Moody Mare stories?!

as sweet as hunni

as sweet as hunni

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So, I'm drawing pics for some fellow HHO'ers and i want to be entertained whilst doing so! Soo tell me your stories of your moody mares :D(i have one also i just want to know I'm not alone :D joking! she is lovely, she just thinks everyone should feel sorry for her and shes a 'life's hard for Hunni' mare :o) I'd like to ask a few questions, as I'd like to know whats happened and how you deal with it.Nobody knows but when im older and much more experienced I'd like to work with horses that have behavioral problems, hehe we will see how that end up :o:p

So has your moody mare(or gelding!) ever kicked you/threatened to kick you? if so how did you deal with it?
She has kicked out at me twice,both not on purpose;one was we were walking through field to find something we lost and the herd came over as they thought we had something, hunni being the jealous cat she is(she doesn't like other horses by me) came over and kicked out at one of them, well that horse scooted and she accidentally caught me! turns out we didn't loose said object, it was on the yard the bloody whole time :D:mad:

Second time was my fault, about 20 mins prior to it happening i found out hunni and a horse had a little kick up on the yard, owner of other horse tied horse next to hunni even though she knows the don't get on(mares! :p) and had a little scrap, no one hurt really, horse now moved to different spot, so i start grooming find a cut, which i though was a clump of mud(note: put glasses on :o) tried to brush it with a hard bristled dandy brush and she let me know it hurt by kicking out, didn't catch me but i felt bad, it was swollen and warm and had dried blood(before i get show down i thought it was mud!) she was stiff for a couple of days after, it was deep ish also, but me being me didn't think of the scrap that happened between the two earlier on, also owner told me her horse didn't kick out, but apparently a livery saw her kick out,but that's old news now hehe! either way hunni made is obvious she felt bad after both being oh so affectionate!
Also i don't know if its just me but,if i ever have to tell her off for something i find it better to leave her to calm down herself as if i tell her off she gets wound up and upset more she is really sensitive like that, another livery's mare is like that, anyone else horse?

only nice/polite comments please, trying to make something out of a boring Monday night :)
 
Ok bit of info, I had my mare for about 3 months, she was bought as a well mannered mare, not know too be mare ish when in season.

Well I was sat on ground crossed legged in my field with my mare. I had done this with her before with no problems. She is actually extremely loving. Well out of no where her ears went flat back and her mouth wife open and she grabbed and bit my neck and pulled me off the floor! I thought she tore my neck off it happened that quick, I was in shock and ha my had on my neck until my dad turned up about 5/10 mins after I called to let him know what happend. Every minute that went past I could feel my neck getting bigger under my hand. Went to hospital. Had to have X-rays. X-rays showed she had cracked my windpipe. Doctors and nurses all came in to see me cuz the a and e doctor In all his 30+ years of being a doctor, ha never come across a horse bite to the neck. He said I was extremely lucky and if she had grabbed smaller surface area she would have ripped the skin from my neck with serious consequences. Was extremely sore and stuff for about 10 days, an was walking round with what looked like a giant hicky on the whole left side of my neck. I now have a lovely scar to remind me. She tends to try and kick me in the field sometimes too but now after that I don't take any Crap from her and kick her back!
 
Oh my gosh, i hope your ok now!, if i have a crop with me and she tries anything overly stupid a tap with the crop usually tells her enough! and yay my horse isn't the only one with anger management problems hehe, we should get clinics sorted for them! :p:D
 
I used to ride a lovely mare for someone. Beautiful looking fresian, gorgeous mover, fab jump. However she was an A*** cow bag!

When tacking up you had 1 chance and 1 chance only to get a bridle on her - usually achieved by walking slyly past the stable to make sure she was head first then making a quick no fuss entry and bridle straight on. Fussing or flapping would result in bite or attempted kick.

She would bite and stomp about when you got on, try and bite the toes if your boots if you tried to alter stirrups or girth and you were not paying attention to her.

Competitions were a strict ribbon in the tail event. And after getting placed in a SJ competition, we were presented with a rosette, only for the bloody cow bag to go all teeth blaring at he judge... The shame!

She also had to be the last in the field... If she was first she would patrol the gate area and not let you turn out any others.
 
Yeah fine now. Lol you wouldn't be able to tell unless you were right close to my neck to see the scar. It was very frightening. More shock than anything. I couldn't even tell her off cuz I was in so much shock. Oh forgot to mention she also cracked the top of my collar bone when she pulled me off the floor. But not bad enough for any treatment. Just a little crack in the bone :)
 
Oh my gosh! Asking as you are ok is that matters! I think I would if bitten her back(if not in shock if course ;) ) and hula, was there any reason she didn'tike be bridled or was she just a cow? :)
 
I have a mare who will always tell me when she isn't happy. When I first got her she was quite vile to me, but I was sweet to her and consistent but firm, she hates being shouted at but occassionally I do it. I never hit her because she's trying to tell me something in the only way she knows how and there is always a resaon for it - quite often I don't see the reason until later. Most of the time, if she's being animated or bolshy I step out of her body space, wait till she pauses then go back in, stroke her and talk quietly to her. It calms her and she's fine, at times I have to do this a few times esp if I'm trying to do somethng she doesn't like, such as putting ointment on her legs.
I prefer a horse who communicates rather than one who's had to put up with so much that they don't even bother trying any more, that's just sad :(
 
Definitely! I think horses are peaceful creatures and only act up when something is wrong(but I think you do get alot of stroppy little mares who are grumpy gits,mine being one of them :o)
 
No reason that we ever found out, unless she had an experience before she arrived with her new owner. She had the vet out, had back checked (3 times), had teeth checked... It was decided she was just a cow.

Such a shame, beautiful beautiful horse! Showed her nice side once in a blue moon.
 
We have a CBxTB mare, now on loan to my daughter, a total stresshead, she broke my OH's ribs twice barging out her stable, her friend was six foot away in the yard, she split a stable door in 2 barging at it, longreining her in the woods, we turned for home and she took off, yanking my OH off his feet, we literally had to wrap the longline round a tree to stop her.
My daughter was the only one who could build a bond with this mare, she had a year of battles with her, now has a 5 min fight before settling to enjoy her work, if it hadn't of worked with my daughter, i would have had the mare PTS
 
I have two mares - mother and daughter. Zara (mother) has impeccable manners and always has had.

Her daughter, Diva (big clue there !) is the most opinionated horse I have ever owned:D It's not that she's bad mannered, but you always know what she is thinking. :p

As far as the in season thing goes, if I'm washing her tail when she is in, I may get peed on if I'm not careful. Something about cold water around her lady bits ...... :confused:
 
I've had my mare seven weeks and had previously posted asking for opinions on mares ... as I swore i would never have one and I would never have a TB :confused:

Then I got her (TB Mare:confused:) and posted again really upset that she was just vile and a horrible, moody creature who always threatened to bite and kick and was lethal with her food :eek:

I did get to the point about two weeks ago when i contacted her owner (I loan her with view to buy) and just said enough is enough, she is dangerous and I seriously have to think about giving her back! :o

I don't know if it was my 'down and feeling sorry for myself' attitude or the fact I just acted so disinterested in her because she was going back and I was glad of it but she suddenly started showing her sweet side and although still pulls the odd face I can honestly say we have turned a corner and are getting on really well :D

She pushes the boundaries all the time and keeps me on my toes and I am starting to learn how to read her now. I also dont worry about reacting to the silly face pulling when rugging .... I tut and tell her she is silly and carry on doing what im doing and she gets over it.

We have a lot to work on and in a foul mood its absolutley no good me going in with the same attitude because she will meet fire with fire and I cant afford to let her win (or die trying to win, lol) so I back off, change the subject slightly, get a good response and leave it at that ... I always leave it on a good note.

Im firm but fair and I am starting to trust her much to the shock of other liveries who steer clear of her ... which is a shame because once you start to get to know her and she (most importantly) gets to know you she is actually a really nice horse and has a lovely sweet curious side to her.

These last seven weeks have been the steepest learning curve I think i have EVER had in my life and the most challenging, for me, is actually reining in the amount of love and affection I show her because she just isnt that kind of horse (I've my friends gelding to fuss and kiss .. he loves it) She was in a mood this morning so I gave her space and actually it was pretty obvious the hay she had last night was pants as she left most of it ... issue solved, no need to fight about it. Better haynet for this morning and an afternoon turned out .. Job done, disaster averted :rolleyes:

I've probably rambled on enough and will probably post again tonight saying how awful she was when i saw her tonight :D
 
Neither of mine are moody, just opinionated, typical mares in that you ask rather than tell. Mines not got an aggressive bone in her body, she's a real sweetie. But, its her way or the highway. If I ask she'll try her heart out for me, & goes out of her way to look after little ones, or novices, or people with little confidence. In contrast she has deliberately dumped overly forceful riders & even on the yard someone shouting 'back' or any similar scenario results in her planting or doing the complete opposite. Yet she's as safe as a first pony to handle and has manners to burn.
The other came with issues & her initial behavior was more than understandable. She wasn't unpredictably moody, just very screwed up & stressed & fear aggressive. So I just avoided anything that would provoke that reaction until she'd learnt to trust. Daughter was 3 at the time, & although I was very careful about her not getting close, because she was too small to be considered a threat, pony never displayed anything but friendly interest in her, & pretty much adored her from the start. These days pony is a reformed character. She's now just very strong minded & similar to mine, & 100% trustworthy with kids & the majority of adults. But very receptive to even tiny body language from new adults actually doing anything with her.
 
I have a moody mare and I love her to pieces. She's the kind of horse that threatens but never actually does anything, she can pull the best grumpy faces you've ever seen with ears flat back and teeth grinding-the lot. Understandably this makes a lot of people nervous around her, but once you get to know her she can be the sweetest and most affectionate animal ever. She doesn't like anyone going into her stable and is a right pain when rugging but I've never known her to bite or kick someone out of malice, just accidentally.
I don't know much about her past but it's obvious that she's been over-punished for what is normally pretty harmless behaviour as she get's very, very nervous when she knows she's been grumpy and when I first got her she was incredibly head-shy, and this breaks my heart as anyone could tell that she doesn't intend to harm and has been needlessly hurt. I'll happily admit that she doesn't have exactly perfect behaviour but I'd never swap her personality as it can be absolutely hilarious and she's got bags of character. Love her <3
 
Alice+LadyJane said:
I have a moody mare and I love her to pieces. She's the kind of horse that threatens but never actually does anything, she can pull the best grumpy faces you've ever seen with ears flat back and teeth grinding-the lot. Understandably this makes a lot of people nervous around her, but once you get to know her she can be the sweetest and most affectionate animal ever. She doesn't like anyone going into her stable and is a right pain when rugging but I've never known her to bite or kick someone out of malice, just accidentally.
I don't know much about her past but it's obvious that she's been over-punished for what is normally pretty harmless behaviour as she get's very, very nervous when she knows she's been grumpy and when I first got her she was incredibly head-shy, and this breaks my heart as anyone could tell that she doesn't intend to harm and has been needlessly hurt. I'll happily admit that she doesn't have exactly perfect behaviour but I'd never swap her personality as it can be absolutely hilarious and she's got bags of character. Love her <3
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We either love the same horse or they were seperated at birth!! :eek:
 
Antw23uk said:
I've had my mare seven weeks and had previously posted asking for opinions on mares ... as I swore i would never have one and I would never have a TB :confused:

Then I got her (TB Mare:confused:) and posted again really upset that she was just vile and a horrible, moody creature who always threatened to bite and kick and was lethal with her food :eek:

I did get to the point about two weeks ago when i contacted her owner (I loan her with view to buy) and just said enough is enough, she is dangerous and I seriously have to think about giving her back! :o

I don't know if it was my 'down and feeling sorry for myself' attitude or the fact I just acted so disinterested in her because she was going back and I was glad of it but she suddenly started showing her sweet side and although still pulls the odd face I can honestly say we have turned a corner and are getting on really well :D

She pushes the boundaries all the time and keeps me on my toes and I am starting to learn how to read her now. I also dont worry about reacting to the silly face pulling when rugging .... I tut and tell her she is silly and carry on doing what im doing and she gets over it.

We have a lot to work on and in a foul mood its absolutley no good me going in with the same attitude because she will meet fire with fire and I cant afford to let her win (or die trying to win, lol) so I back off, change the subject slightly, get a good response and leave it at that ... I always leave it on a good note.

Im firm but fair and I am starting to trust her much to the shock of other liveries who steer clear of her ... which is a shame because once you start to get to know her and she (most importantly) gets to know you she is actually a really nice horse and has a lovely sweet curious side to her.

These last seven weeks have been the steepest learning curve I think i have EVER had in my life and the most challenging, for me, is actually reining in the amount of love and affection I show her because she just isnt that kind of horse (I've my friends gelding to fuss and kiss .. he loves it) She was in a mood this morning so I gave her space and actually it was pretty obvious the hay she had last night was pants as she left most of it ... issue solved, no need to fight about it. Better haynet for this morning and an afternoon turned out .. Job done, disaster averted :rolleyes:

I've probably rambled on enough and will probably post again tonight saying how awful she was when i saw her tonight :D
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glad to hear you're getting on with her now:) she sounds very similar to my big girl, it's a lot of posturing though and she rarely backs up her threats;) But like yours, if you meet fire with fire you;re in big trouble. I love her dearly though, it's i different relationship than i have with my gelding, when she does let you have a cuddle it's special, when she puts her all into her work you know that you've earned it and when she threatens to knock your head off you know you probably deserve it;):D
 
It makes me sick to hear people say they have, or consider, murdering a horse simply because they haven't found a way to get on with it and work with it to resolve behavioural problems. And yes, it is murder.

On a lighter note, I always went for geldings and never had alot to do with mares until I got my girl, they are a whole different ball-game and teach us so much! :)
 
My old mare a bay TB x NF lovely little horse very pretty and dainty looking but boy could she look evil, hated the mornings ears flat back snapping her teeth at you, and she used to do snakey face I used to call it, sort of wiggling her face at you with the most evil look, nostrils all wrinkled up but she only ever kicked me once and it was after the vet had been pulling her about, I walked in her stable and copped it, she would often try and stand on your feet when tacking up, I had a lady ride her for me sometimes and I found out she used to ask anyone on the yard to tack up for her, I think she was terrified of her.

She was a lovely ride and was much happier once ridden, never hurt me just threats my Sister wouldnt go near her for years, I loved her though and just ignored it she never frightened me, the mare I have now is the sweetest horse ever never even puts her ears back at anything, not like a mare at all, my gelding is more grumpy than she is.

Just wanted to add I had her for 13 years she was my first horse and I had her pts in 2008 age 21 she had colic, I still miss her and think of her all the time dont think I will ever have another quite like her.
 
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I've been kicked out at once, she didn't get me though. It was after 4 hours of following her around the field trying to catch her, cow bag decided that its enough, kicked out at me and ******ed off. :mad:
I've been bitten 3 times, twice when rugging up and once when tacking up. When the girth is being done up, you really have to be a ninja on high alert mode, because you never know from which side the attack will come, you have to watch all 4 feet as well as head at the same time. With rugging, she used to have an owner that put 5ft6 rugs on her (she takes 6ft3 rugs) so she always got rubbed and the rugs would also be yanked forwards, so she's now very grumpy when doing up or undoing the buckles at the front, she has bitten me twice, even though i dont pull rugs forwards and they fit nicely so dont rub.
Apart from these, she's a grump with food! She will eat her hay out of the haynet, then when she gets bored of it and wants new hay (thats exactly the same!) she undoea the haynet and drops it on the floor and she wont eaat hay off the floor, so then when she sees me, her ears go flat back, she throws her head up snapping her teeth and untill she gets 'new' hay she will just be a general cow :rolleyes: i have taken to picking up the haynet, turning my back to her and rustling the hay so she thinks i've stuffed it with new hay, and put it back up, keeps her quiet :)
 
I used to ride one called Tessa when I was about 6. She was awful, but I loved her anyway.
My mum once told her off (verbally) for barging (while I was on board) and Tessa bucked! Not a kick out, she just bucked! I managed to stay on, but it was a shock!

The other was a mare called Misty.
She was waving her bum in Ned's face over a fence and was being very flirty. Ned ignored her for a while, but as soon as he showed a little interest, her ears went back and she started kicking the fence!! The horrible horse broke it :O Thankfully me and Ned were untouched.
 
Redequus said:
It makes me sick to hear people say they have, or consider, murdering a horse simply because they haven't found a way to get on with it and work with it to resolve behavioural problems. And yes, it is murder.

On a lighter note, I always went for geldings and never had alot to do with mares until I got my girl, they are a whole different ball-game and teach us so much! :)
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Im going to have to re read this thread now because im sure no one has actually said anything of the sort so its either you on the crack pipe or me ... and i was on the wine last night!!!
 
To add. I also find the my mare communicates with me and tells me whan something is wrong. I can now tell whether something is wrong because its painful etc or just because she doesn't feel like doing it today :rolleyes: Earlier this year she would not be caught, i know that she's sometimes a cow to catch anyway, but never have i spent 3 days trying to catch her in a smallish field where she was on her own. I caught her in the end though and i knew that theres something very wrong. We got the mctimoney out, and i was right. A gelding in the big herd has been mounting her a lot, so her pelvis, and lower back as well as some parts in her neck were all out of place, and it was painful. We sorted it, put the gelding with another one if a smaller field separated from the big herd, no more mounting, and horse is back to normal, can be caught and feels 'right' when ridden. My friend always laughs at me when i say this but i know when theres something wrong because when i get on, she doesn't feel 'right'. The loudest protest we've had from her is when the saddle we were trying on her she did not like, and even though saddler thought it fit, she thought it didn't. So she reared repeatedly at the mounting block when i tried to get on. Saddle got taken off and i went to get on bareback, she was fine. Since then i've given up with treed saddles, she likes them for a week or two then hates them and i don't have enough money to be buying her a new saddle every time she stops liking it. She's always liked being ridden bareback, so i got her a bareback saddle (basically a flat roller with stirrups) and we haven't had any problems with this so far and been riding her in it for about 6months :) She works lovely in it, its competition legal and i love riding in it, win win! :)
 
Mare on my last yard (I worked there - riding school and livery yard) was a right pain in the bum! I really didn't like her at all!
You had to make sure she was facing front before entering the stable or she was likely to kick you and when you did enter you had to be fast and keep an eye on her as she was likely to bite you on entry.
You couldn't muck out around her as she would try to kick you if you asked her to move over.
ALWAYS had to bridle first just to have something to hold onto with one hand as you saddled and girthed her as she would try to bite (she took about an inch square of skin out of my thigh one day and I had a huuuuge bruise just because I'd relaxed my attention for 2 seconds) or kick you.
She actually kicked a few people in the head during grooming my neice included (everyone luckily wearing hats!) and cracked her hat! And has bitten numerous people.
Just been told she's been sold back to the yard by her new owners but don't know if this was anything to do with it but I wouldn't be surprised.
Her only redeeming quality was that she was a good ridden horse who was useable by anyone from novice to advanced :rolleyes:
 
My girl is funny - she is extremely sweet to me and absolutly fine with me but with other people she is so grumpy. She pulls the most evil faces (never, ever follows up on the faces tho). She will kick at horse's going behind her but is fine with people. Tbh, I don't really do anything about her - the faces is because she likes her space (same with back end) and I'm careful about where she is tied up as this is the only time she reacts to horses walking behind her.
 
my mare is fab but my anglo gelding is the most 'mareish' horse i have ever met! hes extremley friendly, loves people but is also very cocky and if hes not in the mood he will double barrel people just for walking too close but when he decides he wants attention and he isnt getting it he will charge at me and/or follow me around biting me!!

if i try and correct his 'bad' behaviour by smacking or shouting it only exasperates the situation (hes extremley sensitive) making him worse (fight or flight- hel fight every time!)and believe me getting into a fight with a horse is not one that any human can win! so i just ignore his bad behaviour (hes aloud to have off days like we do) and reward the good and he is alot better for this though i know alot of people think im just plain soft letting him get away with it but i know my horse and how to deal with him best and it works for us!
 
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