What tack & what feed?

L

LuckyLaneRider

Well-Known Member
Joined
30 May 2010
Messages
102
Location
Hampshire
Visit site
I've started riding a 15 year old mare, welsh x arab i believe, & if all goes to plan i'm thinking about taking her on permanent loan in September time.

She's obviously getting on into her elder years but she acts like a race-horse, i've had to re-break her & although she is getting better she is highly strung, terrified of thing's that clearly aren't there & wants to gallop at every possible moment - even down the road! I don't mind but would like her a little calmer & under control. It will all come along with work to begin with but does anyone know of a good calming feed & what bit & also possibly martingale i should get for this slightly strong hyped up mare!? :D
 
Allen and Page calm and condition is quite good or just get a calming supplement..
how much riding will you be doing and how hard? iF she`s good to do and the grazing is good you wont necessarily need a feed it all depends on your work load and what your planning on doing with her, some may disagree with this but My two get worked 4 times a week and arent fed during the summer, they`d be like elephants if they were fed, they`ve got plenty of energy without hard feed....
tack wise, is she throwing her head? if yeah try a running martingale, if that doesnt work (it doesnt on a lot) then try using a market harbrough but not on a tight setting,
i`d also have a few lessons on her first and perhaps get everything checked over, teeth, back and tack
 
In the summer months she won't get fed but in the thick of winter she will have feed before being put to bed & before she's turned out in the morning.
I've heard about calm & condition so sounds good but i'll have to look up more about it - she does lack condition & muscle tone at the moment. Probably best with a market harborough; her head goes up extremely high! & i do plan for lessons when she is fully re-broken. Before me she had come out of her field once in six whole months so it's completely back to basics!
 
Cat&Mouse said:
You don't say what she is being fed at the moment?

Also what bit, noseband is she in at present?
Click to expand...

Last time she was ridden she was in a snaffle (Bad idea! With a strong rider she cantered sideways up the road throwing bucks & rears contantly & would have bolted if not stopped & restrained before-hand). Because she is in the process of being re-broken she hasn't been re-bitted yet which is why i'm asking advice now. She just has a plain noseband, no flash or anything etc.
 
LuckyLaneRider said:
In the summer months she won't get fed but in the thick of winter she will have feed before being put to bed & before she's turned out in the morning.
I've heard about calm & condition so sounds good but i'll have to look up more about it - she does lack condition & muscle tone at the moment. Probably best with a market harborough; her head goes up extremely high! & i do plan for lessons when she is fully re-broken. Before me she had come out of her field once in six whole months so it's completely back to basics!
Click to expand...

What bit is she in now?
I could ride my PBA who pulls quite a bit in a french link snaffle when using a Harborough, they are that good, it only comes into action when they raise their head.
Ayla is a pretty pants doer over winter but strangely good over the summer lol, winter she gets 1 conditoning cubes (only thing that keeps the weight on), 1/2 speedy beat and one alfa oil twice a day, ad lib hay and supplements on top. I have heard really good reviews on calm and condition do a google search :)
Barley rings are good too apparently and you could use a clamer in the feed then such as Naf Magic... i find its all trial and error with new horses, my oh is on his 5th bit in a year on his horse and she nows goes fine....
 
Before you re bit her with a harsher bit have you had her, teeth, back & saddle checked?

Be aware that any feed that puts condition on can potentially give them energy. You want to stear clear of cereals & high starch diets & go for high fibre & oil.
It would actually be better to start feeding her in the next month & get her at a good weight & try & maintain that through the winter with a maintenace feed rather than having to feed her quite a lot of conditioning feed in the winter.
 
Siobhan said:
What bit is she in now?
I could ride my PBA who pulls quite a bit in a french link snaffle when using a Harborough, they are that good, it only comes into action when they raise their head.
Click to expand...

Wow are market-harboroughs really that good? She may be able to stay her snaffle then, when she tries to pull & go faster her head always comes up.
 
LuckyLaneRider said:
Wow are market-harboroughs really that good? She may be able to stay her snaffle then, when she tries to pull & go faster her head always comes up.
Click to expand...

They are good, i dont find martingales help my mare at all, the harborough did.
If you are going to try it out then do it in a safe place, away from roads etc perhaps the school or a paddock....
have you had everything checked though, teeth, back etc? its normally a common factor in misbehaviour, but then again if she`s just been getting away with pulling and running all her life its probably just bad manners, starting from scratch is a good way to go about it, she knows how to be ridden just basic manners really,
 
I have very fizzy anxious mare and calm and condition helped her with weight and temperment.I cant feed her anything else.I ride in frenchlink snaffle and she used to have her head up all the time ,I used market harborough for few months whilst hacking for safety but schooled in normal martingale .Once she knew how to work I could get her between leg and hand without gadgets.A good instructor helped us both enormously. Schooling was key to all our p:)roblems.
 
if she is ridden in a single link snaffle, then when you take a pull on the reins it will jab her in the roof of her mouth - so her head will go up to try and get away from it. I would put her in a french link while you get other things checked out and go from there. Would also echo what those above have said - def get teeth, saddle and back checked as if any of these aspects aren't quite right then you can feed her what you like and put any tack on her and she will still be uncomfortable and react in a negative way when you ask her to work.
Calm and condition is fab if she needs a bit more cover, assuming that first of all she has enough forage.
 
LuckyLaneRider said:
Wow are market-harboroughs really that good? She may be able to stay her snaffle then, when she tries to pull & go faster her head always comes up.
Click to expand...

A market harborough is just a fixed draw rein. They will stop most horses on the basis you have a pulley system to yank on their mouth rather just going strength vs strength with them. However, Arabs tend to have a naturally high head carriage, a MH would constantly pull their head down which is likely to encourage rearing, dropping behind the bit and generally not being a happy pony. My advice on all gadgets is if you don't understand exactly how it works, what it does and how to use it you should be 100% should NOT be using it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top