Bad Girl

Question
I have a 7 year old mare and she is short and round. She eats and eats and eats. Most the time I ride bareback and at first she did well. Then she she got where when I put the bit in her mouth, she grinds it on her teeth and when I'm on her she bites at me and trys to pick at the grass. I don't know what to try because she will just stand there and not move no matter what I do. Also, she had an accident a couple years ago. I don't really know when but she almost cut off her leg or injured it. I don't really know and I notice that when I get her to trott, she will trip or stumble. I don't know what to do. It makes me kinda scared to ride her. I just got her around November. What do I do?

Answer
Beth,

First off realize that horses aren't deliberately bad.  Something is bothering this mare, possibly several things, and she's uncomfortable/hurting or something.  

She's 7 and extremely round so she's overweight.  I have a couple of questions.  Have you had her teeth properly taken care of by an equine dentist?  Secondly, you need to have her thoroughly checked out by a veterinarian.  Especially the leg that was injured.  Another possiblity is that she is having physical problems in the leg due to the injury which I why I say have a vet check her out.  Whenever a horse's attitude changes without a reason you can point to then you have to take a hard look at the horse and figure out what's going on.  

Let me know the status of her teeth, that's a really important issue.  She could have had some wolf teeth come in and the bit is bothering them.  If her back is "out", or a hip or shoulder, then that could also lend to her resistance to moving very much.  

This is a complex problem you have and it's up to you to do the appropriate detective work and figure out what's going on.  Sorry, there is no easy answer to this for you.  Once you figure out the problem and fix it then the undesireable behavior will stop.

Lyn