Training Tip: Mare is Developing a Saddling Issue

Question: I have an 11-year-old Quarter Horse mare that I have not worked with due to two injuries since June. When I go to saddle her, she moves away from the saddle and doesn’t want to stand. Any insight as to why she is doing this and how I can work on it would be very helpful.

Answer: I’m not clear who was injured—you or your horse. If it was your horse that was injured, I’d work with a veterinarian to rule out her behavior as a symptom of the injuries. Once you’ve cleared out pain or a physical problem as a possible culprit for her behavior, then you’re likely looking at an issue that developed because she wasn’t being consistently worked with. That’s normal—horses are nothing but maintenance with legs and require touch-ups here and there.

The good news is if you did your homework prior to the mare receiving extended time off, it won’t take you long to nip this behavior in the bud and get her back on the right track. Practice saddling her in an open area where you have room to move her feet. A 50-foot roundpen or an enclosed arena is ideal.

Saddle her as you normally would. If she fidgets and moves, drop the saddle and immediately put her feet to work. Do Lunging for Respect Stage Two, the C-Pattern, back her up … the exercises you do don’t matter, just that you get her feet hustling and do as many changes of direction as possible.

After moving her feet for a few minutes, bring her back over to the saddle and saddle her again. If she shies away from it, immediately hustle her feet for a few minutes. Then try saddling her again. Keep repeating these steps until she stands quietly while you saddle her.

Horses are basically lazy creatures and will pick the option with the least amount of work involved. With repetition, she’ll learn that standing still and relaxing while you saddle her is a far better option than having to move her feet and constantly change directions.

If your mare didn’t have a good foundation before she was given a break, meaning she wasn’t confident about being saddled, then I’d go back to basics with her and take her through the first saddling exercise from the Colt Starting Series.

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