EL12
New User
Hi guys! Just looking for a bit of advice about how to stop this bad habit. My mare is 4 years old, rising 5 and recently started kicking out leading to bucking when going away from other horses. I've had her 4 months and she's normally an angel but in the last week or two when asked to leave the group in a group lesson she'll try backing into the other horses and when I ask her to move forward she'll kick out and it will lead into a buck. Yesterday I had her in the arena on her own and when another horse came in and went past her she moved her bum in towards the other horse, walking backwards towards them. I stopped her, then she bucked when I asked to go forwards. She was fine once they were a bit further away.
She was awful at the start of a group lesson today, doing the same thing but I worked her out of it within a few minutes, keeping her mind very busy and she was fine after that going past others/them passing her, I just have to keep her a healthy distance away when the group stops!
I'm very firm with her, I keep the pressure on her to move forward and do my best to not let her away with it.
When she does it I basically sit right back, keep my leg on to push her forward, talk to her and use the stick once she starts trying to back away. I always look behind us first to make sure theres no one there in case she kicks out so she might get one or two steps backwards before I use the stick, purely because I don’t want her to kick anyone.
I've also asked coaches what more I can do and they said I'm doing everything right, it's just a lovely phase we get to work through! I just thought I'd put up a post to see if anyone has any tips for dealing with this and how to stop the behaviour before it gets any worse or she causes an accident.
Her saddle is was fitted to her when I got her and he was out about a month ago to re-check it so shouldn’t be the saddle. And she’s perfect on her own, it’s very specifically when a horse goes past her in the opposite direction. She’s been in group lessons once a week for the last 4 months and would rarely be in an arena on her own as the yard is busy!
Thank you for any advice!
She was awful at the start of a group lesson today, doing the same thing but I worked her out of it within a few minutes, keeping her mind very busy and she was fine after that going past others/them passing her, I just have to keep her a healthy distance away when the group stops!
I'm very firm with her, I keep the pressure on her to move forward and do my best to not let her away with it.
When she does it I basically sit right back, keep my leg on to push her forward, talk to her and use the stick once she starts trying to back away. I always look behind us first to make sure theres no one there in case she kicks out so she might get one or two steps backwards before I use the stick, purely because I don’t want her to kick anyone.
I've also asked coaches what more I can do and they said I'm doing everything right, it's just a lovely phase we get to work through! I just thought I'd put up a post to see if anyone has any tips for dealing with this and how to stop the behaviour before it gets any worse or she causes an accident.
Her saddle is was fitted to her when I got her and he was out about a month ago to re-check it so shouldn’t be the saddle. And she’s perfect on her own, it’s very specifically when a horse goes past her in the opposite direction. She’s been in group lessons once a week for the last 4 months and would rarely be in an arena on her own as the yard is busy!
Thank you for any advice!