behavioral difficulties

Question
I have a 14 year old appendix mare who I purchased from an auction 2 years ago.  She has made huge improvments over the 2 years as have I but we are still haveing some specific behavioral problems.  She has a head thrrowing problem ( she is wearing a tiedown) and she hopps up in the front while we are riding.  An example is we went for a ride the other day and she did very good we rode down the pavement and past cars and then into the range land we ride on.  We were great untill we met up with friends, then she was throughting her head up and  hopping ( almost a crowhopp) she did this the whole ride.  I was in control of where we went and how fast but she continued to do this.  We then split up from our friends and she stopped it all and was good?  If you have any suggestions please let me know we have no more ideas.  thank you

Answer
Sheena,

You have a problem here that can be difficult to work with.  The horse was fine until you met up with other people.  Now you are having a dominance problem.  You didn't say where you were riding in the group.  I suspect you wanted to ride back, side-by-side and this horse would have none of that.  I have similar problems with my endurance mare, a former racehorse.  No one rides next to me, even at a walk.  She walks way too fast for anyone else and as soon as the other horse(s) start jogging it's all over.  Suggest you work with her in very small groups, no more than 2 other horses.  Figure out where she wants to be and how close she will tolerate the other horses to her.  You don't know what her previous history is so you have to figure out what her exact issues are.  I have to ride about 500 ft. in front of everyone else on my mare for her to settle down and not rip my arms out of the sockets.  She has gotten better over the years but it's taken a long time.  You, too, are riding a mare and they have definate opinions about things.  

Once you determine what she will allow when riding with other horses then you can work to modify that.  If she wants to be in front you may have to ride there, at least to start.  Be patient, she's got a lot of issues to work through.  Once you figure out what makes her happy in a small group you can expand the number of horses you ride with if the other riders are willing to work with you too.  If not then you just can't ride her with them.  Sometimes you have to do what's best for you and your horse and that may not always be what you want to do.

Good luck.  Let me know what you figure out.