What should I do with my horse?

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blackmagic

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I've had my horse for over 3 years now and she has always been a bit of a handful. My confidence has gradually been chipped away and at times I won't even get on her. She can be absolutely fine, she's beautiful, has good paces, is quick to learn and is lovely to ride on a good day. But on a bad day she is spooky, unpredictable and bucks...and the bad days seem to be getting more frequent.
So what should I do with her? Obviously the easy thing would be to sell her, but it breaks my heart just to think about it. Do you think it would be worth getting back checks etc done? Her teeth have been checked.
 
Yes, check back, saddle and bit. Have some lessons with an experienced sympathetic instructor and go from there.

Low confidence can be a downhill spiral and one negative experience after another gets lodged in your subconsious brain. This part of your brain then tells you its all bad and horrible to try and keep you safe and the situation gets worse. You need to start having good experiences and someone on the ground to help you, otherwise you wont progress.
 
It is definitely worth getting her health checked to rule those things out first.
Then possibly get an instructor if you can spare the cash and biuld your confidence by getting her listening and re-dressing the balance.
Then if that fails, perhaps its best to find a horse that is more suitable to you, I know its easier said then done and a very hard thing to do. But sometimes after other options and methods have failed its best to move on.
 
You obviously adore your horse. Why don't you consider sending her away for a week or two for some work to be done on her and schooling. I have had this done myself,and the chap I use encourages you to come and ride said horse whilst it is there and gives general pointers etc.

I don't think you should give up just yet + Summer's coming and it WILL seem less of a problem when the sun's out!!
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Is she behaving worse because she's not getting as much work as she once was? This has been a really bad winter and I think many horses are acting up a bit cos they aren't getting as much exercise, could this be part of it?

I agree you need to work through the issues with an instructor, are you in contact with one on a regular basis?...

I can totally sympathise with you, I've had mine nearly a year and on some days I really have second thoughts about her and wonder if I should buy something less difficult....but I love her... I can only imagine difficult this is for you....
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Why don't you consider sending her away for a week or two for some work to be done on her and schooling. I have had this done myself,and the chap I use encourages you to come and ride said horse whilst it is there and gives general pointers etc.



[/ QUOTE ]

Whilst this can help it can also make things worse. Moving can unsettle the horse and one or two weeks is no time at all to teach a horse new skills/behaviour thoroughly enough. I think having someone go to the horses home can often be more successful, so the owner gets help in the home environment. They then feel more confident when the instructor isnt there.
 
Why don't you get a instructor who you really trust to give you lessons? I found this helped for me as it improved my horse but it also improved my confidence on him as the relationship built up as we bothlearned new things and learned to trust each other more.
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