[Anarithil]

Hi-

I have owned my appaloosa/quarter horse mare, Arwen Evenstar, for about two and a half years now. She is seventeen years old, but the only sign of it is her occasional arthritis, and otherwise, she has been mistaken by even rather horse-wise people as a seven-year-old...

Anyway, mostly app. and VERY spirited, she has been the lead horse (not just mare) of the last three places she has been boarded at (I can't account for any more than that, because I didn't know her before then). Naturally, because of this, she does not respect just anyone, and it took me a little while, and following my own heart, to tame her, but now she'll follow me around without a lead, ground tie, etc., and though the occasional burst of energy, would NEVER try to hurt me.

Here's the thing, though. She has been trained more than any other horse I have ridden, and knows how to do things I don't know how to tell her to do, so now that she has a high level of respect for me, she should know to stand still when I'm mounting, right? Well, she's not. I'm not sure if it's her arthritis acting up again, but I always check how she's moving at several different gaits before tacking her up, and then afterwards, and she's always fine (if she's not, I obviously don't ride) but then again, maybe it's not. I know when we first got her, the people who sold us to her gave us one of two saddles they owned, and it ended up being a terrible quality one that they never rode her with, that when we tried, injured her back so badly that she needed chiropractic work and a new saddle. (Because of her prominent whithers, I can only ride in a gaited horse saddle now.) But that's the only saddle I ride in with her, and I haven't been using any different blankets or anything, so I don't know what it is...

All I know is that whenever I try mounting up, she spins in tight circles (towards me), or, if I try to tighten up on the reins to prevent this at all, she just takes this as an opportunity to back up. As soon as I get a millisecond's pause, I hop on her back, and then I stop her/back her up/spin her, and then she's fine to ride afterwards, but I want to know if you think she's hurting, or if she's just misbehaving, and if so, what I should do to stop her spinning. I tried taking advantage of the fact that she wanted to spin once and lunged her in tight circles once, but she didn't seem to mind. So, what do you think???

Any input would be great... I look forward to hearing from you... Thanks in advance!!!

~Anarithil~

[cassidy]

i personally think she is playing up there is a horse at our yard just like that an he alwasy plays up when being mounted!!

she just need to teach her to have her manners when mounting try getting someone to hold her while you mount for a few times!!

[Anarithil]

Ok, yeah, that sounds good. I don't mind practicing mounting and dismounting her in private if she still acts up after she's been held several times, but it's a nuisance 'cause I usually ride with a friend and the horse she rides is really good to mount up and so I feel kinda bad that she has to wait a while for me to mount up, and then she always has to get up and down to get all the gates, 'cause if I did it, it'd take even longer...

Thanks so much for your advice!!!

~Anarithil~

[Anarithil]

And what are you talking about 'Four white socks, send them far away'?!?!?! My horse has four white socks (and a lucky black ermine spot) and I'd never send her far away!!!

Oh well, better than the other version of that I've heard...

('One white sock, buy 'em,
Two white socks, try 'em,
Three white socks, sell 'em to your foes,
Four white socks, feed 'em to the crows.')

That one's just cruel!

[cassidy]

lol i like that one too!! hehe

but 4 white socks still dont turn up good!!

oh an try not writing in green again it made my eyes go all funny

oh one more thing do you happen to no what it is for no white socks???

[AshsStorm]

I have the same problem with Stormy.. No matter what I try, he will not stand to be mounted.. I've even had someone at my old barn, who is a professional trainer tell me how to fix his problem and guess what.. it didn't work! I personally don't really care if he does this because it's not that hard to put your foot in the stirrup and swing up but a lot of people stare at us and say things like "Can't you train that horse to stand still?" or "I can't believe you let him run over you like that"

Maybe the method that the lady at my old barn showed me might work for you and your horse..

Everytime you want to mount, have someone to hold her and the whole time you are mounting and she's standing still, praise her.. Then after a couple of days, maybe a week of this, start doing it by yourself.. Every millisecond that she's standing still, praise her.. When she starts to move, firmly and meanly tell her "NO".. She should start to understand that when she stands still, she is known as the best horse in the whole wide world, and when she moves, she's seen as the underdog that knows nothing and is stupid.. Unless she's like my horse, this method should work..

I really hope this helped! Good luck!

[Anarithil]

Thank you, AshsStorm!
I'll do that too!!!

~Anarithil~

[cassidy]

isnt that basically what i said!!

hehe great minds think alike

[Anarithil]

Sorry I hurt your eyes/made them mess up. I didn't mean to!!!!! I won't use that green again... I've just been experimenting with these font colors since I arrived, and since I found out that's a baddish one, I won't use that from now on...

And no, I don't know what no white socks is...

I read that thing in a Marguerite Henry book about that one pacer whose name I forgot... Or actually, it was towards the end in the history part about one of his offspring, or one of his offspring's offspring... Anyways, it was years ago, so I don't really remember it much, except that people didn't think that the horse would do well, 'cause it had FOUR WHITE SOCKS, but it proved them all wrong, and it won all these races, so HA! LOL.

I could try looking up the saying, though, and see if they talk about 'no white socks', though... Hmm...

~Anarithil~

[Anarithil]

Yeah, but I'm thanking anyone who replies here...

I'm bored...

And trying hard to be polite...

Even if I don't know what to say besides 'thanks and I'll try that', which I will.

Undoubtedly twice, if not more times, which will make up for each time I said I'd try what someone said I'd do... See??? No lies... LOL.

~Anarithil~