From: Angela
Hi. Two months ago I got a 5yo mare off the track. I was hoping to school her, compete her and then either keep her for myself or sell her. She has very nice paces and a good jump, she is very quiet and sensible usually but she has a very bad attitude. She was alright the first couple of weeks after I got her but then she started napping out on hacks - at certain places she stops determinedly, puts a foul expression on her face and stamps with her hind leg. I try being firm, shouting and hitting, that doesn't do any good. I try being nice and talking softly to her - no good either. When i try to school her, if she isn't in the mood she'll pop her shoulder and run into one particular corner near the gate, sometimes she bucks or rears and gets me off. I'm just about ready to give up on her but its such a shame as she is naturally quite talented and could be a good jumper? Is there any way I can turn her sullen attitude into a willing one? Thanks for your help. Angela
Two months is a very short time. Your mare has several years of training and racing, and she knows her job. Now you're giving her an entirely new job, one that involves new skills and new habits and a new way of using her body.
Taking a horse directly from the racetrack and putting it into training for a new career is a risky move, for many reasons. When purchasing a horse off the racetrack, it's often an excellent idea to let the horse down as quickly as possible, then put it into a field and let it remain there for a few months during which it can learn to relax, lose some of its racing condition and fitness, and b begin to cleanse its body of any residual drugs from its racing days. Those few months - or six months - or a year - will also give the horse a chance to learn to know you, and to watch your interactions with other horses.
Your mare seems to have been cooperating beautifully - up to a point. Here's what her actions and attitude may mean - I believe that she is trying to tell you something.
Many horses are unbelieveably sweet and docile for the first couple of weeks in a new home or a new job - like a child at a new boarding school, they are confused, curious, a litle worried, and willing to accept just about everything. But after they begin to feel a bit more familiar and a bit more secure, they may also realize that there are things going on that they don't want to or aren't able to accept, for various reasons: understanding, expectations, and physical comfort, for instance.
A horse that has a dramatic change in its exercise type and routine, and behaves beautifully for a week or two, then begins to get more and more difficult, is very probably a horse that is experiencing pain and confusion. Imagine how your body and mind would feel if you were suddenly taken out of your familiar environment and put into an unfamiliar sort of physical training - ballet, say, or gymnastics. Then imagine that, after a week or two, you are unhappy and physically very sore after using your muscles in such different ways - and you begin to try to avoid the exercises, or you make faces whilst you are performing the exercises... and then imagine that the person in charge becomes angry with you and hits you.
Your mare is, in all probablity, SORE and unclear about what is wanted. When she was racing, it was all a matter of routine, and everything was very clear.
You're quite right that shouting and hitting won't elicit a horse's cooperation. Shouting and hitting aren't useful teaching techniques with any horse - the single exception would be if a horse were doing something that absolutely cannot be permitted under any circumstances, such as biting or striking at a human, and needs to learn that THIS behaviour is NOT ACCEPTABLE. But as training techniques, shouting and hitting are no good at all. Discard them, please.
Talking softly works well - but it will work much better if your horse understands what you're after. Imagine that someone screams at you in a language you don't know, and hits you - you'll be frightened and want to get away, but you won't have a chance of doing what that person wants you to do, because you haven't a clue what's wanted of you. You'll only learn to avoid that person. Now imagine that someone talks to you softly, telling you something over and over, and then becomes frustrated and angry with you. Again, you'll be upset, and you'll still have no chance of doing what's wanted, because you still don't know what you're being asked to do.
If I were you, I'd spend a good bit of time grooming this mare and talking to her, then take her out on very short hacks, fifteen or twenty minutes perhaps, talking to her all the time. Give her little, simple tasks to do - and reward even the slightest hint of an effort on her part. This is the way to create a willing attitude - show the mare that you notice and appreciate her smallest effort. Then put her out in the field and let her be a horse for the rest of the day. Don't jump her - yet. She needs a good deal of work on the ground and under saddle before she'll be ready to work over jumps.
Your mare has been racing for quite some time. Now you want her to become a jumper. If she has the soundness and the correct basic body structure, she can probably do it, but not if you go too fast with her. Her body has to rebuild along new lines - she's no longer expected to go as fast as she can for a short time, then return to doing nothing until her next exercise session. She's learning how to wear a different sort of saddle, and carry a rider who SITS on her, and carry a rider for a much longer time than she is used to doing. She's learning how to react to signals from a rider's leg and seat, and how to respond to a bit and reins that are sending her new and different signals. She's learning how to spend a long time under saddle, doing a great many transitions and turns. ALL of this is new. ALL of this is different. ALL of this has to be learned, then done many times before it becomes easy, and done many more times before it becomes habitual. And, finally, ALL of this puts new and different stress on her feet, her legs, her back, her neck, her joints - and her mind.
It takes a year or more to rebuild a horse's body. Not just the muscles - a good trainer can effectively make dramatic changes to a horse's musculature in just a few months - but to the entire body. Tendons and ligaments take a year to strengthen. Bones take AT LEAST a year to remodel. And all the time your mare's body is being stressed in different ways, she's also having to figure out just what you want, and for how long, and what you want after that... and she is very, very likely to get mentally anxious and physically sore. Combine those factors with your anger and annoyance with her, and you've got a formula for an unhappy horse.
There's no reason you can't school, compete, and sell this mare - but if you want to enjoy the schooling, compete successfully, and sell her at a tidy profit, you'll need to relax and work with the horse you HAVE, not with the horse you hope she will become once she's retrained and physically rebuilt. Take the time you need now - take the time SHE needs now. After all, if you sell her you'll want her to be sane, sound, and successful at her new job - and if you decide to keep her, you'll want the same things.
The secret to successful schooling is to take all the time you need, and to appreciate and enjoy the small incremental changes and improvements in the horse. The secret to successful horse-recycling is not to expect the horse to act like a trained horse - an ex-racehorse may be an experienced animal in some senses, but it's completely green in terms of its NEW job. For the successful recycling of an ex-racehorse, you should plan to allow at least a year, and you should begin that year by letting the horse down and then turning it out for a month or two at least. When you start the horse, start it as if it knew nothing at all, which, since it knows nothing at all about being a hack or a jumper, is absolutely true. If you can do this, you'll find at the end of the year that while you spent your time on transitions and suppling work, praising the horse for tiny changes, the big changes were taking place all by themselves. ;-)
Good luck with your mare!
Jessica
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