Unfortunately there is no other horse to hack out with in the area. The other horses in the field and not worked with. I am hoping that the month with the stables and the time we have managed to get temporarily with a smaller field with a horse that is worked will help her.@Wanda are you hacking with another horse? If your horse is nervy and taking herself home when she gets unnerved you might find only hacking in company for a while will help her confidence grow
My girl buggered off a few times when she was younger, it was generally if something had really unsettled her or if I had asked too much of her physically (Jess thinks the answer to anything being difficult is to muscle her way through it), now days she is very good, she hadn't buggered off in years but did a few months ago and it turned out her saddle was not quite right even though it had been recently checked and her teeth were sharp, since getting those sorted shes back to her happy chilled self. So I don't think a few instances of buggering off home makes a horse a confirmed bolter.
Horse is prone to bolting
- Thread starter Wanda
- Start date
The NH lady saw her being bad the first time so calming her down and make her obey 'back' was the first step, the next time Nikki was much better behaved and we spend time making her happy with her feet and legs. The NH lady said she felt much better about nikki but when she rode her Nikki played up for a while but settled to a gentle complaining instead of definate ' no'. She says just to keep doing ground work.
That ais interesting, as Nikki seems laid back quite a lot of the time and she has very a very poor canter and just wants to go from trot to gallop. I would make sense that she has not been ridden by a disciplined rider. |She also came with her mane hogged and tail cut and I wonder if she was a 'pulling' horse.Sometimes, with laid back horses you find people manage to get on and 'ride' them without actually ever teaching them anything and because they have only been sat on in the field or maybe taken down the road a time or two they are considered riding horses, often a mare might breed a foal or two before that happens aswell (in some situations) I think her little learning holiday sounds like a great idea and if she is one of the above then she will likely come on in leaps and bounds once she figures out what is expected of her
Sadly Wanda this isn't uncommon, and I am so very sorry for you if you have indeed been duped when buying the mare. Did you have her vetted - if so did you have bloods taken, if so doping would show up but as you say you wouldn't want to return her to them it is a moot point really.
Look - take a deep breath, don't give up just yet. Can you find a really good and honest RI to work with you on this? You mention you are in an Island community, so I imagine this isn't straightforward? It might be possible to start right back at square one with this young mare, with very experienced and honest no nonsense input from a very good RI. I won't comment on the NH thing, personally I think this will do nothing but confuse and upset an already stressed and unhappy young horse - but purely my opinion and not everyone will agree with me of course!
Perhaps if you could draw up a plan of action over the summer months, were the RI might take over riding the horse in the short term, and when he/she is confident that you and the horse (or your daughter and the horse) are ready to try and make a go of it the RI will be there with you every step of the way. You could make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, or it might all fail miserably and then you will have to make a decision about the horse's futre. But at least you will have tried and personally I would invest a few more pounds in trying to sort the situation, afterall if you don't - the horse is worthless (even as a broodmare!)and you have lost the purchase pirce so a bit more investment is a gamble, but in your position I don't feel you have much choice.
Good luck with whatever you decide to do - even the more experienced of us can get it wrong sometimes, so don't feel too bad about it - just look ahead now and don't waste tears over what is done.
We did have her vetted but I dont think bloods were taken. I think other folk are challenging the stables where she came from. I just want to give her every chance to become a safe ride as she has no other vices really.Sadly Wanda this isn't uncommon, and I am so very sorry for you if you have indeed been duped when buying the mare. Did you have her vetted - if so did you have bloods taken, if so doping would show up but as you say you wouldn't want to return her to them it is a moot point really.
Look - take a deep breath, don't give up just yet. Can you find a really good and honest RI to work with you on this? You mention you are in an Island community, so I imagine this isn't straightforward? It might be possible to start right back at square one with this young mare, with very experienced and honest no nonsense input from a very good RI. I won't comment on the NH thing, personally I think this will do nothing but confuse and upset an already stressed and unhappy young horse - but purely my opinion and not everyone will agree with me of course!
Perhaps if you could draw up a plan of action over the summer months, were the RI might take over riding the horse in the short term, and when he/she is confident that you and the horse (or your daughter and the horse) are ready to try and make a go of it the RI will be there with you every step of the way. You could make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, or it might all fail miserably and then you will have to make a decision about the horse's futre. But at least you will have tried and personally I would invest a few more pounds in trying to sort the situation, afterall if you don't - the horse is worthless (even as a broodmare!
Good luck with whatever you decide to do - even the more experienced of us can get it wrong sometimes, so don't feel too bad about it - just look ahead now and don't waste tears over what is done.
I don't think mine was properly backed - or backed at all other than someone jumping on her and hunting her a few times - either. She was definitely a brood mare for a while too, the vet said she'd had at least two foals. A friend of mine was also sold a 10 year old ex-brood mare that turned out not to be have been backed - she was fine the first few times she was ridden, although green, but started broncing after a couple of weeks. My friend (who is experienced with horses) has started her again completely from scratch, and is just doing the leaning over her and lots of ground work at the moment. I totally agree with what EML says about getting professional help with this one.
Not sure where you are, but bloods are taken as a matter of course during a 2 or 5 stage vetting round here (Bucks.)
I see probablay I have made things worse by not being knowleagable enough. My daughter is loosing confidence and I am not scared of her but dont handle her correctly. Funnily enough she just treats me as in idiot but serious riders seem to get the worst of it!!!!!At 7 he/she still may be fairly green, the problem with that for you is your horse needs you to be the boss/leader. I certainly don't mean beating him/her but you need to be confident enough to have ground rules, on the ground and ridden. If any 7 year old horse/pony is given a inch they will happily take a mile.
Sadly Wanda this isn't uncommon, and I am so very sorry for you if you have indeed been duped when buying the mare. Did you have her vetted - if so did you have bloods taken, if so doping would show up but as you say you wouldn't want to return her to them it is a moot point really.
Look - take a deep breath, don't give up just yet. Can you find a really good and honest RI to work with you on this? You mention you are in an Island community, so I imagine this isn't straightforward? It might be possible to start right back at square one with this young mare, with very experienced and honest no nonsense input from a very good RI. I won't comment on the NH thing, personally I think this will do nothing but confuse and upset an already stressed and unhappy young horse - but purely my opinion and not everyone will agree with me of course!
Perhaps if you could draw up a plan of action over the summer months, were the RI might take over riding the horse in the short term, and when he/she is confident that you and the horse (or your daughter and the horse) are ready to try and make a go of it the RI will be there with you every step of the way. You could make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, or it might all fail miserably and then you will have to make a decision about the horse's futre. But at least you will have tried and personally I would invest a few more pounds in trying to sort the situation, afterall if you don't - the horse is worthless (even as a broodmare!
Good luck with whatever you decide to do - even the more experienced of us can get it wrong sometimes, so don't feel too bad about it - just look ahead now and don't waste tears over what is done.
That suggests to me that she hasn't been properly backed. Serious riders are probably pushing her to do stuff that she doesn't understand, and that is upsetting and confusing her, whereas a novice plodding round on her in walk probably isn't too upsetting.
I am quite novicey yet my horse is much better behaved with me than she is with anyone else! It's been commented on quite a lot in my yard. I put it down to me and her just getting on!
Well we have sorted out a plan to put Nikki to the riding stables here for a month and they are very good. she then will go to a small field with another horse that is well worked and see how she reacts with a hack out companion if we get that far. So will let you know how it goes. I am doing a part time 2 year course on horse care even though I feel ancient around all the teenagers. At least I can use a bus pass to get there!! I have been reading books and dowloading articles and there is so much information out there that it is confusing but this forum has helped a lot as i know you all have had experience and probably have tried all that the books throw at you. The only thing I have chosen to adhere to from my reading, is that I dont want to force a solution but solve the problem if possible and then find the best equipment for the situation. There are a lot of very good riders in Orkney and the riding stable is a good onee, and we have had some very good encouragement from some super people here but again thanks to this forum, and the time you have taken to chat to me has made me see that it is not an unique problem.
There was an incident yesterday that made me think of this thread. A friend from my yard hacked out with two people from a yard down the road. One of the horses reared at something (my friend doesn't know what) and because it was wearing a standing martingale, it went over on top of the rider. Cue my friend having to ring an ambulance for her. Luckily, the lady in question was OK, but my friend was very shaken by the whole thing.
How awful, I do think it has to be said though that some rearers without any equipment, martingales, draw reins etc can come over on their rider so any rearer isnt really suitable for a novice, although Im guessing the lady in question was experienced. Also if the rider is unstable and doesnt lean forwards and drop their hands and push the horse forward its fairly easy to pull a horse over on yourself too. I think in most cases having a good ri who you trust on board is a good idea, that way they can assess/ride the horse/ pony and decide in their opinion what they would do in the individual case. x
I don't know anything about the lady or her horse - just it was a weird coincidence that it happened yesterday after I'd been reading this thread! (Well it seemed like a weird coincidence to me!)
Years ago people would break a raw egg on the poll (as horse was rearing)although unsure if this is something still done however you need a balanced rider who's able to multi task in mid air I'm guessing many may frown upon this now, however if it had the desired effect was a fairly quick and fairly painless solution for the horse.x
I'm guessing many may frown upon this now, however if it had the desired effect was a fairly quick and fairly painless solution for the horse.x
Jessey you are the only person I have ever met (even virtually met
) who has actually tried it. I had always heard this old urban myth too but I couldn't really see how you would manage to keep the egg in tact until the exact moment of rearing.
I did hear of a friend of a friend who tried it and it had the opposite effect, horse truly panicked and went straight over backwards for the first time in its rearing history.
I was desperate! It wasnt too hard, he was pretty predictable in when he would get over excited and start so I planned it by having a friend hack over on a horse he hadnt met, voila stood verticle. He hated things round his ears and when it splatted it just sent him into a frenzy trying to shake it off, that was harder to ride than the rears
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