Behavioral Advice needed
Hi there,
I don't think I've ever posted here before, but I've been a "lurker" for well over a year now. I'm a relatively new rider (I guess you'd call me an "advanced beginner"), and I've recently been 'adopted' by a beautiful horse who has some behavioral issues, due to past abuse. I really feel an afinity with this animal, and I'm dedicated to building trust with her and building a relationship that will be healthy and happy for both of us. I would be so grateful for any training advice anyone can offer, especially if you have experience with this sort of thing!
After riding periodically as a kid (my grandpa had horses, and I also took lessons for a while). I got back into riding about 2 years ago. I'm a pleasure rider, and really have no desire to show or jump or anything like that. I recently started going to a new barn and helping out in return for free use of a horse. When the owner of the barn, R., introduced me to her horses to let me choose which one wanted to take on, that's when I fell in love with a gorgeous quarterhorse mare named Lady. Lady's had a rough life -- she was a racehorse who only ran a few races and then was abruptly abandoned. She had been found tangled in barbed wire and severely malnourished. She was nursed back to health by the Rescue and then fostered to R. when they had to move locations. They were supposed to come back for her in a few months, but never did. R. has a heart of gold and kept Lady, even though she had 5 other horses and only rides Western...
Lady is sweet and affectionate, but also sometimes displays some aggressive behavior, such as butting you HARD with her head when she's feeling impatient. Though she loves to be petted on her face and nose, she doesn't like to get her mane brushed around her face - hands are okay, but brushes seem to scare her. This is a big problem because she loves to roll in the mud, and it's really hard to get her halter line clean so she doesn't chafe. She gets very impatient in the stall when I'm trying to groom her after a ride, and makes it almost impossible to finish the job - especially picking her hooves. She's a little inconsistent with that - sometimes she lets me pick her hooves and sometimes not so much, which at first made me think it was a balance issue, but I'm not so sure.
She doesn’t take a bit, but she’s really amazing taking reining cues with a bitless bridle, and also leg cues. No problems there. I do, however, want to work with her to strengthen her verbal cues, especially getting used to my voice, since I’m going to be the only one riding her for a while. When I rode her for the first time last week, she was much better than I (or R. for that matter) expected her to be, especially after not having been ridden in over three months. She was nervous, sure, but she settled down after a while and I managed to walk her and trot her just fine. We definitely need to work on her walk, because she really seems to want to just take off immediately, which was certainly what she was trained to do early in life, but that just won't do now.
That being said, as soon as I took her out of the ring, she freaked out. She didn’t listen to my cues, was tossing her head and dancing, wouldn’t stop, and finally she started rearing. I managed to stay on and R. ponied us back to the ring. I calmed her down and actually got her to walk calmly and level-headed around the ring after a little while.
So clearly she and I have a lot of work to do. I think the first step is to establish trust and do some ground work with her. This is the perfect time to do that, too, since the weather has been so awful for riding. Eventually, with enough TLC and patience, I believe with my whole heart that Lady is going to be the most wonderful horse in the world, and I’m determined to get her to the point where I can take her on the trails, no matter how long it takes. But it’s going to be a big job and I could sure use some advice on how to begin…
Thanks for taking the time to read this! I look forward to your words of wisdom!
I don't think I've ever posted here before, but I've been a "lurker" for well over a year now. I'm a relatively new rider (I guess you'd call me an "advanced beginner"), and I've recently been 'adopted' by a beautiful horse who has some behavioral issues, due to past abuse. I really feel an afinity with this animal, and I'm dedicated to building trust with her and building a relationship that will be healthy and happy for both of us. I would be so grateful for any training advice anyone can offer, especially if you have experience with this sort of thing!
After riding periodically as a kid (my grandpa had horses, and I also took lessons for a while). I got back into riding about 2 years ago. I'm a pleasure rider, and really have no desire to show or jump or anything like that. I recently started going to a new barn and helping out in return for free use of a horse. When the owner of the barn, R., introduced me to her horses to let me choose which one wanted to take on, that's when I fell in love with a gorgeous quarterhorse mare named Lady. Lady's had a rough life -- she was a racehorse who only ran a few races and then was abruptly abandoned. She had been found tangled in barbed wire and severely malnourished. She was nursed back to health by the Rescue and then fostered to R. when they had to move locations. They were supposed to come back for her in a few months, but never did. R. has a heart of gold and kept Lady, even though she had 5 other horses and only rides Western...
Lady is sweet and affectionate, but also sometimes displays some aggressive behavior, such as butting you HARD with her head when she's feeling impatient. Though she loves to be petted on her face and nose, she doesn't like to get her mane brushed around her face - hands are okay, but brushes seem to scare her. This is a big problem because she loves to roll in the mud, and it's really hard to get her halter line clean so she doesn't chafe. She gets very impatient in the stall when I'm trying to groom her after a ride, and makes it almost impossible to finish the job - especially picking her hooves. She's a little inconsistent with that - sometimes she lets me pick her hooves and sometimes not so much, which at first made me think it was a balance issue, but I'm not so sure.
She doesn’t take a bit, but she’s really amazing taking reining cues with a bitless bridle, and also leg cues. No problems there. I do, however, want to work with her to strengthen her verbal cues, especially getting used to my voice, since I’m going to be the only one riding her for a while. When I rode her for the first time last week, she was much better than I (or R. for that matter) expected her to be, especially after not having been ridden in over three months. She was nervous, sure, but she settled down after a while and I managed to walk her and trot her just fine. We definitely need to work on her walk, because she really seems to want to just take off immediately, which was certainly what she was trained to do early in life, but that just won't do now.
That being said, as soon as I took her out of the ring, she freaked out. She didn’t listen to my cues, was tossing her head and dancing, wouldn’t stop, and finally she started rearing. I managed to stay on and R. ponied us back to the ring. I calmed her down and actually got her to walk calmly and level-headed around the ring after a little while.
So clearly she and I have a lot of work to do. I think the first step is to establish trust and do some ground work with her. This is the perfect time to do that, too, since the weather has been so awful for riding. Eventually, with enough TLC and patience, I believe with my whole heart that Lady is going to be the most wonderful horse in the world, and I’m determined to get her to the point where I can take her on the trails, no matter how long it takes. But it’s going to be a big job and I could sure use some advice on how to begin…
Thanks for taking the time to read this! I look forward to your words of wisdom!