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Member
Posts: 21
| Hi
I have a mare that I have been running (4D big shows 3D small 30 rider jackpots) for about a year and a half - two years. She currently isn't being run due to needing some maintenance nothing major just injections but I am wondering weather it is worth trying to keep running her. This mare is my life and she isn't going anywhere running or not. I just feel like I am fighting nature. She is a short thick 14.2 hh tank. But insanely stiff. Her neck has physical knots in it. Chiros and massage don't hold for long. She does improve with bending and suppling excercises but still very stiff mostly in her neck but through her whole body. She is powerful on a straight line and has a huge stop (she'd make a jam up rope horse) but she honestly is very unathletic when asked to bend and be snappy in the way a barrel horse needs too. Obviously training pays a huge part and I do plently of work with her on these problem areas. I'm just looking for opinions on what y'all would do. Is it a waste of my time and unfair to her to try to force her into a job that is so physically tough for her or do I keep pushing through because she has the most amazing temparament and is a rock solid 4D horse. | |
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Location: Not Where I Want to Be | Never give up,,,,,,,,,,,,never surrender | |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 762
Location: NC | Are you happy with where she is running? If not then can you handle selling her and getting something else?
I have a little gelding that sounds like your mare. Do i wish i had a faster horse some days? yes i do. But unless an amazing home comes along he wont go anywhere. You can put anyone on him, hes the kind you can jump on in the middle of winter in a halter on top of blanket and he wont do a thing wrong. Plus hes a jam up pole horse. He will do barrels because i ask but his hearts in poles. And one day ill get something faster.
The maintance thing i think of like this: we ask these horses to go out and do a job and run their hardest while making 3 turns. Why should they be uncomfortable? If our joints were hurting we'd go to a doctor and probably have them injected. | |
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Member
Posts: 21
| Racer4eva - 2018-06-29 8:37 AM
Are you happy with where she is running? If not then can you handle selling her and getting something else?
I have a little gelding that sounds like your mare. Do i wish i had a faster horse some days? yes i do. But unless an amazing home comes along he wont go anywhere. You can put anyone on him, hes the kind you can jump on in the middle of winter in a halter on top of blanket and he wont do a thing wrong. Plus hes a jam up pole horse. He will do barrels because i ask but his hearts in poles. And one day ill get something faster.
The maintance thing i think of like this: we ask these horses to go out and do a job and run their hardest while making 3 turns. Why should they be uncomfortable? If our joints were hurting we'd go to a doctor and probably have them injected.
I am not totally happy where she is running. I really want to keep progressively getting faster. She won't be sold..I will keep her for riding and breed her as she is amazing, she has been totally maintenance free until this year, great mind, etc. I would prefer a 2D -3D horse and while I think she still has more to give, I'm not sure it will be enough.
I am not against the injections at all and she will get them within the month. | |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 889
| Have you tried acupuncture or cold laser therapy? | |
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 Expert
Posts: 1516
Location: Illinois | Mine is like riding a 2x4, there's no bend. Chiros & 3 vets thought he either fused something in his neck or it was from an old breeding injury. Found a guy from Kansas City last year who was in my area (IL) & he actually was able to get deep and "unlock" him, for lack of better term. He can bend fine until the muscle memory pulls it back & I have to have him done again. I've had him for 12 years and I thought that was just how he was going to be. When loping to the left he had to hold his head sideways because it was so uncomfortable. We're to the point where I can go about 3 months between sessions now with daily stretching exercises to keep him loose. When the head starts to tilt I call my guy & have him done. As for maintenance he's a bleeder plus needs hocks, coffins, & stifles injected and he's a 4D horse. He's also on Exceed 6-Way and Gastro-Plex. He runs in the 3D when I have the time to really condition him hard, but stays in the 4D if I don't ride him 6 days a week. It's tough to decide when to quit on horses that aren't clocking up there in the faster divisions, but I'm a big advocate of exhausting all your options before throwing in the towel. I use DiO on him a lot, a back massager from Walmart helps work out some kinks often, & he wears his PHT a lot too. The last 1.5 years he's done a whole lot better, its time consuming on my end sometimes but he's the only one I've got to run until I get working on my 4 year old. | |
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Member
Posts: 21
| No, I haven't tried acupuncture or cold laser there are very few people in my area that do that kind of thing.
I really don't want to throw in the towel on her, but I have spent a ton of $$ on my colt that will now never be able to be a barrel horse so funds are limited at the moment for trying a ton of different therapies. I may have to get my body work lady out again and maybe more often until she holds. I'm not expecting her to ever be a 1D horse but even if she was a 3D horse at our big NBHA shows I would be thrilled. | |
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 Own It and Move On
Location: The edge of no where | That sounds like an awful lot of $$ to maintain a 4D horse. It doesn't seem like she's really built or suited to run barrels - it's been 2 years, if you're not happy with her current level of competitiveness then why not put that $$ into something that would be more suited to running barrels. If you were happy with being in the 4D, then - keep doing what you're currently doing. If you want to move up, it sounds like something needs to change. | |
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 Total Germophobe
Posts: 6437
Location: Montana | I have a mare similar to your's, only mine is really bendy. She just isn't ultra fast, a solid 4D horse, 14.2 hands, built like a brick $#!*house. She is so not super fun to run, as she is soooo ratey you are kicking and hustling your whole ride. She is the safest horse ever and I can put anyone on her, but as soon as I get my gelding back from the trainer and am running him, she's going in to semi-retirement (she's 17) to live out her days as a lesson/trail/occasional barrel race horse. I still run her as its better to run her than run nothing, but my gelding is way more fun and smooth and is going to be fast. Sometimes you just have to make do, if you really want to run barrels, until you can do or have something better. | |
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To keep going or not...