highly strung insecure sensitive mares ....

[nimrod]

how do you cope with their emotional turmoil?

[Louise C]

Don't worry, you can get geldings like that as well - I've got one!! But he is hugely improved after owning him 4.5yrs. And yet to find a calmer that works:-)

[rj timed out]

I became a leader my mare can trust and follow happily. Only took 5 years.......!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Anna*]

Lots of walking out in hand and learning to control my breathing and adrenalin levels - when hers go up, mine have to stay down....even if we're rodeoing across a stubble field!!!

I've found that it takes longer to REALLY bond with a mare. I only started to develop my relationship with Cali last summer when I had plenty of time to just be with her: I used to sit in the field with her for hours and often spent 30-45 minutes scratching her!

[BuckSkinBabe]

It also depends on the other horses they are around too. When I got my arab we had a pony as her pasture mate and she was as spooky as ever. She would refuse to leave the pony if you took her out riding. And if you left the pony in the barn and took her out to the grooming area to brush her she would stand there and scream. But she clamed down when I brought Buddy home. She wasn't afraid to be alone, she would only call once or twice. She has since become calmer on trail rides and rarely spooks at objects anymore. I think this change came about for too reasons. Buddy is a very calm horse who is is not scared by much and she picked up on that and realized that their was nothing to fear. And two, Fawn was the pony's herd leader and I think that responsiblity made her nervous and now that Buddy is Fawn's herd leader she feels that now that another horse is protecting her it is ok to be calmer.