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Miss Twinkle

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I have just recently bought a 9/10yr old Mare for my 13 year old daughter to compete on in all 3 disciplines. I knew at the time of purchase that the Mare wasn't fit but when asked if it were just a case of 8 weeks solid training before she was back up and running I got the nod. I was told that she had hunted and competed in SJ and dressage in Southern Ireland. However when the family that broke her grew out of her she was returned to the owner. Since then she has been in a field for two years. When asked why I was told that the owner didn't know what to do with her. He had though about putting her into foal and was occasionally taken out of the field for the odd hack. I then have her vetted and point out to the vet that she is very stiff and clicky in the hips and that she swishes her tail under saddle. The vet passes her at a 5 stage vetting.

I then get the Mare home and can't get on her!! She won't stand still, she is on high alert and un relaxed, I need someone holding her still to be able to mount and when I do she humps her back and shoots off in all directions with the odd kick out. She will eventually settle but then after about 20 mins of work she just grinds to a halt and won't move. My daughter did a couple of PC rallies on her in the holidays which were a disaster. Its as if she is in pain and the threshold is 30 mins of work and then thats it. I then find out from a 3rd party that this little mare has had 2 foals the last one in 2012!!!

I know nothing about breeding but I would assume that this mare probably gave birth around March to June last year and then had the foal at foot for at least 6 months. She then came over to England early February and was being sold to me for my daughter to compete on.

Does anyone know what the length of period should be to bring a mare back into riding fitness that has had one foal a year for the last 2 years. I am sure that she is suffering from this and that it is way to early for her to be bought back into serious work.
 
It sounds as if you have rushed her without doing the 8 weeks it was said she required to bring her back into full work, go back to building up her basic fitness starting with walking for a month before introducing trot and upping it gradually as she gains fitness, 2 probably 3 years with no work and having the foals will mean she is totally unfit, has no muscle tone and at serious risk of injury if too much is done at this stage.

I would get her checked over by a good physio before starting as there may be some sore areas that need treating if she has been brought over from Ireland and rushed to get her presentable for selling.
 
Get her fully check out by vet.
Chiropractor, Physio, dentist, saddler, the works.
Although this should have been done any way for new horse.

whether not ridden or had foals, she may just need starting again.
Being spooky and fidgety is to be expected.
 
Miss Twinkle said:
Does anyone know what the length of period should be to bring a mare back into riding fitness that has had one foal a year for the last 2 years.
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Providing there were no complications with the foalings then breeding mares will take the same length of time as it would take for any horse who's been sitting in a field for a few years. Any of my breeding mares that I no longer wish to breed take about 2-3 months to get them fully riding fit again and a couple more weeks to get in shape to go out there and compete again. Sounds to me like you've rushed her a bit. Maybe go back and restart her properly and then go on from there.
 
be positive said:
It sounds as if you have rushed her without doing the 8 weeks it was said she required to bring her back into full work, go back to building up her basic fitness starting with walking for a month before introducing trot and upping it gradually as she gains fitness, 2 probably 3 years with no work and having the foals will mean she is totally unfit, has no muscle tone and at serious risk of injury if too much is done at this stage.

I would get her checked over by a good physio before starting as there may be some sore areas that need treating if she has been brought over from Ireland and rushed to get her presentable for selling.
Click to expand...

I have ridden some of my mares while their foals where at foot so it's unlikely that's the issue.
I aggree with the above a horse which has been out of work for that long needs long slow work to get fit again that's walking exercise for six weeks then gently increasing work.
Does the saddle fit well ? I totally agree with the other poster that a physio is a good idea.
The horse may never have been great at standing for mounting so you will need to train her to do that.
I think you need a vet and a physio to check her if you think a horse is in pain the vet must be your first place to look for help.
The horse passed a five stage vetting and you knew the horse had been out of work for a prolonged period before you bought her its up to you now to handle this .
 
Hi, I'm sure you'll get more informative replies than mine... but. Sounds like you need a chiro to come and look at her back - and she sounds cold backed, or maybe something as simple as saddle fit perhaps.

I bought a TB mare when she was in foal, when baby was around 5 months old I used to sit on her and pootle around the field (only in a walk admitedly) and Harley foal used to trot along behind. She wasn't clicky or stiff or worried about me being up on her despite the fact it was her third foal in 4 years and she'd gone to stud straight from racing.

What I guess I'm trying to say is I don't think the breeding has anything to do with it. I'd guess her back/pelvis was more likely to be the cause.
:confused:
 
The old fashioned rule of thumb was they needed as much time getting fit as they'd had off so if she'd have had 6 months off it'd be 6 months to get fit. Not quite sure it works for full years but I'd imagine you'd need to go back to basics and treat her almost as unbroken, I'd have thought 6/8 weeks in walk would be needed, before building up slowly from there - especially given the foals will have changed her muscles even more than just time off.

Who was it that told you 8 weeks was sufficient to get a mare that had spent 2 years in the field fit for SJ/ XC rallies? I'm not sure I'd take much of their advice again in the future.
 
Well I think you can pretty much disregard everything the original seller said :o
Looks like she hasn't done much work since she was 7 and who knows what that was and now a crash course.

Personally I would start her right from scratch again, that way you can iron out the mounting issue and build her fitness up slowly etc. I would be looking to compete her end July/August on a 'getting to know you' basis. Kieep her going over winter and then compete seriously next season.

Disappointing if you were envisaging a full summer of competing but will be worth it in the long run and the mare is giving you notice that all is not well anyway.

Oh, and I would do a bit more digging in to her past - previous owner perhaps from the passport?
 
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