Just try the regumate is sounds like it may help. She will not be messed up forever. The generic is inexpensive. Wedgewood makes a paste. Basically it’s a great cheap option. Spring is a difficult time of year to be a young mare.
I haven’t read all of this thread but wanted to chime in as I also have a “challenging” mare. I do have her on Regumate, but she has bad cycles that were clearly affecting her. It doesn’t sound like that’s the issue with your mare, but it’s cheap enough and harmless so I might give it a try and see what you think.
But it more importantly I think you may want to take a step back and reevaluate the training philosophy here. My mare rejects many traditional training methods. But if you use positive reinforcement and don’t “force” her to do anything, she gives you her all. So while your trainer may be very good, she may not be the right fit for your horse. I would say give her a month to see if things get better, but if not look around for someone else. Maybe see if you can find someone who focuses on “problem” horses. Not because yours is a problem horse, but because they will have experience dealing with horses who require a different way of thinking.
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OP, you have described my mare perfectly. 
I’ve had this mare for 10 years and have experimented with lots of different things. I finally found a “formula” that works pretty good for her. First, I’ve figured out she’s sensitive to soy and alfalfa. So, nothing with a soy ingredient (phytoestrogens) or even a pelleted supplement containing alfalfa (she’s super sensitive to even small amounts). No commercial feed at all. I custom mix her supplements (all powder except hoof supplement). Vitamin E, B1, magnesium, Nutraflax, hoof supplement. I mix these in Chaste Berry liquid and a bit of unsweetened applesauce. The Chaste Berry and magnesium really help with her mare behaviors, i.e., spooking, grumpy with grooming, etc. Hay is mainly Bermuda and a little Timothy.
She is still opinionated, but that’s just her. Hates to be told what to do. When riding, I’m persistent and firm in what I’m asking of her, but give her lots of breaks walking on the buckle to take the pressure off and then go back to work. I keep my sessions with her to about 40 minutes with a long warm up. She can have mini-tantrums if she doesn’t get to do what she wants, but she gives it up pretty easily now. She’s been a long-time challenge, but love her to pieces.
Pheww lots of responses (and I am naturally long-winded lol) so here goes!
leheath: I have heard of other mares being very loving when in heat. My vet once said about mares who are more relaxed and loving when in season is that it “makes sense” because they are supposed to be more receptive. But then she is very touch-and-go with the other horses when she is in season. The mares all went into heat at the beginning of last week. Monday one of the other mares came in kicked to hell. I know it was my mare. One second she will have her butt in the other horse’s face and the next she will strike out at them. On Thursday the same mare came in kicked to hell on the other leg. My mare had a small battle wound on the back of one of her legs - so proof! Although she is never usually over-aggressive, I think that may be because the other horses tend to ignore her and this particular mare is a hussy and I am convinced does not understand horse body language. So she never gets out of boss mare’s way quick enough.
Posting Trot: Absolutely, she is young and inexperienced. But I am not asking her to go to a high pressure show environment and perform and make no mistakes. I am asking her to trot at home while accepting leg and softening in the bridle. I do not believe it is unreasonable for her to do that now without throwing a tantrum. And my trainer in no way “[jumped] on and [started] trying to get the horse round on a circle” as you imply she might have. I described above a little bit of her tactic without trying to delve into every minute of the session because that was not the intention of my thread but rest assured she did spend the time getting my mare comfortable being mounted until she stood with her eyes half closed while my trainer got on and off multiple times. My mare knows how to do this, she just needs a special kind of attention that is firm and demanding of respect and attention but is also calming and who will not escalate her.
Simkie: The seeming neck stiffness was gone by our next chiro appointment and we have had no issues since. I brought it up again to my vet on this 5th during her musculoskeletal exam because I wanted to checked and my vet said that she has full range of motion, everything feels great. I think my crazy girl tweaked her neck when she fell over in the field during one of her…moments. She loves to defy gravity by rearing way up and then coming down and kicking both back legs out and she got ahead of herself and came aallll the way down. Not only did I happen to see it but my husband and father in law, who are not “horse person” were looking out of the window just at the perfect time to see it too. They think us horse people are crazy for getting on the back of an animal like that haha.
Sparrowette: I am unfamiliar with Monty Roberts. Will look into it!
S1969: Oh she will blow up if someone so much as looks at her the wrong way (kidding…half kidding?). The trainer had done absolutely nothing to the horse yet but lead her to the mounting block. She has gone sideways with every single other person I have seen try to ride her (and she did it with me for weeks when I first restarted her…I spent a month JUST mounting). She is just an anxious type and gets ahead of herself - she is very anticipating of everyone’s next breath. I would not say she was ridden aggressively at all. My trainer explained that a horse like her just needs very, very, clear cues. Releasing the absolute moment she gives, even a little give, is totally key. She often went around with a noticeable give in the reins…but mare is unpredictable. You can get 10 soft paces and then she will give you a good bronc ride, maybe try a 180 if you are lucky. The trainer, I thought, did a great job of catching her before she could get too far and then kicked her on and making her work, then soften again when my mare behaved. I rode her the next day when it was super windy outside. With this particular mare I often find excuses not to ride in such windy conditions. Not always as she needs to get used to schooling in different conditions, but often. Well I was determined to ride the day after that second training ride. And what a good girl she was! She was forward and soft. She aaaaalmost tried a 180 on the treeline side but she caught herself a fraction of a second before I even did. I pushed her over with my right leg and she responded immediately and we continued forward and then back around that spot again she got a little tense but did not try it twice. She is one that will usually continue spooking in the same spot the entire rest of the ride. She was a little bit more tense than she would be if I was just riding her with my usual “soft as a feather” aids but this time I made sure I kept my leg on and kept her forward. I just walked and trotted around until she relaxed and started blowing, it was a 15, 20 minute ride tops, and then I praised her and let her be done. Not every ride needs to be a workout or a big deal.
Hayburner: “All we ask is walk and trot yet you would think we are asking for the moon!” Exactly! This mare will always be an anxious and a forward thinker. That is totally okay with me. She is special haha. In fact I like a busy brain. We are working on channeling that nervous energy and teaching her to look towards her people on how to respond to scary situations. I think she really did just that yesterday when it was very windy and she nearly put in one of her 180s. She kind of shuddered a moment and then her ear went right back to me and she ACCEPTED my leg when I asked her to straighten back up and go forward. We actually rode through the scary moment, not with pinned ears and a blow through my leg as tells me “see ya later!” She is very independent and because she is alpha she always wants to be the decision maker. Acceptance and obedience in tough situations is and probably always will be to some extent her (our) weakness. Thank you for sharing your encouraging experience.
findthedistance: Thank you for sharing! I agree Regumate is not fun to have to deal with. I handled it at a big training barn years ago. Looking back I never really thought twice about all of the mares being on Regumate…I was just a grunt then and did what I was asked and trusted the pros knew what they were doing. Only now am I realizing it is more common for training barns to use Regumate than I originally thought.
Manni01: Our issue is quite the opposite. I am a mare person. I have only ever owned mares (though the first horse I ever really loved what a gelding that I broke). My mare knows I am in charge and she absolute loves me. I actually had her next door today and bumped into a friend who trailered her home for me when I first got her and she said “wow, she is a different horse” and I said “I know, this horse loves me more than any horse has ever loved me!” The trainer is another story…this horse is smart. She does not know this trainer (has only met her twice) and so she has immediately put the trainer below her in the herd hierarchy. It will take a little time for my trainer to establish herself is all. Like she said on Friday: “that’s okay, she does not like me right now but she will. They all learn to love me.” A mare’s respect has to be earned. Well, one like this one.
Shiloh: Thank you for understanding this so clearly. I have spent a year teaching this mare how to relax, rhythm, but really just enjoy life, trust me, and to not take a ride or life so seriously. Some days I would get on her and we would just walk the arena once or twice in each direction and be done. Sometimes I would tack her up and then untack her and not ride at all. Life is easy, life is good! Any time a trainer gets on though…“oh so THAT’S a leg!” Put any real pressure on her and she says “eff you.” Part of her issue is anxiety though. My trainer from the fall put it for me this way when she just got through riding out a particularly nasty tantrum and I asked her, from the ground: “is this a confidence or misunderstanding issue on her part?” And the trainer, who now had my mare cantering around soft and quiet, responded: “oh this mare has all of the confidence in the world in herself. She knows exactly what she is capable of and most of what I expect. She has no confidence in ME. She wants to make all of the decisions because the way she sees it her life is better without me in it.” Makes so much sense. It is not that she hates people, in fact, she is the friendliest, most lovable in-your-pocket horse in my barn. But when she gets worried about something like the hard work that it takes to carry herself and be soft, or the pressure of a leg that is asking her to come through to the hands, she says “who the hell do you think you are?” As I once read someone say: “A horse never ‘enjoys the burn.’” I truly think she gets concerned and once she learns it is not only okay but better to accept the rider because then her life will be much easier (i.e. a 15 minute ride and not a 45 minute one) I think it will “click” for her.
And thank you, she sure is cute! She is by Gotcha Gold out of a Pleasant Tap mare and by a Forty Niner stallion. Her dam is by Northern Afleet. Never Bend is further back on dam side. If you have any insight on the “opinionated-ness” of her bloodlines, please share!
I know how to do these things, how to put her on the aids and ask a little more from her. I am experienced enough and have enough confidence to get a horse through at least the lower levels. But I do not exactly know HOW to get through the tantrums with her enough that we can get over this part of resistance in her training. This is why I am seeking out a trainer’s help. So they can ride through the behaviors and help me get through to her so that I can take back the reins. Because she is so sensitive and remembers everything I do not want to screw her up by being too forgiving and increasing her behaviors or making her worse by reinforcing them (i.e. she broncs like a maniac so then I pull her up to a walk). As much as people seem to think she needs a softer hand like that, this is NOT the answer for this horse.
Palm Beach: Oh no, she is not dead broke under saddle at all. Just the thought makes me laugh (sheepishly). But she is dead broke with me on the ground. She responds correctly all the times. Any time I introduce something new to her she does it when I ask no matter how terrified she is. I actually have to be careful not to take advantage of her trying for me because she is and always will be an anxious type. When she is nervous about a new question I give her time to think it through and move through it at her own pace. Ever couple of weeks I set up an obstacle course to incorporate in our training. She has done everything short of walk through those smoke bomb thingys. Though those are on my list to add to my tack room! The only change in behavior I see during her cycles (other than “normal” mare peeing/winking) is that she is much more touchy as in she WILL kick and assert herself a whole lot harder. Usually she is a pretty laid back alpha. Another horse came in twice this week with new kicks (assuming kicks, sure looks that way) and I have no doubt it was from my mare. She also is just more annoying to them when in season, chasing them off patches of grass when there is plenty. My husband calls her a B (she says this lovingly though, he adores her because she loves our 2 year old son) because he will watch her out of the window and give me the play by play: “Look! Look! Everyone has their own hay and she had to go and harass that horse and then she went and chased off the other horse and then the other horse wanted to go drink and she chased her away from the water!” Amusing to watch, yes. But annoying for poor ponies haha. But I think that is pretty normal for being in heat, at least from a very bossy mare? And thank you, I agree, she does NOT need to be handled timidly. She needs quite the opposite. I understand people want to give the horse the benefit of the doubt and assert the required gentle hand but she does not get beaten and she does not get asked more than she can handle. And thanks for sharing your Regumate experience too. Thankfully I own my own barn and do all of the feeding/care myself so it will be relatively simple to add the Regumate into the mix.
S1969: “My trainer had to ride her very, very lightly for a while before she gradually added normal leg pressure.” Well, this is where I come (came?) in. I have been riding her very softly, very lightly, for more than a year now. She will peter patter around with my legs softly draped around her and my hand barely on the reins. Warmup is a total breeze. Then I say “okay time to pick yourself up,” “don’t trip on your face,” “move off my leg.” She will say “nah you can go now” ha. It is the leg she is most resistant too. Though it really can change a lot day to day what annoys her.
goodmorning: I appreciate your support!
Pico Banana: Excuse my laziness but I think a response to your comments can be mostly answered from all of my responses above. =]
Equicraft: Funny that you mention your mare’s sensitivities! I spent months working on this mare’s diet, starting by stripping it completely and just feeding hay and pasture. I introduced a new ingredient one at a time and very slowly. She absolutely cannot have alfalfa. Tried three times over the course of two months. And she cannot have more than about 2 pounds of grain (any grain, I have tried three). I am suspicious of the soy meal in the grain. And some have alfalfa meal too. She is currently on almost 2 pounds of TC Senior and that is all of that I will feed to her. She unfortunately is a hard keeper though too and needs calories so she is expensive to feed. The bulk of her diet is timothy pellets, rice bran, oil, and beet pulp. She is on a supplement with B vitamins and magnesium and that helped her a whole lot last summer. I am confident that is what helped her learn to relax in work so I could walk and trot her on a loose rein and “gave” us a good warmup.
Mine will always be opinionated too, for sure, and that is okay with me. She is super cool and FULL of personality. When she is good she is GOOD. Your technique is a lot like mine - she gets a lot of walking on the buckle during schooling to “shake it off.” We walk the first 10 minutes of every ride. I am firm about getting through to her but I cannot pick at her. If she does not get something after a few tries we move on to something more simpler and then come back it the problem later. Right now I ride her about 30 minutes, sometimes 40 depending on how things are going (bad or great!). I love the challenge that she is. And I love to hear of your 10 years of success with your silly mare. I hope I have that and more with mine!
So how is she on the ground when you disengage her hindquarters? When you send her away from you in both directions? Gives to pressure with her face all the time?
I think she just is not broke enough for you to even be riding her. She doesn’t really understand giving to pressure (soft in the face) OR going forward (accept the leg) and you are asking for both at once. So she gets worried, anxious, upset. When you put pressure on a horse, in any manner including gently via hands and legs, they look for a way to get rid of the pressure. When she spooks, or runs sideways, or says, Nah you can go now, you release the pressure (because that is what all riders do) so she learns to spook, run sideways, say Nah you can go now. She does NOT understand softening to you hand and moving forward off your leg, so you will never get the correct response consistently.
Horses learn from the release of pressure. So when you put pressure on them, whatever it is they do to get you to release the pressure they remember and will do it again when you put pressure on them again. You sound plenty competent enough to get through this with your mare. It’s behavioral.
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Well, only you can decide whether it is worth it or not. My mare needed 4-5 rides of “very very light” leg pressure to start to put it together.
A horse that still regularly blows up, goes sideways, is unpredictable, gives a good a bronc ride, and tries a 180 after a year of regular training/riding - no thanks.
Not every horse is bred for temperament. Sometimes in the quest for speed things get lost with race breeding. I am guessing she may have washed out at the track because of this. Racehorses are bred for fast but they have to be rideable too.
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My mare isn’t your mare, but she can be a real challenge too. My take?
Takes two to fight. Stop fighting. Be firm, but quiet and fair.
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I’ll add too - whoever is putting pressure on to make her blow is a not a good trainer. When my mare is getting worked up because I asked her to do something she either 1) didn’t appreciate the method of ask or 2) doesn’t care to do, she gets redirected in a way that doesn’t amp her anxiety/stress/fight response. I’d bet that many people who watch me ride don’t even know that I’m having a discussion with her about something.
My internal dialogue: Don’t want to do a canter to trot transition on the straight away? Ok, let’s do shoulder in for a second, then I’ll ask you from there. Oh there it is! Good girl! Oh, you want to trot super duper fast right now? Let me try posting slower. Not working. How about a circle while I post slower. Nope, not working. Let’s walk since you’re keen on blowing me off right now. K, now that you got the message of slower means slower let’s trot again. Hey look, you’re doing it a little better! Good girl! Hey now, why are you trying to put your ears in my mouth in front of a jump, that’s not nice. Let’s do a circle, work on suppling for a minute since you weren’t ready to jump that anyways. Much better, oh but now we’re running on the back side. Another circle, pick up your shoulder, oooo that was really balanced, good girl!! Let’s do a walk to canter transition. Well, that was pretty crummy, let’s do it again. Walk. Canter. Not great, but better. Good girl!!
If at any point during the above dialogue I decided to pick a fight, the mare would gladly pick up the other sword and go at it with me - both of us accomplishing ZERO except learning to hate one another. It’s exhausting sometimes to keep your cool, and I am not perfect all the time at it. But the results speak for themselves, and I know that getting pissy with my mare eliminates any chance I had of a good ride.
This mare is going to demand better horsemanship from you. Be willing and ready, or get rid of her while you’re ahead.
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I’m not sure how your trainer trains, but it might not be a bad idea to look into a natural horsemanship-ish trainer. Not like, Parelli type stuff, but someone that is kind of Buck Brannaman/John Lyons style, that will start from the ground or in a round pen, really figure out the horse. I’ve noticed (from all the various english and western disciplines I’ve done) that a good trainer starting from the ground up can get a lot more done than someone just hopping on to ride, or even just doing a bit of light groundwork. The trick is to find someone that is able to read the horses really well, is sympathetic, and has a ton of patience. Because the thing is, if your horse is good on the ground 75% of the time but then if you ask for more they blow up, they haven’t had enough work on the ground.
On another note, I had a mare that was quite similar to yours. I had someone help me start her more of a NH way. My then bf WAS starting her but she would chuck him off. She was perfect with me when I got on though (and I knew nothing about riding). She was weird about other people though. She would chomp down on someone else’s foot while they were on but I couldn’t get her to do it with me on to correct her. She was incredibly intelligent, highly opinionated, did not like most people. Was always better with me than anyone else. But if I hadn’t learned how to put all that work into her from the ground, she very likely would have been just like your mare. The good thing is though as she got older, she calmed down and became one of the most reliable, calm horses I’ve ever known. I only sold her because she was quite small for me and I didn’t want her to sit in a pasture, she is too talented and likes to work. But I keep up with her.
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Here to update!
I am intentionally ignoring the computer trainers, I know everyone means well and thinks they are the online horse whisperers who can gather every horse’s every need from a few paragraphs but I plainly disagree. I mean no disrespect to anyone but I would not blindly take training advice from a stranger based on their assumptions made online and having never seen a horse. A specific topic for advice, sure. But generally, no. And I will not argue with folks online, no use in that. It is never constructive. THAT I hope we can all agree. :yes:
I just really hope that everyone who sits behind their desks, reads a brief sentence someone wrote, and then assumes the worse of the owner and trainer and tell the person to give up or that she is doing things wrong, realize that it could be a young, influential person on the receiving end of their words who can be quite sensitive to advice that is maybe (actually, probably) not even close to true and they can be doing more harm than good. Because no one can really know a situation through text. Consider the weight that your words might have and think before you type. And just be decent.
Alas, I know full well the sh*tshow that can become a thread in an online forum when the internet advice comes rolling out and away from the intended topic.
*****But I do want to get back on track and update anyway for anyone who might search and find this post in the future, just in case it might help, as it is already well on its way at least so no use in letting potential info disappear into nothingness!
My mare was doing awesome for a few weeks and making great progress. 4-5 days of work a week, I took over the reins, and with lots of positive reinforcement and confidence building she was going along nicely, was very accepting, and seemed generally happy about her work. Totally cool about my leg staying draped around her the whole time. And then one day - a Thursday or Friday I cannot remember which - I kind of noticed this look in her eye. She is usually very relaxed from day to day, easily the sweetest horse in the barn, the one that falls asleep while you hold her head and scratch her ears, super perky and begging for attention when people show up. But her eye looked…different. I have no better way to explain this. I know this mare really well, I see her multiple times a day and watch her a lot from outside my window. I just felt in my bones like she was gonna take a turn. And she did.
The second day I noticed that she did a few random angry kicks at nothing. Flies? And then the following day I pulled her out to put her in the cross ties after a day off and she was grinding her teeth the entire time and looked pretty anxious. She was suddenly “scooty” about my leg under saddle again, launching me into the trot and canter, running away from the leg during lateral work. The followed day I groomed her and stuck her on the lunge just to see her walk and trot around and she was very rushy, head up (she normally lunges naturally long and loose), eyes wide and looking at everything, spooked at the same thing twice, and did not look like the happy mare I had the last couple of weeks. I let this be a “trash” day and put her away. We all have them.
That night I let her in her stall for a little snack of timothy pellets while I did barn chores and she suddenly started doing the downward dog and held the position for several seconds! It was so weird and a bit scary to watch. I can not attach the video here but I will post a screenshot of the clip of her doing it.
I had started tracking her cycle since the last two and this happened on the 21st day of her cycle so would be exactly the first day of estrus. Coincidence?? I gave her banamine and left her in her stall without food to monitor her for the next few hours. At no point did she seem otherwise distressed. No pacing, no pawing, alert. I sent the video right to my vet and my vet responded that it was definitely discomfort, she wondered about a mild choke or colic. It was the weekend so I called the clinic on Monday and scheduled a gastroscopy for Friday.
My mare is ulcer prone (speculation, no scope before) and my vet and I have been unable to pinpoint what caused the last flare up. Ulcer was my immediate suspicion of the downward dog and sudden change in behavior overall. She has had numerous physicals to see if there is any pain anywhere that might be causing stress that leads to ulcers but none of the exams have come up with any revelations. She is sound as I can hope.
On Monday before the scope I pulled her out of the field and groomed her, stuck her on the lunge to see how she would behave just walking around. She did not want to walk, she wanted to trot - fast, and shy at things. Tuesday I left her alone except for a quick groom. Less grinding for sure. On Wednesday I hopped on her and just walked around. No grinding in the cross ties. She looked pretty happy and relaxed, SO much better than the weekend. I even considered calling off the scope. But something about her face still did not look right to me and since she had completed 30 days of Gastrogard treatment something like 50 days ago and has been on a maintenance dose of Ranitadine since, I just had to KNOW.
The gastroscope was today and showed ulceration. Grade 3 ulcers around the greater and lesser curvatures and signs of healing of prior ulcers (assuming from the Gastrogard over a month prior). This morning before the scope I showed the vet the video of her doing the downward dog and he explained “ah, [my vet] showed me that! So interesting.” He had viewed it together with the repo vet earlier and funnily enough (if you can find the humor in terrible things like me) from the video he said that the repo vet suspected it was a mild colic and he (the surgeon) suspected it was a repo issue. The vet and I discussed why the behaviors might be so inconsistent and why she will be great for a while and then her behavior changes and now: ulcers. She was treated last fall for them and her diet and lifestyle is 100% as natural and stress free as totally possible after close collaboration with our team (who know us more than I wish they did haha). Get this: he suspects that her cycles are causing her undue stress and that we need to treat the ulcers again and suggested I try Regumate to keep her from cycling to see if her behavior levels out and prevents another ulcer flare in the next couple of months. I found this all a very interesting. I told him I already had the prescription and that was my next stop. As recurrent ulcers are one of those “you can not cure, you manage” type issues, it sure would be nice if suppressing the cycles decreases her intermittent anxiety and prevents her from giving herself another ulcer (assuming that was the cause)! Now I feel bad for not trying this sooner. The Regumate came in today so we will start that tomorrow and treatment for the ulcers has already begun.
I am so super proud of this gal though. I hauled her in to the clinic Thursday evening so she could do her fasting there so that it did not break my heart too much to see her being tortured and the staff said she was so good despite the circumstances. She was apparently not happy she was skipped at breakfast but was super kind to the staff and when I met her in the exam room I thought she might have already been sedated! All that PLUS she has a bleeding ulcer. Poor baby. I am so hoping that she stops worrying so much about procreating. :o
So here is an update for those who, like me, was unsuccessful turning up anything on mares who do not seem like they have a hormonal issue but actually just might. I was also unsuccessful finding anything about cycling in mares leading to increased anxiety/stress that has led to ulcers. Nothing in the literature either. From what I understand horses do not have cramps per say and there may be some pain during ovulation but ovulation does not occur at the start of estrus either.
After confirmed ulcer treatment and a couple of months of Regumate I will report back and claim our success or lack there of on the behavioral front. Thank you to everyone who shared their experience with their mares.
Note: I cannot seem to attach photos to this post, will try in a separate one
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Downward Dog :disillusionment:
http://i67.tinypic.com/332pawl.png
Afterwards
http://i64.tinypic.com/28wcjyx.png
Ulcer Images (I believe there were three in total)
http://i67.tinypic.com/2hyvs0h.jpg
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Damn OP. So you bash helpful advice with regards to training, you don’t scope for ulcers, and the original post was about using drugs to fix your disobedient witch despite suspecting ulcers?
Maybe your not a mare person? Maybe you don’t have the skill set to channel her? Maybe you should scope her and find out what exactly it is you are dealing? Just a thought.
Don’t post questions on the internet if you think everyone is a keyboard warrior. Maybe talk to the professionals you work with instead.
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You asked for advice…why the hostility?
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This was your OP.
Did you READ the latest post?
The horse was scoped. The OP even included images of the belly, which is full of ugly ulcers. The horse is at least getting some ulcer treatment.
I just snorted coffee out my nose @ “reads a brief sentence” . War and Peace is shorter than OP’s posts. The Upanishads are shorter than OP’s posts.
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Getting hostile over training advice after finally scoping the horse is unwarranted. Pretty sure ulcers were mentioned on the first page.
It makes zero sense to come here for advice and get mad about the responses.
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Actually, it was mentioned in the first response:
When you say the vet found no issues, what exactly was checked?
Teeth?
Scoped for ulcers?
Saddle fit?
Sometimes horses just have bad attitudes, some are just a more difficult type, but a vast majority of the time their issues are caused or at least exasperated by pain somewhere.
To which the OP then responded that the mare had already been checked for ulcers (although not sure if she had been scoped).
I, too, am confused by the triumphant “ha, I told you so!” update of the OP. Apparently, you did not consider ulcers to be the issue. So now ulcers possibly due to repro issues (still unconfirmed, as far as I can tell?) is the answer…?
Not sure why that requires a “told you so” response.
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And in the rant post says they were never checked for. Until now. SMH.
Well I should ask how do you check for ulcers without scoping?
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Wait what? So the OP said in one of the first posts that the mare “had been checked for ulcers,” (which translates to scoped to most people here) then got hostile when posters tried to point out the training issues that may have been involved. Then came back and said she just had her scoped and indeed she has ulcers - mystery solved. It sounds like the OP was not open to any input/questions regarding the mare’s situation at all - so why post here? Just to find out about regumate? Medicine is not usually black and white and it’s impossible to answer questions such as “will regumate help this mare” without knowing the entire picture - which was why people asked about other physical issues that might be causing the problems for the mare.
As far as all the horrible/derogatory names that the OP uses for other animals/pets and even children in her care (all in fun!), I just can’t even. And as a self-proclaimed “behaviorist,” one would think she has the maturity and training to know better.
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