Bathing Problems

[Fells_4_ever]

My most recent project is buttons. An 11.2hh piebald shetland x mare. She has terrible rain scold and every skin codition you could possibly ever think of. We've only had her around 2 months and gave her her first bath last week. She was terrible. My mum held her and the whole time she was rearing up and striking out. I no it probably stung her a little bit but she was getting reallly aggressive. Especialy on her right side. Approaching her on her right side is a major no-no.
Does anyone have any suggestions on what i could do to calm her down next time. We tried twitching and that drove her insane i just wondered if there was any herbal methods to stop her trying to kill me.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!!
Thankyou!!!!

[horsesxox23]

i dont know of any herbal methods, but if u have a chain, put it over her nose, and diagonally under her head to to highest ring on the lft side by her cheek, this is just a precaution, but before u even bathe her make sure she trusts u, and listens, make her yield her hindquarters, and backup, and a good key to get a horse to relax is to pinch the nerve at her poll, usually where the crown peice on the halter goes, do this untill she puts her head down, she may struggle, but the minute she puts her head down, release ur grip, she will soon learn that when u put ur hand on her poll, not even pinching, she is supposed to put her head down, this focuses the horse, and if she goes to rear while u bathe her turn her head toward u, she cant rear or buck if she has disengaged her hindquarters, and start with the water way down by her feet, if she wont accept that, the ground by horse feet, go slowly upwards, until she is accustomed to it...good luck...srryy its long :o

[prince&me]

i have the same problem with prince and harry.

prince hates the hose on his back but loves it on his legs and always insists on drinking from the hose, i use a sponge on his body and neck, i dont usally bath the head (i sponge it occasionly when i groom).
on harry i have to use a sponge all over as he hates the hose but as hes so small its easy and the only problem is if the hose goes any where near him he flips and when he first came he he broke someones foot so he has to be shut away from the hose.

this is really rubbish advice but try sponging the horse down.

[bethfornow]

I know she prolly hurts and thats why shes striking out but you have got to get through to her that even if she hurts she cant hurt you. The starting with the feet is great advice but eventually you are gonna have the get in there and scrub her skin to get that crud off. You can try a soulder roll. Take the skin on her shoulder and pull up as far as you can, grap a handful and "roll" it arroung your fist as tightly as you can. It produces the same effect as a twitch but seasoned horses that are used to a twitch or hate it respond better to this.

If this isn't enough, you probably need to get some kind of sedatative either over the counter or from your vet untill you can gt her skin healthy and start working on her bath manners.

If she is overall a flightly pony, you can get stuff called "Mare Magic" it had rosemary and other herbs in it to help calm mares.

Hope this helps and you can help your new friend :)

[Fells_4_ever]

Thankyou. I feel bad cos the shampoo was hurting her but she has lice and her skin is red raw. Is there any milder shampoos that do the same job but sooth the skin as it works? I was using dermoline insecticidal shampoo for severe infestaions and skin conditions.
Thankyou for the poll suggestion, i didnt know it had the same affect. I never thought to try her with the hose pipe first. Silly me assumed cos she'd been ridden in a riding school before she was beaten she'd be fine. She seems really playful when u spray the hosepipe at her feet, she try to bite the hose pipe, its funny. Its if it goes anywhere near her sore bits. I was using a sponge to put most of the water on but wondered if there was a softer cloth to use.
Thankyou soooo much!!!!!!
Id be seriously lost without ur help!

[Fells_4_ever]

Also, is the mare magic stuff expensive, i know theres a few out like that but most are designed for nasty mares. Does mare magic tackle flighty mares too?