naughty or 'issues'? semi-headshaking ...

[notpoodle]

ive been riding pretty much every day for the past month. mainly in the school due to weather and lack of hacking buddies in the evening.
angel seems to have gotten herself a little 'pigrooting' and 'evading' habit, where she starts pulling her head down and wriggling it downwards the moment you pick up the reins :o (so not headshaking in the traditional UP! sense), it's worse in trot ...

she's had her teeth done not long ago, and her back ws checked fairly recently as well, so i doubt it's either of those. could be pollen but with the wind and rain in the past week, pollencount was very low so ... :confused:

friend says she's being naughty and evading because she can't be ar*sd, so i made a concerted effort to push her on whenever she tried it, if neccessary giving her a quick flick with the whip. the latter was greeted with major annoyance and a few little threats to buck (since she had me off a while back and i've seen her do massive bucks in the field, i am somewhat aware of what she is capable of if she wants to .. not that that happens very often!) :o .

beemn doing lots of swirly patterns, serpentines and transitions to distract her and keep her busy, but the moment you attempt to just go round, she'll try it again ...

she's a lot better out hacking though, which makes me think maybe it IS her being evasive.

any ideas?

Julia
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[Mehitabel]

stick a nosenet on in case and be firm. you've been through her evasiveness before - what does this say to you, gut feeling?

[notpoodle]

am watching a nosenet on ebay as we speak :)

gut feeling tells me she is grumpy about something :rolleyes: it could be grass intake and feeling a bit full of herself ...

Julia
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[Mehitabel]

unless there are a lot of polleny fields surrounding the school and none where you hack, i'd be surprised if the shaking was an allergy. sometimes they are in pain and only schooling shows it - if it's a strained muscle that outliney work makes sore but pootling on a hack doesn't, that kind of thing - but you're not doing big gusset dressage and hard school work, so i doubt that is applying either.

[notpoodle]

we do schooling but all we do is transitions, serpentines and some very basic bending stuff so by no means a challenge or strenuos. i think if she had pulled a muscle or was in pain, she'd just have me off, to be honest (angel is not one for putting up with pain!) ...

oh and she's trying to be nappy again when we leave the yard to ride up to the school, but that's easily sorted by a tap on the shoulder and a sharp NO!

Julia
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[doris]

I know you've checked everything, but just check your tack again - just in case. Check your bit for any wear or rough edges, and check the insinde of your saddle/saddle pad carefully too. Check all the parts of the bridle and especially the fit - perhaps something is rubbing her somewhere?

[notpoodle]

done that ... all seems fine. we have a treeless saddle btw and never had any issues with that. bridle looks fine to me, we've had the same bit (lose ring french link) for about 3 years now and she was always quite happy with it.

she's not keen on the girth we have at the moment, but i've ordered (finally!! ive been waiting for TWO years to find a reasonably priced neoprene girth in 18" !!!) a new girth just in case ...

Julia
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[connieD]

hopefully not related but as our 2 are so similar thought id have my 2p's worth!:)

is your girl quite tense and does she tuck her chin in or go slightly behind the vertical - this is what my girl did and guess what - more wheezing and puffing:eek:

i find with hannah if her head is in certain positions it seems to make her breathing worse.

for her i have to work on getting her to relax and stretch forwards rather than the normal long and low, this seems to open up her air ways and help her breath.

when she was tight through her 'jowl' (sp.) the bit where her neck meets her head she would toss her head about, open her mouth snatch at the rein, cross her jaw, stick her tounge out - you name it she did it:rolleyes:

now we have got her to stretch forward and stop acting like a colied spring her breathing has really improved and none of the above happening - just a thought - i think there breathing problems affect more than we realise!!

im currently working on increasing the muscle infront of the withers that goes mid way along her neck (so you can see bulges on both sides she riding her if that makes sense)

hoping increase strength will stop her coiling her neck and let her breath more freely:)

[notpoodle]

sounds familiar (are you sure your mare and mine aren't related!) ... mine isnt tense though, just wriggly :o she's ok long and low, like yours.

one thing i remembered though. when ther dentist came 2 months ago he spotted another wolf tooth (she had 2 pulled out a couple of years ago), but said to leave it in if it wasnt causing problems. i dont know how long that wolftooth has been there, but i cant imagine why that would suddenly cause problems. she is fine having the bit put in as well ... hmm :confused:

Julia
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[notpoodle]

me again :o

rode today (soggy school but no rain!!!). more observations ... she's on her toes ie looking at stuff, head up, ears pricked (could be sugar high from grass ...) but not all that keen on going forward (couple of protests when i asked her to actually trot properly) and the head tossing thing got worse the longer i rode. she didnt toss her head when we weaved through cones or did swirly things ...

:confused:

ponies, ponies, who would have them?

Julia The Paranoid
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ps: nosenet ordered just in case!!