Here is our story.  I actually have 2 horses.....a 6 month old Quarter Horse filly named Mocha and a 14 year old Thoroughbred mare named Jasmine.  Mocha was headed to the slaughter and Jasmine was litterly abandon by her owner at my friend's barn. 

I love my girls dearly, but need MAJOR help with my Jasmine.  I have no history on her other then an 2007 Coggins test was left on her and it was stated on the test that the reason for the test was for a show.

Jasmine is a very sweet girl, but very high maintence and very high strung.

I got her the Tuesday before Christmas, so I have not had her all that long. 

Here are some of her "bad" behaviors:

1.  She HATES the trailer.  She can spot a trailer a mile away and will do everything in her power to avoid it.  I have only trailered her once and that was from the bar where she was abandon to my barn.  She did nothing but rear up for 30 minutes.  Once in the trailer she did fine and unloaded like a dream. 

2.  I cannot even show her the bridle without her rearing, backing, ad pulling to the point of breaking her halter and tie ups.  Now I can get a saddle on her just fine. 

3.  If she is not tended to first, she pitches a HUGE fit and basically acts offended and pissed off.  Just one time I fed and groomed Mocha first and Jasmine was just plain nasty, she let out every sound she could possibly make and then would not even let me touch her.

I love my Jasmine, but she very much intemidates me.  I think I am more frustrated with myself.  I am now 33 and from 4 years old until my early 20's I have ridden & shown horses.  All the horses I rode and showed were Quarter Horses.  I had not ridden in years and only a few times in the past couple of years.  I think her behavior gettting her in the trailer has kind of scared me as to her potential.  She is a huge horse and it is a long way to the ground!!!  Also I have never delt with Thoroughbreds before.

I have found someone local to retrainer who was recomended by our vet and farrier.  They are taking her for 30 days to see about "retraining" her since the vet said that there was no medical/physical reason for her to be acting like this. 

She will walk with me fine, will lunge somewhat (I do not have an indoor area & being in Minnesota we have a ton of snow, so I am not sure if her lunging issues are ground conditions or just her).

I am not looking for a show horse, just something to ride around the farm and the roads (mainly dirt) around the farm. 

I do not know if her behavior is a learned behavior (she acts up/she gets her way) or if she has been mistreated in the past. 

If anyone has any suggestions on little things that I can do that might help me out it would be wonderful.  She has a forever home with me no matter what, I just would like to do more with her.

with the trailer. if u can put it in the arena or pasture or outside it someware ware she can see it and become desensitized to it. once it doesnt seem to bother her id start with it at a far distance and slowly bring her closer and closer as she relaxes. if shes nervous circle her and keep her focused on you. eventually the trailer wont seem like a big deal even if u walk her to a trailer and walk away so it starts to seem like a no big deal everyday object.

for the bridle

i have a few questions first, because she goes "crazy" when she sees it do u just ride her with a halter or eventually get it on?

she seems like shes had a bad experience with it and shes going to have to be shown that the bridle is not completly bad. try going in an arena at one end and a friend at the other with the bridle walk closer if she freaks wait till she calms and try again. if she bolts back wards make her back up and keep working on getting close. once you can get close enough to touch the bridle. once thats established have your friend walk around with the bridle and have your horse fallow the bridle its less scary for a horse if the object is moving away once this is established id try to touch her with the bridle and just set it on her back touch her with it she has to be completly ok with it before even trying to put it on and once getting it on take it back off

these processes should be done over a long period of time and will take a while. 

hope i explained everything ok and good luck with her!

_{^{On the 6th day God created the Quarter Horse, on the 7th day, He Painted the good ones.}}

there are several ways to do this, look into natural horsemanship. offer her friendship, security and patience everyday. i would suggest John Lyons to look into (for natural horsemanshi) and MOnty Roberts. the other problems will be solved easily enough if only your horse has 100% trust in you.

 

 Thanks FlyinHy!

 

Horses - if God made anything more beautiful, He kept it for Himself.

 

a life without horses is like taking a breath without air.

it's who I am.

I feel like she in conflicted between doing good and pushing the limits.  When I first got her she would rear at EVERYTHING.  So badly that it was (and sometimes still is) to the point that my boyfriend would get very nervous when I would get her out.  This has been the hardest winter here in Minnesota in a while and we have at least 1/2 inch of ice on every walkable area on our farm.  Sometimes we have enough snow to cover it to the point that it is safe to get her out of the barn. (I do not have an indoor arena yet ~ this is on boyfriend's spring to do list).  Boyfriend has NEVER had horses or been around them, so Jasmine's behavior is a real shock to him.  He loves her too and is the one who agreed to let me take her.  When ground is good for walking I take her out and we walk and lunge.  Her rearing has gotten more "controlled" if this makes since.  Either that or I am just so used to it now!!! LOL!!!! 

The trainer that she is going to I will be working very close with.  Jasmine is a very smart girl and I think (know) that if I am not involved then when she comes home she will not "work right" with me. 

I will admit that when I first got her I was a major push over.  Now that I have gotten more comfortable and can "read" her more I have been able to be more sturn. 

She will be going to the trainer for the month of March.

The odd thing is that the things that I think she will pitch a big one over, she does not.  She stood wonderfully for the vets full exam ~ even the rear dental. (She will not need her teeth floated until summer).  She was an perfect lady for the farrier. Did decent when I dewormed her. And she stands still to be saddled.  I have put the saddle on her about 4 times since I got her.  I have not mounted her, acted like it, put my foot in the stirrup and put weight on it and nothing, she did just fine.   

With no good ground to ride on right now I do not want to put myself or her in danger.  This is also why I am waiting until March to send her to the trainer ~ she will come home and I will be able to ride her at home outside.

Our relationship is a work in progress, I am not looking for a change overnight, I just do not want to reinforce bad behavior or make things worse. 

Oh, another thing she does is a lot of head butting.  When we walk and we stop and I request her to stand still, she will, but then gets very pushy with her head (even split my lip once).  I make her back up when she starts the head butting/nudging, but I cannot get her to let up on the head butting.

YOu are being very paitent with her and htat is what she need. firm but paitent.. Ie  if she head butts to hard ie past just resting head on chest maybe a slight rub up and down( depending if you wish to deal with the rub thing or not) dont be scared to  respond harshly when she hurts you. Trust me  ther is little a human can do that  can really hurt a horse.

I personally wouldnt look for a  program( Ie parelli, lyons, shrake etc)  I would go with my gut and see where it lead me. Ie  if you gut says  I dont think she will like it when I do X or Y.. " maybe you can push X and Y to just below where you think she will not tollerate it. BAck off then  the next day  push it a bit more . Eventualy  X and Y will no longer bother her to the same extent. While programs work for some horses they tend to get you locked in to specific ways of doing thing  in their order etc. And well  face it  if every horse  could do things in a specific laid out order then training a horse would be easy and anyone can do it and be sucessful in doing so.

I would continue to work with her on what you feel comfortable doing and go ahead and send her off in hte spring to hte trainers. Like someone else said and you said be very active in hte training process. for several reasons one of which you mentioned so you can actually work hte horse when  you get her home. But 2  to make sure the horse is actually getting hte  training hrs you are paying for, 3) the horse is not being abused in any way.. thinking of hte  'respected' 'trainer' in Tx I think who is facing charges for training tactets that are abusive. And you wold be suprised how may respected trainers do not always give hte hrs promised to horses  when they have a client who doesnt show up.

You will of course have to work on her  trailering problem efore you go to load her up to take to trainer. this  will take time so you might want to start today. again it is the pushing hte  envelope  thing. If hte horse is fine 10 ft from trailer but 9 1/2 ft  from trailer  she begins to freak.  start with 10 ft, then 9 3/4  9 1/2 etc until she is waling onto  trailer with out  a bat of eye. small steps  and accomplishment is better then  skipping steps and making things worse.. when she gets to the 9 1/2 ' away and isnt  freaking  a carrott would probably be  a good thing. from the point of freaking out  go 1 inch at a time or even a 1/2 inch. with ever  calm standing not freaking out carrot  then move on to the next 1/2 -1 inch.. praising also goes a long way praise and carrot.. a small peice of carrot ie a bite off size peice not a huge peice or a whole one. But ust enought to let her know  she is eing a good girl.


If ponies were human.. most would be in prison.

Mrs. Smith COTH

 

 Thanks FlyinHy!

 

Horses - if God made anything more beautiful, He kept it for Himself.

 

a life without horses is like taking a breath without air.

it's who I am.