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Discussion on Retired barrel mare is a problem under saddle | |
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Posted on Saturday, Sep 16, 2000 - 8:44 pm: Help!I have a 12yr old mare who has had to be retired from racing because she cannot stay under control. Before we bought her she had been badly abused and mishandled by her owner. I was not aware of this because she had been sedated every time I went out to try her. She preformed perfectly for every trial but became an absolute mess when we brought her home. She has no ground manner problems and is a real sweetheart. We now use her as a brood mare and that has proved successful. The problem arises when we try to exercise her to keep her in shape. When ridden, she gets overly worked up and jigs at the walk and prefers a quick bouncy trot. She won't stand still for more than a few seconds and takes off if you try a canter. She has a multitude of training and is a very smart horse but these problems are becoming annoying. We ride in a small ring and practice walk\halt, trot\halt exercises. After a session she always shows some improvement, but the next time we always have to start from square one. She does not buck or show aggression but will not slow without constant rein control. I hate to tug on her mouth all the time, is there any way to slow her down? Suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Michelle |
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Posted on Saturday, Sep 16, 2000 - 9:40 pm: Hmmmmmm...so she was a barrel racer and was expected to "go" as fast as she could. I think it's understandable that she is annoying but let's see what you can do to alter her behavior/thinking.A few questions: Are you riding her for your "enjoyment" or just to keep her in shape? Are you working her consistently? Sounds like you are on the right track doing the transistions with her. Have you ever tried any cavelleti work with her? Are there barrels in your ring? Was her foal weaned recently? Is she in foal now and what does her diet consist of? Have her teeth ever been checked? Sorry for all the questions....everyone can help better with a little more info. Barbara |
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Posted on Saturday, Sep 16, 2000 - 10:33 pm: Thanks for the questions, I am always riding for enjoyment and I enjoy working with her. I have a calm personality myself and I am trying to focus most of my free time on her. She still has a lot of life left in her and I want her to enjoy it as well! I work with her 3-4 times a week, as that is all the time I can afford. We have taken all the barrels out of the ring and there are not any distractions. She has produced 3 foals already and her worst fault is she is not a very caring mother. Weaning a foal has never been a problem for her as she seems to find it a release. Unfortunately her last baby, who would have just been weaned, sustained an injury and developed gangrene and had to be put down as a result. She has showed no signs of depression. Her teeth have been checked, as my partner is a practicing vet.What are your suggestions for cavelleti work and what would it accomplish? Thanks for all your help! Michelle |
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Posted on Sunday, Sep 17, 2000 - 8:02 pm: Hi MichelleI would try cavelleti's for a few reasons. It will (hopefully) have her focus her attention and make her think about where she is putting her feet. I would set a few or more poles up randomly around your ring, white poles if you have them. I would start at a walk and just keep walking her over the poles randomly. See if she stays quiet or at least not getting more wound up just walking over the poles. Keep doing what you have been doing; halting her etc. When she seems comfortable at the walk, trot her a little and then trot her over a pole. Make sure you have a nice straight approach to it. See how she does, if it's no big deal for her, trot her around the other poles doing smooth changes of direction and transitions. I would see how she seems with all this and if it doesn't wind her up you can add a second pole after the first one for her to trot over. This should make her pay attention. Usually, and it depends on the horse's stride, you place the poles about 2 ft apart....Closer together if she isn't real big or has a short stride. You can, (if this helps ) add more poles in a straight line. Usually four is a good amount once she gets the hang of it. SO! Don't know if this will help or not! You know her well enough not to push her through this if she is getting more tense. Good luck and let me know what she thinks about cavelleti's! Sorry for the loss of your foal... Barbara |
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Posted on Monday, Sep 18, 2000 - 5:21 pm: Hi Michelle-I used to barrel race my mare but stoped when she got so amped up she was rearing and lunging to enter the arena. I voiced my displeasure at her actions and was chastised by a group of "hard core" barrel racers because according to this group "thats what you want them doing". It has been almost 2 years of consistant riding & lessons in dressage and still she will try to take an imaginary barrel when I pick up the canter. But after about 15 seconds she mellows out and settles into a nice canter, but only after she has torn around the arena like a maniac looking for that darn barrel.... Aside note: dressage saddles DO NOT serve well as barrel saddles in a pinch. Yaa-HOOOOO-weeeee! |
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Posted on Monday, Sep 18, 2000 - 11:07 pm: Sounds familiar Emily! I just can't get used to having my horse so worked up that she might just flip over! I don't think its healthy. Well, I have been seeing some improvement in just the past few weeks. Before, she had been ridden very hard by a grown man and we have found out that she is definitely a ladies mare. She doesn't see me as a threat and we communicate better. I am still working out the kinks(many) with her, but I have made more progress in a few weeks that my male counterpart has in over a year. ;-)Any other suggestions would be helpful. Thanks everybody. Michelle |
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Posted on Tuesday, Sep 19, 2000 - 1:08 am: Hi,I used to work with badly behaved racehorses (the ones that scare those little jockeys:-))and one thing that sometimes worked was to either work with another (VERY QUIET) horse on a lead next to them or ride the quiet horse & lead the bouncing bean horse. I think in your case you might want to lead the quiet horse as you want to get her quiet under saddle not just when being led. By doing this it gives the bouncing bean horse the idea that it is just a leasurly stroll with the paddock mate not time to work around the barrels. You may have found also that her mouth knows tight hold means bounce in readyness to go and loose hold means go go go! Racehorses quite often are the same so some work with a slack hold for slow and tight hold for go will also help, but as you know you can take the horse away from the barrels but the instinct to barrel will never realy die. I knew a 25+ mare that hadn't barreled for 20 years it ended up a quiet trail master, but one day when a yard was not free this horse was put in a yard with barrels and she ran straight for the first one flat out! no rider no saddle or bridle just instinct, go figure! Good luck |
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Posted on Tuesday, May 29, 2001 - 12:47 am: Hey,I train barrel horses, and, unfortinately, most people think they should behave that way. I usually disengage thier hindquarters when they start to "jig". I find that, when you hold one back, they get worse. Just use a snaffle in an enclosed area ,with a LOOSE rein, and every time she trots off, pull her gently into a small circle. Hold her in the small circle, making it smaller and smaller, till she begins walking (may take a while first time, but trust me, she will start walking), then let her walk foreward again (loose rein!). She will probably only take one or two steps at a walk before she starts trotting off again, but when she does just pull her in another circle (opposite direction...too keep her on her toes) It takes a while, but has worked on every hot horse I have worked on....GOOD LUCK it takes patience to fix this one! |
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