are some horses not cut out for hacking?

_daisy_

_daisy_

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just wondering here guys and would like your opinions. Its not aimed at anyone or any horse in particular, just me and a friend were discussing this the other day.

Do you think every horse is cut out for the world of hacking? I think im really lucky as mine are happy to whatever, whenever but I realise some horses arent.

I know some horses are far from brave, spooking, scared of its own shadow, you name it, however an artic can come flying past and it doesnt bat an eyelid, its the scarey horse eating ducks/geese or the horse killing puddle that are issues.

Can you ever get over these with conditioning? or are some horses that insecure/have no confidence that you can never really get over it?
 
I think that some horses just can't hack - I would say that it's normally very highly bred ones, that are particularly sensative.

However, many, many horses just don't get the best introductions - and so never feel confident in certain situations.

I'm very lucky - like you, my horse is bomb proof in traffic - even the heaviest.

However, AmyMay was quite a different story - and I had to be quite choosy about the time of day I hacked out and where.
 
I think that there are some horses out there owned by some lucky people that are rock steady in all traffic. I had one like that but there were certain situations I would not trust him in when out if he felt like misbehaving! I think it depends on breed but also what experiences the horse has had in life to shape how it reacts to situations. I now have a 19yo warmblood, who can be very spooky, and literally cannot cope in certain situations when out and gets genuinely terrified. He is naturally tizzy but we were also hit by a car a year ago and so neither of us happy on or near roads, so we set each other off, not a good combination! We do not compete now as he only travels in a lorry, and can't afford one of those, so hacking is one of our main 'relaxing'(!) things to do, so I persevere with it, but I have to be brave sometimes, pick my time and location and cannot give in to our worries! Wish I had a bomb-proof horse as every ride can be a challenge, though not as bad as some horses! I know of some people who have given up hacking completely, had bad experiences and their horses cannot cope. Sorry to ramble on!
 
Yes I think it is down to conditioning, training and the horses temperament. My lad is a typical scared of his own shadow type and pretty spooky, especially if taken out of his own territory. It took many many months for him to be 'stable' out hacking as he was scared of everything having spent most of his life in a field getting fat and doing his own thing before I got him!
He gets his knickers in a right twist when he encounters something new that he is not keen on or cannot work out what something is ahead. I have learn't through trial and error how to handle these moments and have found as a rule of thumb that the first time will be hell and I may have to get off and lead him past or even bribe with mints to keep him focused on me and not galloping off! The second time past he will be nappy but with firm riding and keeping calm and loads of praise we manage to get by without getting off and then the third time he will be fine. He is pretty consistent with this so long as he is handled right and allowed time.
So I make sure that if we find one of these monsters out riding that we go back a couple more times over the next few days to conquer the fear and then he is okay. But that does not work for all horses, some are just a liability, but training must play a big part surely?
But I have managed to get him bomb proof in traffic, which he was not before. So he will stand by the side of the road and not bat an eye at tractors, hgv lorries of hedge cutters and that is really imperative when you are out on country roads like I am.
 
my horse is perfect in traffic but everything else scares the living daylights out of him however he is worse depending on his mood. i dont ever find him 'dangerous' although others might and probably would. i think it depends on the rider also we have fun and spooking at stuff is part of the fun hes quite happy dancing about like an idiot and i'm quite happy for him to do it i think personally i would get bored if he was completely predictable thats not having a go at anyone who has a completely bombproof and steady horse i say welldone for finding one its very rare i make do with what i have and count my blessings at how lucky i am.
 
Well done you!! I have to do on some roads but if i see a car i have to ride in the middle of the road to ensure they stop and remain stopped so we can go past or if they pull forwards when we are passing he spins and may hit them. It is scary but i have no choice. We are both a bit more relaxed off road. I could never go near a busy road and i have to go out early when it is quieter. I don't think we will ever get over being hit by that car, which was due to a horrible ignorant driver and not our fault. Before that we used to go on busier roads, and I used to teach him to be brave but things have changed now and i cannot blame him. I used to be like you!
 
My horse is not safe on his own. He is fine in traffic, and birds and deer can pop out the undergrowth and he hardly blinks. However it is the invisable horse eating monsters that get us every time. We can be walking along very relaxed and the next second he has spun and is trying to leg it!! If I am lucky I have clung on, but he is so sharp I have come off in the past, so I think that is way to dangerous.
It's not napping, when I turn him back round and get back to the place he spun I can feel his heart race and the look on his face is fear, but I cant see the monster. If I walk him past he calms down and I can get back on.
 
thanks everyone for your replies.
To me it seems like the more sensitive souls that are the problems. I have one that I am more careful where/when I hack her out even though I know shes a star in traffic. I have to take her places a few times before she starts to settle however if she goes out on the lead with my other horses shes not a problem. Funny thing she is.
It seems like theres quite a few people on here that have to tailor the hacking to their horse

frb - how awful for you to be hit by a car, dont know how I would cope if that ever happened to me
 
In my opinion ALL horses should be taken out hacking from as early as possible as somewhere down the line they are likely to have to do it even if in the initial stages of their life they are brought up in solely a competition home and not hacked out. If circumstances changed and that horse ended up somewhere where it had to hack out and had never experienced it then that is dangerous. I believe it is the responsibility of whoever backs a young horse to make sure it can cope in as many different situations as possible.

I have always hacked my horses/ponies out since I was about 10 and just expect them to behave. I got my first horse horse (having had ponies) at 16, he was 4 years old and I just expected him to hack out on his own and he did but then he had been brought up brilliantly and, although he can be spooky (worse now he's 17!) he would NEVER do anything dangerous or stupid and i trust him competely (and i hope vice versa). I think alot comes down to the confidence of the rider as horses are v v sensitive to how the rider's nerves are. If you expect them to behave like a happy hack then generally they will pick that attitude up from you and they relax. I have an ultra sensitive pony and I have found if i treat him like a say riding school pony he is quiet happy to plod along. However, if I tense up at all or you put a strange rider on him who may be nervous then he changes his mood entirely and is scared of everything and is so tense, he is actually a brilliant pony to practise relaxation techniques on as you can feel the change!
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Thanks Daisy. It has blighted our lives since but we are persevering! The person who hit me is trying to claim for damage to his car! Cheek! Off to work now...
 
we had a tb pony that just could not hack. she would get worried as we got to yard gate and spin around all the way up road. was slightly better with other horsey company but still not safe.
 
Hi,
i have a tb mare and i love to hack her but she is terrible in traffic.
She likes to go out but where i keep her there is a main road so we go out well early on a sunday morning. I would love her to just trust me that the lorry will go passed her and not kill her and the drivers are good and slow right down.
Has anyone any advice about how i can make her more like these wonderful bomb proof horses.
 
I truly believe that there are some horses who just cna't hack.

There are those who only hack in company and those who just don't hack.

They're the horses that never relax on a hack and don't ever seem to enjoy it either. In which case why bother?

Again horses are individuals and we need to treat them that way.

Ok yes spen your time trying to desensitise the horse and taking on quite hacks (ha where can you find one of those now a days?) but in the end some just don't hack.

Was chatting with a very old school horse woman at the weekend who said , ye syears ago you were considered batty if your horse didn't hack but back then there just wasn't the volume of traffic and other hazards out and about that there is now. She can think back to a few of the old horses who were they alive today she doubts very much she'd be able to hack.
 
Yeah its mad with my horse she will spook but she won't do anything dangerous when the roads are quiet (only early on a sunday morning) but you are right its the volume of traffic thats the problem these days.
Its hard to get your horse to cope with traffic when she lives by a main road which is used by so many lorries 7 days a week.
 
The only cure we found for our mare who was scared of large vehicles (and push chairs and skate boards) was to take her out with a truely bomb-proof bigger mare. This meant that she could hide behind her (I think she worked on the principle that she could run away while the monster ate her friend!) It did work, BUT I never hacked her on her own as she was still potty if she did not have the larger mare between her and the bus/waggon.
 
My horse is great in the heavist of traffic given the choice of a juggernout steaming towards us or a jogger I would choose the wagan every time. He is not good with kids running out to pat the nice horsy either. He is young and most of the time I sit very calm and ask him to go forward. The other day on the way back from a ride a boxer dog launched itself at the house window as we went past he nearly sat down at that one mind you it scared me as well. I think even the best horse can spook at the unexspected. Just because I like the peace I tend to ride early morning as a rule.
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I think that the majority of problem out hacking can be solved by conditioning, bombproofing tactics, or schooling. However they is always the odd one or two that are dangerous to hack out or never recover from a bad experience.
 
I have a cob that used to be absolutely brilliant out hacking - could take him anywhere and down really busy roads did not spook at anything at all The biggest, noisiest of lorries/trailers could pass him. Strangers out on the roads used to stop and say how good he was. But now..... to cut a long story short I had to move yards and since then I suppose he has a a few changes in his life - his field mate of 6 years got sold and he has also lost a hell of a lot of weight - he was obese before but is now a very trim 470kg which the vets think is brill for a h/w cob!!! But now I have terrible trouble hacking him - he spooks at everything. I am losing my confidence and now have to pick when I ride him - if it is slightly windy I just need not bother. I am trying to be very confident on him - now he has good days and bad. I just want my bombproof boy back. If there is any such thing as bombproof.........any advice greatfully received!!
 
I read this with interest... I have one who is very spooky, have owned her for 6 years and seldom hacked her because of it.... I bought my own place ( without sandschool ) so although I am able to school in the field there were times when I needed to ride and had to hack out. So I made a point of hacking once a week with one other horse. I always assumed because she was so spooky and lacked in confidence she would never hack on her own....Well a few weeks ago I felt brave enough to try it and she was absolutely fine....... We have been out a couple of times since and the last time she was quite spooky.....
The thing with her is that it does not matter how often you go past the scarey objects she will ALWAYS spook at them, with or without company........ I will persevere with her, I know my limits and I keep off road as much as possible...... But I can't ever see it getting any better.....you just learn to live with it !
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My mare is strange, she will NOT hack out on her own, I've put it down to lack of confidence as she was never hacked out with previous owners. I've totally given up trying to take her out on her own because the stress is not good for either of us. So I am restricted to only being able to hack out with company which is a pain in the arse as i'm stabled on my own. Yet when she is out with another horse, she is the most relaxed, bombproof non- spooky horse you could wish for & such an enjoyable relaxing ride.....bizarre.
 
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