Gottaloveaginger
Well-Known Member
I have a Welsh A mare. In the summer she is an angel! She grows wings and is the most lovely, sweetest pony! In the winter, she is Satan reincarnated, and I'm absolutely terrified of her!
In the summer, we go out for lovely walks in hand, and she is calm and gentle. I cannot do that in winter. It takes all of my guts just to put her in the field and bring her back in again! She will either be a nightmare going to the field, spooking at everything, and rearing. Or she will do the same but at coming in time. Her default reaction to everything, (scared, frightened, excited), is to rear. The mud is so bad that I have a choice of trying to control her or letting her do it just so that I can be safe and get out of the way, because getting out of the way is currently very hard with the mud. I've fallen over already and lost a welly. Her spacial awareness is awful and she will just barge into me.
This is our third winter together. I've tried so much. Overrugging her in case she was cold. Not rugging her. Feeding her hay in the field in case she is hungry. Feeding her before she goes out in case she is hungry. Not feeding her when she comes in, in case shes excited to get in for dinner (this just resulted in her refusing to go into her stable). She gets a small dollop of Emerald Green feeds meadow magic, soaked, with carrots. I'm also giving her some Ostress at the moment in case it's hormonal, plus the oestress has calmer in it!
It is so windy here, and the wind does set her off. It gets to the stage every winter that I'm grateful if it's a horrible day so that I don't have to turn her out! New stables are being built next to the field, and the tarpaulin flapping doesn't help! I'm hoping that when they are ready, she might be better when she is only left on her own for a minute or two, and not 15 minutes. But she doesn't call to her friend when we walk away from the field, nor does she bother when we go out on our summer walks.
Her field is not next to the stable, so she is left in the field on her own for 10 to 15 minutes while I go and get her friend (which involves a walk up a road) Then she is left in the stable on her own for the same time while her bring her friend in again. She is better going out first and coming in first.
If I tell her off (whip, rope, shouting, tugging her nose, etc) she fights back. Ears back, rearing and boxing with her front feet. She is a rescue so I don't know her history, but perhaps someone beat her up once and this is her defence mechanism? She also does this if you try to get her to do something she doesn't want to do (I took her in hand grazing while her friend was on box rest, but she tried to box me with her feet when I said it was time to go back in.) I can't get her friend bought in or taken out at the same time as her because this just gets her too excited and we have the same rearing and bucking problem! They can only go out during daylight hours because of the road, so turnout is limited to 6 or 7 hours at the moment.
I read that mares need constant reassurance, so instead of shouting, I talk calmly and feed her treats, which does work to some extent. But then she mugs my pockets for treats!
She is supposed to be a childs lead rein pony eventually, but I wouldn't trust her! She got broken in the summer and was so good! I also had an intelligent horsemanship trainer out, but the problem was that they wanted to do the whole join up thing, so we had to wait until the field dried up (I don't have a school) and by then it was summer and she was so good that they didn't see what the problem was!
Well done if you've got this far! Any help or advice please! She is so adorable, and a rescue, so I won't give up on her! But having a childs riding pony that can only be ridden in the summer is bonkers! Plus my blood pressure could do with a winter off!
In the summer, we go out for lovely walks in hand, and she is calm and gentle. I cannot do that in winter. It takes all of my guts just to put her in the field and bring her back in again! She will either be a nightmare going to the field, spooking at everything, and rearing. Or she will do the same but at coming in time. Her default reaction to everything, (scared, frightened, excited), is to rear. The mud is so bad that I have a choice of trying to control her or letting her do it just so that I can be safe and get out of the way, because getting out of the way is currently very hard with the mud. I've fallen over already and lost a welly. Her spacial awareness is awful and she will just barge into me.
This is our third winter together. I've tried so much. Overrugging her in case she was cold. Not rugging her. Feeding her hay in the field in case she is hungry. Feeding her before she goes out in case she is hungry. Not feeding her when she comes in, in case shes excited to get in for dinner (this just resulted in her refusing to go into her stable). She gets a small dollop of Emerald Green feeds meadow magic, soaked, with carrots. I'm also giving her some Ostress at the moment in case it's hormonal, plus the oestress has calmer in it!
It is so windy here, and the wind does set her off. It gets to the stage every winter that I'm grateful if it's a horrible day so that I don't have to turn her out! New stables are being built next to the field, and the tarpaulin flapping doesn't help! I'm hoping that when they are ready, she might be better when she is only left on her own for a minute or two, and not 15 minutes. But she doesn't call to her friend when we walk away from the field, nor does she bother when we go out on our summer walks.
Her field is not next to the stable, so she is left in the field on her own for 10 to 15 minutes while I go and get her friend (which involves a walk up a road) Then she is left in the stable on her own for the same time while her bring her friend in again. She is better going out first and coming in first.
If I tell her off (whip, rope, shouting, tugging her nose, etc) she fights back. Ears back, rearing and boxing with her front feet. She is a rescue so I don't know her history, but perhaps someone beat her up once and this is her defence mechanism? She also does this if you try to get her to do something she doesn't want to do (I took her in hand grazing while her friend was on box rest, but she tried to box me with her feet when I said it was time to go back in.) I can't get her friend bought in or taken out at the same time as her because this just gets her too excited and we have the same rearing and bucking problem! They can only go out during daylight hours because of the road, so turnout is limited to 6 or 7 hours at the moment.
I read that mares need constant reassurance, so instead of shouting, I talk calmly and feed her treats, which does work to some extent. But then she mugs my pockets for treats!
She is supposed to be a childs lead rein pony eventually, but I wouldn't trust her! She got broken in the summer and was so good! I also had an intelligent horsemanship trainer out, but the problem was that they wanted to do the whole join up thing, so we had to wait until the field dried up (I don't have a school) and by then it was summer and she was so good that they didn't see what the problem was!
Well done if you've got this far! Any help or advice please! She is so adorable, and a rescue, so I won't give up on her! But having a childs riding pony that can only be ridden in the summer is bonkers! Plus my blood pressure could do with a winter off!
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