NO Manners=NO Control

Question
I owned two quarter horses when I was in high school. I worked as a riding
instructor at a camp for three summers. I took lessons for over a year, the
last few months working with green (>15 days under saddle) horses. Most of
my experience has been with horses deemed "safe" to handle...stand tied,
lead reasonably well, reasonably calm. Well, I recently bought a 14 year old TB
mare. She raced a grand total of 8 races when she was 3 and 4, so her track
history is not lengthy. There is a huge void in knowledge as to her history
until the past year. She was being starved, so was taken in by the elderly
mother of the woman I bought her from. The daughter had her only 3 months
before I bought her and the time I rode her was the only riding that had
occurred in that time. Under saddle, she was responsive and calm...that is
why I bought her. My problem? On the ground, she spooks at every little
thing and is generally like a powder keg about to blow...you never know when
she will get crazy. Leading, she puts her head to full height, nostrils flared,
ready to bolt. When tied, she paws frantically and moves her butt side to side.
The time I mistakenly tied her to a gate, she went from relatively calm to
tearing the gate off the hinges in the blink of an eye. In her stall when I try to
brush her, she just circles frantically, often leaving her butt in my face...not
good if she decided to kick! Literally the ONLY times I have seen her calm (2)
occurred when I was talking to someone else and ignoring her. I hired a
trainer for the ground manner training and it has been only a week, but she is
still the same crazy mess. I get so frustrated, sometimes I walk away cursing
because she never seems to improve no matter what I do. How long until I
can expect to see results from the training? How much of this behavior do
you think is just her personality? All I want is a horse that will lead, stand tied,
and much later stand to be mounted and dismounted. I am having to work
two jobs to pay for training this horse and I just want her to behave!!

Answer
Sandy,

First off understand that most TB's on the racetrack are not strong on manners; some more so than others.  You probably didn't notice all the horses with lip-chains coming up to the paddock for the Preakness a couple of weeks ago.  As far as expecting to see significant results in a week I got news for you!  You simply cannot put a timetable on correcting a mess like this.  It didn't happen overnight and won't be fixed overnight either.  I hope you are using a trainer who does round pen work with his horses.  I don't care whose method - Lyons, Parelli, Pate, Shrake,  They are all the same principal just different methods.  You have to get the horse to work with you and focus on what you want.  This can take time although it really does go faster in the round pen.  You should be able to see progress in a month, but it all depends upon the trainer.  She's got a lot of issues to deal with, you have no idea how much she's been traumatized with all she's been through.  Have some patience and understanding for her.  It can take a lot to bring these horses around but it's so worth it!

Patience is the key to working with animals, coupled with persistance.  Horses are not smart; they rank on a scale with white mice, so cut her some slack!  Love 'em dearly but they aren't brightest bulbs on the tree by a long shot.  Give her and your trainer a chance.  Don't bug 'em.  I usually tell my clients when it's time for them to come visit and refuse to be pushed.  You want speedy, crappy work and something less than it can be find someone else.  I do it right!  Sometimes it takes a while to get the horse to stop what has become instinctive behavior.  She will come around.  She's had a tough time of it based on what you say.  You wouldn't expect to heal a similarly traumatized person quickly.  Horses do a whole lot better than lots of people would.  Their basic nature is to please and love you.  Especially mares.  They don't take well to rough handling and my guess is she's had more than her fair share.  Give her some time.

Lyn