A few questions

Question
First of all, I have two horses, Molly and Ginger. Ginger is a 14 y/o AQH, and Molly
is a 21 y/o Grade horse. Molly is sweet, and has never been dominaent over anything
but a mule. Ginger on the other hand, is somewhat crazy and high-strung. When we
first got her, she would buck and toss her head and try to get you off of her back.
She does that to ever new person who rides her. Me and by mom are the only ones
that can ride her without her doing that. Do you hae any suggestions to how we can
train her to be good about a begginer riding her?

Also, Molly (the 21 y/o) went lame one day, and we asked the farrier what was wrong,
and he said her foot was just soft from the moistness, and sugested iodine  (?).
We bought some iodine, and when we went to put it on, the front right foot, (the
one she was limping on) was hard and nice, but she could hardly walk becuase of
the back one. A few days ago, ginger had kicked her in that leg. do you think she
was just sore from that? The next day, she could canter and run, and all of her
feet were hard, and not soft...

Also, Ginger, the high-strung one, is always bucking when you put the ssaddle on.
if I tie her up to a tree, and put the saddle on, she bucks, and puts all of her
weight on the tree, and looks like she is about to break her neck. I have been starting
to give her a few pellets of feed (country acres) every time i use one brush, then
pt the blanket on, then the saddle, tighten the grith, and so on. Is that good to
do? She is also starting to go bald around her face... Is that just becuase it is
summer (we live in florida, and i has been getting about 100F some days. I usually
hose them off about 1-2 times a day, when they are at our house. When we board them
at a place with more grass, I usully only can once a day, and that is in the evining...
Also, Molly is really skinny, becuase she is old. We have been feeding her senore
feed (not sure wich kind) and pure pride, 12% (i think...) She isnt gainig much
weight though, and We can never find a saddle that fits.
Almost done...When we keep the horses at our house, we dont have much grass, so
we transport them down next to our lake where there is grass. there are a few gators
there, and I was wondering if the horse would be curiose, and go look at it, or
if it would trust it's instinct and run away, or just not even bother with it...

And last, but not least... how much hay should you give your horse? We have been
giving our's 2 flakes a day, when we feed them, morning and evening... is that
enough? We have also occasionally been giving them round bales... there has been
a shortage of hay latly though, so we cant get it very often...

Thanks for reading my incredibly long questions!
Kia


Answer
Hi Kia!

I can give you a few ideas about feeding but, if you have any specific concerns about your older horse you really should have the vet out to run some tests.  Older horses can have a variety of health problems that can affect their weight.  Also, have the vet look at her teeth, see if she needs a floating done.

Yes, you should be feeding Molly a Senior feed (14% at least) and free choice hay, that is as much as she wants.  As for the problem child Ginger, keep her on a 10% sweet feed with little to no corn in it.  She should not need allot of grain...too much will just make her fat and sassy.  It sounds like your hay is not very rich in protein so she can have free choice too.

As for teaching Ginger to be a beginner's horse, well, that is much harder than I can explain on the Internet.  Some horse's just do not have the training, personality or years of experience to do such a difficult job that requires soooo much patience.  No point in trying to stick a square pen in a round hole.  

I am concerned about the tying up of Ginger....it seems that she needs quite a bit more ground training to get her to accept tying and tacking up.

The absolutely best thing you could do is to ask your vet, farrier or tack shop to recommend a local trainer who has experience in QH's to come out and evaluate your situation.  Give you some ideas on ground training and learning to longe Ginger properly to gain some control over her attitude.  She seems to be doing "just" what needs to be done to ride her and not much more....that makes her unpredictable.  Not good.  You want solid training that you and she can rely on.


Lastly, I cannot say about the alligators.  Contact the local wildlife officer and discuss this issue with them.  I am sure they would know about the interaction of gators with other animals in their territory.

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

Solange