whats a good calmer for a stroppy mare ?

[samxmckeek]

hi guys, a horse i work with is such a difficult mare been handled and ridden we got her last year around april when i was hacking her out she reared with me saddle slipped and i fell in to nettles

and me been a baby refused to get back on[had very low confidence last year due to a horse bolting with me and trampling over me as i fell off but now i have my confidence back with working with 'problem' horses] so after that her back, teeth, saddle was checked found out she had a sore back so had some time off work then she had colic so was off for a while due to that and just when we started to work her again she injured her leg in the field so vet was out and she was on box rest for a few months and was off completly through winter started trying to lunge her which really didn't work

she pulls her head down to get the grass and if i snapped the lunging crop behind her or give her a tap in the shoulder she'll rear and buck again got eevrything checked to be on the safe side but she really is just a stropp mare so decided to tack her up and lead her round, wen i asked her to trot she had another rearing fit and then the problem with been on her is shes dead to the leg[thanks to her past owner

] and if u use the crop behind ur leg she'll take a hissy fit. in her past home she was just left in a muddy field only got taking out to get ridden round the block then she had laminitis 3 times! one time it was that bad she couldnt stand up and she also had very very bad rain scald on her back and mud fever on her legs. Shes been aloud to domiate every one in her life. i've tryed so many times to just spend time with her doing ground work for months but i feel as if shes not trying

sorry about this been soo long

and sorry about the lack of full stops

i tend to just ramble on and forget about them. So does anyone have any tips on how to deal with her and is there any good calmers out there ?

 

[spacefaer]

Not surprised she doesn't want to work! In my experience, mares that have had time off tend to be reluctant to work again - like us, not falling over themselves to get back to the gym!

I had a very difficult mare to work with a couple of years ago - she had learnt to dominate in previous homes and learnt to use her size (17.2) against people. She used to rear in hand if you were late (in her opinion) bringing her in from the field etc. She wouldn't be ridden behind other horses - just put you on the floor. She has the most amazingly effective leap upwards and forwards, buck while in mid air, then land on all 4 feet. If the 1st one didn't get you, the 2nd did!

I tried all sorts of calmers on her - stroppy mare, steady up, placid, etc etc - you name them, I tried them. The most effective was the nupafeed magnesium - made her much more laid back and co-operative. It's expensive to get into the system, but really really effective - the people at nupafeed are really knowledgeable and helpful too.

The other thing that really worked with her was to get her tired - SO much less resistance when she really didn't care anymore! I didn't gallop her to the point of exhaustion, just consistently took her out and worked her so she was sweaty. Cumulatively, it kept her energy levels down over a period of days.

sorry - a bit of an essay but trying to be helpful! Stroppy mares are their own worst enemy - you try and help them and they throw it back in your face!

 

[Cop-Pop]

If everything (teeth, back etc) have been checked then I'm currently using Equine America Magnitude on my mare. She was getting dangerous with her moods - bloods came back ok so we tried Stroppy Mare with no success, then another one (I forget the name

) before trying Magnitude. Only tantrums since have been very managable mini ones

It did take about two months to take affect fully though.