My horse has suddenly been behaving nasty towards me. She is usually to sweetest horse you would meet why???

Question

She is a standardbred x arab x arp i think. I have had her for about 18 months. She has never got nervous on a ride, bucked, bit, bolted, reared, shied, kicked, etc but a few weeks ago she did. It started riding up the road and a few kids were screaming and that got her nervous then some horses galloping and bucking and then some cows. She just got nervous and wanted to go home. So we went home. And then a few weeks later she put her ears flat at my mum and we are not sure if she actually kicked out. Then a few days later she kicked out at my dad. The next day she kicked at me when i was putting her coat on and the day after that she kicked at my dad again. She has like some cancer kind of lumps on her bum area and is about 19 years old but in good condition for a horse of her age. Any idea why she has been behaving nasty towards us?

Answer 1

typical mare, she is going to need some serious work. This is not unheard of, I experienced this a couple of years ago with one of mine. It tooks a few weeks to get her well out of her comfort zone and respect/trust me.

Good luck, you may need an expert to help you over this bad patch. Do get help because you don't want to loose confidence over this.

Places to get help, local tack store, pony club network, a person who trains horses in your are, local race stables....

Good luck, keep safe.

Answer 2

Her atlas could be out it giving them headaches and makes them moody. or she could just be in heat or she could have gotten away with something and now does not want to work,

get the chiropractor out around 50$ and get everyhting checked out there if everything is ok then wait a few more days to make sure she is not in season and if she still does it get someone to tune her in

Answer 3

She could be in season my mare acts like that when she is in season or maybe you just did something that scared her but I doubt it

Answer 4

There could be LOTS of reasons for this.  If you've had her vet checked and she's not in any pain of some sort, then she's learned something bad.

You say she got nervous about the situation when riding.  when you quit and let her go home, you taught her something.  You taught her that she has the ability to train YOU the way she wants you to be.  You taught her that she can act poorly and get away with going back home or to a more comfortable area.  Horses are smart and it only takes one small time for them to learn something.

It is possible that she thought "well, all I have to do is act this way and they leave me alone or let me go home" - continued activity such as leaving her alone when she kicks will do nothing more than get worse.

What you really need is some knowledge about how horses think and what their social heirarchy is and how it comes about.  YOu need to learn about the nature of horses and how to be their leader so they will respect you.  A horse that kicks you, dumps you, lays their ears back at you doesn't respect you and thinks you not worthy of being their leader.  That's a fact plain and simple.

I would suggest you get some books on natural horsemanship methods and begin learning how a horse thinks and how you fit into her world.  You cannot give her human reasons for doing horse things.  Sure, Mares have off days, but allowing kicking because she's got PMS is not correct.  We must learn to deal with the problems and manage them properly.   Although they have days they feel better or have a different attitude, it's usually not a similar reason a human would have a bad day.

A horse's whole live revolves around what they must do today (their routine) and their place within their herd - if they are alone, you are their herd (and you are part of their herd if they are not alone) - even if you only have two horses together, they have a place within their herd of two.

The worst thing you can do is physically reprimand her.  Smacking her, hitting her - anything that would cause her to become defensive is bad.  You must understand the extent to which she'll go - if she lays her ears back, with she bite or kick you?  If so, get professional help from a trainer coming to your house.  If not, realize that in the horse world, he who moves his feet first looses.  If a horse lays their ears back at another horse and the other horse moves away, the ear-laidback horse wins and has established dominance over the other horse.  If the other horse doesn't move and lays their ears back as well and sticks their nose out toward the first horse, one of them must eventually back down and move off - the one who doesn't move away is the more dominant.  Apply this to your situation.  Do not move off when she lays her ears back, hold your ground unless you're in imminent danger.

This mare could have had some experience with you (probably has) that has caused her to think you'll do her harm or allow harm to come to her - so she's lost her faith in you.  YOu must find out what you did or what you are consistently doing or not doing that's causing this mistrust or disrespect.  Horses don't just turn this way overnight for not apparent reason.  If she was find before and nothing has changed, I suggest that something's been happening for the whole 18 months that has been working at her and against you - there's something you are doing or not doing that you don't realize has brought this about.  Not know you, your daily routine with her or able to see you in action with her, I cannot begin to determine what this might be.

Some ways to gain knowledge are to watch RFD-TV if you have it - watch the segments from trainers like Chris Cox, Clinton Anderson or Pat Parelli as well as others.  They'll always give you hints as to how a horse thinks.  Also some books on starting horses - Western Horseman has a good stock of them - Mike Kevil's book on starting colts is a good foundation book, I see they've come out with a new one from Chris Cox about the fundmentals of natural horsemanship.  Problem Horses is another one they have that may help.

Good luck!

Answer 5

Call a vet now, if she has been like that for that long then she could be in pain!

Answer 6

She may be feeling upset about something.  Or she maybe in season.  That can really change a mare into a Jekyll and Hyde character.  

She may be having some pain in her back - you mentioned the rug.  Get the vet out to have a look, and get your tack checked too.  The vet might want to take blood tests  for hormone deficiencies or excesses.  Is she a grey?  Grey horses do tend to get melanomas - lumps in the bum area - some of these are cancerous, some are not.  They might be irritating her.

Hope she soon returns to her normal self.  Something is obviously not right.

Answer 7

Just like people, Mare's have mood swings.... during mating season.

She is most likley in heat. It is most common that a sweet mare all of a sudden wants to rip your head off.

Answer 8

Oh man, sounds like a case of 'mare in heat'. If she is, she could just be having an ever-so-common bout of bipolar-ism :o) She could also have strained something, that's hurting her, on that ride you mentioned- just keep working with her, and call the vet- to see if something from those 'lumps' is harmful. You never know what it could be-

Answer 9

I dont know but age could ahve got the better of her.

Maybe she just feels grumpy and wants some space - it can happen with older horses especialy mares.

If i were you, i would give her some rest and maybe think about getting a younger horse. She is old and alot of horses retire around 20.

I know its probably a bum but thats what happens when you have older horses.

x

Answer 10

stop riding her, ride a cowboy LOL !

Answer 11

She may just be moody or she may have lost respect for people, I'd have a vet check her out and make sure she is ok.

Answer 12

I am no vet but the fact your mares behaviour seemed to be triggered whilst out of a ride could point to something in her life which has made her unhappy.

The first thing i would ask is have you changed anything? like moved yard, moved her into a different paddock or stable or given her another horse for company? or is she kept alone (this is the worst torture you can put a horse through).

Have you changed her diet? or has the mix you usually change added or missed out ingredients as a recipe improvement?

Or have you changed? are you feeling more tense or stressed than usual?

If any of those were yes i would say address this change immediatly as it ha clearly upset her.

Of course i would definitely get her back and teeth checked, also ensure her rugs and tack fit correctly.

Lumps could be malanoma and could be causing pain, usually in gray horses?

Hope this helps!

Answer 13

Perhaps she's sick and in pain.

I suggest you contact her vet immediately!!

Answer 14

As she is a mare it may be just that time of the year for her...she might be just moody.

You should really teach her that she shouldnt kick you otherwise she will think that this is acceptable behaviour.

A horse I used to deal with used to lift his legs to me sometimes as though he was going to kick...usually a little smack on the belly or top of leg and a word of warning makes them realise it is wrong.

...I hope you dont think that I am trying to get you to beat your horse...!! I am not, I am just saying that you should make sure she understands that it is not acceptable to try and kick you.

As to the nervousness on a ride, there is not much you can do for that other than encouragement and being confident with her. As long as she is not dangerous and you dont get hurt then I am sure that you and her will be fine  : )