How would you deal with this?

H & Bailey

H & Bailey

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Nov 12, 2001
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north east england
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As most of you may know i have just got a new horse.
She has a few niggles to iron out the main one is....she is terrible in traffic.Her previous owner(my friend) did say she wasnt very good in traffic,but when she came out with me she was ok.
My sister had been riding rose out for my friend before i bought her and I had heard a few stories but was told generally she was ok.My sister is still riding her for me on a weekend and I am riding her 1 -2 times during the week doing schooling and roadwork.
Her main problem is that she is scared of large vehicles.She seems to be especially scared of vans.buses and tractors.She is SCARED her eyes roll and she gets fidgety.Her main thing she does is ..if a van is coming towards her and it doesnt slow or stop she slows and if it is coming too fast she starts to reverse at speed then dips her shoulder and spins round then trys to cart off with you.When i have been out i have managed to stop her and stand still with only a step or 2 back.( after doing the above -reversing -once..she is so quick its surprising)iIf you try and make her walk on she will reverse.If the vehicle stops she will walk past snorting eyes rolling going sideways.
I am trying to school her to leg aids as she has no concept at all what they mean.so using your legs has no effect at all.she is also quite strong and will jog off with you..she is only in a snaffle.I have added a flash to see if that has any effect?
any suggestions......??????
she is only 5 and seems as if she has been in a cart by the way she holds herself.My friend had her for 2 yrs and didnt do much,only hacked out on occasion and always with another horse or someone walking.rose is only slightly better with another horse present which is what i was surprised at.
I am generally on bailey with someone on rose (as people dont seem to want to ride bailey,i dont know why as he is bombproof?)
any help appreciated....
 
well no one has replied with help so have decided to try and talk to her alot....which i do anyway. to settle her when i see a van i ask it to slow ,generally they dont bother :mad:
then use lots of leg backed up by schooling whip if she starts to drop behind the bit.I found if you keep her on the bit and forward she is better but as soon as she can get behind with you she will try and stop then reverse.
I had my sister on bailey while i was in front on rose and she wasnt half as bad as usual,hopefully by watching me my sister has picked up tips too.
Has anyone else had a horselike this?
And do they get better and chill out or will she be always panicky in traffic?
 
Maybe what you ought to do is introduce vehicles in a safe enviroment? Like if you can lead her up to a van thats off and let her look at it, explore it etc. then while she's in a paddock, have someone drive one of the vehicles she's afraid of slowly by, back and forth so she has a chance to get used to it. In the police training course I saw on TV they made the horses walk in circles around a police car with sirens and lights going. Talk about bomb proof!
 
If possible could you maybe pony her out while riding a VERY road safe horse? with Autumn i would ride my moms bombproof horse and pony autumn to get him used to traffic. He was very calm while being with my mums horse because she would never flinch.

or riding out with other people with horses that are good on the road helps too.
 
I agree with Silver - start slow and build up with some desensitisation work. Is it possible to put her in a paddock near a busy road for a while? (with good fences and some sensible paddock mates). How is she on a lead? Is there some way you can lead her around, past and toward various large vehicles - perhaps you could coerce someone with a horse box\tractor\deliver vehicle at the local yard to help you out.

The back up, spin and bail out sounds very familiar - mine does that when other horses approach head on ...so I understand what you mean about fast reactions ;)
 
I think that for now you need to forget about everything and start from scratch, as if she doesn't know who you are. You need to build a foundation, and build the house on top of that. Start out with general work. The reason she is getting so worked up is probably because she is scared of the vehicles (maybe a bad experience in the past?) but also because she is a new horse for you, and you two do not know each other as well as if you'd have had her for years, she doesn't know if you are trustable or not. To start, you want to build up trust, spend time babying her, playing with her, grooming her. Slowly build up that trust between you two. Try join up, etc. Then, when you feel she is ready, start with her getting used to the vans and such. Don't force her to do something she doesn't want to, but don't also let her do whatever she wants. What I mean is, if you were handwalking her towards a truck and she stops, then don't make her go forward, let her have a look at it, then walk away from the truck but not backwards, which is what she'd do on her own. Tell her it's alright, she doesn't have to go farther than she's comfortable with, but you want her to have enough trust in you so that she says ok, i'm going to follow you because I trust you'll keep me safe.
 
I would start from scratch too. Podge is ok in traffic but i am not hacking out for a while while i have lessons and build my confiedence up. I will start again with him once i have achieved some confidence and will prob be a wimp and get someone else to hack him the first few times.
I would start walking her out with another horse and then start swopping lead and allowing bigger gaps etc to develop. Then maybe start riding out doing the same thing.

Not much help but i hope things go smoothly and your girl gets it quickly;)
 
The trouble with being out on the road is that you often don't have many options. Having had to cope with a pony/rider combination that had 'moments' about traffic (difficult to tell whether it was rider or pony that was afraid) - planning ahead helps to manage the situation. eg we used to keep an eye out for upcoming problems and make sure we had field gateways etc as 'escape routes'. This meant that neither pony nor rider felt trapped by the oncoming monster.

You say she worries and tries to turn and run, but you can stop her. But if you try to make her walk on its a problem. Well why not ask her just to stand and wait while the 'bogey' vehicle goes past. Only start asking for her to walk on when she starts to be comfortable with standing and watching.

You said she is 5 and your friend had her for 2 years. Well if your friend didn't drive her (3-5) then she probably didn't do much before that so just behave like she's a baby.

(Got my mare at 6 - the advert said she had been 'sparsely' ridden. She believed that sheep were monsters, ducks ate horses, and the world was a generally scarey place. So its just about getting her out and about in a way she is comfortable with so she sees a bit more of life - and she is getting better !)
 
Thanks for some input folks.
As cvb has said she is still a baby and i am treating her as such.I am schooling her once a week as she doesnt understand basic leg aids.I am used to riding on the leg and she tends to steer on reins alone.Do you know what I mean?
as for traffic she has always been in a field next to a very busy road and isnt bothered in the field about vans etc.Its more of them approaching her head on if you ride her forwards she isnt too bad.I tried stopping and standing still and she has been ok a couple of times but once she has stopped she can reverse pretty quick and swings her butt out.As she doesnt respond to the leg its hard to get her back in.(to leg yield and push her over).
after riding her on sunday i was pleased she didnt stop or swing out but was on her toes and needed pushing past.
As for babying her it doesnt make much difference.She still behaves the same with another horse.I take bailey out with her and he is bombproof.Mind Im usually on bailey so it may be the rider!;)
other people have suggested getting her in long reins and driving her up the road....I didnt fancy it as when i tried to lunge her she gave me skiing lessons when she had decided she had done enough work.
Ive only had her a short while but have known her since my friend bought her,she knows me and is starting to trust me more but does try it on until she is told off. ie swinging her legs about a bit:rolleyes:
thanks again for the input!
 
When they are in a field, they know they can escape if they want to. When ridden, they don't have the same freedom and will react differently. (My mare's like that).

Any work you can do, even just asking her over from the ground using a thumb to apply pressure where your leg would be, will help.

We had our Fell when he was just 4 and could barely walk in a straight line, let alone negotiate a corner ! Improvement in overall way of going will help with control in traffic. Leg yield may be a bit much to start with :p but how about teaching turn on forehand - from ground first then under saddle. This should help a bit with that hindquarter swing.
 
I don't know if you will find this helpful, but i know of several horses who are scared of traffic for different reasons. One horse was supposedly bombproof in the heaviest of traffic and ridden regularly in central London so you would assume that he would be great on a quieter road. the thing is he was terrified of the traffic because in London it crawled along and here the roads are fast traffic and that is what he couldnt understand. He now only hacks out with other horses. Another horse is terrified of traffic as he had a bad accident so he isnt ridden on the roads at all
 
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