Rising 3 year old pain in the bum.

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Welshie Squisher

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Hello you wise ones :)

God I need help, I'm really fed up and quite down.

I have a filly that 2 and 3/4 years, she's a Welsh section D.
Now she's always been trickey from the day I bought her, she was 9 months old at that time.

She's very strong willed, stubborn, opinionated, difficult.....get the idea?
She reared up being turned out today, not with me but with yard staff. She's never done this before, and I don't want it happening again and certainly don't want anyone getting hurt.

In the past she's double barrelled me, chased me, kicked me in the face, bashed me into walls and just generally pushed me around.

I've stood up to her by standing my ground and being firm, and things got much better but she still has the odds moments where she's unpredictable - I know its partly age.

I have to move forwards with her, I have a trainer coming on wednesday who thinks she is bad mannered and ground work will be a big help, lacks respect etc - hasn't seen her yet though, is guessing due to my description.

I bought tack a couple of weeks ago, she doesn't bat an eyelid at it being put on. You can stand on a block next to her, lean on her, even sit on her and she doesn't care - all done to be sure saddle was comfy and right for both pony and human and as she took it in her stride, I saw no harm doing so at the time as jocky light and only very brief.

I can take her for a walk around fields in hand with her bridle on for control and she clearly enjoys it, has company due to age, again is well behaved.

To coincide with walks out, getting used to tack, being lent on etc. I planned to teach to long line, and teach the principals of lunging at walk, upping the pace at 3 and not sooner due to risk to joints.

The one thing she does get anxious with is being alone.
I know ground work will help with this indirectly as the respect improves.

I'm not sure of the way forward now. It was suggested that putting a saddle on her prior to lunging and long lining could have caused today's outburst. I struggle with this notion as the outburst took place a week after the saddle was last on her back, and she didn't bat an eyelid at the time.
But right now I'm not sure of anything, I'm just thoroughly fed up :(

I am well aware ground work is now very much needed, do I stop the walks out by hand?
Do I quit the tack until she can lunge and long line, do I have to use a roller if she's already cool with a saddle?

I know how to do all aspects, its more what to do and when that I need help on.

Sorry for the length of this, hard when on a phone :)
 
There are probably many reasons why your filly has become difficult and this makes it harder for us to work out what is going wrong which is why horses can be so frustrating.

It sounds as if you may need to give your filly more time to accept new things and introduce them slowly and over a longer period of time. You may also need to give her some space.

She could also be deficient in one or more of the B-vitamins. It may be worth researching this on the internet. Vitamin B-1 in particular is important for nervous stablilty.

I have recently taken on a 6 year old mare and she was broken in at 3 but has been out at grass for a few years so needs re-starting. She has been with me for 3 weeks now and I have spent most of the time just being with her in the field, stroking when she comes to see me but not taking too much notice. I have put a halter on her now and then and just walked her around with her field friends following. She has also accepted a plastic bag.

She is very spookiy and on high alert at the moment and I know I shall have to work with her at a slower pace and I too will be looking into Vit B1. I look for small improvements.

Don't expect too much too soon, it isn't a race and enjoy the journey.
 
Hi,
I know exactly how you feel. My boy is 8 now but a few years ago he was exactly the same as your filly.
When I got him he was 19 months. He had spent the previous 6 months atleast in a stable, with basically no handling and no turnout. He didn't know how to be led, or tied up, had never had his feet touched or had anything done with him at all:(.
When I got him home I couldn't even catch him in his stable. When I got close he went for me with his legs and teeth :eek:. I had him castrated, and expected that with all the time I was spending with him he would calm down quickly, but he didn't! He would go out to the field and in again every day on his back legs. I learnt to not turn my back on him, and grew eyes in the back of my head! He was all the things you describe your girl as, and probably more.
I really struggled for years. I asked for help from a couple of instructors but was told he was dangerous and they refused to help (maybe I asked the wrong ones??!).
It took about 2 yrs before I felt that he actually started to like me and pay me any positive attention.
I know that a lot of people don't agree with Parelli, but I'd searched the internet and books endlessly trying to find the right info to get anywhere with him, and I'd read that a lot of people have success with Parelli, so I thought I'd give the 7 games a try. I really feel like that was our turning point. I don't think I even got to the end of the 7 games, but working on the first few really got him respecting me and listening. I enjoyed just doing a little with him every day, and seeing how little a cue I could give him with practice.

I won't lie, right up to now Indi is a work in progress. If I could have given him away in the early years, I definatley would have, but I felt he would have ended up in a dog food tin. None of it was ever easy. I had 2 young children aswell. But I can honestly say, looking back now, I'm really glad I stuck with it. We have an amazing bond now. He still doesn't trust most other people but luckily I don't intend to ever need to sell him.

I really think that the more you put into something, the more you get out :). From my struggle I have have learnt so much.

I think its a really good idea you have an instructor coming to help. You definately need to sort out respect issues, and then hopefully everything will start working out :).
Just remember to always where a hat and gloves. I found the parelli halter very good. Had tried the "Be Nice" but I didn't find it helped. I also never led mine without a super long rope because you have then got room to get out of the way if need be. And take your time. Don't feel under any pressure from anyone else to do anything.

Good luck anyway. Feel free to add me as a friend. Would love to hear how you get on x
 
My last Welsh D youngster was 'challenging'.

She was a proper little brat and thought nothing of mowing me down if I was in her way, and trying to bite ME if one of my others annoyed her!

What worked with her was positive reinforcement.

If I got stroppy with her, in the main, she was more aggressive back.

So doing the opposite and being gushingly lovely to her when she was being good - with treats as that reinforced the praise (I don't give treats normally but in her case it helped enormously) and giving her a poke and a gruff 'no' when she was naughty and she was soon ultra keen to be Little Miss Goody Two Shoes!
 
Haha that's my girl you describe SpruchRI, I can only dream of her being miss goody 2 shoes lol
What is it about Welsh cob's, Lily has a streak of devilment in her and she was born with it for sure :(
 
I think I'd consider finding a youngstock herd to turn her away with over the winter. It sounds as if she's done quite a lot - not too much - I'm not saying I wouldn't have done any of the things you have done - but I would still chuck her out and forget about her for a while. She could have the whole winter playing with others her age and maybe get some of it out of her system.

Whereabouts are you? Perhaps someone could suggest somewhere that has a youngstock herd?
 
I have read all the other posts and as has been brought to everyone's attention recently. Welsh Ds are a handful! I found with my that if I ignored the bad behavour and praised the good behaviour he improved much quicker than if he was punished- he seemed to enjoy the fight!

I like the idea of the 7 parelli games (I don't want to start a parelli fight on here but a structured way of enforcing your personal space can only help- also as responsible horse owners you can not poo-poo ideas that you have not researched correctly).

I would personally start to up the work a little bit. Nothing strenuous, just long lining, going out for walks- can you ride and lead on little toddles?! she is a welsh D- she is designed to march for weeks on end on unlevel ground and then be used to drag carts in coal mines! Up her interest levels and ignore the bad behaviour! Praise the good stuff and enforce your personal space! You have to be the leader of her herd!
 
My youngster has a habit of rearing occasionally when being brought in, nothing nasty, she just gets excited/stressed etc and doesn't know what else to do with herself! We use a long rope, lots of calming words and the positive reinforcement, we've found these things seem to minimise her doing it. The one thing I would say however is that telling her off with our voices works well, and occasionally a wiggle of the lead rope helps (a reminder of our personal space), but physical punishment winds her up even more. Although it's worth noting that she is worse if she hasn't been worked for a while, or is hungry so maybe something there for you to consider, plus she likes her routine and can be worse when it's disrupted.

Welsh Ds are a handful, but once you've sussed them out they're also loyal loving and have very big hearts. It'll be worth all the work you're putting in now.
 
I know this may seem strange but a young girl on my livery yard had a huge eventer, he was like a giraffe! The horse reared when taken out of the field. The young girl used a long line and just kept walking ahead when he went up totally ignoring him - it worked as after a few weeks he didnt bother anymore. Hope this is of use.
 
She's welsh D, what else did you expect :p?!

I must have had the only exception, mine was an angel. Seriously though, don't worry too much, it sounds as though you are competent & confident with her. I've found that you need to be on top of them all the time, reprimanding bad behaviour & praising good, give them and inch and they will take a mile. Especially with the rearing, keep on top of it and don't let it become a habit, lead in a bridle if needs be, for more control.

They also seem to be very keen learners, they love to learn new things and are bad if they become bored (obviously not all horses of the same breed will be the same, but this is just from the ones I have worked with). A varied routine might help, not doing loads, but doing different things to keep her mind on the ball.

Overall, you need to determine what the behaviour she displays means, is she doing these things because she is stressed/unhappy, or is it because she is testing & beastly? Once you have established why, then you can work on it, hopefully your instructor will help you, it sounds to me like it's her age, she's testing her boundries & looking for a reaction from you to gauge whether she is in charge or you are! You need to be :p

I think you will be just fine, when she's about 10! :D Got to love the D's, a favorite breed of mine.
 
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