Green 10 year old?

[Slavetolove]

Hey 🙂

We are currently loaning a 15hh ish cob mare. She’s 10 years old.

She hasn’t done much work, mostl lead rein with younger children. She refuses to trot, walk ahead without someone at the side of her etc lol.
She’s quite green still as her owner was planning on bringing her on more but unfortunately health issues stopped that.

Atm she’s in a field but we are moving her closer to us to a private livery. We are thinking of getting someone in help bring her and my daughter (14) on together. She’s very pushy, doesn’t respect space etc. constantly standing on our feet lol or if my daughter goes to get her hay she will try and bathe into the room and get it. Hopefully when she’s moved she won’t be able to do this. I don’t think she likes me as I will make her move by banging the door etc and she runs away 🙈 so she’s constantly side eyeing me lol.

Do you think it’s worth getting someone in to bring her on? She’s such a beautiful girl and it seems such a shame to not at least try.
My daughter loves her but I think her confidence was knocked last weekend when she wouldn’t even stand for her to put her head collar on and just kept walking off lol
This week she’s been a lot more confident , when she’s making her dinner up she makes her move away before she will put it down on the floor lol

She’s not had much grass in her field either which I don’t think has helped but since feeding her up abit more she’s abit more fresher lol

It sounds like you do need someone. She needs to start respecting you and your daughter's personal space. She is much stronger than you could ever be, it's not safe for her to think she can push you both around.

Banging the door to scare her off is not the way to develop a bond or gain the respect you need, please stop doing that. The mare needs clear consistent instructions, perhaps look at clicker training, but the timing is so crucial it'd be worth getting a professional to show you properly.

Although, I have to wonder why are you bringing on a pony you only have on loan? I have seen many cases of an owner loaning out their projects and then selling them out from underneath the loaners when they have sufficiently improved. Why not just loan a pony that is more suited to your daughter's needs?

I agree with this. Scaring a horse isn’t training. She’s not naughty or rude she doesn’t have a clue what you are asking of her. Moving her won’t drastically solve the issues. She sounds from
what you’ve described about her ridden, that she’s been very poorly backed too.
If you’re just loaning I’d not pay for someone to bring her on but instead find something more appropriate for you and your daughters level of experience as from yours post it seems like you are green owners with a green horse which rarely ends well

I agree, I think before you leap into this you need to have a good think about is this really the right pony for you now? It sounds from this and your other post as though she needs almost complete re-backing and possibly a lot of groundwork too, although moving somewhere with better facilities will help in the long run, her behaviour will almost certainly get worse before it gets better with the unsettling effects of the move, change of herd and feed, some horses take up to 6 months to really settle especially into a move from being in a quiet 24/7 turnout situation to a busy livery yard and stabled overnight. And at 14 I would have thought your DD really wants to be having fun with her pony, doing activities, building her skills and confidence and so on, not the grinding tedious weeks and months of groundwork and long lining and steady walk hacking and potentially alarming or disheartening setbacks along the way that a project pony involves? And then potentially just as the mare is getting to a good stage in a year or so, your DD will be approaching GCSE/exam years and have less time available which would be a shame, or as others have said, whatever they say now if you get the pony going really well and out to PC activities and competitions the owner may well see £££ in their eyes and want to cash in on your hard work by selling the pony from under your feet or having them back for themselves, it is always a risk when loaning...

What I would do before doing anything else is get an experienced person or instructor that knows you and DD well and that you trust out to look at the pony where she is now and make an honest assessment of how much time and money it's going to take to get her to where you want to be (including livery costs as well as help/lessons)? I'm not saying absolutely don't do it, just think very carefully about all the other options for that investment, how many lessons/weeks at camp/pony days that money could buy, or whether there is a more established pony she could loan or share a few days a week (I know these don't grow on trees). If you are having doubts I'd walk away now before you've gone through the hassle and upset of moving her and your DD has gotten too attached. This is controversial but although of course I'd take DD's feelings into account at 14 I don't think they really comprehend what a commitment it is being full-time responsible for any animal let alone a 'project' so really this is either something you need to be committing yourself to wholeheartedly as well, or you need to make a tough decision for her...

Thought I’d update.

irs literally been 2 weeks and she’s like a different horse. We’ve have a trainer come for 2 hours and I can’t believe the difference.

she’s lunged her, long reined her, got her trotting off on her own HAPPILY!

she’s even cantered her. She’s never ever cantered or trotted off on her own before. She seems so happy! Literally no napping or anything.

weve learnt to stop her barging. She will stand quietly and sleep while you tack her up. She’ won’t rub her head on you anymore. She has the most amazing bond with my daughter. Will literally follow her like a puppy dog.

rhe field she’s in (we are moving her to a livery near is in 2 weeks) they sometimes do shooting and an area absolutely terrifies ner, mt daughter walked past it and she followed her completely unfazed.

im so so so proud of them both. I knew she had something. You can see how much happier she is having a job. When she did her first canter I may have cried.

i feel so much more confident with her which I think has helped.

I actually could cry. I’m so proud of them both.

dhorse seems to love it.

she has absolutely no muscle at all atm so any work makes her sweat but we’re getting there. Her condition has improved so much as we bought her some new food and dry grass as there is absolutely non in the field atm.

i can’t wait to move her and watch her grow. I think she’s going to love jumping!

We’ve been going every single day to her, even my husband when he’s on nights is leaving earlier to go and sort her out. So she’s now has a routine.