ASK THE EXPERTS

Searching for the right instructor? Need some schooling advice? Share your experiences and ask others for help
Ellie mare
Posts: 21
Joined: Mon Mar 28, 2011 7:37 pm
Contact:

Re: ASK THE EXPERTS

Postby Ellie mare » Fri Apr 01, 2011 9:54 pm

Help please! I bought my beautiful 6 yr old connie x mare in aug last year. She had signs that she had been scratching both her mane and tail. I have introduced feedmarks equidermis plus supplement which has helped her skin tremendously. She gleams and her coat is soft and supple. However, she still has awful scurf in her mane and tail which grooming does not seem to improve. I am wary about keep washing it as i don't want to dry her skin and make it worse. She also reacts quite badly to flybites, resulting in swellings. I apply fly spray daily and turn out in a flysheet. Do you think she is a border line sweet itch sufferer or do you think there is something else i could try to help her dandruff?

short_reins
Posts: 6
Joined: Fri Mar 11, 2011 6:59 pm
Contact:

Re: ASK THE EXPERTS

Postby short_reins » Tue Apr 19, 2011 12:48 pm

Hey.. although you have probally read i am due to help back a horse next month well this very horse is quite tricky to catch. His name is dragonfly and next month he will be 4 years so he is quite young. however the people that own dragonfly and the other 3 ponies that i help with usally ask me to go catch Dragonfly and i actually quite struggle to catch him. I go up to him and ask him to stand hiding the halter then when he walks off i follow him saying stand and after 30mins of this he stands and i drape the leadrope over him and he counts that as him being caught then its easy from then on but 30 mins is a bit much and ive tried turning my back on him and it works to a certain exstent but not all the time... (: any help please and thanks x

Malarkyrocks
Posts: 11
Joined: Wed Jan 12, 2011 4:08 pm
Contact:

Re: ASK THE EXPERTS

Postby Malarkyrocks » Tue Apr 26, 2011 6:02 pm

I ride a horse called Malarky and it is her birthday soon and I bought her a fly veil. Also soon is a competition that I am going to do on her and it involves dressage and show jumping. Is it permitted for me to put the fly veil on her at the show? I have heard that you can't at all, you can only in show jumping and you can in both. I am slightly confused...

jade
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Apr 27, 2011 12:26 pm
Contact:

Re: ASK THE EXPERTS

Postby jade » Thu Apr 28, 2011 7:28 pm

iv been teaching my horse to rear but im just wondering if this can cause any long term damage to her back or legs

originalstablehand
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat Apr 16, 2011 9:08 pm
Contact:

am i good enough?

Postby originalstablehand » Fri May 06, 2011 8:43 pm

my mum wants to buy me a horse but i dont know if im good enough.
i have recentley started riding again as i work at a dressage center near where i live, i am not practasing rising trot and soon hopefully going to canter, am i really good enough to own a horse of my own?

ive now worked at my yard for nearly a year and learnt so much! but i doubt myself alot and i dont think i know enough to own or loan a horse and the last thing i want to do is let the horse down and not feel good enough for it... if i didnt own a horse i would livery at the yard i work at so they could help me out but i dont know if im really ever going to be good enough and look after it properley on my own?

what should i do??

aby=0)
Posts: 5
Joined: Sun May 01, 2011 10:45 am
Contact:

Re: ASK THE EXPERTS

Postby aby=0) » Tue May 24, 2011 6:20 pm

Hi,
I am just wondering if there is any way I can convince my haflinger to be more responsive. She is very lazy so I tried all the things in the latest issue and they helped at first but then she began to resist and start fighting me. This isn't the relationship I want with her obviously so I don't know what to do. She is absolutely fine on the ground with me (just a bit strong for my younger sister)

molly-drop
Posts: 18
Joined: Tue May 24, 2011 2:48 pm
Contact:

Re: ASK THE EXPERTS

Postby molly-drop » Thu May 26, 2011 8:53 am

4 years ago, I bought a beautiful young mare, who supposedly excelled in Prince Philip Cup, and Showjumping, & True to her owners' words, she was. I went to view her & to ride her, & She truly was a dream come true. We bought her there and then, A week later she arrived with us.
For the first three or four months she was perfect, I didn't think I could have found a more perfect pony! We were going to go far, She was a brilliant jumper, We made a perfect team I thought. She never put a foot wrong..Stunning girl!

Then, One day when I went up to ride her, She was a totally different pony, She was alright in trot and walk, However if I asked for a canter that was it, all hell broke loose..Bucking, Bolting, Throwing her head, Trying anything she could to get me off. I didn't understand?
& Sadly, This awful and confusing behaviour carried on for some weeks..It got to the stage where we became worried for her health and well-being and so we called in a vet..Who thoroughly checked her over, for lameness and back irritations and for mouth problems, & We found nothing? He then referred us to an equine therapist..Who came one or twice a month to give my mare a lovely massage..Hoping it would do the trick..& She did indeed seem calmer. That afternoon I decided to excercise her again, Walked, Trotted everything seemed fine, But yet again, when I asked for canter, she started up again..She didn't seem like my girl anymore.

I called my trainer in to see if she could crack this unruly behaviour, We worked together with Molly for months, Without any progress, It seemed to us that my beautiful, star pony had completley changed over night..For some unknown reason.

Do you have any reason or idea why this may have been? Prehaps you can help my solve a major dilema that even my vet and equine therapist couldn't.
Any information would be much appreciated.

Expert_LizPitman
Posts: 227
Joined: Wed Apr 21, 2010 10:44 am
Contact:

Re: ASK THE EXPERTS

Postby Expert_LizPitman » Sun Jun 05, 2011 8:07 am

I've just noticed there are so many unanswered questions on here! I'll answer a few briefly, starting on page 2. If anyone else has any questions I can help with, post on my section where I'll see them better.

Jade - I'd be very wary of teaching a horse to rear. I've heard of a few cases where it has backfired and the horse has ended up rearing at inappropriate moments. The worst with a clicker trained horse who hadn't been trained properly, he ended up rearing to demand treats. Unless you're going in for stunt work or something, I actually can't think why you'd want to encourage your horse to rear.

Originalstablehand - you're very lucky you've got a mum who wants to buy you a horse! Your post is a bit confusing as I'm not sure if you are still learning to ride and not yet cantering or if you've now worked with horses for a year? I think there are 2 parts to this answer. Firstly, how well you can ride doesn't really affect whether you can own a horse, more what sort of horse you choose as your first horse. As you're not very confident, the last thing you want to do is overhorse yourself. An ex- racer, for example, looks lovely and they can be amazing to ride, but they can be quite testing. If you find yourself a schoolmaster and a good riding instructor, there is no reason you can't learn to ride properly on a horse you own.

The other thing to think about, though, is that there is a big difference between working with someone else's horse and owning your own. You need to know a lot (I think) so that you are sure that your horse is comfortable and happy. I know when I owned my first horse, I was completely ignorant about things I now consider to be essential - tack fitting, how to recognise soreness, how to spot of there is a foot problem, what to feed, etc. These are things we tend to leave to experts but that means we are not in a position to know if the expert has got it wrong. Having now met several poor saddle fitters, farriers, etc., I now know how important it is for us to understand ourselves what a horse truly needs.

So, either find yourself a schoolmaster and learn, learn, learn, or otherwise maybe look at finding a horse to share so that you can do your learning first, then when you are a bit more experienced look to buy? Whatever you do, good luck!

aby=0), there will be a reason your horse is unresponsive. If she's fine on the ground and is only a problem under saddle, it's probably something to do with being ridden. That could be discomfort (back, tack, etc), the way she is ridden (you might be getting frustrated and pushing too hard which would block her) or it might be some association she has in her mind for some reason. I'd go back to basics a bit, maybe get her longlining and then, when she's working well and going forwards, sit on her just in walk and, as soon as she moves forwards, stop and reward her. Make moving forwards good! If you're still struggling, get a good behaviour trainer, like an IH Recommended Associate, to come and have a look what is going on.

molly-drop - this does sound like pain to me. I know you've had her checked but my feeling is that there is something being missed. Don't take this wrong, but has your instructor made sure that you're not inadvertently doing something in your canter transitions? Also, have you had her saddle checked to make sure there is nothing that could be hurting? If you've tried all of these, then I think you need to keep exploring other physical options. I don't know where you are but there is a fantastic vet I've worked with a few times who specialises in this sort of problem, where it's hard to find out what is going on and where other vets are left scratching their heads. She's also done the same training as me so is good at reading a horse. Here's her website, it might be worth giving her a ring - http://donnablinman.co.uk/

MayAndPetit
Posts: 28
Joined: Sun Oct 30, 2011 1:45 pm
Contact:

Re: ASK THE EXPERTS

Postby MayAndPetit » Wed Nov 02, 2011 6:45 am

I recently bought a 17 year old minature shetland to keep my 7year old connemara mare, who I have owned for 6 months, company. They are both mares but my connemara still chases or bites the shetland. We only bought the shetland as company because the connemara was always calling to the horses opposite us and I know that the connemara lived with another horse in her field at her previous home. Why does my usually soft, loving connemara do this?

Yasmin and chico
Posts: 7
Joined: Thu Dec 29, 2011 6:52 pm
Contact:

Re: ASK THE EXPERTS

Postby Yasmin and chico » Thu Jan 05, 2012 4:48 pm

Hi my horse chico is a shetland pony and he has this habit of stopping when i am riding him.
Have you got any advice for me? :lol: :)


Return to “Lessons and training”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests