Help Please

[chocoholic!]

Hi
I loan a 22 year old mare who I only recently got on loan. She is an angel most of the time, but she doesn't have any respect for me at all. She is very attached to another horse at the same yard and if I take her out on her own she spends the whole time whinnying and when she knows she is on the way home she trots off and because she is a very strong horse I can't stop her. Also she won't canter when I ask and just ignores me completely. She will however canter if she is following this other horse, but I can't stop her from following this other horse if I need to. This may be because she is an ex-riding school pony so I don't know if she thinks this is the right thing to do or just feels uneasy on her own.

Is she too old to be taught any different?And how can I get her to listen to me and wean her away from this other horse?

Thankyou,
Clare

[Maci]

My old horse was an ex-trail horse, so he always followed and it was a pain getting him away! He would even bite butts (I got him to stop), and be an all-around bully! He was very dependant of his other equine riding company, and he'd get very nervous when he wasn't behind a butt, because that was what he was used to. Anyways, part of the problem for you, may be because you said you just started to loan her, and the very fact that you're new to her and vise versa, might contribute to some of your disagreements. Take it slow and handle her lots from on the ground- time and patience. Get her to trust and respect you! It helped with mine! Good luck!

Maci :)

PS- Make sure that when she won't listen to you when you ride her, you don't just keep nagging her with your legs. Extra encouragement from your voice and a gentle touch of the whip if you need to, but lay right off when she does good, with lots of praise!

[lamprellsarah]

it's not too late to teach an old horse new tricks my horse (20)was not great at all when i got her, but with perservence stubbness and patience i got though!! so i guess these are what you will have to do!!! :)
weaning her is not easy if you take her into a school with another horse can you do a seperate thing if not you just need to perserve with this first, even if you have to get off and make her do something different.
when you hack out the only way to teach her otherwise is to put her in front sometime then sometime, put her behind and while the other horse is walking you try and stand and even if you can only get it for a second this is good, then expand the time.
not many horses can do this!!! :(
as she is strong stopping her sounds like it's going to be hard, you are just going to have to try and earn her respect and school her, hack out on your own, and not let her get away with not cantering when you ask, give her a smack with the whip!!!