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[RC] cranky mare - Marlene MossI am considering doing a trade for a half arab, half quarter mare. The people that own her are into barrel racing, just got her 2 months ago and love her for riding, but otherwise hate everything about her. They are not fans of mares. But I love mares and really like how she is put together. She is forward and not spooky, to me, she just screams 100 mile horse. She is a little anxious, but that is how she is ridden, and is actually the calmest of their horses, and I'm already making progress in this area. She only been here a week (the owners are boarding her while they get their place set up for horses). She's in a stall and run with one of their geldings on one side and another boarded (and somewhat cranky) mare on the other side. She will charge the fence at the other horses and carry on a bit in the mornings before her food gets to her, but is otherwise calm, very sweet and just looooooves people. Her owners said she is a kicker (not when ridden though) and can't be kept with other horses. I've walked her down the aisle of horses and she's struck out a couple times. I've reprimanded her and she looked quite contrite and hasn't done anything since. But in hand and being ridden is one thing, I would prefer to put her out on pasture with my other horses if I do this trade. I have one mare that can most likely take care of herself and will probably put her in her place. I've got another that would do the same, but she's been bred and I'm not taking any chances with her. My geldings are complete dopes and would most likely ignore her, but could potentially get themselves cornered and attacked (if she is as bad as her owners really think). There are other things they don't like that don't bother me in the slightest. They can't get her in the trailer w/o 3 people, she just followed me in first shot today. Their biggest fear is that since the daughter does 4-H that she would endanger kids or other horses, which makes sense so in any case I am going to help them find her a new owner. I am more worried about pasture and camping at rides - although will have to be prepared for kicking issues on a ride in case she ever does kick when ridden. I have worked with a horse that kicked when ridden before and been able to mostly end the problem. So my questions are 1) if you had a horse that was likely to aggressively kick other horses in a pasture situation, what would you do? 2) does it make any sense to investigate any calming herbs/drubs/homeopathics while working on things over this winter? 3) should I have a vet check into things in case of any hormonal or other underlying problems? 4) should I just run away? (I really like this mare, would hate to see her end up in a bad situation because of something I could fix or deal with just by having her in a different environment or different sport). I need to find out more about her background (owners have been quite busy moving in and getting started with school), but I suspect she was an only horse for a long time (she's 6, they've only had her 2 months, single owner before). I think the original owner might have hand fed her! The original owner also tried to saddle her at age 1 and in her panic managed to impale herself on a hay hook in the neck. Her feet hadn't been done before these people got her and she's still never had her teeth done (we can feel the points, but cheeks don't feel ulcerated). No papers or even a hint of her breeding. Any suggestions are welcome, I've got about 3 weeks to play with her to make a decision, and while I don't want to do anything to injure her or another horse stupidly in the mean time, I do need to push the issue a bit to determine if there is room for progress. Thanks! Marlene Marlene Moss Saddle Fitting - www.KineticEquineAnalysis.com Boarding/Training - www.LosPinos-CO.com =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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