advice needed folks! please, please please!

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vickyguns

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hello! Wondering if anyone could give me some advice/re-assurance about a prob I've encountered. Have a five year old t.b mare on loan who is freshly broken. She is a lovely mare, and relatively sain for a young t.b! However, the last few times out hacking she's been turning for home. She started off doing it just once and got growled at and the leg on hard, she was fine the rest of the ride, the next time she tried it again and got the same treatment was a bit more trying with it, then, yesterday she tried it again and again for the first five -ten minuits of the ride and got the crop applied, up until now I've avoided using it, keeping it for when really needed. Again she was fine for the rest of the ride, just the usual battle of trying to get her on the bit and the odd bit of greeness. Is this turning behaviour likely to get worse, I'm a confident rider and it's not fear on her behalf, just the prime example of a horse trying it on. I have seen her rear when put under pressure, and she was half rearing yesterday when given a slap. I really don't want the behaviour to escalate and would rather hold my hands up and give back to owner to give to someone more knowledgeable in this dept. I took her on to just give her a year of quiet confidence giving riding and build her up a bit. cheers for any help!
 
My Tb has started to do this, I've had him 3 months and he doesn't have the excuse that he's young!! I've had to wallop him too, on a busy road you don't need messing about! He's getting much better and I would say keep going with it, although I do believe he is a horse that will always try it on to a certain extent. Good Luck
 
You have to be very careful here! she is not your horse so it would be unfair to allow this to become an established habbit. I would say if you are confident that you can deal with this and push her out the other side, then keep at it, but if there is any doubt in your mind, then I would say hold your hands up, admit defeat and send her back! Good luck in whatever you decide to do!
 
Mines does exactly the same and at early teens he's certainly not got youth as an excuse. I had actually given up trying to get him out on his own as it had escalated into him reversing on two legs into the ditch at the side of the road and refusing to go any futher unless I got off and led him. However this weekend I chanced my arm and thought I'd see if we could get out alone - we did without any hassles at all, no napping or spooking (well until he got back to the yard
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). I think because I was expecting the behaviour he picked up on my tenseness which made him worse. Because I had no expectations this time he toddled off quite the thing.

So in short persevere with it - sounds just like a youngster seeing how far she can push you. I'd say you're doing the right thing with nipping it in the bud.
 
yep my new boy was doing this, got worse before he got better. Thought it might have been because we were hacking alone and he is green but then also started doing it when out hacking with other horses. He would turn for home so if possible I would make him continue so we turned 360 degrees or if he was having none of it we would end up just standing not moving forwards or backwards. It seemed to be getting worse and I was getting so fedup of the stupid game that he must have to.

the next hack we went on he only tried it once and that was goig past a place which he was genuinely scared of as there is so much noise from dogs barking, geese kicking up a racket, music blaring out and all sorts of things on the land like clothes blowing on the line, bright orange garden furniture etc.....then last hack we went on....not a thing, good as gold.

fingers crossed for our next hack out but at least I now know he can do it.

don't know if this will be much help to you but perseverance does seem to have paid off in this case in that he was just trying it on most of the time.
 
I would try some groundwork excercises first of all with a pressure halter to establish that you are the leader, you're in charge of what direction and what speed she goes at, not her. Build up your relationship with her on the ground, so that she trusts you and is happy to follow your lead. Then try taking her out again, just very short distances at first, then gradually build up, always making sure you turn her for home before she bottles it and turns herself.
Good luck.
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Giving her a few days schooling in the field to hopefully keep her head fresh and I;m hoping she might be relieved to have the change of scenery next time we go out. Am confident rider, just , as said, not my horse and fearful of screwing up a mostly genuine horse! Where do you go when you're on board something being a git and slapping isn't working!?..lol...potentially dead in a ditch, suspect she may turn into a rearer if handled any way erroneously (S), she seems to be a fine line horse between sitting quiet but firm and oops, too much to to deal with in her tiny mind!..lol, or maybe I'm being far too understanding and thoughtful about it!?
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Perseverance is probably the best bet. I had a napper who got worse before she got better: culminated in her chucking a massive wobbler for no apparent reason on the way home. That was the first (and last) time I had to give her a smack, sounds like yours is trying it on too so just keep on with it and don't give in. I agree with what BigBird says about groundwork too - long reining on roads and tracks really helped mine. Good luck!
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Hi,
Agree with bigbird on this matter, this could be a 'trying it on' leadership thing.
Tb's and mare! She'll probably want to REALLY know that you are the leader.
however I find once you gain that leadership they make fab horses.

I'm a little concerned on your "just the usual battle of trying to get her on the bit " comment - how are you doing this?

Are you making her feel that a hack out is too annoying (if you're fiddling with her mouth alot) or perhaps too much hard work.

Some ground work is great too.

We also had one who you couldn't hit but we sat out the stubborn-issues and then continued on our hack. I would set off with no rush, all afternoon with the thought in mind that if it took 2 hours to do our 1 hour circuit - so be it. However we were on quiet lanes.

All the TB's we've had that did this always did it 5-10mins or immediatley after leaving the yard.

Good luck!
 
Call me old fashioned, and i know it isn't easy with a TB, but I would try long reining her, initially somewhere enclosed, and then out to build her confidence. Maybe not much of this was done at the breaking stage
 
not a fiddler, that i know of, try and keep a constant but gentle contact and she does relax into it for the majority of the hack and is a joy!, and yes, t.b's and mare!..lol..
 

Hi

My Warmblood did the same thing when I first got him, I think I had only had had him a couple of weeks I was hacking out when he suddenly just turned round to head back for home! I think its just being cheeky!Like you I do not want to use the whip, BUT I did have to use it the second time he did this, we now know that mummy is the boss and turning for home is not acceptable behaviour! I think the horse it just testing you, so I would stick at it.
 
do you always go the same route and if so is it in the same place that she is napping? do you warm up at home before you go out? i have a mare that isn't keen on going out alone but she will do it , i always find if i just warm up for 5 mins in a paddock before we leave and get her listening she is much better out hacking. mines not a spinner tho, she's a planter and then when asked to move on she'll reverse, cure for that is to make her back up more which she hates so she moves on lol
 
blessed with loadsof rural hacking, (live in the mountains in ireland!), so go a different route every time, in rotation anyway. Must add, really enjoying this forum thing, (new), it's great to hear other people's views on things, and it's much appreciated, thanks guys!
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