Red Mare Problems

Breedle Dee has been a bit neglected since Christmas and has decided it is unacceptable. I got a call from the BO that Bre has been kicking Romeo and has made him limp away a few times.  To her credit she gives him tons of warning when she wants her space. For some reason social cues are beyond Romeo. He just doesn't get it. She gives him way more warnings than the average mare would. Bre is the mare who will let horses walk on top of her butt on trail rides. I have had horses literally tuck their noses under her tail on rides and she doesn't care. A girl has to draw the line someplace though... She will give him the ear pin, mare pissy face, cocked back leg, half kick, and only then will he get nailed. Through all of it he is clueless. He will just get closer and closer to her.

Romeo has his this issue in herds before so it isn't just Bre. At seven Romeo isn't going to suddenly figure it out. If he hasn't caught a clue by now he is never going to. You could say horses will be horses but we can't have Romeo get hurt. I was surprised to hear that things have gotten bad but once we started talking about it the reason behind her increased irritability became clear. Red Mare needs to be worked!!

We don't have this issue in the summer. In the summer she gets ridden by the BOs family and a myriad of teenage girls. Bre will also work herself when the footing is good. I kid you not, she will herd Romeo around like they are being lunged calm as can be. We didn't have the problem last winter but our arena had great footing to run around in until March. She was also being ridden by Romeo's Girl all winter. This year our arena is crud and RG has been busy with high school. I am pretty sure Bre is just stir crazy from lack of work. She is feeling good from her Legend shots and acupuncture. As if to tell me this hypothesis is right on Bre escaped on Weds. She went out of her way to jump a hedge just for the fun of it. Then she ran up and down the driveway just because she could.

Luckily the BOs niece has outgrown her horse and asked to start riding Bre. Apparently she fell in love with her this summer. I am also moving to day shift so I will have more energy to get her moving. I can't wait for it to dry out and get sunnier. I am getting testy with all this rain too. I know how she feels. Does anyone else have horses who get crabby in the mud season?

Who Me?