You can do ace orally as well—a couple CCs under the tongue.
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This was me too. Two horses to ride, one of which could be dusted off, tacked, ridden for 30min, untacked and put away in an hour. Drama llama needed close to two hours for that 30min ride (most of which was unpleasant).
This is quite possible, but I didn’t find it to be the case. I think a lot of the unhappiness mine showed was due to an underlying discomfort in his body that was caused by being not warm enough for too long. I never looked at him and thought he was cold, his ears were always warm, etc. Once he was warm enough most of the time, he was happy and willing to work with just a wool quarter sheet even on cold days.
I did quarter him during grooming (left the blanket on and flipped it back to expose one quarter at a time) and used a cooler over everything for the walk to the arena. I longed him before riding back then and I could see if he’d been cold overnight in how he moved (short, almost stabby strides with his front legs that I could see in his shoulder). This was very helpful in figuring out what he needed for blankets, and I could let him get the discomfort released without riding. I rarely get his blankets wrong, and it’s usually due to an unexpected change in weather when I do.
It’s not simply being cold. It’s being not warm enough for a lot of time every day.
OP - it’s a simple thing to try, and if you enjoy the horse when she’s happy, it’s worth the effort.
I didn’t pile everything I had on mine, I went one step heavier than my other horse and used the full neck rug. For example 280gm blanket with 200gm neck on my unclipped chilly horse, when my modified trace clipped horse had a 200gm Wug.
Even if you don’t get 100% summer behaviour, you might stretch out the good time of year enough that you’re okay giving her the coldest month or so off, or see enough improvement to tell a prospective buyer what kind of temperature range the horse can handle.
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A tip for doing IV ace shots if you are concerned about going through the jugular and hitting the carotid by mistake… Insulin syringe. Very small needle, very short. Too short (1/2 inch length usually) to reach the carotid even if you were to stab them in at 90 degrees to the hilt (and I’m sure you wouldn’t do that). Syringe is usually 1 cc, so very easy to accurately measure very small doses. Available by the box at your local pharmacy, cheap.
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@NancyM, how did you know? 
I saw a small pony get ace in the artery and have been paranoid ever since
@Impractical_Horsewoman For the event rider - I don’t have a great sense how that went unfortunately. She went to Southern Pines in late January 2020 and hadn’t been ridden since early October. I was able to get down to see - and ride her myself - once before Covid shut everything down. She was good to hack out - my first rides post surgery - but we did not do anything in the ring. And it was warm-ish - I don’t remember the temps but I am not wearing a coat in the pics 
That was the year after the indoor/limited turnout debacle so that’s why I figured I would send her south, she’d get turned out plenty and hacking out would be great for her while I was laid up. Ultimately I ended up pretty frustrated not to get many video updates, which I know was partially due to covid - but also I got the impression that she was “difficult to figure out” - or something like that
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Yeah, that seems like a reasonable expectation!
I know when I get cold it is really hard to warm up again, even when I’m back in my warm house - and I might even be described as extra wiggly then too 
So you may be onto something here 
Absolutely! I have a BoT mesh sheet that I put on one of the horses occasionally. I can’t leave it on for more than two days in a row because it does make their shoulders sore.
That’s also part of the reason for my modified trace clip - the original trace clip comes from Britain and was used for harness horses (following the line of the traces). The belly hair was clipped to make it easier to clean off the road mud. It freezes and snows here, and we don’t see mud for months, and it just seemed to be a huge, bare area to lose heat from, and apart from the girth area there’s not really much sweat happening there. This unclipped belly hair meant my horses were comfortable in 200g when traditional trace clipped horses were in two blankets.
I tried the neck rug for a similar reason. I found that covering the neck allowed my chilly horse to stay warm with lighter blankets. I can keep the heavyweights for the very cold snaps, which typically last only a few days.
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Is it possible for you to free lunge her before your ride? I had a gelding that would get pretty fresh when the weather cooled and riding him harder would just get him riled up. I would get to the barn early, boot him up, take a buggy whip and turn him loose. He loved it. Fart, buck, good gallops down the long side. He trained himself.
I would throw a cooler on him. Go back to the barn and saddle up. Started with a long walk, then on to regular work. It’s like all that pent up energy from the cold had been released and he was much easier to ride.
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It sounds like you clipped the saddle area. Sensitive horses hate this as the short hair is not nice under a saddle blanket as it gets pushed into the skin.
My suggestions:-
Clip and leave the saddle area.
Get a round yard and do not free lunge. Learn to lunge in side reins. This should not hurt your shoulder as the round yard keeps her in. Side reins do not killnand maim horses. Side reins used incorrectly kill and maim horses.
Take off all grain, no oats, no corn, no molasses.
Turn out with free access to shelter.
Grassy hay 24/7.
Boiling barley is famous for an apple rump and not going to the head.
Work her daily.
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The draper quarter sheet is much thicker and warmer and makes a huge difference. It also goes under the saddle so their entire back and rump are getting the benefit. My TB loves his and I’ve talked a few friends into buying it. I have a few of the draper dog blankets at home and my dogs and cats will 100% always choose to lay on the blanket even if it’s scrunched up in a ball versus a regular blanket. I really think their fabric makes a difference.
Ace orally has worked well for me. I give it 45min-hr before getting on and it really takes the edge off. So far I only need it on group trail rides but it takes him from jigging with anxiety the entire ride to walking alert on a loose rein. It’s just worth it to have a positive ride then wreck my back and his brain.
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Well so much for the theory that she is cold. It is mid 40s today after the deep freeze so I tried to ride today. She was wearing a 400g heavyweight turnout with a 100g turnout and a neck cover when I brought her in. She had to be warm enough!
And so much for me saying she is annoying but not dangerous because today she reared. I felt a tantrum coming on so I tried to just trot forward and it turned into a rear. I rode a horse who threatened to rear very regularly as a kid but his were always a half hearted “rear” that didn’t faze me. This one had me thinking “please don’t flip.” 
Also, she is now shedding again ???
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Horses don’t throw tantrums. Their brains don’t work that way. A rear is your horse screaming at you, and being pushed passed the threshold of something like pain, fear, anxiety, etc.
Based on your thread, I would look into what else could be causing this.
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That’s exactly why I started the thread: to see if anyone could help me figure out what stone I have not turned over yet.
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400g is just under a pound, not an “insane” amount of weight by any means. Many of our clipped horses wore that much fill or more through the extreme cold we had this past weekend.
A correctly fitted blanket of that weight is unlikely to cause soreness, much less the explosive behavior OP described.
The first warm day after cold ones is the day they are the most wild. When the ground is frozen they don’t exercise in the field either. They stand or walk slowly and build it all up for us.
Our mares are all in season right now.
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Definitely could’ve been an extra mare thing today. This is the first day I rode her since I gave her a mini turnout buddy, and she was on high alert as to the mini’s whereabouts.
Erm. You may regret that. Two horses in a field is a buddy nightmare. It’s one or 3+. Particularly if you are talking mares. (This is actually the leading cause I think of disaster when people keep horses at home, to go off on a bit of a tangent.)
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Lol, trust me, I know from experience too on that one. I felt so bad for the mare last week when she was just standing around eating a tree (???) when in a huge grassy pasture that I thought maybe the mini was worth a try. For a few years, when she was younger, my mare went out with a pony gelding, just the 2 of them and it was zero drama, either could leave - they were both more concerned with eating than worrying about where the other went. She hasn’t gone out with him in at least 2 years and she still remains very concerned about his whereabouts on the property at all times. Everything with her is x10 now.
I’m thinking about treating for Lyme again. And scoping again.
If you’ve treated for Lyme before (or again), try a mg supplement too. I like Grand Calm. Not for the “calm”, just the nice serving size for the mg without much extras.
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You is there a Pro or somebody else who could get on when you know she is going to be…overreactive?
Soon as you changed into a more defensive position, she knew you were anxious. You were feeding her issues. Perhaps trying to ride when shes not been ridden in days is just setting you both up to fail? Unless you are really good at “ sitting chilly” might be wiser to avoid this set up for trouble.
Not a dam thing wrong with just skipping riding in less then ideal conditions, be it temperature or overly fresh. And, yeah, you meant well but now you created a herd bound set up with the little buddy.
IMO there’ not a quick fix here and neither of you are happy with current situation. Plus the addition of rearing on top of the other repeat behaviors makes it more serious and now has scared you, as it should. Time to reevaluate.
Ha! One small schooling show I was at, the barn trailered over two mares together (not kept in the same field at home) in the same two-horse trailer. Despite being relatively calm, and not regular friends, they had a meltdown when separated throughout the few hours they were on the showgrounds.
OP, looping back to when the mare was with the upper level eventer, it sounds like even this very experienced rider, riding in a warm environment, was somewhat hesitant about her and found her difficult to figure out. I think there is more going on than a new blanketing situation, based on your most recent ride. Can you get help and a fresh perspective from a pro who doesn’t know her? (Fully disclosing all the issues you’ve had before the pro gets on.) Do you have any videos of her under saddle before the wheels on the bus really started to come off? (I don’t mean of your recent rides, but when she was calmer, during the summer).
