tacking problems

Question
I have just purchased a 5 yr. appy mare. she was used for lessons/camp. she is use to being with alot of other horses. Now I own her and she is here alone.  she has been here for 5 days. When we go to tack her she pins her ears and trys to rear and cowkick. she does this starting with the saddle pad, i calm her then put on the saddle ;same thing , calm her down again then she does it when trying to cinch the girth. I really dont get what might be going on with her . she was a perfect angel when we went to look at her and she was actually fine the day we put the saddle on. but ever since her behavior has gotten worse.

Answer
Hi Wendy!

You have several things going against you in your current situation.  

First, horses are inherently herd animals.  They rarely live alone happily.  Your very young mare may be acting out because she is alone and you are now her "herd". After being in a large group of horses and with people who corrected her bad behavior, well...now she has little or no boundaries.  When a horse moves to a new situation, it immediately has to decide if it is submissive or dominant in the new herd.  Also, acting out through either nervousness or anger is common until they fall into their new routine and feel 100% comfortable.

Second, she is a very young horse....her training was most likely strictly kept up and she was kept under a tight rein, so to speak.  You may be unintentionally acting "too nice"
especially if you are a new horse owner and unsure how to correct her disrespectful behavior while you are tacking her up.

Lastly, a real working relationship of trust and respect between a human and horse can take 12-18 months to develop.  In five days, you have learned little about each other and there is no true understanding.

For right now, I recommend you stop attempting to ride her as no real understanding is going to come from it and if you are unsure how to direct her from the ground, how can you possibly correctly and safely direct her from the saddle?

What to do?  Get some hands on help.  I am going to assume this is your first horse and while your intentions are the best, your actions are incorrect for the situation.  You are unwittingly placing yourself below her in you little herd and she is taking advantage of the situation.  As any normal horse would.  You need to speak to her in HER language.

Talk to your vet, farrier or tack shop and ask them to recommend a local QH trainer who has some experience with Apps and new owners too.  Have him/her out to your place to evaluate your situation and to discuss your goals with your new horse.  The trainer should be able to give you some basic ground rules for how to "dominate" this situation and get the mare to understand you are in charge.  Now, by dominate...I do not mean beating her with a 2x4....I mean dominating her mind and proving yourself Boss Mare in all situations.  The trainer should also be able to give you some basic exercises to work on with your mare and to also help establish correct communication.

I also like the Monty Roberts "Join-Up" method.  You can Google this to get more information.  These roundpen workouts are excellent for a new owner and young horse to learn how to communicate with each other and build a vocabulary that both understand.

Get some hands-on help and a new direction for you to communicate with your horse.  Spending the time and money now to build a real foundation with your horse will give you 20 more years of a happy, working relationship  :-)

Good luck and remember to always wear an ASTM/SEI approved helmet!

Solange