“She would never back down” is something I learned with my late mare.
I always said “Sure, I could pick up the sword, but she is MORE than happy to pick up hers and go to war, so why go there?”
Was so much more pleasant to figure out the give-and-take she needed. What a fun horse to own - though I don’t miss every aspect of who she was.
I have the most nurturing, kind, doe-eyed giant of a mare and everyone loves her. Except for about three days every three weeks where she turns into a dangerous, distracted, boy crazy hussy. It’s ok though, I just let her have three days off to relax in pasture and torment the ancient retired geldings in the next field. The wonder of a mare to me is how communicative they are. I never feel ambiguous about what my mare wants, we may disagree but she’s not the inscrutable stoic character that my geldings have been. My next horse will also be a mare. The occasional heat cycles are really problematic, but for me the quality of the communication has been totally worth it.
The key word here is “Bond”. It sounds like most of you all have taken the time to make a bond with your mares.
My mare was similar. Ears pinned, etc… She also hadn’t been started yet.
After checking her out fully for physical issues, I began putting her in a paddock and just sitting there and letting her begin to come “check me out”. I have a lot of patience. It took nearly a month for her just to approach me of her own will.
Once she did she got major cookies, rubs and sweet talk.
I noticed it was easy to start her because she trusted me, and I her.
Fast forward 4 years, she is a wonderful, loyal partner. Very occasionally we will go somewhere and she’ll stop, balk and say no. I just tighten my leg, give the reins and say, “must we really have this dscussion”?
She says no, and just goes 
LOL, I tell people that if ever do a freestyle with my WB mare it will use Tom Petty’s I Won’t Back Down.
My instructor was helping me with the problem of her stopping and growing roots, and she said several times “mares don’t want to be wrong.” When you think about it in the evolutionary sense, they’re the ones responsible for keeping their foals alive, so they need to not be wrong. The mares that are wrong and fail to protect their foals won’t have their genes in the pool much longer. So while it might be a tougher nut to crack at the beginning, I think we as riders can benefit from the protective instinct if we can just earn our way in.
This is so right, that is well said. Put into those words, it fully describes why every mare I’ve had is the way she is.
I love mares. I’m glad this thread was started, and I’m loving these stories. I’ve had some dirty geldings, but not mares. They are honest, they wear their heart on their sleeve and you always know where you stand with them.
My current mare, it has taken me THREE years to clip without drugs. She has a very strong aversion to certain types of noises (she used to jump from zippers on your jacket). Knowing she was like this, I just didn’t make a “thing” out of it, eventually it happened.
Her and her companion mare are stalled next to each other. If I go into other mare’s stall to groom or put on ‘jammies’, my mare will stand there and just stare at me thru the bars.
All of the mares I’ve had over the years have been this way. Some have taken longer, but I would not have traded any of them for an “equal” gelding.
My lease mare- an aged Arab still spunky enough to bolt under saddle- is one of those won’t back down types. She’s not out to get you but Her Highness has 0 tolerance for incompetence. Her nips have always meant something- usually pushing me/ testing boundaries. Last weekend was body blocking me when I wanted her to move her hind end for some groundwork. We had a bit of that discussion but we’ll see how it goes next time. I’ve been riding her for a few years before I got to lease her so under saddle she knows me and I think she likes me well enough. Sje never acts up under saddle- ground time is still testing the waters though lol. Some of it is me being rusty or holes in my own horsemanship she will quickly point out and take advantage of. I think if I owned her and had more time to spend with her we’d really click.
I don’t have a preference either way- I just like a good level headed horse with brains and spunk.
So, i have four mustang mares i am gentling. Two arrived as-if pre-trained, though they were both ‘untouched’ straight out of BLM holding. And the OTHER two… well, one is older, 12 or 13, they say, (i’ve not been able to get to see her teeth). She presumably has raised a few foals and of the four i have contained in that corral and barn, she has yet to approach. Once the weather clears up, i am going to move her in with the ‘tame’ bunch and maybe she will improve surrounded by better examples. Where she is right now, there is a very reactive gelding who ‘owns’ her and chases her away when she tried to get near. Anyway, she and i make eyecontact, and i feel it’s going to be easy once we step across the line.
But the fourth one…OMG! Second smartest horse i know, and proud. And young and just full of herself. Watching her display is a thing of joy. Though she seems to want to start something, i’m wise to her. I never take the bait. I respond with gentleness and calm attention. She’s been with me since July first and i don’t have a halter on her yet. But then, it is not my way to apply any pressure at all. I am certain she will come around in time, but it’s going to be on her timeframe. And i am OK with that. Meanwhile, i can enjoy her spritely ways. I am able to walk right by her without any reaction on her part, and i can touch her anywhere above the horizontal line mid-chest/belly/hip to the top of her, but below is a ‘sacred zone’. She’s not four yet, we still have plenty of time.
Ah, the Line of Demarcation below which THOU SHALT NOT TOUCH!!! I know this well from my mare’s days as a handled but unstarted 7yo. It took a long time to get below that line without fear of broken fingers. She had amazing aim with her hind feet. “You think you’re going to Tellington-Jones mah belleh? NOPE!”
Actually, that’s not fair. It was pure and simple reaction, no malice whatsoever on her part, no ears back, just as though she were reacting to a horse fly. 7+ years later, she has learned not to react but to communicate (ears back, squinted eyes) before reacting if she is not pleased with the way I am touching her.
My smart young mustang has had a few Sacred Zones that we’ve managed to break through. For the longest time her forehead (from swirl up to ears) and her poll were Don’t Touch Me areas. Now she is fine. I’m not moving into her other zones until she presents those last two …right now i have to first ask permission. I’m waiting for her to give them willingly, to offer them. THEN we can press ahead. Think i will go for her belly next. Usually i do legs (to get them ready for feet and farrier) But her hooves are so good, and i think i’ll try something different with her.
My mare is in love with her farrier. He’s been doing her feet for almost eight years through three different owners. He is the only person she will accept hugs and snuggles from willingly (although she really has a thing for tall fit men - my husband and my friend’s boyfriend in particular).
Anyway, I had a companion mare for her at our new place before I got my gelding, and her farrier was here to trim the other mare’s feet. He went in and said hello to my mare first, and then went to trim the other mare. She threw a fit. Ears back, head bobbing, stomping her feet, because how dare another mare get attention and not her?! It was hilarious. As soon as he went back into her stall and started scratching her neck, she was like “oh okay this is how the world is meant to be” and was all ears forward and poking him with her muzzle like she always does.
What about foaling compared with childbirth? Do mares suffer as much pain as women do when giving birth? Do cats? Dogs? Cows?
We are a retiring sheep farm, and there sure have been some ewes that suffered incredibly during lambing. (maiden ewes, breech, big hornbud ram lambs, entwined twins). One of us always slept in the barn for those three weeks of lambing. Rarely did we have to go in, but we were there if we had to.
Cows - we do as much as possible to make sure their calving will go as easily as possible. It is always at least somewhat painful. It sometimes causes death. It sometimes causes nerve damage that leaves a cow crippled. So, uh, yes?
I suspect it’s the same with people; some do, some have no problems. Every animal birth i have witnesses looked like there was certainly discomfort and distress. That’s how mine was too.
My understanding is that human births are more difficult than most because human babies have relatively big heads.
Animal births are typically shorter than most human births, and don’t seem to require intervention, at least wild animals. Domestic animals can be bred to be less independent in this matter. Isn’t there a breed of bulldog or something that now requires C Section because of the size of the puppies’ heads?
Yeah, wild animal births are so much easier because the ones that didn’t have good birthing experiences died thereby taking themselves out of the gene pool. Breeding (cattle) for the heritable trait “ease of calving” is a thing. Producers have to weigh all the pros and cons. Beef breeders will lean more heavily in that direction. Dairy breeders not so much as they are going to be there to help anyway, and there are so many more traits that outweigh that one.
OTOH, if you’ve ever seen a cow with a seriously deformed calf that needs to (sorry for this visual) come out in pieces/needs a c-section, one that needs assistance to get the calf turned to an appropriate birthing position, has an internal tear, or a cow with a twisted uterus … well, let’s just say that animals don’t automatically have a walk in the park and parturition can go on for what seems like ever.
When a cow “just poops one out” there’s a huge sigh of relief … until the reality of everything that can go wrong post partum gives us all a slap upside the head and back into reality.
English Bulldog, French Bulldog, and Boston Terrier C section rates are all about 80%… relatively slender hips and big shouldered puppies are a bad combination.
Another good reason for the J.C.'s insistence on live cover for TBs. There is much to be said for perpetuating breeding soundness, if we are to hope for animals to continue to be able to breed with a minimum of human interference.
What on earth does live cover have to do with breeding soundness?
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