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boon
Posts: 2
| I have a mare who behaves alright at home, when practicing. She does like to toss her head some, but the tie down seems to keep her from getting too extreme most of the time. She's a very anxious horse- her ears are always anywhere but forward. She is always paying attention to everything around her at all times and is very alert. She has bad manners too- always rubbing up her face on me, which receives a harsh elbow to her face but she continues to do it. I thought originally that she was ok to compete with, until I brought her to a barrel racing clinic. I had to sit on her in a corner of the arena, OPPOSITE from the rest of the class, because she could not sit still. She is a horse that can run, and run, and RUN and never tire. Its a great quality, but only when its in moderation.... I need advice on HOW TO KEEP HER RELAXED IN COMPETITION. I understand that a little anxiety from being in a new place is expected, but I would still like to enjoy myself and not have to fight her the entire time and have it be a miserable time for both her and I! I would also appreciate advice on how to keep her FOCUSED.... both at home, and in competition. Thank you! | |
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 Miss Laundry Misshap
Posts: 5271
 
| I'd have her scoped for ulcers. My nervous boy calmed immensely after ulcer treatment. | |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 507
Location: Lost in the corn of Iowa. | Get her checked for any health issues. If those come back fine, then it's all in the training. Keep her feet moving, make it more uncomfortable and more work when she wants to be a turd and move around. Make standing the easy thing to do. If they wanna move, make them move on your terms and make them do something, i.e rollbacks, circles, flexing exercises, side passes, pivots, anything to keep their feet moving and make them work. Eventually they will realize that standing still and being good is the best choice. | |
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 Expert
Posts: 1767
Location: California | I have an own daughter of FWF out of an own daughter of Dual Rey and she gets pretty amped. She had a bad start in life which doesn't help her out much. She was very untrusting of me for a long time which did not help either. There was a time when we couldn't even lope circles at home. After getting all her pain issues solved, going back to basics and all of that, I did resort to some medicinal help with calming. It really helped her out a lot because her main problem is worrying. She would conatantly look back at your stirrup and her heart would beat so hard and fast before a race I felt like I couldn't even take a breath on her or she would just explode. Little calming agent and she was able to realize she didn't have to worry. I also try and ride her around with her "buddy" as much as possible. It really makes life easier for everyone. I know a lot of people don't like to medicate, but I really feel in certain cases, after all other avenues have been explored it can be helpful like in my mare's case. | |
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