10 yr old mare that I purchased in Aug.

Question
I grew up in 4-H and rode contest, I have not owned a horse for about 30 yrs.I purchased a horse this past August she is a 10 year old mare. Which I wanted to use her as my incentive to lose the extra weight I have gained over the years. She is trained using leg commands, which is new to me. The horse had not been worked for two years and was just a pasture horse. I went to see the horse several times, the owner rode her and showed me how she was trained. I refused to ride the horse till I had lost some weight I have just been doing ground work which she is great. I have been on her several times walking and some trotting. I want to lose more weight before I really work her. The problem is she will walk in the arena for about 15 minutes then she stops and refuses to move. After about 5 or 10 minutes I finally get her to move,by kicking hard,by turning head or backing her up. She does not do this to my niece that has been working her since I brought her home. What can I do to get her to move? I feel I am teaching her bad habits when she stops and I finally get her to move. I have had others at the barn try to ride her and she refuses to move at all for them. Since my niece is able to get her to do what ever she wants I am not sure what I am to do. I know this is a very stressful time for my new horse since she is in a new location, being rode and in a stall. I can tell she is nervous about all the new changes that has happened to her in the past couple months. She does listen to me when I do ground work, she knows me calling her name when she is in the pasture. So I just need help in knowing what I need to do so I can ride and enjoy my horse.

Thanks

Answer
Cathy,

Have you talked at all with the previous owner about the problems you are having?  First I would want to determine if this is an old trick of hers or something new.  

If it's new then you've got a real problem to solve.  You say she'll work for your niece.  Makes me wonder if it's an issue with rider weight.  She's not been ridden for 2+ years so isn't really in shape to carry much weight for very long periods of time.  But that's a sort of a wild guess.  Have you checked the fit of your saddle?  I'm wondering if it doesn't fit well and maybe that's why she's stopping after 15 min?  And you say she won't work for other people at all which may be because she's bonded to you through all the ground work. Hmmm....

Check  her saddle fit out.  Look at the print of the saddle on the pad after you ride.  Is the print an exact mirror image of the saddle?  Is it even, no areas that are darker/lighter/wetter/dryer than the surrounding areas?  Any dry spots either on the pad or her back?  Any of these scenarios indicate poor fit and show you points of pressure.  Saddles are like shoes.  They have to fit comfortably for you to want to wear them for very long.  

If everything checks out If I was you I'd get an animal communicator to talk to her and find out what's going on.  You can check on-line or I have seen them advertised in some horse magazines.  It's done over the phone and isn't terribly expensive but can be very enlightening.  It may wind up being something simple that's easily remedied.  Horses generally don't mind work and want to please.  A good friend of mine had a horse for her husband that they liked to ride trails and the horse hated it.  She found a home for the mare with a lady who rides dressage.  The mare is very happily competing at 2nd level dressage right now.  You never know unless you talk to them.  

I wish I could give you a quick, pat answer but I don't know if this is one of those kind of cases.  I've tried to give you some things to look at and options to figure out what's going on.  The mare is trying to tell you something, now you have to figure out what it is.  

Good luck and let me know what happens.

Lyn