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boon
Posts: 4
| Hello,
I'm hoping someone will be able to give me some tricks/tips. I recently purchased a 5 year old mare. She's patterned and extremely smart. When I went to look at her (I drove 9 hours), she was standing in the cross ties, a bit fidgety but nothing horrible. She passed her vet check with no problems. I did notice once you got on her, she was ready to go. The girl I bought her from has ran her at a few smaller jackpots just to get her out to see the sights...flash forward to her new home with me. She is extremely anxious in anything she does. Just a walk around the yard with me leading her, she's on top of me, head high in the air, body completely tense. I've started carrying a stick with a flag on it and keeping it straight out to my side. When she gets past my shoulder and touches the flag, I wave it up and let her know that that's too far. I currently do not have a round pen. I have been lounging a small circle and practicing just stopping and standing. It's been a struggle...when I am grooming or saddling...it's a nightmare. She refuses to stand for more than 1 second. Every time she takes a step forward, I back her up. Every time. I feel like her body is always tense and she is always on edge. I've never had a horse like this. I don't know if she's just "high-strung"? I'm at a loss. I also think the previous owner was a "get on and run". I'm not sure the ground work/slow work was ever really done. If you get too "heavy handed", (ie; with the flag, she started to just push through so I made it very clear that if you cross it, you will get slapped by the flag), she is overly sensitive and she gives the impression I've beat her and is totally evading my hand if I try and pet her. I'm just at a loss, I've been getting more and more frustrated which of course makes her more and more nervous.
Any ideas? I've been trying to look into the "Hidez" masks, anyone ever try them??
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Go Get Em!
Posts: 13503
   
Location: OH. IO | sell |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 898
Location: Mountains of VA | Put her on Thia-Cal from Finish Line............take a deep breath when working with her, stay calm, she is looking for a leader that gives her courage and a quiet temperament. Some of this is just her natural temperment but you can help her by not feeding her grain, just good hay, I have always had good results with Thia-Cal.
Sounds like you are doing the right training with her. Don't waste your money with a Hidez mask............. A tired horse is a good horse.......trail ride and work her phyiscally, not on barrels, but work her.
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boon
Posts: 4
| Thank you! I have read some reviews of the Hidez masks, but I find it hard to believe they truly work. Keeping patience has been my biggest behavior to keep in check. I will look into the Thia-Cal. :) |
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Defense Attorney for The Horse
Location: Claremore, OK | I’ve seen some horses with ulcers display the symptoms you’ve mentioned. I had. 2 yo come here last month that was a lot like your mare. A few days on Ulcergard her eye softened and she started to look more relaxed. 2 weeks of treatment and she’s a totally different animal. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 889
| Liana D - 2018-09-23 9:28 PM
I’ve seen some horses with ulcers display the symptoms you’ve mentioned. I had. 2 yo come here last month that was a lot like your mare. A few days on Ulcergard her eye softened and she started to look more relaxed. 2 weeks of treatment and she’s a totally different animal.
^^^I would have to agree. I would start with the gut and see if you can't get it treated and see how she does then proceed from there. Don't throw too many supplements at her at once or you won't know what's working. |
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Addicted to Baseball
Location: Where the stars at night are big and bright, TX | I would get a comprehensive vet exam - and not in the field. At a vet with state of the art diagnostic equipment. IMO anxiety like that stems from pain. Dread they already hurt, dread they are about to hurt. |
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Expert
Posts: 1314
Location: North Central Iowa Land of white frozen grass | I have a mare just like this. She is 12 now and has been this way her whole life and we raised her. She is just a horse that needs a job and she is fine. She needs a leader. Mine does not have ulcers and grain makes no difference. This mare is wicked fast but makes a beautiful trail horse. She is not great on ground manners but once you put a hand on her she is perfect. Get on her and make some wet saddle blankets with her out of the arena. She is looking for a leader. |
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Veteran
Posts: 217
| It took my gelding eight months and some long trail rides to get him relaxed around home. I did have to "bit up" on our ride because he was a notorious bolt-er and wicked smart, once he learns he can get away with something, he'd do it over and over.
A good calming supplement to help take the edge off is awesome. You might have to try different products that work for her because they can't all be the same
From my experience, making him stop and stand made things worse. I had to think outside of my box. I'd ask for a stop and stand for five seconds. If he moved, before his foot was touching the ground again, I'd send him out in a circle with intention, don't go crazy to scare him off just show you mean business(lunge line and dedicated area to tear up in the yard worked well for space). Lunge until they show some point of relaxation, head lowering, not trying to bolt off, licking lips, and it can take awhile. Ask them to stop and I had him come in to me because people made him quirky. I only asked for five seconds of standing and then we were good for the day. Eat grass or his feed (no sugared or processed stuffs) on the lead to associate I was the good guy. I progressed up the standing time until he showed he was okay with me. It's weird but you'll notice the light bulb go off eventually. Did dumb things on the ground like the squeeze game from parelli, messed with tarps, teaching ground sidepassing (this was his light bulb game and what I do to get his brain back on bad days), landscaping timbers for cavalettis, long hand walks and transitioned to riding walks. Make fun things to do to use their brain instead of only reacting by showing how fast they can be.
Another important thing, know when to quit. You'll have good days where you can quit once they did whatever you were asking. Then, you'll have bad days where you'll have to quit on an attempt to try whatever you're asking while using an ounce of brain power and that be good enough. She needs confidence in herself as well as you. Look for attempts and small victories and you'll go miles. I didn't race all spring and it was well worth it, I have a new horse today. |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 575
| I got one as a 3 yr old that sounds SO similar to what you are describing. Agree with dang near everything posted here. Make sure she's not hurting. Treat her gut. Less is more that way IMO. I went for a good pro-biotic with Aloe Vera juice on top of a little Renew Gold. Mostly the juice was to make everything stick together, but I figured Aloe probably wouldn't hurt. Plus good quality hay.
Riding wise everything had to be slow, but standing still seemed to make her more anxious. I had to keep her feet moving and walked A LOT of small slow circles. Once she would relax there, I would go back to whatever it was we were doing before. I took a ton of lessons on her with my colt starter because I had never had one like her and I had no idea what to do. Basically we went back to basics to make her see that I was her boss, and she could look to me to tell her what to do/when to do it. It wasn't that she wasn't broke, she was just very insecure. I ponied her A LOT outside. I would take her to races and let her stand tied at the trailer to throw a fit. I honestly did about 6 months of that before she started to realize it wasn't the end of the world and she would survive.
The other thing that I felt like helped her to just take a breath and relax was turning her out. I let her have all day in a pasture. I would ride when I got home, and then she went in the barn at night. Once she realized that it was ok to relax and that her life could be simple, things started to change. Almost 2 years later she is a different horse. She will still get anxious but she looks to me for reassurance now instead of going into panic mode. I've gathered on her, sorted calves on her, trail ridden her everywhere from the mountains to the beach, and I'll start entering her this coming year as a 5 yr old.
In short, this will not be an easy/over night fix. Mine took a lot of time and a lot of patience, but she's turned into one of my favorite horses. |
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 Loves to compete
Posts: 5760
Location: Oakdale, CA | Liana D - 2018-09-23 7:28 PM I’ve seen some horses with ulcers display the symptoms you’ve mentioned. I had. 2 yo come here last month that was a lot like your mare. A few days on Ulcergard her eye softened and she started to look more relaxed. 2 weeks of treatment and she’s a totally different animal.
I agree with this and sometimes it takes awhile for a horse to settle in and get comfortable maybe she is used to being around alot of horses.............. |
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 Expert
Posts: 1520
Location: Illinois | My 4 year old is similar, but not all the time. She's snorty and eyes everything, still snorts at a broom in the wrong spot after having her a year. I checked into ulcers on her, which she was clear. She was so stressed she coliced hard the 3rd day I had her home, you'd get her up take 2 steps and she'd just drop again. There was no life in here eyes, I thought I was losing her. And it all happened within half an hour from acting fine to dropping like that. That's why I had her checked and put her on daily Gastro-Plex anyway. She gets panicked enough about things she rears & has flipped over a few times, so I put her on Calmex from MVP and she's significantly more level headed and if she's getting handled and exercised a few days a week she's quiet as a mouse now. But it has taken a year for us to get to this point. When I got her she hadn't ever gone anywhere, and I've hauled her twice now and she wasn't bothered by a single thing the second time. Sometimes she still gets that hair up her butt though and gets set off by something. As long as she's on the Calmex she's pretty chilled out though and I don't even give her the full recommended dose. I'd suggest checking yours for ulcers first and then maybe starting something with magnesium for calming. If she does have ulcers then treat and put her on a preventative like Gastro-Plex or something similar. |
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 Balance Beam and more...
Posts: 11511
Location: 31 lengths farms | CC, my little mare with the kidney stones was exactly this way. Horrible ground manners and trust me we worked on it, Every. Dang. Day. She is and was just so over reactive that as good as she wanted to be something would catch her eye and she'd be on top of you. She was the kind that got scared that she got scared. Patience didn't work, getting after her didnt' work, she'd just worry more and harder. Fidget feet. Ulcer meds did nothing. Calming cookies made her catatonic. Equine Focus made her worse, if that was even possible. It was like she focused on what scared her. Bat Crap Crazy. And yet under all of that she was still somehow processing things, lead changes, lead departures, two tracking, leg yield, half halt and the most beautiful soft counter arcs. Just Lord don't let a butterfly or a leaf blow by or mid stride it was crazy time. Bi-Polar/ADHD. Trail rides were even worse for her. She loved the sameness of loping circles in an arena or an round pen or a field, taking her out and subjecting her to rabbits or squirrels or turkeys coming out of brush, not relaxing for her. There were times I was so angry with her, so much talent and couldn't do anything with it because you never knew when she was going to lose her mind over something as simple as a dog moving from laying down to standing up. The thing that helped change her was putting her on Silver Lining Herbs Keep Cool. She was still aware, and reactive, just not over reactive, lose her brain type stuff. After about 3 months of 7 day a week dosage of it, I was able to start using it only when we were going to an arena I knew she was a little anxious at or a new place. 6 months of that and we got enough good days strung together she no longer needed it, it calmed her mind down enough for her to process the "Okay mom, do you see that thing? Should I worry or do we got this? " response first. It truly was life changing for her and for me with her. |
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 The One
Posts: 7998
Location: South Georgia | That's frustrating! I had a horse like that growing up..he never changed. |
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  Expert
Posts: 1584
Location: Central Texas | I've had a few and it was usually pain, and sometimes mental stress from harsh treatment. Like others mentioned, ulcers can cause it, also PSSM is a big one. Some responded well to Magnesium supplements (especially MagRestore).
My suggestions: Test for PSSM. There are some good FB pages with a lot of info. Also, test for ulcers. Feed an ulcer friendly diet. And try a good Magnesium supplement.
Good luck! |
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 Stinky Cat Owner
Posts: 4097
Location: Oregon | Ug. Be careful is my first thought!  Oxy Gen has several different calming supplement pastes as well as a daily pellet. Reach out if I can help you with anything! I would also tend to believe that's she's probably got ulcers and OxyGen has a great program for that too. Good luck! |
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Sparklin Cowgirl
Posts: 4379
| I have a mare like that. She can be a dragon. When she is in rare form, I give her a T.H.E. Calming Cookie or 2 to take the edge off. (She ALWAYS gets those when we go places.) Really helps her relax and chill out a little. It is just her so she is still really "game" but the OMG THE WORLD IS ENDING AND I NEED TO RUN AWAY FROM IT is at least down. |
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