Much loved mare becoming too much to handle!

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LouiseH

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I have a beautiful 10yo ISH mare. I have owned her since she was 5, she has always been mare-ish but recently this has got progressively worse. She is absolutely bomb proof in traffic, is like a lamb to handle/shoe/load but has become a complete nightmare to ride. Hacking was never a problem, recently she has become very very nappy, she has reared and spun with me on the roads, cantered back to where she wants to go etc. I am only petite and she takes full advantage of this.
Competition wise she is extremely scopey and could jump bigger than I would ever have the guts to! Loves her XC but last weekend went to a clinic and she spent the entire time trying to nap back to the trailer and threatening to rear ( which she does do if too much pressure is put on her!)
I am seriously considering selling now, and letting her go to a stronger firmer rider where she can do the job she is designed for, as much as it upsets me.
So frustrating as I know what she is capable of.
Has anyone had a similar problem? Any advice welcome as I feel stuck between a rock and a hard place.
 
What checks have you had done? Tack, teeth, back etc. What has changed recently as you say she was fine to hack?

Horses don't size up their riders and think that smaller ones are easier to take advantage of, because they could easily take advantage of a 20 stone rugby player.
 
Back and teeth being checked again this week. Tack was all made to measure and she hasnt changed shape at all. Seems to have got worse since neighbour bought little pony, as she always charges back to theirs. But even away from him ie at xc clinic she was horrid to be on. Feels like she knows I'm intimidated. Rearing has always been her first response if she doesnt want to do something and is pushed, understandably this scares me.
 
Personally I'd get the vet to give her the once over and then get a sympathtic but good professional rider on her and see what they think.

It is quite possibly not her trying to take advantage of you, but simply trying to tell you something.
Alternatively you could just be overhorsed.
 
Have you got her on anything like regumate? An has she had bloods done? We had a little mare who started behaving in a very similar way and she had ovarian cysts that were causing a huge hormone imbalance... She had more testosterone in her blood than you'd expect in your average stallion. Was the cause of her increasingly erratic and explosive behaviour under saddle.
 
My TB mare got like this after being the quietest horse to ride - I used to happily go for miles on my own with no issues. There were no other symptoms at the beginning and then she seemed to go very very slightly lame, but it seemed to change legs. She ended up at Glasgow Vet Hospital where she had full diagnostic investigations. The outcome was bilateral navicular, bilateral spavin, hind limb PSLD and arthritis in one fetlock. No wonder it was difficult to tell what leg she was lame on!
 
Haven't had any bloods done, I'd half ruled out it being a medical thing as she always been pain in the **se when she wants to, and its gradually got worse. Shes due jabs soon so will ask the vets opinion before i give up on her entirely. She's only gone slightly lame once in the last 5 years and is as sound as anything at the minute. She is kept with my old pony ( also a mare) there is a neighbours mare at the other end of the same field and 5 horses in a field on the other side of the road, so she has plenty of equine company!
 
That's what we had with our mare. She'd always been a madam but her behaviour was getting worse and worse and she started napping really badly. Initially people said she was just taking advantage but we thought there was some deeper issue...
 
Ditto what ihw said. Start doing the checks methodically, with the help of someone experienced and don't assume anything. Horses change constantly - that's part of being alive.

Re selling, it's pretty tricky to sell a horse well if it's not going well. Might as well get a bit more information and then make a more informed choice.
 
LouiseH said:
Seems to have got worse since neighbour bought little pony, as she always charges back to theirs. But even away from him ie at xc clinic she was horrid to be on.
Click to expand...

It might be entirely coincidental, but I'll mention it because I've experienced similar reactions with a couple of mares that befriended very young or vulnerable herd members. One became tense and nappy when away from a filly that had joined the group, and another became impossible to catch unless her new friend, a nervous young mare was brought in first.
 
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