The Horse Forum banner
Status
Not open for further replies.

my mare completely refuses to turn first barrel

5K views 8 replies 7 participants last post by  phantomhorse13 
#1 ·
About two weeks ago I got her adjusted. She was out in both shoulders both hips and all four ankles.. I gave her two days off and went to the local arena she did absolutely fabulous. I took her back the next day because I was going out of town for work she wouldn't turn first at a lope.She will turn at a trot but not at a lope. She gives me her nose and her body keeps moving the other way.. any ideas as to what could cause this or how to fix it?
 
#2 ·
First rule out any pain. I know you said you got her adjusted and stuff but she could just as easily gotten unadjusted in a certain spot that keeps her from loping to the right - or left? After having her looked at and she still does this, go off the pattern for a little bit.

Start loping in circles both directions. Once she's accomplished this, put a barrel in the middle of your circles and circle around it, not actually trying to circle it like you would when racing. When she's totally fine with that, try racing just the first barrel, setting it up like you would on the pattern.
 
#4 ·
IMO, massage and chiropractic work should be used together. Without a massage, all the muscles that were uncomfortable and tight are still going to be that way after the adjustment. That can cause the horse to get out of adjustment very quickly. the massage will help those muscles relax again so she can keep that adjustment. I'd also look at saddle fit and rising style, as that is a main cause of a horse getting out in the first place.
 
#9 ·
I have a treeless saddle... so I don't think it's my saddle.
Treeless saddles are not the end-all to saddle fit issues. Not having a tree can actually be an issue in and of itself, as it does not distribute the force as evenly.

While I know next to nothing about barrels, I can tell you than in endurance, the bars where the stirrups attach often cause horses back problems as they cause pressure points. While you aren't in the saddle for hours like we are, you are (I would think anyway), putting a lot of pressure on your stirrups and therefore the bars as you turn a barrel, esp at speed.

Back soreness can present in lots of ways that don't immediately scream "saddle problem." One of our geldings, who my DH used to ride exclusively in a treeless saddle, had what we thought were shoulder and/or front leg issues.. but they vanished when we went to a (properly fitting) treed saddle. Saddle fitter/body worker and our chiro/massage/vet people both suspected the pressure from the stirrup bars was the root of the problem, even using a good pad with inserts.. At no point did we have funky sweat patterns or white hairs with the treeless saddle.

Just some food for thought. Hopefully you are able to find the root of the problem and get your horse more comfortable asap!
 
#6 ·
When were her teeth done last?

I know we have a member who bought a gelding who fought her every time she tried to get him to canter to the right. She finally had the vet out to look at his teeth and they were horrible on that side. Got his teeth done and now he'll canter both ways with zero issue.
Posted via Mobile Device
 
  • Like
Reactions: BreakableRider
#8 ·
You need to sort out if it is a horse problem or a barrel problem.

You need to trot and lope circles out in an open field (which you should be doing anyway). If this does not bother her, she is just spoiled and/or sour in the arena or on just the barrel pattern.

If she refuses to lope circles to the right, you need to go back to the Chiropractor, use message and stretching exercises and go back to riding outside of an arena at a long trot.

What you do not want to do is try to force a horse that is in pain to run the barrels. He will associate the pattern and an arena with being hurt. A lot of spoiled performance horses got spoiled because someone tried to force them through patterns or over jumps or some other 'job' when they were hurting. Then, they made all of the wrong associations.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
You have insufficient privileges to reply here.
Top