Derradda
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Hi everyone. This is my first post on any type of forum, so please be kind. I'm a mature, experienced rider who has had her own horses for many years but this is the first time I have had such a young horse. I've had my mare for almost 2 years and she will be 7 in July. She's an Irish cob and has lovely manners on the ground and ridden, but she can be extremely opinionated about going first or last out hacking with my friend and her coloured cob mare.
She likes to be in the front - and pretty much leads the ride unless something worries her and then she's very happy for my friend's mare to take the lead. This has been very useful in getting her used to scary objects such as log piles (why she finds logs scary I will never know!) as given a lead once or twice she will not hesitate to go past first next time. I like the fact that she's confident and it's easier to be in front most of the time as she's got a faster walk and trot.
However she is very reluctant to walk or trot behind. I am now insisting that she walks parallel to the other mare, or slightly behind on the last part of our ride home, and although she does try to speed up sneakily if I relax for a second, she is getting to understand this is the new normal. But when we try to trot behind she fights to get in front - or does a ridiculously speedy burst of canter at times to barge past. She pulls up almost immediately, but it's hard to stop when you don't expect her to do it. It doesn't help that my friend's mare is slower in trot, and I think my girl gets quite frustrated.
Last week my friend rode her partner's Arab, and my mare was completely different with her. On the home stretch (which is usually where she's most opinionated about being in front) she was happy to mooch along behind on a long rein. This is so unusual but was very welcome. (We did try a trot earlier but it was all too exciting as the Arab wouldn't contemplate anything slower than a canter!)
I'm interested to know whether it's just a competitive mindset with my mare (but why with one mare and not the other?) - and whether anyone else has experienced this and what they did to resolve the issue. I've had two other mares who were always happy to go in front, behind, or side by side when asked and as she's still young I want to make sure this doesn't escalate. Could it be her teenage tantrum stage? Or is she just sassy?
She likes to be in the front - and pretty much leads the ride unless something worries her and then she's very happy for my friend's mare to take the lead. This has been very useful in getting her used to scary objects such as log piles (why she finds logs scary I will never know!) as given a lead once or twice she will not hesitate to go past first next time. I like the fact that she's confident and it's easier to be in front most of the time as she's got a faster walk and trot.
However she is very reluctant to walk or trot behind. I am now insisting that she walks parallel to the other mare, or slightly behind on the last part of our ride home, and although she does try to speed up sneakily if I relax for a second, she is getting to understand this is the new normal. But when we try to trot behind she fights to get in front - or does a ridiculously speedy burst of canter at times to barge past. She pulls up almost immediately, but it's hard to stop when you don't expect her to do it. It doesn't help that my friend's mare is slower in trot, and I think my girl gets quite frustrated.
Last week my friend rode her partner's Arab, and my mare was completely different with her. On the home stretch (which is usually where she's most opinionated about being in front) she was happy to mooch along behind on a long rein. This is so unusual but was very welcome. (We did try a trot earlier but it was all too exciting as the Arab wouldn't contemplate anything slower than a canter!)
I'm interested to know whether it's just a competitive mindset with my mare (but why with one mare and not the other?) - and whether anyone else has experienced this and what they did to resolve the issue. I've had two other mares who were always happy to go in front, behind, or side by side when asked and as she's still young I want to make sure this doesn't escalate. Could it be her teenage tantrum stage? Or is she just sassy?
