The younger mare that I am riding will scream during the whole time that I am working her. I can handle any naughty things except for this screaming out to other horses. It pisses me off, and it's just annoying. I know that she is a mare, and that is part of the problem. I have rode her through it a couple times, but today it was bad. She ignored me most of the time, and was just a complet bitch. For over 40 minutes about every minute she would carry on, and the worse thing is no one was calling back to her. Her half sister is just as bad. I finally got her to walk around the arena without screaming, and then I got off. I've tried giving her half halts when she starts up, and telling her no. I have also turned her in a circle when she starts, and she still won't stop. She just got started on Mare Magic last week. Does anyone have any ideas that I can try to get her to stop?
Not sure if the couple of horses I have worked with are quite this bad but my goal is to put them to work... It is kinda hard for them to scream and carry on when they are cantering or in danger of tripping over themselves for not following directions... My OTTB gelding would rear whenever he couldn't see another horse and we would play the take no more than 10 steps in 1 direction game, otherwise known as "PAY ATTENTION TO ME!" He would start concentrating and soon enough I would let him just walk out, if he started getting antsy again he'd go back to work... Maybe if you really rode her actively for ten minutes and put her away she would get out of it?
That's not a mare thing. lol AreYouSirious is right you just need to work on getting her to focus on you. It can be a real pain. I read somewhere that the Arabs would ride mares because they wouldn't give away their location by calling out. I'll have to find that book.
Ha I found it! http://www.arabianhorses.org/education/education_history_bedouin.asp The Arabian horse was primarily an instrument of war, as were horses in general in most societies of the time. A well mounted Bedouin could attack an enemy tribe and capture their herds of sheep, camels and goats, adding to the wealth of their own tribe. Such a raid was only successful if the aggressors could attack with surprise and speed and make good their escape. Mares were the best mounts for raiding parties, as they would not nicker to the enemy tribe's horses, warning of their approach. The best war mares exhibited great courage in battle, taking the charges and the spear thrusts without giving ground.
Your mare is herd bound. I have struggled with the same issue with my TB mare. Marie Hoffman has some great info on herd boundness. I had to really establish myself as the leader to my mare, she is much better now. http://www.oewequinecenter.com/Herd Bound.pdf http://www.oewequinecenter.com/Herd Bound Part 2.pdf
Have to agre with areyouserious. Put her to work bending around your leg lots of changes in direction figure eights serpentines spiral in spiral out up and down transitions transitions within the gaits etc. Once she's listening to you praise praise praise her! She'll eventually get it.
Just work on making her think about work. My horses can be bad about this -- part of the downside of living on their own little place, with their own little herd that hasn't changed in composition that much for years now. They do love their little herd. The only thing I've found that works is making them do something mentally and physically challenging (for them) when they decide it might be nice to talk. One exception: my old horse is horrible about screaming his bloody head off in a warm up arena at a show...only there. Doesn't do it at home, at clinics, or in the show ring -- just the warm up arena. And he goes straight to work, in fact, he was always very good when he was "on deck". Nothing ever, ever made him stop, and never really did quite understand why he did it, as he didn't do it anyplace else. Since it was more of an annoyance (to everybody else) and an embarassment (to me, because he turned everything else in the warm up loopy, while he kept his cool) -- I always tried to warm up when or where nobody else was around (but it was kind of a dirty "secret weapon" >).
Sarah the funny thing is her sire is from marie's. Her half sister has the same sire also, and she is just as bad as the mare that I'm riding. She takes weekly lessons at marie's. I worked her today and she was fine. Not a single word out of her, and she did everything that I asked. I'll be working her again tomorrow, and we'll see how that goes. Thanks for the articles.
Well, my mare embarrassed the shit out of me during her first ever dressage test, by screaming the entire time. Her geometry was pert near perfect, though.
Reading this thread is making me laugh...I've been there, it's embarrassing as hell. Agree with the others, just put her to work--work her hard! And praise her when she pays attention and shuts up. Also remember, it's spring....hormones are in the air....
Random thought....what if you start screaming when your horse screams? Wonder what would happen...hmmm.....D)
Lim- I did that once when Spike was turned out by himself. He was screaming and pacing and freaking out, I went to clip his lead rope on and he screamed practically right in my ear so I went BAHHHHH!!!!!! back at him. He stopped and looked at me like "What the fuck, woman?" He hasn't screamed while I lead him since then. :laugh:
Adellasun I love it! Lmao! Next time somebody asks me that I'm going to tell them "well just scream back". Limerick beat me to it
Sounds like she's bored...I agree with AreYouSirius. Try doing excersized to get her focused on you. Cavalettis/ground poles, serpentines through cones, etc. Also, if she's "screaming" with her mouth gaping open, use a cavesson to help keep her mouth closed. She'll still be able to whinny but not with a gaping mouth.
Put a cavesson on her. Tighten it enough to where she is comfortable, but cannot open up her mouth and holler. She may freak out at first because she cannot scream at everyone. Put it on her, bit her up, tie up your reins and round pen or longe her for a while til you get the crazies out. Then do as the others have said and put her to work and make her think.
I could not disagree more. Clamping her mouth shut will just add more stress to an already stressed animal. You said she might freak, well yeah she's already freaking. It's along the lines of a horse that won't stand still, the more you try to make it stand still the worse it gets. Let it move until it wants to stand. Then it will stand knowing it can move if it needs to. Let her scream until she figures out that she doesn't need to. You need to settle the mind and you can't do that by restricting the body.
I used my horse as the example before and I will try it again... My gelding was a rearer, make him work and let him move out (now, we usually go for a good run when we get frustrated) and he would not do it again... If he got anxious and started wanting to call because he couldn't see another horse all you had to do was start running through a dressage test, getting him working and thinking about where his feet should be going instead of where the others were and he was fine... Has worked for most of the horses I've ever worked with... Now I tried riding him in a flash because he could still scream and carry on with a cavesson and he also had a lovely habit of getting his tongue over the bit... The second he realized that "escape" wasn't an option he FLIPPED OUT... He fought and fought and tried to rear and we sidepassed across an entire pasture because he was scared and didn't have a release... I could stop him from seeking it but if it wasn't there it was like the safety net is gone... I still am not a big fan of riding most horses in a flash or overly tightened cavesson because I think it makes them more resistant than what you're starting out with... If you're even considering messing with cavessons and the like I would prefer to see a figure-8 because there is more freedom and the only reason I would use it is if you consistently lose the connection because the mare is gaping her mouth open or getting her tongue over the bit... Couldn't agree more...
