Young pony is difficult near the busy roads

[Elcon_Poet]

Took my Welsh Section A out for a walk down the country lanes, which are quiet but to do that we have to go along a quite busy road and this is where the problem is. He gets totally freaked out, he rears, stands on me, barges me, prances about the place, all in all he just gets very difficult to deal with and its gets almost quite dangerous although I do manage to hold him. What I wanted to ask is: How do I deal with this? because I need to get him used to the lorries, cars etc Thanks

 

[cloudandmatrix]

lead him in a bit first of all- and lunge rein and is possible take him with a steady companion to calm him down- or with someone he trusts- avoid peak road times. maybe get a car to drive in his feild and park, so he can sniff it and realise its not so scary after all. consitensy is key and lots of encouragement and praise methinks.- my welsh did that when i took him out inhand- unfortuantly he is off with a tendon so cant try again!!

 

[eml]

Either find a field next to a road or take him out with an experienced older horse and gradually build up to busier roads.

Young ponies and traffic do not mix, don't use the main road to train him as it will only terrify him and make him difficult in traffic for life..

 

[Elcon_Poet]

Either find a field next to a road or take him out with an experienced older horse and gradually build up to busier roads.

Young ponies and traffic do not mix, don't use the main road to train him as it will only terrify him and make him difficult in traffic for life..

The whole place is just roads and we have to go through them to get to anywhere quieter. What I do quite a bit is stand him by the road in the drive way just watch the traffic go past.

 

[Ansiosa]

How long is the driveway? Could you do some structured training exercises in the drive by getting someone to drive up and down for you. Let him follow the vehicle to start with and then build up to passing and then having it pass from behind/drive along behind as if it was waiting to pass.

I heard a very good NH trainer asked about road training recently and his advice, in order of preference, was... (a) put the horse in a field very close to a really busy road and let it desensitise itself in its own time (b) find a friendly farmer who will let you follow a vehicle (tractor etc) up and down in one of his fields (c) if you have no option but to go on the roads then be very, very, sure that your groundwork is good. That you can keep the horse out of your space and that, above all, you have an extremely good hind quarter yield so that you can always get the horse to turn and face what's worrying it and not to just run away.