Advice wanted from Happy Hackers

Love your poem its really good
tiga71 said:
I wrote this little poem about a hack I had with my youngster a few weeks ago. I think to have a happy hacker horse you have to have a few situations that test you and your horse, that build your trust in each other.

The precipice.

Hacking on a youngster,
Is sometimes rather fraught.
You find yourself wondering,
What on earth you’ve bought.

One minute your giant, lanky baby,
Can’t control his legs.
The next he’s spinning faster,
Than a Quarter horse on drugs.

Oh Lord, there’s a herd of cows,
They’re galloping down the hill,
We’re suddenly surrounded,
He thinks they’re on the kill.

I can feel his heartbeat racing,
Pounding beneath my knee.
His every instinct screaming,
To run, to go, to flee.

But I have a tiny window,
To reach inside his head,
To override his nature,
And his fear of being dead.

We stand upon the precipice,
Does he trust or does he flee?
He listens, he snorts, he bounces,
And then he chooses me.

We trot across the field,
Flouncing all the way.
Leaving the steers behind us,
Cavorting as they play.

But when next we face the terror,
Of cows or a strange leaf upon the floor,
He will worry just a little less,
And trust a little more.

By Anne Gartside
25th July 2016
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Yardbird said:
What is it you actually do to get your horse to walk out calmly with his or her head down along the trails. I see you out riding on a loose rein in a relaxed manner on happy, relaxed horses so please will you share your secret and tell me how you acheived this, Thank you.
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You haven't seen me, my horse rarely walks, anywhere! I give her some rein and rest my hand on her neck, she knows that means walk, but doesn't often actually do that. She gaits, fast, or boings if she is held up, and I mean boings, it's like riding a bionic bloody bunny. I have got used to her, she is what she is.

She walked in company, once (think she must have been in season at the time) we actually taped it because no-one would have believed us otherwise!
 
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My horse is very spooky and tense, and for a long time I couldn't hack him out on his own as I was just at too much risk of falling off as he's very sharp. Then I bought a neckstrap, and it's turned hacking around for us. At times when I can feel him tense up, if I see something that's a potential spook, I loop my fingers through which means I feel more secure when he does his spinning, and means I am less tense. Because I am less tense, G relaxes. I can highly recommend it, and don't understand why anyone would ride without one now.
 
Had a good ride this morning, was grateful to all those who replied and felt their encouragement as a force that was with me today. We did the same route and all was well. I know that my horses hesitation is all rider caused as he is not a spooky horse but a quiet cob . Also, if anyone is following this and it is also a problem for them, another thing that I found makes a big difference to how nervous I feel is how tired I am. Thank you all who replied.
 
that is just how my horse wants to go! but I will say for 12 year, my mare used to run around with her head in the air, jogging side ways along the road, galloping as soon as her hooves hit some grass, so its quite refreshing to have a naturally laid back horse now! although he does have his moments or planting, which is really frustrating, he's so laid back, he's impossible to get moving again at times
 
I hack out a friend's team chaser 2 or 3 times a week. Generally I head down the driveway on the buckle and then turn out onto the road and he starts getting excited. (think he's trying to work out if he's going galloping etc). he is very good with traffic so that isn't a worry but he is super spooky.
Normally I make him trot around the road bits for about 10 mins so probably 1 mile or 1.5 miles after this it chills him out a lot and then he'll hack the rest of the way on the buckle.
I also do a lot of regular fast work with him and he is always very chilled and back on the buckle on grass strips afterwards. I actually think the more fast work the do the less exciting they find it
 
LouisCat said:
I also do a lot of regular fast work with him and he is always very chilled and back on the buckle on grass strips afterwards. I actually think the more fast work the do the less exciting they find it
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I couldn't agree more; if I don't do regular speed work with my mare she's a cow. If I'm riding in company I always try to have a gallop a day or so before so she will be chilled and settled. It does help that I'm addicted to speed too :D
 
I would suggest that the temperament of the horse is the key to happy laid back hacking.
Many horses just can not cope with going out by themselves and facing the outside world and this is I believe that they are not exposed to enough things as youngsters.
Riding them out each and every day for nice long hacks also helps as that gets then accustomed to their surroundings etc.
I used to keep my horse in North London and would merrily hack him through north and central London to Hyde Park and back again a distance of about 15 miles plus depending on the route I chose.
We used to encounter all sorts of different things including the exotic animals of London Zoo (Giraffes, Wolves etc.) and we would hack along Regent Street, round Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square and along the Mall across Park Lane at Hyde Park Corner and in to Hyde Park. He would never bat an eyelid at anything and always be on a loose rein.
If you want to be able to hack happily then this characteristic must be a priority when buying a new horse.
 
OWLIE185 said:
I would suggest that the temperament of the horse is the key to happy laid back hacking.
Many horses just can not cope with going out by themselves and facing the outside world and this is I believe that they are not exposed to enough things as youngsters.
Riding them out each and every day for nice long hacks also helps as that gets then accustomed to their surroundings etc.
I used to keep my horse in North London and would merrily hack him through north and central London to Hyde Park and back again a distance of about 15 miles plus depending on the route I chose.
We used to encounter all sorts of different things including the exotic animals of London Zoo (Giraffes, Wolves etc.) and we would hack along Regent Street, round Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square and along the Mall across Park Lane at Hyde Park Corner and in to Hyde Park. He would never bat an eyelid at anything and always be on a loose rein.
If you want to be able to hack happily then this characteristic must be a priority when buying a new horse.
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That is amazing! Mine struggles with the odd motor bike on our relatively quiet roads, would love to see his reaction to the streets of London.
 
Lots of brilliant advice. One thing to add is it can be quite helpful to be very focussed on where you are going - pick something in your view and ride towards it (a tree, a house, a car, whatever) imagine you are on tracks and be specific exactly where the horse puts its feet. I suspect that it gives the horse confidence if you both know where you are going and picks up things before they happen.

Also, have a selection of ways of dealing with anything spooky, again I find that if you have a positive plan it gives the horse confidence, for example, neck flexions (away from the object) shoulder in (away from the object) and learn things like disengaging the back legs. I notice that really confident good riders can do things like this without even noticing they are doing it! And learning to breathe slowly, almost as a reaction to stress, and sitting deep is key.
 
Used to hack through Derby City Center, with a cafe and loo stop at Darley Park, it was about 3.5 hours there and back depending on how much blasting across parks you could do :-), had some interesting encounters stood at traffic lights etc.


 
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OWLIE185 said:
I would suggest that the temperament of the horse is the key to happy laid back hacking.
Many horses just can not cope with going out by themselves and facing the outside world and this is I believe that they are not exposed to enough things as youngsters.
Riding them out each and every day for nice long hacks also helps as that gets then accustomed to their surroundings etc.
I used to keep my horse in North London and would merrily hack him through north and central London to Hyde Park and back again a distance of about 15 miles plus depending on the route I chose.
We used to encounter all sorts of different things including the exotic animals of London Zoo (Giraffes, Wolves etc.) and we would hack along Regent Street, round Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square and along the Mall across Park Lane at Hyde Park Corner and in to Hyde Park. He would never bat an eyelid at anything and always be on a loose rein.
If you want to be able to hack happily then this characteristic must be a priority when buying a new horse.
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That is VERY impressive! My boy is a fab hack and would probably be fine with that, whereas I think I would have a heart attack :lol:
 
Years ago I had some time riding out on a baby Clydie - roads, woods, caravans and an air strip all were part of our routes. He was massively focused on me, and I was aware that I felt tense and could worry ahead for England, so I pictured a 'wall of confidence' for us both and every few minutes I would think ' is anything frightening happening right now/ is he misbehaving right now? No, so there is another brick in our wall of strength'. This helped to stop me thinking instead about what 'might' happen and tensing up, and helped me to give him confidence. Spent a lot of time talking to him about my day at work too!! :))
 
Things you can organise - neckstrap, good in date hat, BP if you want.

Don't grab and/or tense up, focus on the horizon and ride firmly towards it... Look as far ahead as you can, it gets your head up and amazingly the horse tends to focus just the same.

One more... Don't be embaressed to get off and lead, some people think this is failure or letting the horse get away with it, I think that's rubbish. If your horse trusts you on the ground he'll take confidence from you. I had to get off my horse a few days ago, there was too much happening in an area that he's twitchy about anyway, he was focusing on his worries but once I was off his focus was on me. We will overcome this another day, when there isn't a massive digger tearing down trees very close by, but hidden! I stood on a grit bin to get back on, he's steady to bins!
 
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