my mares unexpected behaviour at a recent show (advise needed)

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spamiad

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Hi all

I am hoping all you lovley wise people out there may be able to shed some light, or send me some advise on our recent problem?

I have a 11 yr old TB mare has raced but not since she was 5 yrs this was also the year she was broken in, ive owned this mare for 5 years in November and considered that
i knew her inside out, as with all horses they allways throw something unexpected at you.

She has not been to a show since late 2013 due to some health issues which have now been resolved.

She has been working well at home, jumping, and schooling i have been recently riding her in an english hackamore which she seems to go better and more relaxed in
I dont do any hacking as there is no one to go out with at the times i ride and although she is good on the roads, she is much better in company.

As she hadnt been out for a long while rather than taking her to a busy BSJA show i decided to take her to a very near local show, a 5 mile trip to ease her back into things.

She is out at grass 247 at the moment whith my moms welsh section a, and as i allways do i brought her in gave her 20 mins on the lunge, brushed her, booted up with normal comepetition boots, i dont put travel boots on untill were just loading up!

she was quiet as a mouse untill i put her in the stable which is when she became quite stressy, she hasnt been like this since i moved her to the yard i am on now last year, im not sure why she was like this, we loaded up on the box, she ran up the ramp as usual she is never a problem to load, and off we set.

When we got to the show, she had swetted up badly, she allways sweats but not to this extent.

When i took her to her last shows in 2013 she would come of the box have a quick look around and setle straight away iether eating grass or standing there with a floppy lip.

This time however she didnt seem to want to setle at all, she would stand still even for a ite of grass, we got there a good 2 hours before our first class so she had time to settle to no avail although she didnt look settled to me she was in no way dangerous she just looked on edge, or not quite her self!

After a while we tacked up and got on, to which she took around ten strides and then seemed to go into a panick threatening to rear and buck, to which i took my leg off as we wernt even in the warm uo as yet, my mum managed to get her to lead up to near the warm up to whichshe went into a full pelt panic buking and rearing, which resulted in me getting headbutted in the chest.

I got off at this point and found sowhere to lunge her for 30 mins, i got back on and she did the same again, which is where we called it a day.

She also sweated badky agian on the way back to the yard and could wait to get back to my mums pony when i turned her out.

I have owned this mare for 5 years and she has never threatend this sort of behaviour before, it is completly out of charactor, her back has been checked and her teeth have been done, we are saddle fitters our selves so tack has also been checked.

I have been unable to get back on her as yet as i now have soft tissue dammage to my shoulder which is healing quickly and i am hoping to get back on next week.

My questions are what has triggered this is it sepration anxiety from my moms pony? she is for sale at the moment so she might not be here much longer, although i have seperated them into to feilds next door now but they are still quite close, i have never had a problem with seperating any of my horses before this is something i have no experience in.

She is also still stressy on the yard when i bring her in (cant work out why)

Is it the spring grass, she has got very good grazing at the moment.

I am at a loss as to where to start resloving this problem, i dont intend to sell her as i have spent a lot of time and money on her and i quite like her untill the last show lol.

I am wondering weather i should start hacking her out more often just to get her away from the yard on her own.

Any help or advise would be apreciated, i am not a novice rider i have 15 yrs experince but its just thrown me with her as i didnt expect it, when i took her to her very first show i was expecting it but she was good as gold.

Thanks

Sam :)
 
New environment, away from what she knows & out of sight of her companion is what I would put it down to.

When you ride her at your yard can she see the other pony? I would imagine the fact that she didn't know where she was or where she was going is what caused her to panic. You say she also hasn't been out for a few years, which is quite a long time.

I think the more you do it the better she'll get - they just need repetition. I would try to get her used to hacking alone at home, and also taking her to some shows but not competing. That way the pressure's off you and will probably reflect onto her.
 
Combination of things really:

- First show in nearly 2 years - my mare acts like this (without the rearing) if she hasn't been to a show in a few months! It's just all really exciting and/or scary for them as it's new! My horse trots into the box too, she loves going to shows. She also sweats alot travelling as she's winding herself up the whole way. New environments there is a lot to take in and lots of looking happening, it's overwhelming and she has no 'security blanket'.
- Spring grass - this is sending all the horses doolally!
- Is she possibly in season?

Do you always ride at the yard with the other pony? If so you need to get her confident on her own. Just keep taking her out as much as possible and after a while it will just become the norm. If you are nervous then take a more experienced friend along with you to warm her up and settle her.

Another really good idea is to take her out to showgrounds when there are no shows on and take your time schooling with a more experienced horse - take time to move away from the horse, school on your own etc, with the knowledge that the other horse and your experienced friend is there too.
 
Thank you for your reply.

these were my thoughts, she cant see the pony when we are at the yard unless my mum brings her down too, but we are trying to bring them in one at a time now, there are other horses in the feilds next door so she isnt all on her own.

She is very spooky in the school last week when i have been able to lunge her which is all i have been able to do.

I am planning on taking her out maybe this weekend in the lorry, but not go anywhere just round the block and back home?

I also wish she would settle in the stable but i think that may some in time

sam
 
SpringArising said:
New environment, away from what she knows & out of sight of her companion is what I would put it down to.

When you ride her at your yard can she see the other pony? I would imagine the fact that she didn't know where she was or where she was going is what caused her to panic. You say she also hasn't been out for a few years, which is quite a long time.

I think the more you do it the better she'll get - they just need repetition. I would try to get her used to hacking alone at home, and also taking her to some shows but not competing. That way the pressure's off you and will probably reflect onto her.
Click to expand...

I'm hoping your right I'm being quite hard on myself about it and not been able to get back on straight away plus I have been on awkward shifts this week which has menu no work for her, I don't really have anyone else who is very experience to ride her, but I am going to start hacking out more over the next few weeks☺️
 
Its also a possibility that the grass at the moment is lacking magnesium so a supplement may be worth considering for a while to see if it makes a difference
 
When Jay is up and running he is Mr Plug and Play at shows and events. In spring, however, I could not just roll up to a show months after the last if he had only been locally hacking and schooling.

We build up to it with trips in the box, hiring different venues, hacking in different places, until a show is a manageable step. Once he has been to one or two he remembers what he is supposed to do and is Mr Cool again.

I would start with practice at home in a show day routine, then hire an arena to box to and build it up from there.
 
Hi all

Thankyou for your replies, i did have her on magnezium last year, she is now back on this, after a week out at grass last week she came in Saturday like loopy loo, which was to be expected, i workded her hard on the lunge although she didnt need any encourment lol.

I kept her in Staurday night to keep her off the grass for a night, to which i think she settled at somepoint as all her hay had been eaten, but started to stress in the morning when the other liveries started to arrive, she had a light half an hour lunge yesterday morning, and has now moved to a paddock with less grass and away from her pal my mums pony.

Hopefuly a combination of work and less grass will help, we are planning on taking her out in the box Thursday night, but only round the block and back home and we will go from there, wether we take her round the block again or hire somwhere out next time will depend on how she travlels on thursday, also hopefully i will be able to get back on her at some point this week with a veiw to start hacking her out with a older saner horse at the weekend, barring any wind and bad weather.

Sam :)
 
I add salt to my horses' feeds as well as magnesium. It helps counteract the potassium in spring grass. They are geldings but my grass does eem to make them reactionary and the salt has really helped. Also could it be hormonal? My sister has a mare that is a lot better on Stroppy Mare or the like. If not I would also try a calmer and just try a trip in the trailer first to see if she is better. good luck with her.
 
I think it's probably a case of not being away from home for a while and getting excited!
I would start hacking her out if you can to get her off property. If you haven't got anyone to ride out with could your mum walk with you?
You could do a couple trips in the lorry before the next show, just round the block and back to settle her travelling so that's one less thing to worry about
Book more quiet shows (can you do dr instead of jumping for the next couple so it's a bit quieter and boring?). You could also take her to some clinics, or hire an arena.
Lastly I notice a difference in my TB if I give him ulcer guard on the run up to a show. It stops him from getting nervous acid in his tummy and helps him stay really calm.
I think the clingyness with the pony was down to insecurity from not leaving home for a while, that will go especially if you are able to get her hacking and more independent.
 
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