Eating all the time

[ponygal200]

My pony is always eating and she is getting overweight. We only have to have a small canter and she immedietly out of breath. When we are out hacking she puts her head down at every chance and i am not strong enough to pull it back up and she ends up grazing on the grass. She got out of this habit and somebody else has been riding her and she now knows that she can get away with it.
What can i do to try and stop her because i am getting worried about her health?!

[vmdawe]

i would say a daisy rein would prob be best for you, cant really see how, if youre not strong enough to pull her up, you can do anything else!

sure other folks may have better ideas tho! :)

[ponygal200]

thanks for the idea but i tried grass rains and daisy rains and she snapped them bot and then i put some elasticated things on i forget what they are called but she snapped the hoop off the saddle!

[vmdawe]

o dear thats no good then! :rolleyes:
prob best to wait for others to reply then!!

[nutkin]

to help with the weight maybe a grazing muzzle may help. With regards to the snatching grass you need to make sure that she is moving forward off of your leg to stop her from doing this. I presume that she is probably a lazy horse so if you are experienced enough maybe spurs will help with getting her moving off your leg. I would also be inclined to use your leg backed up with a whip and a tight circle at every opportunity that she tries to get her head down to basically tell her that if she wants to be awkward you are going to make her work harder.

[Just.Jump]

First of all, if you can't pull her head up, don't bother going out on the trails. Every time she gets that grass, it's like your shouting 'Hey, go on, eat when I'm riding! Don't listen to my hands, I'm powerless and not someone you should respect!" and she probably already doesn't.

Secondly, most people won't win the tug of war between them and the horse if the horse isn't even listening to you. From now on, don't try to pull her face up, give her a smart jerk on the reins if she doesn't listen. (Here's hoping you've got a snaffle in)

Daisy reins aren't going to fix the underlying problem, which is the fact that's she's walking all over you. You're the lead mare in the horse-rider herd.

[Bay Mare]

That's a bit harsh Just.Jump! ponygal200 came on to ask for advice, if you read the post you will see that someone else has been riding the pony which is when the behaviour started.

I completely disagree also with your advice

From now on, don't try to pull her face up, give her a smart jerk on the reins if she doesn't listen. (Here's hoping you've got a snaffle in)


Even a snaffle can cause damage in the wrong hands or if used roughly. Pulling the pony in the mouth doesn't solve anything and could potentially give him a problem with the bit.

ponygal200, as nutkin says try and keep your pony going by using lots of leg, keep a contact on the reins (a lot of people don't when hacking out) and, if necessary, give her a tap behind your leg if you feel her start to stop to put her head down.

You may not be able to solve this overnight but as long as you're consistent and make the rule that she doesn't eat while you're riding her then she will get better.

[ponygal200]

i will try my hardest to do these things the only problem is if this otha girl keeps letting her get away with thing. She has got a snaffle in by the way.
My crop broke and i am gonna get a new so to keep her going better do you think i need a bigger whip or will a normal one be OK?
thanks for all your help every1

[Loopslou]

my Flashie was the same when I got her. I went out one night for a hack and when I got an hour and a half later my dad said, she's not very warm to have been out so long and I replied, no well she wouldn't be, we didn't even get to the end of the road - not even half a mile. She was complete lawnmower!!!!

This is hard to explain to as soon as I "felt" her about to get her head down I pushed her on into a trot as quickly as I could. It was hard work but its something you need to repeat everytime she goes to put her head down. If need be give her a quick smack on the bum and get her listening to you or better still, if you wear long boots, smack them, that should make her listen. DOn't let her get away with it once or you'll undo all your hard work. Perserverance is the name of the game plus you could perhaps hack in company or have someone on the ground to give you a hand but instead of playing tug of war, try and distract and push on before the head goes down.

Good luck!

[Just.Jump]

Bay Mare, I did read that someone else allowed the habit to start. It doesn't mean that the horse should be able to get away with it just because someone else let her start. I view this like the garbage scenario: pick it up, whether your the one who tossed it there or not.

My advise wouldn't be any different if this mare had started it yesterday with ponygal on top or a year ago with some other person riding the horse. If you do not sufficiently correct the problem the very moment you realise that it's happening, the horse realises that they can get away with it. This is why riding school horses act up- because the inexperienced riders don't realise the horse is misbehaving, or they don't know how to correct the horse. This is like if you misbehave around your parents or something. If you get away with doing something that gets you out of work, will you do it again the next time the chance arises and your in the mood to do so? Probably, because nobody told you off properly for being rude or whatever it was you might have done. And this is how the spoiled annoying brats of this world came to be. Bratty ponies are not enjoyable to ride, just like not many bratty kids have alot of good friends.

My advise stands as it is. You need to fix the problem, and contraptions aren't going to fix anything, they'll just stop the action for the time being. Pulling on the horses face does alot more damage than a light check would. It's got the effect of forming a 'calous' on their mouths, they become dull and less responsive, whereas if you do one faster, shorter movement, the mouth is not effected. Trusting you don't do this too hard.

If you don't want to check her, then get her moving. Make her work fairly hard after she puts her head down, to associate misbehaving with more work. I still prefer checking to this, because making the wrong uncomfortable, in this case, has to do with the horses head first, not so much the body. Secondly, if you keep the reins shorter and your hands more forward, then you will catch her halfway down when she reaches for the grass and hopefully she won't reach it.

However, do whatever you need to do. You have to use your size as an advantage here. Because you can't (and shouldn't!) bully her into behaving by strength, you need to use more brain power. We don't know your horse, so there could be alot of different things that would work well in this case. What I'm suggesting is the basic way to fix a problem. You will have to do it more than once, but if done correctly, she should be fixed soon enough. I've never come across a horse that constantly tries to graze with me, but I have fixed other problems. No matter what you do, if you just let the horse do it, your making the work ten times harder for yourself than it has to be.

Edited to add: is this horse completely yours, or is it some kind of shared loaning thing? If this was my horse, I probably wouldn't want somebody else on her simply because other peoples riding can undo your careful work, no matter how good they are. If you can't get her to stop riding this horse, go talk to her and tell her that letting the horse misbehave is unacceptable.

[ponygal200]

thanks
I am not going to let the other girl ride her anymore because the person who actually owns the pony told me yesterday that the girl had smacked her around the head with a crop. I didn't like the sound of it and so she is not allowed to rid her anymore. Plus almost suddely I can see a change in merrylegs' behavour.
Any way now the problem is that she has gone really head shy and she won't even let me just stroke her face.
Should I be really worried or will she maybe calm down in time?

[nutkin]

It's no wonder she is headshy after being smacked around the head with a crop. I would be inclined to be very careful around her head so as not to make any sudden sharp movements and when you do go to brush her face make sure you only use a body brush and hold her headcollar at first just so she can get used to the fact that yes she must have her face brushed but it isn't going to hurt her. Speak to her and reassure her that everything is ok.Take everything very slowly and in time she will hopefully learn that just because someone has been mean to her once doesn't mean it will happen again.

[jUmPingIsLifE]

you can pull or 'jerk' the reins (which i wont recommend) all you want if the horse really wants to eat its probably going to eat. the trick is to not allow it to start, assuming the grass isn't high and she isn't as athletic as autumn (eating while he goes :rolleyes: ) then keep your pony moving. lazy moving is a no-no, at the walk ask for a nice swinging walk. alternating leg squeezes (squeez just as the hind leg is hitting the ground and idealy that would cause the horse to push off with more energy with that hind leg making the walk of much better quality).
if he slows and then ignores your leg, use a crop behind your leg and keep that walk going. for a trot...no western jogs here, foward going quality trots and if he slows squeez again and if no reaction USE the crop. if you let your horse slow then he will know that he can stop and once he has stoped and his head is down in the grass you will have a much harder time.

the crop is not ment as punishment, you are just trying to keep your pony going at QUALITY paces and if you can do that and keep her thinking about going foward all the time it wont give her much time to think about putting her head down.

[ponygal200]

OK thanks i will try that!

[Just.Jump]

O.O was there even a noteable reason as to why that girl would do that, or is she just the type A animal abuser?

[ponygal200]

I dont know i think merrylegs just put her head down and the girl smacked her. She is getting better because she will let me stroke her now but I am still going to have to gain her full confidence!