From: Mavis
I have just brought my 7 year old Arabian mare back from two months of training. For various reasons I didn't get to ride her much at the arena where she was being trained and when I did she would let me ride but start to act up after about 15 minutes. She lets other people ride her but is difficult and a handful. Her saddle was fitted and should not be a problem for her. On the ground she "joins up" and has been worked on with the John Lyons method and responded well on the ground. In the saddle she plants her feet and when I urge her on she turns to try and bite me. I am a 5'3 woman weighing 210 pounds Image is an 1/2 arabian with quarter horse and thoroughbred. Her face is arabian and her middle is quarter horse, her legs are arabian. My saddle is very light and many people have said that my weight shouldn't be an issue with this horse as Arabians can carry heavier weights. I love the horse and hate to have to sell her but I can't even get her down the trail! Any input will be appreciated
Two months isn't much training, and I'm concerned about the quality and type of training that your mare received. Did you watch the training? Training for what? You say that she is seven years old -- how much had she done, and what did she know, before she went to the trainer? What exactly did the trainer do with her?
If the mare was completely green and the trainer did nothing but basic round-pen work, then your horse is probably not conditioned or even prepared for riding. Getting a horse to move around you, change gaits, change directions, and come to you in a round pen is fun and makes a very nice introduction to handling, but most horses can learn this in about half an hour. Similarly, accepting a saddle and rider is something that is easy, fast, and uneventful for most horses, but there's an enormous difference between ACCEPTING a saddle and rider, and CARRYING them comfortably... let alone UNDERSTANDING what the rider is asking!
If your mare was being trained for riding, or re-trained for a particular type of riding, then much of the training should have been ridden work. You should have been encouraged to participate in the training, and you should have had many more opportunities to ride your mare, work with the trainer, ask questions, get answers, and learn how to ask the mare to do what the trainer had taught her to do.
I'm also concerned about the fact that your mare was acting up after you'd been on her for fifteen minutes. What did the trainer say about this -- what explanation were you given? This sounds like a horse that may only be able to deal with 15 minutes of under-saddle work -- and this can be quite legitimate! I'll explain in a moment.
The fact that your mare is difficult for other people to ride is a pretty clear indication that something is wrong. She may be worse with you because of your weight, but I would say that she is NOT "trained" as I would use that word, and I would also say that she is uncomfortable, possibly in pain, clearly unhappy, and almost certainly very confused.
My first move, if I were you, would be to have the vet come out and check the mare thoroughly -- with particular attention toher mouth, neck, and back. Find out if she is sore, and tell the vet exactly what she has been doing, with whom, where, and for how long. Your vet may have some good suggestions for you, and of course you need to know if your horse is in pain!
Then I would get some good, competent advice about your saddle and how it fits. Saddle fit isn't a constant -- it changes, because the horse's body changes.
A light saddle isn't usually the best choice for a heavy rider, because the issue isn't so much WEIGHT as it is DISTRIBUTION and PRESSURE -- it's a matter of PSI (pounds per square inch) and of where the pressure goes.
A well-fitted Western saddle may weigh three times as much as an equally well-fitted but much smaller English one, and you would think that "logically" the horse would be happier with the lighter saddle. Not so! Especially with a heavy rider on board, and for lengthy rides, the horse is likely to be much MORE comfortable in that heavier saddle, because the rider's weight is distributed over a much greater surface area and so there is less pressure on any one spot.
It's like putting something heavy in an upstairs room: if you put a heavy waterbed in the room, the weight is distributed over a much larger surface area, and the floor won't sag under the weight. But if you put something smaller on the same floor, say a refrigerator with the same weight as the waterbed, the floor will probably sag, because all of that weight is concentrated in a much smaller area, and the pressure is much greater. Or -- another example -- let's say that you have nice hardwood floors in your home, and two of your female friends come to lunch and walk through the house. They weigh the same amount -- say 150 pounds -- but one is wearing running shoes and one is wearing spike heels. The first one won't leave a mark on your floors -- the second one will make dents in the floor. The weight is the same, but the distribution of that weight -- the pressure on the floor -- is NOT the same.
So you can see how a rider's weight can be perceived very differently by the horse, depending on how the saddle distributes (or doesn't!) the rider's weight.
There are also some other, related factors. The heavier the rider and the longer the distance and the more varied the terrain, the more attention must be paid to saddle fit, pressure, and the horse's comfort. The effect of a saddle that doesn't quite fit will be much more visible if the rider is large. Here's an example from my own experience: I once was called to work with a horse whose owner said "She has an attitude problem -- she only likes my daughter but she won't let me ride her because she knows I'll make her work." I watched them both ride, and then took off the saddle and checked it, since something was clearly wrong. It had a broken tree! The daughter, a little girl of 50 pounds, could (just!) get away with riding in that saddle -- the horse showed occasional annoyance, and bucked whenever the child asked it to jump, but that was all. When the mother was in the saddle, her weight pushed the broken tree into the horse's back, and the horse's perfectly sensible reaction was to stop dead, flip its head, try to drop its back away from the saddle, and, finally, when whipped and kicked, BUCK. Was the horse lazy and trying to get away with something? Did it have an attitude problem? Not at all! It was saying, in the only way it could, "THAT HURTS!"
Even without a broken tree, though, a saddle can "sit" differently on the horse according to several things:
- where the saddle is placed (too far forward? it may be hurting the horse's shoulders)
- where the rider is placed (saddle too small for the rider? rider will be sitting on the cantle, putting a LOT of pressure into two small spots under the cantle, and the horse may be physically unable to move forward, or unable to do so for very long at a time
- what the horse's back is like, not just in terms of strength but in terms of shape: saddles do NOT fit the same way from year to year or even from month to month! As a horse's physical condition changes, so does the shape of its back.
- how balanced and coordinated the rider is -- there are very heavy riders who "ride light" because they are supple, balanced, and quiet in the saddle, with their weight distributed between their seat and thighs; there are other heavy riders, and quite a few lighter ones, who "ride heavy" because they are stiff, unbalanced, and 'noisy' in the saddle, with all their weight concentrated in one small area, and usually bouncing up and down on that small area.
Some Arabians, QHs, Morgans, TBs, etc can carry heavier weights than others, it's not the specific breed so much as it is the build of the particular horse. Since certain builds tend to be typical of certain breeds, people will say "Arabians are weight-carriers" and "Thoroughbreds aren't weight-carriers." Actually there are individuals in every breed that are exceptions -- there are some compact, solid TBs that carry weight very well indeed, and some narrower, rangier, more attenuated Morgans and Arabians that are simply not built to do it. You can talk to your vet about this -- let him evaluate your mare's conformation in terms of her ability to carry you comfortably. It will help your horse, and make you feel better, if you can get a competent professional opinion from someone who knows you and the horse, and can be objective about both.
A couple of other thngs for you to consider:
You should probably also ask the vet to evaluate your mare's feet and her present shoeing. Unbalanced feet make all movement more difficult; a good farrier can make an enormous difference to a horse's comfort and long-term soundness.
Take a close look at your mare's bridle and bit, preferably while the vet is there to check her teeth. Horses can become very reluctant to move forward, even if their saddles fit, if they know that they are going to experience mouth pain from a bit that doesn't fit or that is designed to give punishment instead of signals.
All of these things -- plus the horse's overall condition and fitness level, plus your own riding -- can be evaluated. Start with the vet, but don't stop there. If you can find a good instructor in your area, someone who is competent and kind and correct, and will work with you and your horse, sign up for a few lessons and get some help. Since you like your horse and want to keep her, this will give you the chance to give HER a chance before you give up on her.
I hope some of this helps you -- good luck, and please let me know what happens!
Jessica
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