Rant!!!! If you're gonna give your horse away.......

[mschickychick]

She is a beautiful horse. Personally, I would try to get some of her behavior problems into check before she gets too fat and sassy. Why is she so nervous? I'm brainstorming here. Did the people that had her let her get away with stuff and now she wants to do what she wants to. Is she buddy or barn sour. Does she have a properly fitting saddle so that she is comfortable. Or any combination of the above.

From the picture she appears to have high withers. If the people that had her had a improperly fitting saddle that put pressure on her withers or bruised her withers she could be hurting or very uncomfortable. Maybe she's trying to tell you that. I don't know, but something I would look into. Also were they mounting her correctly or were they pulling downwards on the saddle to pull themselves up too much so that it was pulling those back muscles.

This is where I would start. I bet with your time and patience that she is going to learn to trust and respect you and turn out to be a wonderful mount.

All the other comments I saw are valid but this is a thought I was not seeing that might help.

Best of luck.

 

[scbatz33]

Quote:
Sorry guys, I went to bed and missed all the conversation......

First of all, we are now going barefoot. She was in shoes before because my DH was riding her so we were struggleing with the feet. We had the farrier out yesterday and he had consulted with another farrier and we all agree she should go barefoot unless she gets lame. She is very very tender footed. She was on a poor quality biotin supplement - which we changed to a higher quality one. After 4 months, she has shown little improvement on it so we are switching over to a more comprehensive supplement that was recommended to me by some friends.

CW, she is a thoroughbred. I have all her registration and paperwork. Matched the tattoos and all. She was raced for the first 5 years of her life. it's not that she wasn't trained - or has no training. It's that we were told she was a "quiet horse". She is NOT.

She is high strung and neurotic! I know, I know, typical TB....Worked with them for years, but when you are told - repeatedly - that she is one thing, it's been irritating to discover she is not.

oh, and she is 9 almost 10

 

[scbatz33]

Quote:
Thatnks for the offer - if putting her on a trailer was easy I'd do just that, but it's not. She will have to be drugged. She really flips out when you take her from the other horses!

We are giving her some time off. She has improved since we got her and with the feet issue, we are letting her take it easy from any working. We don't have a round pen, but the area just behind the backyard was designed for riding. it's got a sand base event thought he weeds have taken over a bit!

And your last point is exactly my point. The fact that the horse was free is irrelivant. If you are selling or giving a problem animal away, you should have the decency to let the buyer know what the issues are. People are so inconsiderate.

I got her just up the road from me.

 

[scbatz33]

Oh and a couple more thoughts....Love the Parelli guy. He's AMAZING!

As for beet pulp. I grew up in KY and worked horse there and in FL. Never heard of anyone using beet pulp til we moved up here. Did a bunch of research and decided to try it. Not impressed. She was on it - 2 lbs a day for the last 4 months. Really, I don't get all the hype. It isn't doing anything more than a ok quality hay would do. Since we buy a good quality orchard grass/alfalfa mix, it's not anything I'm keeping her on.

As a side note, we had all 4 horses on it. The draft came off it the night he choked. And YES, WE SOAKED IT FIRST. The morgans are on it but we are reducing it to just a 1/2 pound 2xs a day. I'd take them off it entirely and just feed oats to them(super easy keepers) but the owner insists on it. (of course if she was feeding them properly to begin with, they never would have lost so much weight last winter, but I digress)....

Also, I think after she has time to use her "new" teeth, we will see a weight gain. Honestly folks, her teeth were so bad. I should have started there first instead of all the feed and supplements! Oh well, hindsight.....

Vet also suggested a panacur "power pack". which, if I don't see improvement in the next couple weeks, we will do. I do have her on a worming program now, but who knows. Again, working throught the process of elimination. DH and I don't want to flood her system with too many things all at once. The teeth was trama enough for one day!

And just if anyone is wondering, she is on 3 lbs 14% textured feed from McCauley's Mill 2x a day, the aforementioned and soon to be discontinued beet pulp 1 lb 2x, 1 lb crimped oats 2x, horseshoers secret, a weight supplement from The Source, silicone, and 4 oz of rice bran oil 2x a day. Plus all the grass and hay she will eat.

We changed her from the cheap stuff she was being fed. Although we kept her on the same hay - the previous owner actually bought really nice hay but skimped on the other stuff. Our farrier noticed a change in her coat and her weight from the first time out in may to the next time out in June. So I know it made a difference - sometimes it's hard to see when you are looking every day!

 

[Whispering Winds]

I am so glad you have her now. Poor girl, I don't know much about horses, but just being in a better enviroment might make her behave better and I hope you can figure out the hoof issues. Just being able to eat right again will make her a happier girl!! Good luck!!

 

[Chicks_N_Horses]

I don't have much time right now to go through this whole thread and offer advice right now - I will try later - but I will say this real quick:

You can't complain if you don't check a horse out before you bring it home!!

Never buy one without looking it over if you don't have the experience to deal with 'whatever' comes up with the horse. That is just a rule or your asking for it and you can't blame anyone but yourself! Especially with a free horse. No one really gives away a perfectly broken in, sound, healthy, valued horse. The rest of them that need a little work are a dime a dozen

Also, horses may act one way with someone and turn around and totally treat you with disrespect until you gain respect of the horse and become the leadmare in their eyes.

I will try to catch up with this later -

 

[patandchickens]

While it is certainly possible her previous owners intentionally lied, it is also quite possible they were, as far as they knew, telling the straight-up truth. For a variety of reasons. First, everybody has their own personal standards for what constitutes "sound" and "quiet". Second, if they never *tried* to trailer her or ride her away from other horses then they would not *know* of any reason to think there was a problem, or it is possible, no offense, that they just did not HAVE a problem with her with those things (horses go differently for different people - it is not just a matter of how educated a horseman you are, personal style also matters a lot, and it is pretty common to see a situation where person A has trouble with a horse where person B did not.

And third and most of all, again no offense meant, but the horse had the feet and weight she had, when you bought her. And most likely had at least *some* of the behaviors (did you *try* trailering her? although I realize that there are not always other horses to try riding a prospect *with*). THAT was the time to decide you didn't like her temperament or feet, both of which are notoriously difficult to make large permanent swift changes in.

So I'm sorry, I'm with the "caveat emptor" crew here -- free horses have to be vetted and tried-out at LEAST as thoroughly as horses you're paying lots of money for, not less, because they are statistically speaking more likely to have serious problems. Think of it as an expensive life lesson, but do please take it as a lesson, it's a valuable one to remember in the future.

That said, it doesn't really matter of course, since you have the horse now

So, thinking about what to do NOW:

Quote:
Can I make two suggestions here. First, if you consider thoroughbreds typically "high strung and neurotic" it is perhaps best not to own one, at least not with one with whom you do not get along well with from the start. That mindset, and TB minds, tend to go poorly together and produce depressing or problematic long-term results.

Second, I am still not seeing how the things you mention are not simply TRAINING ISSUES. (Beyond the 'personality not meshing with yours' part, that is). Horses at the track do not get schooled in most of the sorts of things a "regular" riding horse needs to know, and I'm not just talking about riding stuff like 'inside leg' or 'half-halt', I'm talking also about lots of everyday stuff like being loaded in a trailer "the non racehorse way" (which often involves two strong men linking arms behind the horse's butt and *putting* the horse in, bodily; plus which a lot of racehorses have no experience of 2-horse type trailers). And even if she had professional training after coming off the track, it's never a permanent thing.

You have to TRAIN a horse to load -- and in most cases, I would bet anything it's true in this case, you have to back up further and install/reinstall the basic skills needed to even *start* teaching the horse to load properly. Likewise you have to TRAIN many horses to be comfortable riding away from a group of other horses. And probably pretty much anything else you are having problems with.

Finally, an observation about this nervous high-strung temperament you feel she has -- if you are putting 10 lbs of grain products into her each day, NO KIDDING a Thoroughbred's brain is falling out

If it were my horse, or if you were my student, I would say:

1) 'nuff already with all the hard feed! She is BY NO MEANS thin or starving -- she is not halter-horse fat, but that's not healthy anyhow, and there is plenty of leeway for "risking" the possibility of her losing a few pounds in transitioning to a different diet. Give her lots of free-choice *good* hay, preferably an alfalfa mix; possibly additional beet pulp if she will eat enough to be worthwhile; see what management changes you can do to happy her up; and if she still seems to need more calories, try a small amount of NON sweet feed (pellets, or oats or corn or a mix) as a base to pour oil on as much as she will allow or add rice bran to. And then accept her as she is and work with that, rather than trying to sculpt her body into your ideal of a horse shape by means of diet. If you can get her happy, relaxed, understanding, and in good productive work, a lot of the body shape issues you're seeing will, I promise, *gradually* fade away.

2) 'nuff already with the 'she is not quiet' thing. They're training issues. Go back to square one like she didn't know anything -- and I can pretty much guarantee that she doesn't know anything like as much as you're assuming she should, and possibly your body language is not having the desired effect either and needs tuning. These problems are *fixable* (if you want), not an immutable result of a defective brain.

and 3) if you don't like the horse it is probably better to send her on her way. There is always someone else out there looking for a free horse, and some of them might actually LIKE and get along with her. Or, if you cut out most or all the grain and treat the problems as a training project ONLY, you may actually find out that you like her and she isn't so bad after all

Good luck, best wishes to you both,

Pat

 

[Chicks_N_Horses]

K, I am back and read this all....

Patandchickens said it PERFECTLY! I think we think/do alike when it comes to horses. She gave great advice.

I would definatly stop putting so much grain into that horse. She is in no way starving or neglected looking to me by the pic. I would cut back on the grain and let her have more grass/hay for the bulk of her diet.

She definatly needs to start back at the beginning on her ground work. Start over with her like she has never had any ground work at all. She needs to be able to understand you and what you want from her. Doesn't mean they totally just flat out lied to you about her disposition and her abilities, because like I said before, horses will be just peachy with one owner and go on to the next owner to deal them fits. That is why you need to start from scratch with her on training.

I would suggest having her barefoot trimmed. I try to keep all my horses barefoot for anything. The only horse I have that isn't barefoot just wears sliding plates for reining. Barefoot is the best way to go.

She is very pretty. I wish you luck with her!!

 

[chickypoo]

Always look a gift horse in the, well, everything. At least she is with someone who will work with her now. A great resource for ground training is Richard Maxwell. He has several books that are excellent! About the barefoot issues, I ride my boy barefoot everywhere and we live in the Rocky Mountains. Walking over small rocks is a great way to build up feet. I'm sure your farrier is a good farrier but unless he is a trimmer then the trim he is doing is the same trim you would do before putting a shoe on. This is not a good trim for just being barefoot. This is a great resource for barefoot trimmers http://www.thehorseshoof.com/trimmers Pete Ramey is another great trimmer, his website is also very informative http://www.hoofrehab.com/

I also agree with others about her weight. She looks perfectly fine to me. I think the vast majority of horses don't need grain and she is one of the majority. All she looks like she needs is grass hay. Since you had her teeth done she should be able to get all that she needs out of the hay, I wouldn't bother with grain.

 

[Skyesrocket]

I agree with the posters saying her weight isn't that bad. Now that her teeth are done she should pick up what she is lacking.
It's too bad the people misrepresented the horse. People do that with horses for sale too. They just want them gone and don't care that misrepresenting the horse just creates more problems for the horse. That's how horses end up being passed from owner to owner until they end up at slaughter because they are crazy.
Good for you for sticking with her and not passing her along to the next unwary person. Your best revenge would be to get her straightened out and ride her past the po's house.