For context, I bought a broodmare out of paddock this summer with the plan to train her to ride and, finances willing, breed her again. She's an absolute sweetheart on the ground now that we've given her a refresher course in ground manners (she was awful before then, which is fair, since she hadn't been handled in a while), with one very significant exception.
Whenever she feels trapped/separated from her buddies, she becomes dangerously anxious. I'm talking rearing and jumping over four foot metal panels (and getting stuck on her stifles because she leapt over it from a stand-still...) to get back to her companion pony and neighbor mare. Usually, it'd be fairly straightforward to work through that sort of behavior, but the concern is that she goes from standing calmly, without fidgeting, to jumping a metal panel and getting herself injured and stuck with zero warning. Not even a set-back that would give us a chance to de-escalate the situation.
My trainer (who I'm working with—absolutely not going to try working with her on my own, for obvious reasons) spoke to some of her contacts and we're planning to get the vet out to check on her hormone levels and give her a thorough physical to see if we can't figure out what's going on. We suspect it's a combination of learned behavior (as she did something similar in a trailer a month or so ago... loaded like a dream, but the moment they shut the trailer she jumped the divider panel) and hormones, based on how quickly she went from calm to "oh holy shit".
For clarity, I'm 100% in agreement with my trainer, and am prepared to do whatever the vet suggests, but I figure it's never a bad idea to take a look around and see what others have to say/have experienced.
TL;DR: Bought a broodmare and she's behaved in dangerous and unpredictable ways. My trainer and I think hormones are a factor and have a vet coming out to check her over. Anyone have experience with something similar? What did you do? What worked?
For context, I bought a broodmare out of paddock this summer with the plan to train her to ride and, finances willing, breed her again. She's an absolute sweetheart on the ground now that we've given her a refresher course in ground manners (she was awful before then, which is fair, since she hadn't been handled in a while), with one very significant exception.Whenever she feels trapped/separated from her buddies, she becomes dangerously anxious. I'm talking rearing and jumping over four foot metal panels (and getting stuck on her stifles because she leapt over it from a stand-still...) to get back to her companion pony and neighbor mare. Usually, it'd be fairly straightforward to work through that sort of behavior, but the concern is that she goes from standing calmly, without fidgeting, to jumping a metal panel and getting herself injured and stuck with zero warning. Not even a set-back that would give us a chance to de-escalate the situation.My trainer (who I'm working with—absolutely not going to try working with her on my own, for obvious reasons) spoke to some of her contacts and we're planning to get the vet out to check on her hormone levels and give her a thorough physical to see if we can't figure out what's going on. We suspect it's a combination of learned behavior (as she did something similar in a trailer a month or so ago... loaded like a dream, but the moment they shut the trailer she jumped the divider panel) and hormones, based on how quickly she went from calm to "oh holy shit".For clarity, I'm 100% in agreement with my trainer, and am prepared to do whatever the vet suggests, but I figure it's never a bad idea to take a look around and see what others have to say/have experienced.TL;DR: Bought a broodmare and she's behaved in dangerous and unpredictable ways. My trainer and I think hormones are a factor and have a vet coming out to check her over. Anyone have experience with something similar? What did you do? What worked? https://ift.tt/eA8V8J https://ift.tt/3CvvgOo
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