Dakota’s training thread

You can see in the pictures posted that something is very wrong, you can see it in how she looks and body language, the first time you posted these pictures I wanted to say something but thought I better keep my mouth shut, but since you posted these pictures again I thought OK I'm going to say something now, lol..
Do you know anything of her background at all? If shes trying to hurt you then I think its time you find out more about her before she really hurts you, I would have someone that knows horses that will give you some pointers and not let her get away with the things that shes doing, but with her age shes pretty set in her ways I think unless shes just getting her way all the time.. Be careful and since you said she wants to bite your face off, well I think she will get a few hits in somewhere when she catches you off guard. I have seem horses like this charge at the handler and the handler getting hurt.

TwoHorse said:

and before ppl ask, she is healthy in every way and nothing is hurting her.

Click to expand...

And how do you know that?

Have you gotten her feet taken care of yet?

Also, from your other pictures, it really doesn't look like your saddle fits the best and could be causing her some discomfort.

If she is an aged horse (most likely), there are always bound to be some aches and pains. So if you haven't had the Dakota examine by a thorough lameness vet, then you really can't say with certainly "she is healthy and nothing is hurting her" because you really don't know that. And honestly, I feel like she has a sour look on her face for most pictures. (Instead of a bright and happy ears-forward facial expression)

TwoHorse said:

I am sorely disappointed in the past couple sessions with Dakota

I’ve decided to go back to square one and build a better relationship with her and working on ground work before riding her again.

Click to expand...

Are you taking lessons?
Do you have access to a trainer?

It's fine to want to learn things on your own, but you will learn them faster and better under the guidance of an experienced horseman/horsewoman.

Yes, it is likely in Dakota's best interest to re-learn some basic fundamentals.

Y’all, I’m just gonna rant here:
Today was, overall, um…for lack of better terms, awful. The past few sessions with Dakota have been just so bad it’s starting to really hurt me emotionally. I’ve been nothing but gentle, slow moving, kind, the only time I ever had to get “aggressive” if you could even call it that was when SHE tried to kick ME, for NO REASON (no, I was not in her blind spot, no I was not touching her, I was only connected to her by her halter and lead) she suddenly spun on me and tried to kick me out of nowhere so I had to jump back and use the end of the lead rope to smack her butt before she could land a kick. That particular situation happened a little while ago. Today all I did was approach her empty handed, just wanting to pet her and spend some time with her, she pinned her ears, tried to BITE me, then proceeded to spin around an try to KICK me. I did NOTHING to her. So instead, I turned around, got a halter and lead and proceeded to get Tucker tied so I could brush him down and spend some time with a horse that actually LIKES me. Dakota approached me from behind so I turned watched her out of the corner of my eye. She put her nose by my shoulder so I turned slightly said “hey buddy” very softly, and pet her gently down her head and neck. She tolerated this for about a minute (all the while I’m petting her in the same spots so I know I didn’t hit a sensitive area or anything like that) next thing I know she pins her ears and tries to bite me again, when she failed to bite me after I jumped out of the way (keep in mind this whole time I’ve got Tucker behind me and I about got pinned between the two even though my original position was not a dangerous one until she came at me) she spun around and tried to land a kick again I got away just in time. Fast forward about five minutes, we had a little bit of calm time where she let me brush her down, then paint her face and legs happily standing there to let me do my work, couple seconds later, she’s trying to kick me again.

i’m so lost yall, as I stated above, I’ve been nothing but nice to her from day one moving slowly through training. Suddenly a few weeks ago, she starts to get worse and worse and meaner and meaner. I’m just so confused. And before people ask SHE IS NOT IN PAIN. Vets have looked at her and confirm that she’s perfectly sound and that there’s no reason she should not be worked with or ridden. I wanted a horse since I was a little girl, all I ever wanted was a friend, why is it the first horse I get starts out like a dream, and then turned into a monster.