Stroppy mare hacking issues

Claire-R

Claire-R

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I have a 12 year old tb mare who is everything I ever wanted apart from one area!
On the way back from a ride she walks fast, never breaks into trot just stay at a fast walk, which is fine. But if I keep asking her to stop to wait for traffic or waiting for a friend to catch up she starts getting stroppy and finally stops dead and wont move again. If I keep squeezing her on or give her a tap on the neck she all of a sudden explodes and tries to bronk me off. Sometimes I get off lead her back to a safe place (not in the middle of the road) and get back on her because I know we are going to have an argument :/ I have had her back, teeth, tack everything checked it is her being a stroppy cow.
If I let her walk on at her speed and stop her a handfull of times she is okay but I would like some advice on anyway I can stop this?
 
I had a TB similar to this except he was like it all the way round! I hacked him on his own as stopping to wait for the others to catch up caused rearing fits and airs above the ground however the majority of hacking was off-road or quiet country lanes so I very rarely had to deal with stopping for traffic. Sometimes he got himself that worked up that I was telling him he could walk on but it took a while for him to register as he was too busy flinging himself around in a strop. That said he didn't have a problem standing briefly if needed but he wouldn't have tolerated hanging around for long.

There was nothing I could do about it. He had a very apt competition name....... Roadrunner! :D
 
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Practice ! Mine used to do this; occasionally does now if going past her field! (It's napping) but more we have done better she's gone. We can now hack on our own anyway! Sorry it's not much hope; but she did rear me off on a lane once having a strop!! I've taught her to stop by giving her a treat onboard. She doesn't get them now but it helped with the stopping at junctions as she was preoccupied trying to get the treat!
 
Thank you for your replys. Obviously roadrunner was trying to live up to his name :)
I might Try the treat thing I used that when I was trying to get her to stop bolting off in the field when I took her head collar off and it worked! :D
 
Claire-R said:
Thank you for your replys. Obviously roadrunner was trying to live up to his name :)
I might Try the treat thing I used that when I was trying to get her to stop bolting off in the field when I took her head collar off and it worked! :D
Click to expand...

He was named after his breeding. Sire was Rapid Pass and dam Road Express by Pony Express, so he was Roadrunner! He was named well before I had the honour of owning him but the name certainly suited his hacking opinions! He wasn't the type of horse that treating would have worked for but I hope it can work for yours.

P.S He's the horse in my avatar.
 
Is she just speedy on the way home (i.e. not all the way round)? I used to ride a mare like this, the minute we passed some magical location in her head we were considered to be home-ward bound and nothing stopped her. The walking out was fine, but stopping at junctions (mostly road hacking) was an interesting experience. The way I eventually solved it was to make going home the most boring part of the ride. Possibly this is being anthropomorphic but I figured that in her mind going home was great, she got untacked, fussed, fed etc. So, if she was stroppy about stopping on the way home then once home we went in the school and did really boring work / lunging, or we did figure of 8 hacks so we went past home and out again. Once home, she would be untacked and left in the stable /turnout pit without feed or hay for 15mins or so, so coming home wasn't a great reward. We also did a lot of walk-halt-relax-treat (pat or food) in the school and out hacking both ridden and in-hand to try and break the rushing off cycle.
I'm not sure what of the collection of things I tried was the most useful, but hopefully that might give you some ideas. Don't get me wrong, this wasn't an overnight fix and there were some fantastic strops but in the end while she was always faster on the way home she was at least more willing to listen to reason at junctions!
Good luck!
 
Thank you timefort! I always do the school thing and I always wait for her to cool off then give her a feed so I might just feed her in the mornings and not give her a feed when we get back! Maybe thats a reason shes rushing back.
Its only on the way home. On the way out she is spooky and hesitant but magically the monsters disappear on the way home! Silly mare
 
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