Awful Hacker!

Can you get help from an NH/IH instructor with this. If she is not able to be lunged, I would say that she probably has a few basics missing from her training, and some ground work may assist in improving her to the point that she can be led down the road safely and then eventually ridden.

I had a horse that suffered from seperation anxiety, that is he did not like leaving the home paddock, and other horses. He was unable even to be led on the roads because of this. With the help of a trainer, we worked through these and other issues, to the point where he came to love going out for his walks so much that he would be waiting for them, and did not need a lead to keep up with me while out on the walks, he would just stay with me.
 
I have got horses trained to be ridden by themselves or in company through central London so have had a fair amount of experience of sorting them out.

It sounds to me as if your horse has had it's mind blown by previous bad experiences on the roads.

I most certainly would not be riding your horse out on the roads unless it was first thing on a Summers weekend morning when there was nothing about and I would make quite sure that both the horse and rider had Hi-Viz on (long sleeved jacket so that arm signals could be seen by other road users).

My advice to you would be to take yourself to a quiet part of the country e.g., Mid Wales for two weeks and ride out on the roads and forest roads each day for several hours a day just to see if your horse settles without any traffic on the roads.
 
How is she to ride in the school? can you arrange it so that there is a car near the school, or in the next field and ascertain whether it is the traffic or the road environment that is bothering her. if she can't cope with cars nearby at home i'd tackle that first. Some professional help would be a good investment.
 
Hippona said:
Why would her insurance not cover her? TBH we all knowingly risk ourselves, horse and other road users when we hack out.....no horse is 100% safe hacking.....
Click to expand...

Because if this came to light ( this conversation) I think you will find most insurance companies would deem her to be negligent. It's one thing to have an accident - emphasis on accident but if you KNOWINGLY take out a horse that is KNOWN to be dangerous then you could well lose your cover. Not a risk I would want to take..
 
thanks for all of your suggestions, she is fed on a handful of alfa a lite and sprinkle of calm and condition. she is an absolute saint in the school and on the ground, we have done lots of groundwork, bombproofing etc. but she seems to lose all respect as soon as we step on the road.

lungeing she will daudle on the end of the line in a very slow walk and does not respond to anything i do! we have tried getting someone to walk her around and trot trying to get her to register voice commands but nothing ever worked. we have had various people out to help us, some who back and break horses for a living - very well known in the area but even he couldnt get her to shift. anyone who wants to give it a try you are very welcome!

I have only ever hacked her out very early in the mornings when traffic is minimal but she still cant handle it! i always wear hi viz and body protector and put her in hi viz and a neck strap so i can grab it! im really at a loss with her. im not going to sell her just because she wont hack as weve managed without for a few years and she more than makes up for it in the school! i just thought it would give us both a nice change thats all :)

but i totally agree in that it is really not worth the risk, once the summer is here and the ground dries up i'll be able to start riding her in our fields which will help but in all fairness she is still happy and works her bum off most days in the school bless her.
 
Might have missed it, but does she walk out in hand ok? As was suggested by a previous poster, regular short walks, just there and back sort of thing and build up from there. Has to be regular though.

I personally wouldn't ride her out if she's like that, short in-hand stuff, maybe but not ridden. My slightly nervy ex-racer is good in traffic, not bothered by lorries or bikes or tractors or vehicles of any type really. He doesn't like standing still though, and on the last time I rode him the roads were busy, lots of single track lanes and he had to keep stopping and starting, got very wound up very quickly-I will never know why. The traffic in both directions was stopped, he had nowhere to go, so he jumped onto a car. Luckily no one was hurt and I was insured, but it was a horrible experience and I haven't ridden him since. Could have been so much worse, so please, be careful.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top