Bad attempt at a ride :(
- Thread starter Rokx
- Start date
sounds like the honeymoon period is over and he is trying his luck with you (really sympathise as im in the middle of similar at the moment) im afraid in my experience most horses try their luck after a couple of months - once they've got their 'feet under the table' so to speak.
Have you got some experienced help or a RI to give you some advise/help. x
Have you got some experienced help or a RI to give you some advise/help. x
I wouldnt feel down about this if I were you, especially because you have a youngster. My horse is 15 now and still shows the exact same behaviours you mentioned sometimes when hacking alone. He is bomb proof hacking in company, and on most occasions hacks great (with me) alone. However, when he has his hyper head on he wil most defo try 2 stop the whole way down the hill out of our yard and defo tries 2 spin round at the bottom.
I personally would advise taking a stick out with you next time, even just 2 use it as a threat if you arent happy using it on your horse.
It took me a few months when I first got my horse 2 realise when he was genuinely scared and when he was taking the complete michael.....and like your horse did, he sometimes spooks at the slightest thing, whether it be a tree moving, a leave floating or just the fact there might be a monster ahead lol!
Just ensure you keep a good firm contact and make sure you squeeze instantly with your leg when you feel him wanting to turn.
Im so used 2 my horse being nervous hacking alone and sometimes just being a right pain in the backside that I can feel instantly when he is going 2 spook, stop or turn and he is now pretty good at hacking alone......its going to be another story with his new sharer mind u
ive also found that my horse goes best when i ride more with my seat and he responds well to my voice...so first of all try to work out if your horse is taking the pi*s or is scared and then attack the situation from there!
Good luck! x
I personally would advise taking a stick out with you next time, even just 2 use it as a threat if you arent happy using it on your horse.
It took me a few months when I first got my horse 2 realise when he was genuinely scared and when he was taking the complete michael.....and like your horse did, he sometimes spooks at the slightest thing, whether it be a tree moving, a leave floating or just the fact there might be a monster ahead lol!
Just ensure you keep a good firm contact and make sure you squeeze instantly with your leg when you feel him wanting to turn.
Im so used 2 my horse being nervous hacking alone and sometimes just being a right pain in the backside that I can feel instantly when he is going 2 spook, stop or turn and he is now pretty good at hacking alone......its going to be another story with his new sharer mind u
ive also found that my horse goes best when i ride more with my seat and he responds well to my voice...so first of all try to work out if your horse is taking the pi*s or is scared and then attack the situation from there!
Good luck! x
I think I probably approach it from lots of different angles at once. If a horse is worried about something, I have to take that into account. I honestly don't know if there's a bear in those woods, but he really does know - or thinks he does. It can be a real life-and-death fear situation for him. So, I let him stop and look. But not for long. Now if he refuses to walk on quietly, then you have to make his 'standing still' option a lot more work, so that walking on quietly begins to look like a real good deal. When he's standing still, you put his feet to work, backing up, disengaging the hindquarters, moving him sideways ... all these are tools you can be learning if you haven't yet, and when you've got them you'll have a whole lot more confidence with getting him moving again.
Aside from that, I don't think you've handled it badly (apart from the feeling bad and bursting into tears bit - don't do that, it makes me sad). I always get off rather than get into danger - no problem with that. And ending it when the horse gives you a little of the correct response - that's good too.
One thing you could consider for days like this - days when he's for one reason or another, stiff scared and tense - is go for a 'goal free' ride. DOn't set out with an idea of getting to some place or another. Simply ride him out a hundred yards, or less, and start to play. Play at softeness and suppleness, play at tiny bendy circles, play at leg yielding, find a nice gentle little slope and do your bendy circles up and down the slope focus on staying perfectly balanced on every part of it .. take his mind off 'the Big Spooky Thing' ahead, in other words, and occupy him with doing something else entirely.
BTW, it's a myth that out and return rides make for nappy horses. Same myth that feeding treats by hand makes horses bite. Bad training makes both situations worse, but with consistent training you can feed treats, and stop a ride wherever you feel like it and turn for home.
Aside from that, I don't think you've handled it badly (apart from the feeling bad and bursting into tears bit - don't do that, it makes me sad). I always get off rather than get into danger - no problem with that. And ending it when the horse gives you a little of the correct response - that's good too.
One thing you could consider for days like this - days when he's for one reason or another, stiff scared and tense - is go for a 'goal free' ride. DOn't set out with an idea of getting to some place or another. Simply ride him out a hundred yards, or less, and start to play. Play at softeness and suppleness, play at tiny bendy circles, play at leg yielding, find a nice gentle little slope and do your bendy circles up and down the slope focus on staying perfectly balanced on every part of it .. take his mind off 'the Big Spooky Thing' ahead, in other words, and occupy him with doing something else entirely.
BTW, it's a myth that out and return rides make for nappy horses. Same myth that feeding treats by hand makes horses bite. Bad training makes both situations worse, but with consistent training you can feed treats, and stop a ride wherever you feel like it and turn for home.
aaaaah the 5 year old "kevins" I call them!
You did the right thing by walking him on in hand and letting him know that he wasn't going to get his own way by taking him straight back to the yard.
Try a hack in company the next time, change over the leads from time to time and then start stretching out ahead of the other horse, he's quite young to be hacking alone for long periods and perhaps he's just telling you he isn't quite ready for the responsibility.
Also, a good way to teach him to hack alone is to go out with someone else who has as near to bombproof horse as possible and knows that their horse will work on ahead of yours. Perhaps if you get to a point in the road where you can turn, ask them to keep going and turn your horse for home. This way he will most likely take the "go home" option as opposed to the "don't want to leave my mate" option, and will then work on his own, probably a bit more forward going as he's heading back to the yard which will give you AND him tons of confidence. This is how I started my youngster out hacking on her own.
Don't get me wrong, she always leaves the yard but by the time I've got to the bottom corner of the road I may have had a stop of around half an hour before she will move on further, she just stands stock still, sometimes she even does it when hacking in company too and nothing will move her, she doesn't turn for home, just stands there! I look a right lemon sometimes as well but I sit it out. Other times I get off and she'll circle around me and prance about but she always gets made to go a bit further along before she is turned for home.
Good luck and chalk it up to experience, keep your chin up and put it behind you and think ahead to how to overcome this challenge as its probably one of many.
You did the right thing by walking him on in hand and letting him know that he wasn't going to get his own way by taking him straight back to the yard.
Try a hack in company the next time, change over the leads from time to time and then start stretching out ahead of the other horse, he's quite young to be hacking alone for long periods and perhaps he's just telling you he isn't quite ready for the responsibility.
Also, a good way to teach him to hack alone is to go out with someone else who has as near to bombproof horse as possible and knows that their horse will work on ahead of yours. Perhaps if you get to a point in the road where you can turn, ask them to keep going and turn your horse for home. This way he will most likely take the "go home" option as opposed to the "don't want to leave my mate" option, and will then work on his own, probably a bit more forward going as he's heading back to the yard which will give you AND him tons of confidence. This is how I started my youngster out hacking on her own.
Don't get me wrong, she always leaves the yard but by the time I've got to the bottom corner of the road I may have had a stop of around half an hour before she will move on further, she just stands stock still, sometimes she even does it when hacking in company too and nothing will move her, she doesn't turn for home, just stands there! I look a right lemon sometimes as well but I sit it out. Other times I get off and she'll circle around me and prance about but she always gets made to go a bit further along before she is turned for home.
Good luck and chalk it up to experience, keep your chin up and put it behind you and think ahead to how to overcome this challenge as its probably one of many.
If he's only 5 then I wouldn't worry about it quite so much - take on board the good advice on here - thank you lucky stars he's not 10 and still behaving like that!!! My Storm is having "issues" out hacking - its like we've gone back to the beginning - I've had her almost 3 years - and she hasn't behaved as badly as she did last weekend since I first got her!! Now some folk say its the weather (she was scared of the mist?) but I don't know - she is getting turned out - more than she ever did on a yard so I can't blame that either! I am just taking things slowly - day before yesterday we just walked around her paddock - I didn't feel safe taking her out on the road - not just yet anyway.
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