[Anxious1]

To go with this thread:

Need Advice Riding Hubby's Horse...

I really want to ride my mare but I am not sure of when is the appropriate time and she is a worry wart Mom to boot.

Any feedback is much appreciated!

[Lou3]

if the mare is physically recovered from the foaling and is not distressed by it then its fine to start riding her. It will vary with the mare, some will be happy to have you hop on and ride with the foal tagging along behind or even in an adjacent pen. Others are not so happy and are best left til they settle down.

[Anxious1]

Given that, I am thinking I should probably longe her and see where her head is before getting on board?

[I LuvMyHorses]

It probably would depend on the mare. ^ definatly try to lunge her. I just started to ride my mare in the saddle and its been two months since Skipa was born. When i started to ride her after her last foal she bucked a lot. But she is okay this time.

[Haas Horse Farm]

Many mares have no problem being ridden after foaling... To get a mare and filly ready for a sale I had to start riding a mare several weeks after foaling. That filly was the best looking weanling at the sale and the high seller... The thing is that she was super fit from all those road miles she had been on with her dam. As long as the offspring can follow and will follow there are no problems... as my filly got older we had to halter her and dally her off to the saddle horn with a longish lead so that she did not wander off and get into trouble.

[Anxious1]

I guess my concern is Mom's behavior as she is relatively new to me and I got her in the Winter (Jan 08) and we have brutal Winter's here so didn't ride much and she was ridden a total of about 4 times before realizing that she was pregnant in the Spring.

I have no idea what she is going to be like and she is cinchy to start with and does bite when being cinched so she has to be tied short and reprimanded. This might throw her over the edge just 3 weeks post delivery and a UI to boot (cleared up entirely).

Yikes, the more I think about this the more I am thinking I better wait and have my trainer eval her in September.

[Haas Horse Farm]

As for the cinchy part... you may get better results if you do not tie her at all but instead loop the lead rope around something and that way she can move but it will not give her anything to pull back on. It will allow you to hold her head in place to where she cannot kick you. The thing is you need to take the saddling in more steps per se. Often part of the response is a learned thing on the horses part. Many people expect the horse to pull back so they do. Instead try placing the saddle and fussing with it several times from both sides then take the cinch up to where it is just touching... then walk a circle or two. Hold the mare in place and tighten from the ground. If you have the lead rope on a western saddle going from the horse away from you up around the saddle horn and are holding it where there is just pressure there the horse should not be able to reach you. I bet you can work it out. If you do not want to ride or do not feel comfortable riding... then don't but you can do lots of ground work and saddling work.

[Circle C]

I started riding mine when the foal was 4 weeks old.

[bnttyra]

I put Belle back into work when Rocky was about 2 months old. She loved being able to get away from him. We tried to ride with Rocky right there but he kept getting in her way and making her mad!

[Anxious1]

As for the cinchy part... you may get better results if you do not tie her at all but instead loop the lead rope around something and that way she can move but it will not give her anything to pull back on. It will allow you to hold her head in place to where she cannot kick you. The thing is you need to take the saddling in more steps per se. Often part of the response is a learned thing on the horses part. Many people expect the horse to pull back so they do. Instead try placing the saddle and fussing with it several times from both sides then take the cinch up to where it is just touching... then walk a circle or two. Hold the mare in place and tighten from the ground. If you have the lead rope on a western saddle going from the horse away from you up around the saddle horn and are holding it where there is just pressure there the horse should not be able to reach you. I bet you can work it out. If you do not want to ride or do not feel comfortable riding... then don't but you can do lots of ground work and saddling work.

Thank you and can you clarify the looping for me? She does not kick but will bite - she got my 6 year old right in the nipple when we first saddled her. The previous owner "forgot" to tell us that she was cinchy and my Daughter paid the price.

Tess does not pull back or fuss at all but just reaches around to bite period. This is why I tie her short and I have also thought about using a muzzle until we can work through this. I have used plenty of steps the couple of times I did ride her but we haven't done anything in awhile with baby etc.