Am annoyed - my horse is blamed for inciting bad behaviour in others

Laafet

Laafet

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adventuresinblackandwhite.co.uk
I posted on here about a funny incident a few months ago about on a hack where all our horses got spooked and Tarquin took off but was very proud about being able to stop him as one of the other girls fell off and for a while he had a loose horse bolting next to him. Well I wondered why after that said girl and pony did not offer to come hacking with me so I've being going out with another friend or on my own. Mr T is only a baby and not always predictable but so far even when I've come off him out on a hack, we've always being reunited and been able to continue without any hassle. The girl in question does have problems with her youngster and often held us up insisting on getting off him to lead him past the pigs etc which upset our horses but we just got on with it and never said anything.
So when I was told that the youngster was not the same horse she bought since the time when she fell off when we all got spooked and that it was Tarquin's fault I got quite upset. I find it hard to believe that he was to blame, especially when she bailed out as she got scared whereas I stayed on and pulled up quickly. I've had this finger pointing before with Murphy, which in that case was him causing injuries in the field, sometimes when he wasn't even present.
Why can't people just accept with the fact that sometimes how they deal with things is the reason for their horses behaviour not necessarily the horses that they go out with. Incidentily the youngster never plays up with any one else when they ride him just his owner. Sorry for rant, just annoyed at Tarquin being used as a scapegoat when he's no bother to anyone except sometimes me.
 
I know especially when I freely admit that most of the things that Tarquin does are basically down to me. Like the fact he used to rear up when he got a fright but that was because I grabbed a hold of him and put my leg on, so only thing he could do was rear. I trained myself not to do that anymore and he hasn't had a rearing episode for months which this 'friend' has seen. So if she can see how I affect Tarquin, can't she understand how she affects her youngster.
 
I get this alot with my younger horse (she isn't a bad influence either by the way)

I just ignore it, they will soon realise that even if your horse isn't present the problems they are having won't go away. And even if they do go away, sounds like they aren't the best hacking buddies anyway!
 
I used to have this problem at my old yard. Nobody would hack out with me because Chex wound their horses up. I couldn't really moan though...because he did
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Some horses just seem to acquire a reputation, often undeserved. Try to ignore it, and just do the right thing with yours (it sounds as if you are). The trouble with youngsters is that they do change - tell your 'friend' - as they experience more. It's the rider's job to see them through any hiccups, not blame someone else.
 
Ignore it - one woman at my yard thinks my horse is the devil incarnate but we don't care. Doesn't sound like this girl is much fun to ride with anyway so don't worry about it.
 
People come up with all sorts of excuses for why they can't control their horses
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It sounds to me like you're better off without such company anyway so I wouldn't let it concern you.
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this happened at my old yard, George was blamed for all the knocks and scrapes in the field because he was new. Well maybe he was maybe he wasn't, no-one saw, but when he got blamed for a nasty kick and he was in a different field I was not impressed.
 
Thanks for the support. Its a shame really as the yard is only small, just four livery owners with 6 horses. Its a nice yard but can be a bit lonely only going out with one person or on my own. TBH its probably given me the kick up the bum I needed to get on a tackle riding out on my own again with my youngster. I have given my 'friend' plenty of advice, she knows that I ride youngsters every day at work and that I did do a lot of reschooling work with difficult horses when I ran my own yard. However she doesn't take advice too well no matter how tactful so I leave her to it now. My main hacking partner gets the raw deal as her horse is very quiet so she usually hacks out with our less experienced 'friend' and finds it a bit annoying. None of us like b*tching and our 'friend' just loves to have a go about Mr T which is unnecessary.
 
Also had this at my last yard as mine is prone to run if something spooks him.

Scenario was that I agreed to go out with a lady and her new youngster. On the way back, her youngster spooked at something and had a small strop and Jack took off with me - her youngster obviously then in tow.

We managed to pull up comfortably by the end of the field but following that, she blamed Jack for her losing confidence with her new horse and the fact it started spooking at everything in the school. TBH, the horse had ALWAYS spooked and napped in the school but she had indeed lost the confidence to ride it forwards
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I felt really bad to be fair because I know he has a tendency to do that and theres no real stopping him when he goes.
 
TBH, it is probably not the safest thing in the world to go out hacking with 2 baby horses who set each other off. Her horse probably isn't the same since the incident as she now sounds terrified of him and that will affect how he behaves. If she is too scared to go out hacking with you I wouldn't push her to do it as if she had a really serious accident and ran into a car or something how would you feel?
 
I get this with my horse. A friend of a friend once refused to go on a sponsored ride with us because apparently J was uncontrollable! Well, I think if that had really been the case I might have used something stronger than a hanging cheek french link as a bit!
As it happens, he DOES wind other people's horses up, because he is always up for going faster/further, and if he is behind, he makes funny faces at them and sometimes prances around a bit (he is an arab after all, can't be seen to not be winning the 'race'!)
But the main problem isn't that, its the fact that I can control him perfectly adequately in almost any situation (he's never got away from me yet!) and the actual problem is that they then can't control their horses!
So I tend just to be selective about who I ride with, as even though I am able to stop J even if 4 other horses charge off accross a field totally out of control, I'd rather not put us in a situation where we could be blamed for someone else's accident!
 
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