Traumatised ex brood mare? Or is she naughty?

[Dovorian]

A friend recently sent her mare to an Australian NH trainer because she was prone to napping and spinning when hacked out alone on the road. It had become dangerous as she did it when moving to the side to let cars past, hence the decision to fork out £250 a week for training.

Well, the upshot is that the trainer says that the mare was traumatised when her last foal was weaned and she was brought back into work (prev. very classy dressage horse). The mare is sound and seems very kind and willing in all other respects. Whilst not wishing to comment on the regimes of top dressage trainers I'm wondering if this girly just needs to learn to be a horse again. From being a mum to intensive 'retraining' prior to sale as a competitve ride seems a huge leap, some humans find it hard to go back to work after the hormonal shock of becoming a mum, can it happen to horses?

Instinctively I'd like to help get this mare happy again but I'm slightly hesitant that the Aussie trainer may be right - effectivey the mare has had a nervous breakdown!

Has anyone else encountered a similar problem and how did you straighten it out?

She is a lovely girl, dressage ability aside she could be a much loved friend but the insecurity is frightening her owner!

 

[ottodyl1]

Some dressage people do not tend to hack their horses much. It may be that she just lacks confidence hacking on her own & needs a firm, confident rider to help her overcome this. It may also be that she has previously been ridden by a more experienced, stronger rider & if your friend is less experienced, the mare may be taking advantage a bit.
Does your friend know what the mare was like to hack prior to her having her foal? Some competition horses can be on the sharp side and she may have had issues in the past, so it may be worth your friend researching her history.

 

[MerryMaker]

some horses just do not like hacking alone. at the end of the day, they are naturally herd animals and some simply do not cope.

 

[Birker2020]

My horse who is an imported warmblood had done quite a bit of hacking over in Holland where he came from and I could not understand why he was so naughty on the roads. Turns out from speaking to someone who has a penfriend in Holland that they hack their horses quite a bit but do little road work, as they have an abundance of woods and forest which they ride through. She also pointed out that if my horse starts spinning and throwing his quarters out when a car passes this is classed as a defensive position (he would turn his heels on another horse if he were threatened in the field in defence) and so it turns out the horse is just nervous when hacked out in traffic. When I first had him 5 years ago I could hack him out for hours and then one day that all changed, and from that moment on he was a nightmare on his own. He is absolutely fine with other horses, but on his own he turns into a wreck, and is constantly walking in a zig zag in an effort to try to get enough rein so he can spin. When he does spin around he doesn't try and bolt or anything. He is so good in other respects and is a brilliant dressage horse that I have decided to forget hacking out on my own - sometimes you just have to compromise.

 

[Dovorian]

My dutch horse is much the same - luckily I only have half a mile of quiet lane before I get offroad hacking. He has improved a huge amount by riding consistently and riding through any minor hissy.

Having sent her mare away to an NH trainer I think there is an element of it 'should' have been sorted, but many roads lead to rome and we will see if another approach helps.

Another friend thinks that she needs equine contact so I'm debating whether or not tp put her next to mine for a bit to see. It all seems to point to a previous restricted lifestyle which suddenly chenged to brood mare and then back again. Perhaps she is wondering what on earth is happening.

 

[Hels_Bells]

This all sounds very familiar!! When I first started hacking my boy (also dutch warmblood) who was an ex show jumper he could hardly walk in a straight line and used to go mental out on hacks, traffic or no. He turned out to have a really bad back and a pollen allergy which a nose net and a saddle refit sorted out. (oddly the problems were always far worse out hacking than schooling though, probably because the "unknown" added to his discomfort). So maybe get back and teeth checked to be absolutely certain she is comfortable if you haven't already.

Mine is still not great at hacking but has got much more used to it now and can go quite nicely.

I also wonder if some of these top competition horses are so clever that their mind wanders if they are not being physically and mentally challenged so they "see" more threats/notice more stuff than other horses. I was told by a really experienced instructor that hacking is not very normal in holland, especially for competition horses they tend to just school.

I think getting another bomb proof horse to hack out with will make a big difference. Maybe try to hack her away from traffic until she is much more confident with hacking, then start to introduce a bit of traffic and also eliminate all chances of discomfort being a factor.