I let this girl come test ride dasher to see if she wanted to lease him. I watched the first day, and I said you can ride him another day this week and decide. Well went to ride him the day after she did. He was on edge, was nervous ... Loping with his head straight in the air and just being NOT like himself at all. and then i asked him to hoe - all i have to do is sit and a light pull on the reins. He stopped ... but flipped his head out like his face hurt! What did this girl do to my animal?!
Sounds like she is a very inexperienced rider. Horses don't like to be handled roughly, and someone who does not know how to give subtle, yet firm, cues will really freak out a horse who is used to having a good rider. If she used a bit when riding him, she may have jarred it in his mouth, causing it to be very sensitive the next day, thus the head throwing.
Also, if Dasher has been used to only having you ride him for a long time, the sudden change of riders could be making him nervous. Once animals get into a set routine and you suddenly switch it up on them, they wig out.
I would watch her ride next time, maybe a little secretly. Some people ride differently in front of an audience. It sounds like she was too rough on him or the horse is just not used to having more than one rider. Sometimes horse and rider just don't get along, so I wouldn't rule that out either.
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com If it's not working with the girl, you can just politely tell her you don't think a lease will work especially if no contract is made.
Wow! Personally I would watch really close the next time she rides him. As if my horse was that tweaked out after she rode him I would be a little iffy. As it sounds like she was using way to much hand when she was stopping him or is really really heavy handed. And I would give it one more try and see if he reacts the same way again. If he did I would say no and move on.
wow i have seen bad riders but to hurt your horse that bad if i were you i would call the girl and either tell her to stop riding or offer to give her lessons so she doesnt hurt any more horses! i hope your horse gets well soon!!!
She most likely wailed around on his head so his mouth is probably sore. See if you can stick a finger in his mouth where the bit goes and press on his gums to see if he's sore. I would probably wait a day to get back on him and let his mouth have a rest, or ride him in just a halter or hackamore and then only walk on the trail.
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com I hate when people come test ride our horses and they do crap like that. I'm like "I don't want to sell him to you" but we luckily don't have that happen too often.
How's Dasher bred? I know there's a Dash For Cash in there somewhere lol.
Guess it's me, but that's why I couldn't bring myself to put my mare up for lease when I started focusing on my colt before I found out about her tooth. Couldn't work 2 horses and work on my new house at the sime time while working full time! I didn't want to retrain what I've already had to retrain before and the girl that ruined her I watched every ride! Took me 3 months to get her back to the consistency of before. She still requires a larger pocket than used to for a really super nice turn.
Instead, I figure a break wasn't going to kill her and she'd enjoy the time off. Man she has, she's put on like 100lbs and I'm feeding her 1/4 of what I normally feed. I didn't pull her shoes, but I should've. Right now she's getting lightly trail rode once a blue moon. I keep saying I'm going to leg her back up, but nope. I don't. I'm too busy on my colt and too busy working with my friend on getting her horse barrel trained. When I have a hauling buddy again then I'll pick up running again. Right now, she's enjoying time off and she's been happier than she's been lately with this cooler weather . I'm not looking forward to the next time I hop on her. LOL.
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com
Hopefully you get him fixed and maybe just give him some time off instead? It isn't going to hurt him to be off for a little while unless he's one of those that totally forgets everything you teach him if you don't ride him. Otherwise, enjoy the break from shoeing and lots of feed. Lol.
I do know everyone on BHW is pretty much anti-leasing. Far too many horror stories. It's another reason I decided against it except for the possible on-site lease type deal, but even then, I couldn't be there to watch all the time ..... That's a lot of blood sweat and tears I've put in that daggum mare.
