Please kick me up the backside and make me see sense!

Doormouse

Doormouse

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I own, in many ways, the perfect horse. She is a pretty rose grey, 16.1hh 6 year old mare, ISH with more ID than TB.

She is easy to catch, clip, box, shoe, lead, lunge etc, fantastic with my 16 month old, puts up with her patting her tummy, can be left in on her own, turned out on her own or in a group, hacks out alone or in company, never changes if given time off, good doer so very cheap to keep, lovely polite hunter and so the list goes on.

BUT she is a steady soul, jumps but very green and again very steady, not at all forward going and I find her terribly boring. I know that sounds awful and I love her dearly so don't mean to offend her but I just wish she would find a bit of oomph from somewhere.

I have mostly owned TB's so she is bound to seem slow in comparison I just wish I could appreciate all her amazing qualities and stop whining about her!

Kick up bum required please. :D
 
No I think your completely right. I will find you a scatty naglett and I will take your boring mare. You don't have to say thanks, it's fine
 
Doormouse - I so know your plight! When the warmblood became the in thing here in NZ - I bought one!

OMG was it a bore to ride! Sold the mare - fortunately I hadn't really taken to it too much so it wasn't a traumatic thing to do.

I still had my lovely TB gelding with the warped sense of humour and I went back to him and kept him for 14 years before Navicular got the better of him.

Should you decide to go back to a fun and lively horse you have a goldmine of a horse so please don't undersell her. There are people out there who would give their eye teeth for a gem such as yours.
 
How long have you had her?

Try seeing it from her point of view, perhaps she is just very happy/content and you are doing a fantastic job.

And as you have a toddler, she is worth gold dust to you at the moment. A few years down the line and your toddler will be more and more demanding, wanting to use your time to support their interests/hobbies, and having a horse that can cope with that is great.
 
Wanna swap for a rising 3 year old welsh section d x PRE that is nuts ? :D right now i'd be happy with boring :cool:
 
you are so lucky she sounds amazing ! i wonder if you could give her some tiger oats to zap her up a bit? if she had more ooomph would she be totally perfect?
i know ID s tend to be steadier and saner than a lot of horses but its always easier to zap them up a bit than calm them down.
 
Tnavas - I know, what is it about scatty TB's that gets us? Loved all of mine dearly and strangely I miss the quirks!

Aarrghimpossiblepony - I've had her since June last year. She is a very happy mare, no trouble really to anyone. I do however think she needs a break and is on holiday at the moment for 6 weeks, I suspect she has done quite a lot for a young horse and she may be more inspired this summer for the rest. You are also quite right that she is perfect for me as a mum because she never objects to taking a back seat. I shall try to keep remembering this!
 
archiepoo said:
you are so lucky she sounds amazing ! i wonder if you could give her some tiger oats to zap her up a bit? if she had more ooomph would she be totally perfect?
i know ID s tend to be steadier and saner than a lot of horses but its always easier to zap them up a bit than calm them down.
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Now therein lies one of her very few faults, she undergoes a total personality change when you feed her! We have had much trial and error including a case of tying up before settling on alpha a but try to feed her cereal and she is a hazard to herself never mind me!
 
As she gets older, you can really up the fitness and school her to be more off the leg, that might help? :)

I know mine goes from complete plod to unexploded bomb, all depending on his fitness level.
 
Just to show you how sweet she looks

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I fed my rather sluggish ID mare NAF EnerG and it made a huge improvement to her forwardness and oomph. Also rather bizarrely after she had 6months off at stud (AI'd 5 times but didn't take) she has turned into a different horse and is much more off the leg and fun to ride. Living out has made her more energetic as has losing weight.
My horse also has huge behavioural changes with some feed in particular carrots which turn her into a nervous wreck. I must admit that I do prefer her when she is fit, bouncy and fun to ride.
 
LynH said:
I fed my rather sluggish ID mare NAF EnerG and it made a huge improvement to her forwardness and oomph. Also rather bizarrely after she had 6months off at stud (AI'd 5 times but didn't take) she has turned into a different horse and is much more off the leg and fun to ride. Living out has made her more energetic as has losing weight.
My horse also has huge behavioural changes with some feed in particular carrots which turn her into a nervous wreck. I must admit that I do prefer her when she is fit, bouncy and fun to ride.
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Thank you, that is really interesting because I am desperate to feed her more for energy but haven't been able to because of her feed intolerances. Hopefully a holiday will help her, and I hope to be able to keep her out more this summer. Last year the yard I was on had no shade in the fields so had to get her in during the day when it was hot.
 
What an absolute darling she sounds SO up my street! I think there will be a feed combo/supplement out there for a bit of pep, trial and error never ends!

Would you go so far as to loan her out or anything like that (please can I join the queue) or is it just a momentary blip? I am sure there are people quaking at the thought of riding their nutty TBs who will let you have a go to reset your perspective!
 
Aarrghimpossiblepony said:
How long have you had her?

Try seeing it from her point of view, perhaps she is just very happy/content and you are doing a fantastic job.

And as you have a toddler, she is worth gold dust to you at the moment. A few years down the line and your toddler will be more and more demanding, wanting to use your time to support their interests/hobbies, and having a horse that can cope with that is great.
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This!!! You may be a tad bored at the moment, but just imagine if you had a 'mad Arab' or 'hot TB' in your paddock and your 2 yearold child wandered into the paddock.....!!!! Horses like the one you have are worth their weight in gold....you can leave them for a month when your child has chickenpox and know you can get right on again with no dramas.....if you want a bit more 'spark' start feeding her some oats or other high sugar feed - start small and increase until you get the right amount of 'spark'!!!!
By the way I am being facetious on the 'mad Arab' and 'hot TB' comments - I have very sensible Arabians and TBs are simply specialized part bred Arabians!!!
 
Reading Lyn H's post reminds me that if you stop asking and reward every try and start with the lightest possible aid you get amazing results.....allowing them to make the mistake (like dropping back into walk when you are trotting) then start asking them to trot with the lightest possible aid, increasing in intensity until they start to trot, then stop asking and allow them to carry the responsibility of trotting until you ask for something different....this technique works wonders!! But it is up to the human to recognise the try and reward it instantly, not, for example, say 'trot faster' when you have achieved a slow trot!!
 
Might be worth trying some of the Winergy Equilbirum feeds - one of our cob's needed extra energy but without massive calories and he goes nuts on cereals. He was getting a couple of handfuls of their high energy one (it's all fibre and oil, no cereals) and he had energy and bounce but no stupid fizziness. Might be worth a try.
 
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