I get it… But honestly, I would do it the other way around… It seems to me you spend a lot of time and money to check out potential issues without knowing right now if sitting deep and kick on would solve the problem… I don’t know your mare but if she is like my mare, who is extremely dominant. (but she has such a lovely face and is extremely cuddly if she sees a reason for it) she will sense any weakness of you and use it… the good thing is that usually mares also accept if they loose…They can switch immediately and be the nicest horse ever… So maybe study the character of your horse and decide then… But I guess I am different here then everybody else, I would hate to wast money on issues which are not even there maybe…
Sounds to me like you back off when she objects. She may be objecting more and more.
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I just want to point out also -
There are acceptable and unacceptable ways to object.
She appears to be choosing an unacceptable method.
So, regardless of the cause, she should be informed clearly that her behavior (kicking out) is not going to be tolerated. Once that is settled, you’ll be able to see better what the issue actually is.
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I should have been more clear - it’s not a straight up cow kick - it’s more of a pick up and hover thing.
I appreciate all the answers that have been given. I think I’m going to put shoes on her hinds for the next cycle: hopefully a good base to stand on will help her SI and stifle issues. She’s pretty tight and tense all over, especially in her poll and the base of her neck.
I’ve got her started on ulcer meds.
I also just learned she literally spent her whole life in the same pasture next to her dam. She never had a proper weaning. I’m sure there is an emotional component to this now.
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Sounds like a good plan
Well my 14 yo guy has been difficult the two years I have owned him. Dominant, headshy, pushy, nippy, light in front/rear, pulls back, won’t stand still for saddle, bad for farrier. Flymask could be okay one day and a death sentence the next. (he was billed as “safe, safe, safe” and headshy was explained as being treated for mites… right…)
He was initially trippy, fixed that, then just would refuse to go forward, regular chiro, then barn sour, then lame – which I thought, “hmm… maybe soft tissue,” xrays, vet, prostride, osphos - finally did an MRI and a “bunch of niggly things,but none that should cause clinical lameness” got a bursa injection. Sound for a month, then ouchy again. Started Equioxx.
One month later – not right away – my horse has a new attitude and has been sound. I can’t explain it, did the bursa shot finally kick in and it was pain? Does the Equioxx just take an edge off? Did we pass the two year mark?
Nothing else has changed. Saddle and bridle are the same, barn is the same. He is still a dominant horse, he still tests, he is still mouthy, not a horse any amateur can get on. I still am sensitive to pulling back, refusals, etc., but they haven’t happened for the past 3 months. I just gave him a series of Adequan to see if I can get further sweetness out of him.
If I had to guess, he had/has my number, and a bit of foot pain, and as I have gotten more comfortable with his threats and ignore them, they have lessened/extinguished, and as a result he has been worked more regularly and successfully which always helps!
Not many would put up with this for two years and I probably should have sent him on his way, but it is hard for me to do that. If things go bad again though, he will be a pasture pet and I will get a more cooperative horse.
He is a Hancock, if that matters.
Oh, and I sent his hair off for PSSM test, just to make sure. His diet is almost a PSSM diet anyway (a cup of grain, vitamins, and hay), but the test is only $100 for a 5-Panel
I’m starting to think this is a part of it. I did some work yesterday with her - just asking her to stand by the mounting block (halter only, no saddle and bridle) while I stood on it. I got pinned ears and a scowl and she tried to back away. So I tap-tap-tapped with a long whip to get her back by the block. And we stood. And I pet her. And then she started yawning.
I won’t discount that the first saddle we tried may have pinched her, and she learned how to get us to back off. The more time I spend with her the more I realize she needs a very light and gentle touch, but that doesn’t mean I have to say uncle every time she tells me she feels pressured.
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I have had my mare four years, she had only been in work about 8-10 months when she had a pasture accident and spent another six months in a stall. But at three years past that we got our Second Level scores for my Bronze. Since working all winter I would say NOW she is a fair Second Level horse, on a good day.
Well, I think we found an answer.
I had a chiropractor come out two weeks ago and he found that her whole pelvis was tipped, plus the tightness in her neck (which I knew about). After her adjustment, she was quite different. She halfheartedly refused to go forward under saddle under in the first ride post-adjustment. Nothing like before. Her right hind was decidedly weaker than her left, but over the course of a few weeks of rides, she has strengthened.
Happy to say that we are W/T and turns both ways at walk and trot in the round pen with no complaining. Our round pen is too small to canter a horse of her size, so once turning is solid, out we go for our first canter!
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