How can i keep her quiet?

Question

How can i keep a 14hh welsh cob quiet for her first show? Shes a dominant mare and as high as a kite. Shes well handled just gets very excited and i don't want her making a show of me in the ring!! lol! Btw its in-hand not ridden and the weather is bound to be wet as its ireland so i'm also worried she might slip if she gets too giddy??

Answer 1

Well personally I take my horses to just about any place i can to get them seasoned and used to the different noises, people, horses, etc.

But if you only have a short time to do this then there is a feed additive that you can give her to help calm her nerves. It is not a seditive or anything that is bad for her; but it is a natural path mixture of herbs it is called Vita Calm. Another option is Rescue Remedy Spray. A great source to learn more about these products is Natually Equine.com

Once again these are natural all herbal remedies that use plants and herbs that have calming effects to reduce anxiety and stress which is often why horses will act up away from home.

Answer 2

The plugged-into-the-mains look is quite popular among the Welsh breeds nowadays!

In all seriousness, she probably just needs to go out and see things. Being high as a kite is not necessarily a problem - if she's high she'll show herself off and perform. There's nothing worse than taking a pony out in hand and have it die on you the moment you walk into the ring - at least you don't have that problem! But she needs to get out and see a bit of the world so she's not so blown over when she goes to a show. Take her to a variety of different places - not just showing - so she gets a taste of everything.

Good luck!

Answer 3

Do what the others say(take her to a show but just do not show her), and maybe give her something like stress-dex(stress easer) or Quietex(calmer)....it works on my friend's very high strung thoroughbred

Answer 4

Take her to a couple of shows where you aren't showing her and just walk her around, get her used to it, and eventually, she might calm down.  It worked for my horse, but every horse is different, so I can't guarentee that it will work.  Also, try to stay as calm as you can, and talk to her, to keep her attention focused on you.  Hope this helps!!

Answer 5

Lunge for at least a half hour, or bomb proof train her let me know if you need tips about it

Answer 6

take her along to some pony clubs and gymkanas just to show her around. Thats all i can think

Gooodluck

Answer 7

It used to be clients would ask me for Acepromazine for their show horse and now it is reserpine.   I never prescribe either because of potential problems.  However, my daughter was having a similar problem with her Western Pleasure horse, and we lunged her and tried to take the edge off but it only worked minimally.  I think you should do those things as well, but we used a product called Quietex by Farhnam and it really seemed to help.

Answer 8

The most important thing is to keep your nerves down. I'd hate for you to blow your show because you couldn't keep your own emotions in tact, which often results in the horse acting out too.

You could try a calming agent to keep her cool during the show or you could find the reason why she's so hyped up for a show. It could be the lights, loud noises, banners, flags, or intercom. Either way, teach her to react to each and NEVER punish her for this behavior, as it is a learning process and is something new for her. Reward her and give her tons of attention for what she does good and right, and not focus so much on the bad.

Good Luck.

Answer 9

it sounds to me that shes not a show horse

Answer 10

i would probably massage her using t-touch and lavender oil (or any kind if massage) the lavender oil will soothe her you and make her coat really shiney. then walk her round and get her used to the environment and then put sum lavender oil on a wad of cotten wool and hold it under her nose (not actually touching her nose as it may cause skin iratation) for about 1 min and the smell will calm her.

Answer 11

Try putting cotton in her ears, it blocks out most of the sound so the horse cant be umpy and try cool and calm or quitex

Answer 12

JOin up with her

This is exactly what my young mare used to do. then I joined up with her and took her to a few shows just for experience and she calmed down.

What is join up

Well it is when you send your horse away and get them circling around you with no lunge or anything. Then the end up showing these signs: They lower their head, slow their paces, their circles get smaller and the most important is they start to "l**k and chew" which looks like they are chewing the air. then tey will stop and walk into you then when you walk around they will follow. This brings  up their trust in you.

What to do-

1-Take the lead off.

2-get the horse cantering around you.

3-Keep your shoulders square with the horses head

4-Look into its eyes

5-keep an eye out for all the signs

6-when the signs all happen drop you eyes and turn away from the horse but make sure you can see it out of the corner of your eye. It should walk up to you if it doesn't repeat steps 2 - 6

7-When the horse walks up pat it on the head and walk off. It should follow, if it doesn't chase it off again.

Do this until the horse is very quick with the signals and follows you every time.

This will get your mare trusting you and respecting you.

You could also do the chicken walk

If she walks forward into your spaace make her walk backwards into her space. Never let her get into your space. Then she will respect you.

Also just take her to shows and she will settle.

I used to take tape and set up a coral and join up with her at the show.  I found these methods very helpful. I hope I helped :)

Good Luck