis! The lady who owns her is very experienced with horses - she has owned horses for 40 years. She has had her from when she was 6 months to now (she is 9) and said she has never had a horse like her! The owner's reactions to anything this mare does that is slightly out of line are quite something to see!!

I myself have ridden on and off for 18 years, but not massively experienced with dealing with anything that is out of line as such. I now know you need to be a strong character with this mare, and have adjusted my behaviour around her accordingly.

I have got to the stage now where I am more than happy to give her a piece of my mind of she steps out of line - something I realise now that I should have done in the first place, and she has not tried anything remotely like that since. As the owner is around quite regularly she is more than happy to do the grooming and tacking up of the mare as she, like you say, does not want me to put myself at risk or be in a situation I can't handle, but ideally I would like to get to the stage of tacking up etc again myself but still feel nervous when grooming her (something I don't do without the owner there with me).

Now that she is working again after recovering from laminitis would you say it is best to start over and go back to groundwork and then ride her? Or just continue to let the owner groom and tack her up?