Parelli

Thank you, I have contacted her and will see if she can help or shed some light on the issue :) I just want to help the horse feel happy and safe, and need someone to help me achieve that. :)
 
The behaviour you describe is classic for ulcers ( and a couple other things off the top of my head ) a supplement won't cure ulcers any good professional should tell you this.
 
Could you not just continue to do her girth up in the arena, or away from her stable, if she is happy with that? Give her a chance to succeed!
 
The fact that she is fine when you do the girth up away from the stable does not prove anything. You have already placed the saddle on her back and girthed it up on the first hole. The act of then walking her to the arena settles the nerves down in the sensitive area, so by the time you come to finish girthing her, she is fine. This would be the case whether she has gastric ulcers, or kissing spines. As Goldenstar has pointed out, supplements do nothing to cure ulcers. You need to use omeprazole (gastroguard in the UK - although you can get it many times cheaper from other sources).
 
Sophskies said:
I'd be happy with anyone who can make her behave! Doesn't have to have a label on it. I don't think it's ulcers as its only when she is in or tied up to her stable, when you lead her away from it and do up the girth or touch her she is absolutely fine and also fine to handle in the field. x
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I would be careful about assuming it's not ulcers. I ride a horse every week who has definitely had ulcers (ex-racehorse, very common with them) and is prone to recurrence. If his girth is tightened in his box he can stagger about and looks like going down, but outside walking around he's fine. I would certainly get yours checked out by the vet, even just to rule out ulcers definitively.

Should it be ulcers, your vet may well prescribe Gastrogard, which works but is quite expensive to keep on a permanent maintenance basis. There are other much cheaper charcoal or kaolin-based supplements that work effectively on the horse I know.

As for Parelli, spot on with the 'open your wallet and repeat after me' comment, very funny. I would add: 'and now watch while I truss your horse like a chicken and rough it up it a bit'.
 
I got more mare 'free' as a companion as she was apparently unrideable and very mareish (they had tried her on every kind of hormone treatment out there), she could not be caught and even doing the sursingles on her rugs resulted in ears flat back, crinkled mouth, snapping of teeth and striking out with leg. Turned out her saddle didnt fit, her teeth were a mess and her previous owner (who gave her to me) would, once she caught her, take her in, groom her and ride her every time she was caught - she associated being caught, groomed and ridden with pain - there was no separation as they all eventually led to her being in pain. I had her teeth seen to and put her in a hackamore until her mouth healed and then starting re-bitting her again with a happy mouth bit; I also had her back seen to and got her a new saddle - she is now off the hormones and is a fantastic little mare to ride out on hacks (not spooky and very willing), however she will still lay her ears back and crinkle her mouth when you go to girth her up but she no longer bites or strikes out - I never pull the girth tight when first girthing up and girth up incrementally. At 25 the behaviour is pretty deep in there but if I can add layers of correct and comfortable behaviour on top, then we can both learn to live with a laying back of ears and a crinkled mouth!!
 
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