A different problem with the horse I'm riding...

[metalmare]

She seemed, apart from one incident where she bolted a short distance, much less afraid of the traffic on saturday. She was no longer flinching. However she was ridiculously strong trying to bolt the whole way 'round. I know that I should have relaxed the contact so that she had nothing to pull against but I didn't dare because I felt she would bolt with me given half the chance and she is very very hard to stop once she gets going.

Now the person I rode with and myself thought she was just fresh having been stabled all night and then taken out. However her owner says she only behaves like that when she's nervous which could mean she is still tense in the traffic or she was unsure about doing a different ride that she didn't know. Her owner says that if she gets strong with me again I should completely drop one rein and take the other back to my hip and circle her until she submits.

I thought that next time I ride her I should exercise her in the school for 15 mins first to rule out fizziness and then take her on a ride she already knows to rule out over excitedness and bear in mind the circling tactic so that I can relax the contact more. Any other thoughts on this? She is in a snaffle (french link) BTW.

 

[metalmare]

The horse has been looked at by a professional (who recommended the circling technique) and who was able to ride her. But the owner still can't ride her successfully.

 

[tinker512]

Was she infront or behind on this hack?

 

[metalmare]

Generally doubled up (her on the inside), sometimes behind, sometimes in front. She was strong where-ever although she does have a nasty tendency if she is behind to run up the horse in fronts arse (completely dead to me) so it is a good job he is not a kicker. She is very responsive on the accelerator and completely unresponsive on the brakes...

 

[GatefieldHorses]

In my opion your horse i far too dangerous to hack out on roads, dangerous to road users and yourself...What do you do when shes bolting full pelt head on into the path of a lorry?
I would suggest until the problem is sorted you steer clear of roads completely.
Het her back and teeth checked and get someone to check her saddle fitting to eliminate these first.

 

[pottamus]

Is she like this in a school too? It is difficult to say this Gatefield-Horses because ultimately the horse might need experience of being hacked out and you only get that by doing it. Although I would say that she is probably best behind a realy steady eddie to build confidence and do not chop and change the order of the ride until she becomes more confident...as this will stress her more.
I agree though that you do need to have the confidence that she will at least stop for you...so this may need to be addressed in some other way. Also, do the same route time and again and do not change it until she is confdent with it. Then you can progress things a bit more with her.
As you have already said...the worst thing in the world is to hang onto the reins on a puller because they just get worse and end up getting wound up all the more. But you may have more chance of easing the contact a bit if she is behind another horse? And if she goes up the bum of the one in front...just ask her nicely to stop each time she does it...use voice commands so she is clear of your request.

 

[OWLIE185]

Getting a horse to be relaxed on the roads can take many month of hacking it out each day. Some horses will become laid back while others will never be happy. My advice would be to take a BHS road safety course and test and always wear Hi-Fluro on horse and rider when hacking out which should always be in company until the horse is happy to hack out by itself.

 

[metalmare]

She's not my horse - I would never buy anything I couldn't hack out (unless it was a youngster that hadn't had experience in which case it would be a different case). She has had her back and saddle checked and the woman had a specialist out to do some training with her who said it was an insecurity issue rather than health problems. Also she is a completely different horse in the menage.
But I am definately in two minds about whether to carry on. Basically the first time I hacked her she showed such a dramatic improvement by the end of the ride that I was confident she would pull through. But last time she was a demon, however we had a lot of bad luck with the traffic. So I am going to give it one more go on a shorter, more off road, familiar route, bearing in mind any further advice I am given and that will be the decider.