Another Nappy hack !

Penny Less

Penny Less

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10 March 2009
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Three stops yesterday on an hours ride, took me two hours, no reasons for the stops nothing frightening. He just wants to be at home. Question is, if your horse is lacking in confidence alone, and hes not a youngster, should you make them go out alone. Is it going against their nature and mentally cruel and should you therefore only hack them in company ?
Beginning to think that I will have to rehome him somewhere that doesnt ask him to cope alone.
 
Help him, don't rehome him?

Go with somebody or get somebody to go on foot with you and get them to distance themselves further away from you until they are trailing far far behind. Do this over say, 10 rides or until the horse is happy to be on his own.

Maybe he feels no confidence from you and needs your reassurance. Talk to him, give him verbal support and try not to be hard :)
 
My horse wouldn't hack alone when I got him - he was really bad, would spin round really quickly and then if you tried to turn him he would rear vertical. Sometimes he would canter off (really slowly but just so you couldnt stop, as he would threaten to rear if you tried) in the opposite direction or back into other horses/ditches etc. Anything to get out of doing what he was told.

I spent a year working with him on the school (with a really good instructor) and progressed to hacking out on our own. At first he was hard work but now he is as good as gold on hacks - both on his own and with others :)

I think he just needed to get over himself and learn that I was in charge and that he could trust me not to ask him to go past something that would hurt him etc. He also needed to learn to go forward, rather than back off every time he saw somwthing he didnt like (be it a cat, a funny coloured blade of grass, no cat etc)
 
We are working on him, but just wonder if it is cruel to make him go against his nature thats all. I have walked 2 miles with him today in 82 degrees! Have to set a financial limit on this though for instructors etc unfortunately. There are only a couple of people on our yard and its disheartening that not one has offered any help when they know Ive been struggling. I know they are busy with work etc. but would have been nice !I have walked off a mars bar at least so I am going off to get one
 
Thats not very nice of them to leave you struggling. When I was geting help with my horse I worked weekends on a yard in exchange for lessons on him. Not ideal I know but it made me a much better rider for getting through it, and him a much nicer horse! Do you have any horsey friends that could help you?
 
Really random Q,but what does he enjoy doing? If he enjoys jumping, find some jumps to pop over or ditches, or anything really! Just have a really forwards hack with him thinking forwards onto the next thing, rather than going on auto pilot and thinking backwards.

Our cob came to us and wouldn't hack out on his own, but I had a little row with him to get him out on his own to start with [nothing major or nasty, I just carried a schooling whip, popped on some little spurs and got his butt forwards and didn't let him nap]. Did short 20 min hacks to start with and then just increased it each time. The first few short hacks were trotting out the yard, down the track and off cantering round the farm and back up over the strip of 4 or 5 logs on the way back up last followed by a short sharp gallop and then a cool off walk backup the drive to yard.
I hack him out on his own with no troubles now, he's off marching out the yard soon as my butt hits the saddle bless him! He's just got his head into 'his work' and goes for it and just thinks of the next thing that may be asked of him now, rather than 'home home home'.
 
Gosh this sounds like my horse two years ago! I was going to sell him coz I do 99% of my hacking alone as I work funny times and no-one else seems to be around when I'm going out.

This is all about confidence: your horse needs to be able to look to you as his herd leader when he's out on his own. I had a lovely person to help me with mine, she explained to me that I as rider needed to get my own head around the "hacking alone" thing: there's no such thing as hacking alone (tell yourself), its about the two of you hacking out together, with you being the senior partner.

How would it be if you led him out and then got on half way and rode back? Would that work? Also, with mine, we did a lot of groundwork, on his own, yielding to the leg, moving backwards, sideways, etc etc, to gain confidence in me as handler.

It may be that you just have to go back to square one and just lead him out, and just not worry about "riding" at the mo: just let it be you and your horse. These confidence issues take time and there are no short cuts!!! Your horse needs to be able to trust you, and likewise you've got to be the sort of "herd leader" that he can trust. It goes both ways.

I know you do't want to spend any more money on instructors, but personally I'd recommend you get someone who's an "Intelligent Horsemanship" instructor, or Parelli, or similar, coz they'll help you to get the right mindset. Purlllleeessse don't do what someone else did to mine (he was at livery yard at the time) and someone who was supposed to be an "expert" got on him and because he didn't like/trust her, he predictably napped, and she, in her words "hit the sh@t" out of him, and then wondered why he didn't want to go with her again!

Hun you WILL get there, believe me, I never thought I would EVER get my boy to hack out with just the two of us, but we've got there. Prior to this he'd never gone out without horses around him and he used to be a trekker but heh we did it! And there were those that said we would never do it. I don't believe it is "cruel" to take a horse out on its own, horses will quite naturally pair-bond if left to their own devices, and this pair-bond relationship is what you need to cultivate with yours. When you've gone out from the yard with just you and your horse, its sooooooo blimmin satisfying. Get yourself someone to help you; YOU CAN DO IT!!
 
Hi, Titejods. I have been leading him out and getting on a distance from home, but he keeps moving the goalposts! Wouldnt even go as far as gate today. I have posted a few times re this problem, but while I thought we had progressed a bit, we now seem to have regressed. we are longreining and walking in hand doing short routes. Its so disheartening because I know he can do it, hes been doing it for several months, although not confidently, he just seems to be losing confidence all the time and I dont know why. I am going to keep on for a while,but at the end of the day I bought so I thought a nice steady hack and he is not that at the mo. Anyway its something Ive got to work out myself I suppose, dont know why I post really, but sometimes writing things down sorts it out in your mind
 
actually, thinking about it, would it be fair if I removed him from his field companion altogether so he had to rely on me ? Although they are not particularly close as far as I can see they can take or leave each other !
 
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