When I ride my 24-year-old Arabian mare Western, she tends to want to pick up the pace and wants to look around. How can I get her to slow down and stay focused? She gets stiff and starts to limp on her left hind leg when I am riding her. Another thing she does is pee constantly when I am riding her, but it isn’t pee that comes out, it’s blood. Can you tell me why she does this and if there is a way to stop it?     via e-mail

The most obvious explanation for the behavior is discomfort related to what sounds like a medical problem with the urogenital tract. A horse with frequent urination or passing of blood deserves immediate relief from work, and immediate evaluation and treatment by a veterinarian. I would recommend you stop riding this mare and have your veterinarian out as soon as possible to figure out what is going on physically. Forcing her to carry weight until you identify and correct a problem such as this is not humane. Whatever is leading to the blood is likely painful under saddle, if not all the time