tacking up the horse problems?

Question

the horse i ride, is a 16h mare, i dont know how old probs 10-12
and she is fine with riding and everything, but when i put the saddle on, she gets really angry, any tips?

Answer 1

I have the same prob with my mare,,,first thing I do is talk to her.....she always tail swishes when it is time for cinching....I tell her noooooooo and it usually stops the first time unless it is one of her super mare days. I was also taught not to tighten the cinch right away because it makes them sour about cinching. So I guess the advise I was given was to cinch pretty loose, walk around a bit then tighten, walk again, then tighten, etc until it is where it needs to be. I will definately keep an eye on other answers for more tips for myself!! Uou are lucky if the attitude stops while riding!! Not the case with my mare.....

Answer 2

Start by getting a vet or chiropracter to check your horse - it sound like she has a sore back. If she checks out ok, then ask a qualified saddlefitter to check the fit of the saddle - a good tack shop should have a fitter, or be able to recomend one.
If the mare is healthy and her tack fits well, then take her right back to the beginning and start as you would for a young unbroken horse. Work slowly and patiently with the mare until she accepts the saddle again. You may need to do this anyway if she has a problem causing her pain as it will take her time to learn not to associate the saddle with pain.

Answer 3

Check out her back- make sure the saddle isn't rubbing and that you are putting on the saddle gently. Tighten it a little bit and then walk around, tighten it some more, and repeat. If she kicks at you when you tighten it slowly- it isn't acceptable- give her one whack and say NO or make a buzzer/air horn sound- horses don't like it for some reason. You need to do this every time she tries to bite, kicks, etc when the saddle is being tightened. She will eventually put two and two together. I allow tail swishing when saddling up, but that is it. If you are letting her do the bad behavior- you can't stop it. It is pretty common for horses to get pissy when being saddled. Mares seem to have more of a problem in my experience.

Answer 4

Think about this from your mare's point of view. How are you putting the saddle on? Nice and gently or just tossing it on her and the dropping the girth and stirrups so they bang on her sides? Have you made sure that the saddle fits properly and she does not have anything pinching her somewhere? If she is only getting angry when saddled and not when you are riding, then I would guess that she does not like how she is being saddled. My gelding gets mad if I toss the saddle on and let it land on him like a brick. And he will let me know it by being very unwilling to do anything in the pen. When I changed the way I saddled him, it changed his whole attitude. He just asks for the same respect from me that I want from him. You may just need to change up how you saddle her and make it as pleasant for her as possible.
Good Luck and hope this helps

Answer 5

Get her back checked and get the saddle checked first.

If both are ok, then she obviously has a hangup about that particular area on her body. It could be that someone before you used to bang the saddle onto her back or yank the girth up roughly and hurt her.

With the saddle off, gently rub around the girth area and saddle area with your hand. You may find her ears go back, her tail swishes or she tries to bite. If she does any of this, back off and rub gently away from the girth, rub her hindquarters or something, and gradually work your way back again. If you follow this method, pretty soon she will accept your hands in any area, she just needs to know that you aren't gonna hurt her.

Once she is comfortable with that, get your saddle pad. Let her sniff it and look at it. Then put it on her back gently and take it off again, do this lots of times until she is not bothered about it. It will desensitise her to the pad.

Then do the same with the saddle, put it on, then off, on then off, desensitise her to it.

She will get used to it eventually, as long as you are gentle.

Answer 6

so she is fine when you have the saddle on her? but doesnt like it when you are doing the inital step of putting it on? what side are you putting it on? sorry for all the questions but i'm just double checking. you could get her back checked because it may be out of place, make sure you are putting the saddle on the proper side, their left, because some horses really make a fuss about this, when putting the saddle on put it on gently, and make sure all the cinches and stirrups are up on the seat of the saddle because that scares a horse. hope that helps

Answer 7

Does her saddle fit? Have you had that checked and her back? If her saddle is pinching her withers or if it is ill fitting then she will be reluctant to let you put it on. Does she get girth Gauls? it could be the girth causing her discomfort. If that has all been checked out then it may be a psychological thing, she may have had an ill fitting saddle in the past. Good luck

Answer 8

You should get her back checked but if you have no problems when riding i dont think this is the problem. Always make sure you take up on the left side. Alot of horses are just moody and pull faces and even try to bite when having the girth tightened, if everything is ok with her back i wouldnt worry too much, she could just be a moody mare, alot of them are.

Good luck!

Answer 9

i agree with the other peeps, get her back and saddle checked, if shes lost or gained weight it will affect how the saddle fits and if it isnt nipped in the bud the horse mat accisoate the saddle with pain permanently even when the prob is sorted out

Answer 10

first off are you gently placing the saddle on her or are you kinda throwing it upon her - depending on what height you are - 16hh is a big enough horse and if you're kinda small you might have to throw it up and over - if you do - then you're unintentionally hurting or irrating her- so maybe use a crate to stand on or something.
Other causes could be the saddle is ill fitted and hurting her
she could have a sore back - maybe get this checked out
xx