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Regular
Posts: 75
Location: Iowa | I am not going to Boohoo about this but need some advice. I just got a mare 3 days ago as a project. I rode her and she seemed fine the day I got her, just a bit rusty since the owners didn't do as much as they thought they would with her. She's 15 and bred and built really nice. I didn't get a chance to ride her until today because I have young children and stay at home with them so my riding time is limited. We have other horses so it may be awhile before I get a chance to ride them & they all do really well. We handle our horses daily since we have to lead them to pasture & then put them in the barn at night. I know how to handle horses. This afternoon I brought this new mare to the trailer to ride her a bit since my husband was with our kids. I saddled her and she danced around a bit but then out of the blue she freaked out and started pulling back literally sitting back on her rear. She stopped and was fine and I talked to her to calm her down then was about to get something from my trailer and she did it again. I actually had to dive into my trailer to get out of the way. I ended up calling my husband to come help me get the saddle off (which is a caldwell promax and fits her well). After we got the saddle off I decided to try a different saddle and sure enough I didn't even get the cinch around on this one and she did it again. She ended up breaking the rope and taking off. The scary part of all of this is that she nearly wiped out my husband and my kids who weren't even close to where she was but when she pulled back she fell backwards and landed quite a ways from the trailer. She took off and I eventually caught her and so my husband and I tried to calm her down but she seemed pretty light in the front feet and ready to rear up any minute. I called the people I got her from to see if she'd ever done this with them and of course the answer was no. My question is, can a horse develop a habit this extreme in the 3 days we've had her even though I haven't rode her until today? She's 15yrs old and I have a hard time believing I created this problem. I'm almost positive she's done this before & I absolutely CANNOT/ WILL NOT have a horse that jeopardizes my families safety. What can I do with her? Any advice or info would be very much appreciated. |
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 Too Skinny
Posts: 8009
  
Location: LA Lower Alabama | Horses are crazy and start new things daily but I would never take the word of the previous owners. good luck |
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Fire Ant Peddler
Posts: 2881
 
| Don't forget your own safety. I think you are probably right. She probably has done this before. I would have the people take her back. If not ship her down the road. It is way cheaper to take a loss than to have a huge hospital bill. Or a funeral |
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 Not Afraid to Work
Posts: 4717
| If I were to guess it was something saddle related. Whether or not shes sore or your saddle pinched her, something likely caused her to react and once they've gotten that spooked mentality, it can be hard to bring them back down to earth.
A friend of mine bought a colt and granted she was young but calm as a cucumber (i knew her prior to her getting her). She threw the kids saddle on her and she flipped and literally hung herself from the trailer. We cut the saddle off and we put on the saddle belonging to seller and she did the same thing. Obviously this is the saddle she was broke in and never presented a problem before. She ended up working out of it but it was obvious, the kids saddle hurt her in some way.
She still gets nervous when we tack her up, it hasnt been super long but she needs to be reassured from time to time that its not that kids saddle. Mental scars are far worse than physical scars. JMO |
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Veteran
Posts: 183
| Sounds fishy to me too. Hate that for you. Send the witch home before she hurts you or herself and that nice saddle. They were most likely using you for a guinea pig & hoping you'd get her out of it. |
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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
| I would be checking the saddle pad, cinch, make sure there were no burrs, then I would go over the horse with a fine tooth comb to make sure she doesn't have anything irritating her.
Also I would suspect ulcers, I have heard they can come on as early as 5 days post treatment. I have a 4 year old treated for ulcers, was riding good gave her 2 weeks off had her tied up, saddled her she blew up, and shoved me head first into the side of the shed. Now she is back on ulcer meds. |
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 A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | How long did the other owners have her? And I bet money that she did this way befor you got her, and another thing I bet shes one you have to cinch up slowly. There is some horses that will sit back when cinched up to fast and they will go into a panic mode. |
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Regular
Posts: 75
Location: Iowa | I agree with the saddle possibly hurting, and had that thought cross my mind, but what I don't understand is I rode her in the same saddle the day I got her and she was fine. I also agree with the fact that its better to lose out on the deal than seeing anyone get hurt by her. I would never forgive myself. |
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 Veteran
Posts: 222
Location: Texas | Get a trash saddle, a be nice halter and a patience tree. The gelding I'm running pulled this crap when I got him back from the people ( very nice just spoiled him to death!) I had sold him to a couple of years ago. His case was he figured out he could scare them and not have to work. He got saddled and unsaddled a ton during the day and stayed tied up all day. Be careful!!!!! In our case it got worse before it got better and you couldn't hesitate or back down. This is dangerous and you can get hurt with a horse that will blow like that. I ended up teaching him to hobble as well and hobbling him every time I tied him up. That way if he did manage to break something he couldnt run off it can be fixed it's just one of the harder things to fix. (If this is a habit and not just a freak deal) With the be nice halter use a heavy yacht line lead rope with out a snap. A snap will break before the halter or lead rope. My gelding pitched some major fits and never did manage to break that halter or lead rope. |
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Fire Ant Peddler
Posts: 2881
| hashope11 - 2013-11-19 9:49 PM
I agree with the saddle possibly hurting, and had that thought cross my mind, but what I don't understand is I rode her in the same saddle the day I got her and she was fine. I also agree with the fact that its better to lose out on the deal than seeing anyone get hurt by her. I would never forgive myself.
Do you think they had her doped???? |
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Regular
Posts: 75
Location: Iowa | They had her about a year. She's bred to the hills but I just got her to bring back to barrels because she's been a broodmare & trail horse the last 3 years. I have a fantastic barrel horse but she can't mentally handle a lot of running due to previous owners blowing her up. So I decided to get something I could tinker on to play with on barrels. I also know about cinchy horses. We have one and as long as we go slow she's fine. This mare didn't freak out until several minutes after I cinched her, she didn't even baulk when I cinched her. She danced a bit when I put the saddle on but the previous owners said that's just what she does. |
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  Warmblood with Wings
Posts: 27846
Location: Florida.. | have you tried to saddle her untied? was she tied when you looked at her
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 Been Blessed
Posts: 7587
Location: Living in my Promised Land | Was she tied hard and fast when you saddles her before? I have had several nice horses that just did not tie well. Clinton Anderson has a whole video and a tie device for this particular problem. It is nothing to mess with. If you can have someone hold her while she is being tacked up, you will find out whether it is an equipment problem or a behavior problem. My guess is that this horse has done it for years. |
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 Works Hard For The Money
Posts: 4469
Location: Memphis, TN | Eh. I wouldn't be too quick to disregard her. My gelding randomly sits back. I'm talking like twice a year maybe but when he does he sits down until something breaks. It's just one of his quirks. I have learned his body language and will immediately untie him if I see him start tensing up. I can typically avoid it now. I would try her again tomorrow but instead of tying her hard and fast try not tying her or just running her lead rope through your tie. Some horses who sit back like my gelding just don't give in to the pressure. When they fight that hard and the rope breaks it can send them backwards quick. If you have a round pen that would be the ideal place to saddle. I would work her like she was a colt until you figure her out. It's all still new to her. She sounds like one who you may have to build her trust up. Round penning will help that a lot. |
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 Ace Ventura Pet Detective
Posts: 2409
Location: Wisconsin | My guess...Its not the first time |
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Regular
Posts: 75
Location: Iowa | Yes we tried to saddle her untied twice, just to give her the benefit of the doubt and she did the same thing. I don't like to think the worst in situations so I can't say if she was doped. I really try to believe people are being honest because that's how we are, but I've been burned so many times doing this I'm beginning to lose faith that there are good people out there. Although everyone offering me advice on here sure makes me feel better. I am sure with the right experience this mare could be fixed, I just don't have the time and cannot have a dangerous horse when I have my kids to consider, since they are out in the barn with us a lot. We just don't/can't tolerate the crazy things when we have little ones. We have cattle too and any of them that act a little crazy are sent packing. |
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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
| hashope11 - 2013-11-19 10:09 PM
Yes we tried to saddle her untied twice, just to give her the benefit of the doubt and she did the same thing. I don't like to think the worst in situations so I can't say if she was doped. I really try to believe people are being honest because that's how we are, but I've been burned so many times doing this I'm beginning to lose faith that there are good people out there. Although everyone offering me advice on here sure makes me feel better. I am sure with the right experience this mare could be fixed, I just don't have the time and cannot have a dangerous horse when I have my kids to consider, since they are out in the barn with us a lot. We just don't/can't tolerate the crazy things when we have little ones. We have cattle too and any of them that act a little crazy are sent packing.
You have made up your mind, you have two choices, send her back, or sell her and take a loss.
There are too many good horses out there to be messing around with ones you can't trust.
Good luck with your decision |
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A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | cheryl makofka - 2013-11-19 10:13 PM hashope11 - 2013-11-19 10:09 PM Yes we tried to saddle her untied twice, just to give her the benefit of the doubt and she did the same thing. I don't like to think the worst in situations so I can't say if she was doped. I really try to believe people are being honest because that's how we are, but I've been burned so many times doing this I'm beginning to lose faith that there are good people out there. Although everyone offering me advice on here sure makes me feel better. I am sure with the right experience this mare could be fixed, I just don't have the time and cannot have a dangerous horse when I have my kids to consider, since they are out in the barn with us a lot. We just don't/can't tolerate the crazy things when we have little ones. We have cattle too and any of them that act a little crazy are sent packing. You have made up your mind, you have two choices, send her back, or sell her and take a loss. There are too many good horses out there to be messing around with ones you can't trust. Good luck with your decision
I agree |
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Regular
Posts: 75
Location: Iowa | So how do you sell a horse with this type of issue? The previous owners were supposed to call me back but they never did (not real surprised knowing now what I do). Like I said she's bred to the hills & has a really nice build. I am honest and will be completely upfront to anyone about this. But are there people out there that would still consider her with this issue? |
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 Sock eating dog owner
Posts: 4553
Location: Where the pavement ends and the West begins Utah | My guess is she has ulcers and or a rib out. My girl has ulcers and she will roll her eyes if I cinch to tight too soon. I've just learned to cinch up slowly and I don't tie when I cinch up. If a horse has Ulcers that girth area is real sensative. Use a real wide cinch like a felt one so it spreads across the girth area more. If mine is to tight my baby won't travel out. |
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