Hacking out alone

HanGbbn

HanGbbn

Never Give Up
Jul 26, 2002
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North Yorkshire (England)
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Hi
Advice needed please!
My horse will not go out alone, well she will but only after a lot of effort! She will walk ok for about 1min and then she is trying to spin round and go back home all the time. I can just about manage to hold her but she is so strong! When she does get turned round she will trot really fast back toward home, sometimes i can manage to pull her up but other times not. Trying to turn her is no use as she just wont turn and if you try to turn her in walk she will trot off!!

She is really good to hack in company and will go infront no problem infact shes really slow with others!

Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Its really getting me down i have tried and tried with her and its spoiling my enjoyment of her. We have really lovely hacks round us and its a shame to not be able to enjoy them by myself. :)
I don't want to give up on her but its getting to be really hard work & a bit scary :( :(

Thanks for anything you can suggest! :D
 
Is very similar to my mare, very very similar in fact.

Sounds like napping to me. Are you a fairly confident rider? It may just be she lacks confidence, and only you can build her confidence and trust in you. You need to be very confident with her.

I found with my mare that when she tried to spin i caught her straight away and turned her back the right way, it seemed to work, but she'd then try again.

If she's just being naughty a good way of solving this is by turning her back the right way and letting her stand. Dont let her turn any other way than forward. If it takes half an hour for her to take a step forward, fine. As long as she walks forward eventually then thats brilliant.
 
Hi

I had this problem too. We are over coming it by starting off with really short hacks, just a minute up the road then turn back. Maybe a wee bit further next time. We have now gradually built up too about 10 mins. Some horses just aren't so brave out on their own. Build it up nice a slowly.

Good luck
 
jenren - I'd say im quite confident riding her, she doesn't scare me & I feel I manage her well.
Its good to know shes not the only one and that other people have problems too! lol!
I will definalty try everything you said tommrow and i'll let you know how we get on!

Maddison's girl - I had the same idea just doing short rides and building it up, so if you think the same then i'll defo try it!
Thanks for your help!
 
Its well worth a try. It has taken me ages (well feels like it) to build up to a ten minute hack, but at least we can get out the gate without spinning around in circles and then bolting back to her box!

Good luck with it
 
I had this problem with my share horse a few years ago so I can sympathise....

How long have you had her? I had the problems in the early days with my horse - before we'd built up any trust.

I decided to quit hacking for a few months until we'd bonded properly and then started off on walks in-hand, then progressed to going out for short hacks with my hubby walking alongside or in front of us. Then he would walk behind us once we'd built more confidence. We got there in the end

Just a thought.

Best of luck
Sarah
x
 
I had this happen to me today, hacked out alone with Malachy (OH's big cob) and he was having a I-don't-really-want-to-do-this kind of day, plodding slowly out looking miserable and hard-done-by. Took a slightly different route, stopped to adjust my stirrups and then he planted his big dinner-plate feet and refused to budge ! Hassling him was to no avail, remaining quite facing the direction we were going in would have resulted in him going to sleep for a couple of hours until his fat, stubborn, coblet belly told him it was tea time.. I got off and trotted Fat Boy briskly down the road until he agreed it would be easier for 'mum' to get back on so he could amble gently on his way. Hmmm, think we'll be going back out there again tomorrow :rolleyes:
 
I've been trouble getting my mare to hack out alone too. Like yours, she's totally fine in company, will go first or last or middle without a care, but is very nappy on her own. Her party piece is backing, which isn't as scary as some things she could do, but a couple of times I thought she was going to land us in a ditch! :eek: We're on a small yard, and there isn't always someone to go out with, so I really want to be able to go on my own.

Some of the things we've been doing:

I take her out with others as often as possible, just to get familiarity with the trails.

She leads well, so I hand-walk her out quite a bit. She's not nervous if I'm on the ground, only if I'm on her back :rolleyes:

I walk her out, get on, and ride back (she's never shown a tendency to sprint for home, though her walk does quicken).

I go out riding her with someone else on foot, and then take a loop away from the walker and back.

Just in the past week we've done a couple of hacks out on our own with no backing up incidents! I've found what I need to do is really keep pressing her forward, almost but not quite breaking into trot. That way she's too busy to think about trying to turn for home. Not very relaxing for me, but my hope is that if we keep working on it, we'll get there. :cool:

Hope some of these ideas help :cool:
 
Thankyou everyone for those great ideas!
I will definatly try the in-hand walks with her, i think thats a really good idea.
Sarah I Blackbu - I will have had her 2years in March.
I am trying some groundwork stuff with her and also lunging and long reinign which she is good at as she was previously driven.

Thanks everyone again you have all been really helpful!
I'll keep u posted!
 
Hey
Just an update for anyone interested!
Took her out today with sister walking by the side and she went all the way trough the village without any hesitation, she did really well, so going to practise all week with her. It might take ages but we'll get there.
My sister says she wants to ride as she cant be bothered with walking (the lazy girl!!) Don't mind as shes even more confident than me
riding-wise, - you know, one of those people that'll get on anything no matter how nutty it is!! So i dont mind walking, as long as Jess gets pracise going out thats ok!

Thanks for your help it was really super!
Hannah (and Jess - horse xx)
 
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The 'walking out, riding back' approach works for us too. Or 'walk until half way around the block, then get on and ride the rest' depending on which route we are doing. I don't see any problem in walking next to your horse for a while like that - after all, you are still going in the direction you want to go [away from the yard]. In fact I actually find it rather nice now, as my horse and I can chat away to each other when we walk side by side, we both stop to look over the odd hedge, but only he has the odd mouthful of grass - I pass on that one!

I think this system, however you adapt it to suit yourself, is far better than ending up in a pitched battle with your horse trying to get it to go away from the yard. That just makes matters worse for next time.
 
Sounds like excellent progress, HanGbbn! If your sister's one of those very confident riders, you might also consider asking her to hack your horse out alone a time or two. We also did this with my instructor or my son riding (both of whom are more confident than me :eek: , even though I'm not *that* unconfident :rolleyes: ). I think that helped *my* nerves as well as Morocha's. She had a chance to practice without me being worried about what she would do, and I realized that she could and would do it.

Morocha and I went out on our third successful solo hack today! So it can be done :D.

A lot of people (around the yard) suggested I just push her on with spurs or whatever, but I agree with carrieh: I'd much rather avoid a pitched confrontation if I can achieve the goal another way.
 
Grace O'Malley - Yes, my sister is going to ride her out alone every night this week and next (or as long as it takes!) and i'm having her 13hh Welsh pony. (well i've got to share her with other sister whos 9!! Grrr!
Pony is an angel, so should be fun!!
Congrats on you're 3rd hack by yourselves. Thats great, well done!!

Thanks! I'll keep you all posted
 
Hello! Isuggest that you try Join up,(properly, try reading Monty Roberts' books - it is not just anyone can do it 'from his method' just slashing a whip around behind the horse until it chews, you need to understand the wild horse and horses in captivity, as well as the fact that horses are prey animals and that they never intend to harm people) and to establish trust with your horse.
Also, aim tyo never use a whip and to be kind, to try to let your horse knoew through your thoughts what you are trying to communicate with him.
 
Just a little note to tell you how Jess is gettin on with hacking out alone.
My sister has ridden her out alone all last week and yesterday and today I took her out on her own for first time since I wrote this thread and asked u all for advice!
We only on a short ride it was about 2 miles there and 2 miles back but she was a little star and just plodded along! Didn't even try and spin round once. We even had 2 canters along the track at the end of the ride!
So thanks everyone for the tips they were very good and if anyone wants to hire my sister lol, feel free!!

Thanks again Hannah (and Jess!) xx
 
HanGbbn said:
Just a little note to tell you how Jess is gettin on with hacking out alone.
My sister has ridden her out alone all last week and yesterday and today I took her out on her own for first time since I wrote this thread and asked u all for advice!
We only on a short ride it was about 2 miles there and 2 miles back but she was a little star and just plodded along! Didn't even try and spin round once. We even had 2 canters along the track at the end of the ride!
So thanks everyone for the tips they were very good and if anyone wants to hire my sister lol, feel free!!

Thanks again Hannah (and Jess!) xx
Click to expand...

EXcellent news! Congratulations! :D :cool: :D
 
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