At least they're being honest...

Kinda funny how they worded it too, "just don't take him in the arena it makes him mad".....lol!

we had a mare like this at college...except she was still bad on the trail, but not nearly as bad as she was in an arena. Otterbein gave her to my college or sold her to them for very cheap. She was supposed to be some fabulous jumper. She was a very ring sour horse though. And I remember in my confo class she had one front leg that was an inch shorter than the other. She did eventually turn out to be a nice, useful trail/pack horse though! Had to ride her JUST right though..she ended up breaking the back of a girl in my Adv. trail class (she tightened up the reins and squeezed her to go at the same time and the mare flung herself down a hill and rolled over a couple of times with chick still on her back. she knew the mare had a super sensitive mouth). I rode her in our river crossing class, and it was her first time doing so...she did pretty good too! But I do remember riding by our little dinky riding arena that was rarely used she threw one heck of a hissy fit and almost got me off. Same when we came back to the barn (we had to ride by it).

WOW! That's crazy! I wonder if she just wanted out of work or if the shorter leg affected her?
My aunt knew a horse (back before she went crazy) who was a great jumper, had super form and good bloodlines. But one day in the ring he layed down. They thought something was wrong with him so they got off and untacked and just fussed over him the rest of the day. When nothing turned out wrong they went to ride him again the next day and he did the same thing. They got off again and repeated their fussing, checking for any possible injury. Well, after several days of this happening, they finally figured out that he had learned that if he layed down, he didn't have to work anymore. It took a long time before they could break him of that habit (and I'm quite sure the process wasn't pretty)

one of our teachers (also a vet) was the one that taught the class...he said the one leg being shorter DID cause her pain if she were to land on both fronts, as it wouldn't distribute the weight evenly. A few of us in the alternative healthcare courses got to work her over a lot--acupressure, massage, and infrared therapy (we had a BioScan/BioLight unit)..as well as the vet/teacher did acupuncture. She was very sore when she arrived to the college and she had massive muscle buildup on one side, and not the other where she overcompensated and such. He said if she had kept jumping, she would have eventually went permanently lame or broke a leg

The only thing I won't deal with is rearing, that can be so dangerous. I have taken several so called problem horses/ponies and got along with them fine, but one time I got on a friends horse, and when I got on I could feel how unstable he was mentally and got right back off. Later on he did rear up over backwards when she was riding with a friend on the back and it almost tore her friends foot off at the ankle. This was when we were teenagers, so I'm not sure looking back what the problem was with him but this girl was known for running her horses constantly, so I think she just made him loopy.

Wow! Glad y'all got her and could do all that for her!
And yeah, I don't deal with rearing. My friend trained one of his mares to rear when you squeezed with both legs and sort of lifted up, and on more than one occasion he's given that cue on accident and come toppling off.

an online friend of mine teaches trick horses for movies and such...she said that when she teaches a rear it is a series of commands/cues that must be done a specific way, so that no one accidentally cues them to rear. She said it's the most dangerous, so she makes it the most complex

I think if someone really knows what their doing it's fine. I even had a pony that would rear on cue, but she did eveything and anybody could ride her. When a horse does it because they are unstable mentally, that's when its scary, like horses that have lost their sense of self preservation to the point that they put themselves in danger. That's why I think it's so important that a horse that is taught anything like that have a very sound mind. It's easy to tell the difference. I have/had never been on horses as unstable before or since I got on that horse that day, and he was the only horse ever got on I wouldn't ride, he felt like a ticking time bomb and he was.

[quote="Krickette"]WOW! That's crazy! I wonder if she just wanted out of work or if the shorter leg affected her?
My aunt knew a horse (back before she went crazy) who was a great jumper, had super form and good bloodlines. But one day in the ring he layed down. They thought something was wrong with him so they got off and untacked and just fussed over him the rest of the day. When nothing turned out wrong they went to ride him again the next day and he did the same thing. They got off again and repeated their fussing, checking for any possible injury. Well, after several days of this happening, they finally figured out that he had learned that if he layed down, he didn't have to work anymore. It took a long time before they could break him of that habit (and I'm quite sure the process wasn't pretty)[/quote]
Sissy used to lay down to get out of stuff, she actually did it the day I bought her as a yearling to avoid being haltered lol. When it started to get bad during training I just got some nylon hobbles ready and next time she went down in the round pen I tied her legs together and held her head down for a while. She decided laying down wasn't so fun. :lol: