At 20:58:04 on 05.09.10, Fritzalot wrote:
Hi. I have a 7 year old mare who is very energetic. She is a good girl and I love her to death. But there are a few things that she does that I can't quite figure out. I would love any and all advice. 1. When I bridle her, I have to unhook the bit and put it over her ears first and then slide the bit back into her mouth and re-hook it, because she is sensative about me touching her ears. 2. My mare is a great jumper. However, when we are doing a stadium course, she is really bad about trying to rush the jumps and go as fast as she can. She will jump just about anything in the ring, but she likes to do it as fast as she can. The funny thing is, when we do cross country she is very content to go just about any speed. 3. When she makes friends with one horse, in her head she just HAS to be near them. An example of this is when I was a rally last summer, and my friend and I had different inspection times. Savannah went BONKERS! She would not pay attention to anything I did, and she was constantly trying to get back to her friend, even though we were surrounded by tons of other horses. 4. My mare doesn't really know what to think of foals. The stable I took lessons at last summer had four foals, and when they were out in the feilds next to the outdoor arena, she didn't want to be anywhere near them if she could help it. Sorry this is really long. But if you have any idea's or advice about any of these things I would really appreciate it. :)

At 21:30:43 on 05.09.10, JessAndGrenville123 wrote:
Ok i think i can help with a few lol. The first thing you should do is join up with her, this makes you the leader and her best friend she trusts to look after her so it wll help with trust and her listening to you. 1. The bitting, don't give in the fact you gave up the first time means she expects this now. Practise touching and brushing her ears gently but use slow steady movements, never quick, but persist if she jumps away instead of rusching to her or jumping away stay calm and still and approach her again giving her little treats and calming her with lots of strokes. Now try to get a headcollar you can unclip under the troat to pull over her ears like you would a bridle but it doean't have a bit or practise with a bitless bridle if anyone has one (less to worry about) but don't forget slowly and steady you don't want her to pannick or be taken by suprise but never give up. The first time you manage to get the bridle on give her a treat leave her to settle tell her she is good then take it off slowly and do it again a few times so she understands you won't hurt her with the bridle then take her out. 2. Take it back to basics, you feel her rush turn her away from the jump so she thinks rushing means no jump... Not fun in her eyes. Also a horse will normally rush from anticipation (from you) or tension, a horse feels the rider tense and thinks it is doing the right thing speeding up to get you over the jump ASAP which she probably thinks you are scared of! Maybe this is the case as you are probably more relaxed over XC explaining why she is perfect then. Maybe it is you who is nervous of show jumping and your horse picks up on it. My advise would be do a course of wide spread jumps in a big enclosed field somewhere so it is more like jump cross (don't know if you have heard of it) to calm you and your horse down and get your confidence up over this type of jump and don't push yourself to take big jumps if you feel comfortable taking it down to a pole on the ground and building it up (with your confidence) that is great. Remember you are the only competition when you are at home so relax and take it easy! 3. Join up will make her your friend, you are incharge. If your horse is clinging to another horse make a point of taking her away from this horse and if a protest starts assert your authority, show you are the leader, use body language to yeild her away from your body, make her move a part of her body on your terms, show you have control and carry on once she is submissive. Do this every time. 4. Foals, if your horse has never seen a foal she will wonder what they are. You can't really make a horse be ok with a foal until they have had one or been turned out with a yearling or something. I don't think you can solve this without just getting her accustomed to them (like any other 'spooky' animal). Hope this helps :) x

At 21:48:19 on 05.09.10, Fritzalot wrote:
Thanks. :) I really appreciate the advice. What exactly do you mean by the term "join up"? I have heard it many times before and probably know what it means, but it has been a while. Hahaha. Thanks. :)

At 20:55:55 on 08.09.10, JessAndGrenville123 wrote:
Join up is great! (and so easy i have taught lots of people how to do it and i figured it out before watching monty roberts do it). Basically you go in a small pen (prefferably a round pen) and you do exactly what you see horses do in the field... You chase them away, you don't need no equipment although monty uses a long line i use just my body. I appear dominant, square shoulders, chasing my horse until he asks to stop. The signs are a lowered head, ears flicking to you and a chewing motion. Once your horse does this drop your shoulders and turn your back to your horse and look to the ground, totally unthreatening, if your horse walks up to you walk away, your horse follows then you have joined up, if this doesn't happen chase away again. Its like you are saying "you want to come be my friend? No. Fine then go away" eventually your horse see's it as the smart option to be your friend and let you make the orders. It is actually really fun, me and grenville just do it for fun :) now whenever i free lunge grenville drops his head right down from the word go.

At 13:28:50 on 09.09.10, LadyJennivieve wrote:
Jess, that's a brilliant, easy to understand explanation of Join Up. Somes it up nicely.

At 18:09:19 on 09.10.10, EmandBlueX wrote:
for the fast jumping my mare does the same, she goes over them all but it scares me alot but what i did was do a lot of flat work and everytime she tryed to go fater i turned her into the fence on a tight circle and went the other way i did this alot and also did lots of pole work with very hevy poles if she tryed to go really fast over them i layed down with the reins really tighter on her and made her carry on like that wether she walked troted or cantered, also when practicing jukmping always go inot it on a circle and circle at the end and try to put that into her mind also Bounce jumps are good as if she goes to fast she misses the bounce and falls over teh next jump i hope this helps a tad x

At 19:20:59 on 09.10.10, Rahara wrote:
I have can identify with the bit my mare is exactly the same,I also have to unclip the bit and have the noseband open slip it over her ear's and bit is no problem then, I can rub her ears brush them untill she goes to sleep but don't put the bridle near her ears, she also doesn't like being groomed all depends on her mood's brush a leg and she'll stand on 3...The best friend issue is just unreal she wants to be best friend's with almost any mare mostly the older one's and our mare's with the foal's she doesn't seem to beable to tolerate the yearling's but look's at the foal's with a dreamy look, she's 5yrs..she's good at jumping and enjoy's it can get a bit cheeky in the arena ..Jess the join up sounds brilliant and I'm going to have a go..I know this possibly doesn't give you any solutions Fritzalot but just to let you know your not alone ..

At 09:52:12 on 10.10.10, millie_horses wrote:
Well, I think I may be able to help you a little bit with the jumping. I ride once a week at a riding school, and we always ride different sorts of horses and ponies. I can remembber that a while ago I was put on a really whizzy pony who rushed at all of the jumps and sometimes ran out when we were jumping. So, the next time I rode her I just relaxed and rode her as I would with all of the other ponies and horses because I used to get really nervous about riding her, and it worked! Because I was just relaxed and rode her on forwards, she was perfect and went over all of the jumps brilliantly! I hope this advice helps a little.