would you keep this horse?

Uraeus

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Right. There is a girl at my yard who has a young horse. She claims to have broken the horse herself, she is 5. When she canters, she does nothing but fly bucks. She bucks after every jump, she rears when she feels like it, and repeatedly goes up, comes down, goes up etc. She bites other horses, pulls faces at people. The girl who owns her has her in a dutch gag with a martingale and a flash noseband. She thinks its wonderful to have this horse and claims she would never sell her. Frankly I am gobsmacked just watching this girl. Clearly she loves the attention the horse brings her, not caring if its bad. I think the horse needs to be taken back to BASIC equipment and reschooling from the very beginning, but of course any advice I give "she needs the bit because she's really strong and if she doesn't have a flash she opens her mouth and rears worse"

!
Am I missing something here?
 
Right. There is a girl at my yard who has a young horse. She claims to have broken the horse herself, she is 5. When she canters, she does nothing but fly bucks. She bucks after every jump, she rears when she feels like it, and repeatedly goes up, comes down, goes up etc. She bites other horses, pulls faces at people. The girl who owns her has her in a dutch gag with a martingale and a flash noseband. She thinks its wonderful to have this horse and claims she would never sell her. Frankly I am gobsmacked just watching this girl. Clearly she loves the attention the horse brings her, not caring if its bad. I think the horse needs to be taken back to BASIC equipment and reschooling from the very beginning, but of course any advice I give "she needs the bit because she's really strong and if she doesn't have a flash she opens her mouth and rears worse"

!
Am I missing something here?

No you're not missing anything.

You are completely right when you say that it needs starting again, harder now because of whats been done too her.

Classic displaced behaviour and a reliance on mechanical devices in an effort to patch the holes.
 
Hard to say without watching her. From your description it certainly needs some work, but that doesn't mean she should sell it. Two ways of looking at it, either she knows the horse needs work & is doing her best. Or she's an idiot who's caused the behavior herself, in which case selling it & ruining another as well would be worse.
 
Aye...that would be back to school pronto with me - after having found someone with a very sticky backside and a brave mindset to climb on board...

Give the girl her due if she can cheerfully tootle around at any speed and over jumps on a horse that likes to spend a lot of time on two feet... But then I'm old, break easily and much prefer all four feet in close proximity to the floor... :D
 
Right. There is a girl at my yard who has a young horse. She claims to have broken the horse herself, she is 5. When she canters, she does nothing but fly bucks. She bucks after every jump, she rears when she feels like it, and repeatedly goes up, comes down, goes up etc. She bites other horses, pulls faces at people. The girl who owns her has her in a dutch gag with a martingale and a flash noseband. She thinks its wonderful to have this horse and claims she would never sell her. Frankly I am gobsmacked just watching this girl. Clearly she loves the attention the horse brings her, not caring if its bad. I think the horse needs to be taken back to BASIC equipment and reschooling from the very beginning, but of course any advice I give "she needs the bit because she's really strong and if she doesn't have a flash she opens her mouth and rears worse"

!
Am I missing something here?

It's not your choice, it's her horse and nothing to do with you
 
It's not your choice, it's her horse and nothing to do with you

You don't here this sentiment expressed on this forum very often!! lol.

I think the OP is asking if folk agree that the horse needs re training or not.

Whether it is anything to do with anyone, other than the owner is immaterial, in this context.
 
sounds like there is some kind of pain issue or the horse has been frightened. would go back to basics and have the tree of the saddle checked.
 
You don't here this sentiment expressed on this forum very often!! lol.

I think the OP is asking if folk agree that the horse needs re training or not.

Whether it is anything to do with anyone, other than the owner is immaterial, in this context.

Everyone will agree that there is either a physical or mental issue, maybe even both going on.

So what do you do? Take the horse off her and check the tack, get the dentist, back man, then re-start the horse? Or maybe just hassle the girl who owns it? She may well be someone who encourages horses to rear/buck/go terrible because it makes her look like a good rider, some teenagers are like that. If someone is happy with their horse I don't see the problem. Until she tries to sell it. But that would be her business too.
 
If your question is "Would you keep a horse like this?" then the answer is "Who knows?". As for this horse, it's her horse and her business if she wants to keep a horse that bucks and rears, if it doesn't scare her it's none of your business.

As for what the horse does, yes it does not seem acceptable for a horse to behave this way. If she were mine I would look for a physical cause and if all clear, get professional help with schooling, but you can't tell people what to do with their horses if they don't ask for your help.
 
I trust you have already spoken to this girl before coming in here to voice your opinion? And as for keeping it...babies are not always straightforward. So mine dropped me outside the yard on Monday, needed 3 people to load onto my trailer, fell over XC fences yesterday...so should I get rid of him?. Or do I look at the whole picture which is that he is a very green, and a very willing baby. On his toes on Monday and I dropped the reins going into the yard. Unfortunately a lorry exiting let its air brakes off....never been in a trailer before...just started jumping and the whole concept is alien..

Or do I focus that my green baby, despite eyes on stalks travelled like an old pro, coped with water, low flying aircraft, horses coming and going and steps? too easy to judge from a distance.
 
I have been in this position before although I did not start my boy off, he had paces to die for and was my horse of a lifetime :D i could never afford another like him unless i win the lottery :D
He was also 5 i brought in a excellent instructor and put him into a snaffle, i treated him like he had only just been started and with lots of hard work tears and me thinking i must be crazy he turned out to be amazing sadly he got colic and was pts :(
I had all the comments about he was a nutter he needed to be pts i also used to giggle when he went off fly bucking and the comments about how i thought it was funny i didn't at all it was my way of coping with it if i didn't laugh i would of cried.

I was very lucky that i had a great instructor to help us through it and ignored comments. I was so proud when i entered a dressage test and we 78% and was second all thoose people who had made the comments were gobsmacked.
Sometimes its not always as simple as it looks
 
I trust you have already spoken to this girl before coming in here to voice your opinion? And as for keeping it...babies are not always straightforward. So mine dropped me outside the yard on Monday, needed 3 people to load onto my trailer, fell over XC fences yesterday...so should I get rid of him?. Or do I look at the whole picture which is that he is a very green, and a very willing baby. On his toes on Monday and I dropped the reins going into the yard. Unfortunately a lorry exiting let its air brakes off....never been in a trailer before...just started jumping and the whole concept is alien..

Or do I focus that my green baby, despite eyes on stalks travelled like an old pro, coped with water, low flying aircraft, horses coming and going and steps? too easy to judge from a distance.

Why should she speak to the girl beforehand?

The question was "would you keep this horse"

Quite simple.

Answer is either yes or no.

She didnt ask if we thought the owner was an idiot or mistreating this horse. She didnt ask if we thought it had a bad back, sore teeth, misfitting saddle.

Bit early in the day to start attacking people dont you think?
 
Its difficult as it it her horse and therefore if you intervene in she might get worse!

What does the YO say? I dont think you should intervene but as you describe this horse as being particularly unhappy then maybe the YO can discreetly talk to her, as a fellow livery I dont think you should do it.

If I were you...I would not discuss this with other liveries as that can quickly get out of hand and I assume the horses basic care needs are met.

It is horrible to have to watch this...I've seen some awful stuff at livery yards!
 
God this forum gets worse!!!
The horse needs taking back to basics and the girl need to be taught the correct way of riding by the sounds of it and that this behaviour from her pony is not acceptable.
I think I would be concerned if i saw a young girl on a pony like the sounds of this one!
 
Why should she speak to the girl beforehand?

The question was "would you keep this horse"

Quite simple.

Answer is either yes or no.

She didnt ask if we thought the owner was an idiot or mistreating this horse. She didnt ask if we thought it had a bad back, sore teeth, misfitting saddle.

Bit early in the day to start attacking people dont you think?
Which is exactly what she is doing by coming on here to discusss someone else's horse......
 
Which is exactly what she is doing by coming on here to discusss someone else's horse......

Well as my crystal ball is not switched on at the moment, I am struggling to identify the rider in question. She hasnt exactly given a detailed enough description for the rider question to know she is being spoken about.

Anyway I will answer her question.

Yes. i would keep this horse.

And for your second question.

Yes, you are probably missing something.
 
Its not really any of your business, but young horses can be difficult. At least this girl is riding hers. I've seen just as much harm done by overly soft owners who pfaff around lunging and leaping off the minute a horse misbehaves. I can also think of a horse which is now a Grade B showjumper which as a 5 year old barely knew the basics but was showjumped, learned on the job and is now well out of my price range and a really nice horse.
 
Well as my crystal ball is not switched on at the moment, I am struggling to identify the rider in question. She hasnt exactly given a detailed enough description for the rider question to know she is being spoken about.

Anyway I will answer her question.

Yes. i would keep this horse.

And for your second question.

Yes, you are probably missing something.

Nope missing nothing. I am simply pointing out that before someone sees fit to come onto a public forum to describe someone else's perceived issues, they had the courtesey to discuss it with the rider/ owner first. I would be pretty annoyed if someone had done that to me and think it is really off to ask unknown third parties their opinion. This forum is a godsend at time in terms of information but this kind of post is seriously off.
 
Nope missing nothing. I am simply pointing out that before someone sees fit to come onto a public forum to describe someone else's perceived issues, they had the courtesey to discuss it with the rider/ owner first. I would be pretty annoyed if someone had done that to me and think it is really off to ask unknown third parties their opinion. This forum is a godsend at time in terms of information but this kind of post is seriously off.



My second question that I answered was to the OP, not you!

She asked;
"Am I missing something here? "

I said "Yes, you are probably missing something."

The OP did say that she had tried to give advice.

Anyway, sitting on the fence with this, I do not know how qualified the OP is to be giving out advice, my point was that a large % of posts on here are moaning about other riders, yard owners, car drivers, etc etc.
Not many of the OP`s in those one "discuss" it with the subject of the post beforehand.

Shall we just agree to disagree. Getting a bit bored of this now
 
How bitchy are some of the comments! There was no need to be so rude to the person who posted the thread! i get the impression some of you are like the person being described in this thread.
 
Who cares?! As long as the Horse is well looked after. If she enjoys riding a nutter and is happy with him then who are we to judge?!
 
How bitchy are some of the comments! There was no need to be so rude to the person who posted the thread! i get the impression some of you are like the person being described in this thread.

Soooo by that logic OP is fine to describe someone none of us know as nasty to her horse with no evidence and no come back from the rider, all on a public forum...but when people point out that is not nice they are being bitchy?!!
 
How bitchy are some of the comments! There was no need to be so rude to the person who posted the thread! i get the impression some of you are like the person being described in this thread.

am sure there are plenty with horses like op described on here I for one certainly had one as I already stated. My point is its not always as black and white as it appears to be.
Would I take advice from some random livery hell no would I take advice from a very Experian ed horseman who was amazing at his job yes, does that make me a bad owner no I think not. To slate someone off on a public forum is not exactly nice but op could have good reasons for her rant but most often you only get the one side of the story.
 
It is difficult when you see a young horse being ruined and a rider being potentially badly hurt to not say something, but probably the wisest thing to do unless you're asked:o

Those of you saying it's none of her business you're right in one way, but it could soon become her business unfortunately. I thought the same with a young girl at my previous yard whose parents bought her a 17hh 4yr old at the age of 13 and who was constantly getting carted around, bucked off, kicked and stamped on. I kept well out of it until she and I were the only people at the yard one evening and I ended up having to call an ambulance for her, put her in the recovery position, find her phone and tell her parents she was unconscious after she got bucked off and landed on her head. After that I felt I was qualified to give her parents my humble opinion ;)
 
Nope missing nothing. I am simply pointing out that before someone sees fit to come onto a public forum to describe someone else's perceived issues, they had the courtesey to discuss it with the rider/ owner first. I would be pretty annoyed if someone had done that to me and think it is really off to ask unknown third parties their opinion. This forum is a godsend at time in terms of information but this kind of post is seriously off.

I'm with you on this one.

I can't imagine having enough time to sit around thinking about what other liveries should be doing rather than working my own horses ;)
 
I think a very long time ago I was that girl described in the post, with the loony psycho beast that I loved with all my heart, I didn't start her myself but none of the crazy stuff scared me.

Answer is, I figured out by myself that I should get an instructor in, and the horse matured, many years later I had a safe obedient and reliable horse that could go anywhere and do anything, my once in a lifetime horse.
 
Sadly lots of teenagers are like that, and theres not a lot you can do about it really. You've already tried speaking to her... If she's not bothered, the parents aren't bothered and the yardowner isn't bothered, thats it really.
 
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