Confident hacking, but not schooling

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Bangagin

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Having had my previous mare for 17 years, and we knew each other inside out, I now have a 6 year old Irish cob mare who has been with me for 16 months. We had a blip where I couldn't ride at the end of last year as she had a lameness issue, but that was resolved in February this year and we have been hacking regularly since and having a lot of fun. I feel really confident on her and enjoy our hacks. She's pretty chilled and steady, but she's a horse so occasionally she'll shoot forwards if something worries her. It never unnerves me though - usually makes me laugh!

I have a bit of a mental block when it comes to riding in the school. I've only taken her in there for bridle and saddle fit sessions early on in our relationship, and she was very spooky and a bit explosive (suddenly leaping in the air) which put me off further. However I have decided to bite the bullet and have regular lessons, for her education really, and my first one was yesterday. Now I know she was probably tense because I was, and of course it was a blustery day (trees surrounding the school blowing about) and to top it all we have two new horses on the yard who she could see.

To be fair she was very good, but I could feel the tension in her and would love for her to be as chilled in the school as she is hacking. There were some lovely moments when she relaxed, particularly towards the end of our lesson when she must have got tired. We had several spooks, but went back and rode those movements again calmly and she was fine. I have a freelance rider schooling her once a week and they have never mentioned her being tense (although I have never asked but will now.) I am guessing that they are a much more confident rider than me, so she would naturally be more relaxed with them.

My lessons will be every 3-4 weeks, so I am planning to take her in the school more frequently - on the way out for a hack or on the way back - just to do 5 minutes in there and build her confidence and mine. Does anyone else have any tips to help us both through this? Please be kind! I am trying to set myself lots of small goals with my new mare without doing any damage to my confidence. :)
 
if she was mine. I would take her in the school and do some ground work in there, then move up to lunging/long lining, so that she has you on the ground and can take comfort that it isn't a scary place! also you're likely be more relaxed on the ground!

before your lessons, walk her around the school in hand, a couple of times times on each rein, making sure she is relaxed, with a long low head, so that she's not running high on adrenaline before you get on.
 
We are currently working through this issue ourselves too. She’s good in outdoor arenas but tense in the indoor and with the winter closing in I want to be able to work her in the indoor too. My daughter has a total mental blockage on working her in any arena so I’m doing my bit to build the pony’s confidence so when my daughter tries again the pony is calm and settled.

I’m doing a combination of ground work, the odd stroll in and out on the way back from a hack and then a lesson with our instructor every other week, combined with schooling practice on other surfaces, out hacking or on our outdoor arenas so that the schooling questions in the indoor are simple and easy for her to do.
 
I've had to move yards a few times in the past few years, and my mare gets quite insecure in the school each time (hopefully, we're settled now). My strategy has been:
1. keep time in the school as short as it needs to be. At first, our goal was to spend 2 minutes walking in a circle, and then leaving.
2. Have a plan, an exercise in mind, and what you hope to accomplish. E.g. with my very tense mare, I would plan an exercise that required her attention, such as riding a serpentine with a volte inside every loop, so that there were lots of changes of direction to keep her attention, and my focus was on smooth changes of direction and good rhythm. Be happy if you can do this once or twice in a row.
3. Keep a second exercise in your back pocket, in case the first one goes well, or goes horribly wrong: redirect.
4. Leave the school when you have two good moments in a row, better sooner rather than later. We started with literally 2 minutes in the school (an 18yo mare capable of decent half passes, for context, to show how much a change of situation can make things hard for the horse), and after a few weeks, were up to 20 minutes.
5. If you have the possibility of another horse in the school, start by following the other horse around some exercises, nose to tail if necessary. And then perhaps mirror: think of a little pas-de-deux. Making up a wee pairs-dressage routine could be fun enough to distract you from worrying, and give confidence to the cob.
 
I would start with doing small things in the school, such as leading her in, walking around with you on the ground, giving her loads of praise and then leaving the school, with a view to working up from there.

Horses take confidence from us being on the ground and by keeping things short and sweet, it will help pop lots of deposits into the trust bank account x
 
My little mare (profile pic) would happily carry a novice out hacking, which is what she loves, but we've only (oh the shame of it) been in a school environment for a mere handful of times in the 8 years I've had her. I bought her as a lightly-backed needing to be ridden on, 4yo.

There was one particular time in the school where we were struggling to get the right canter lead - and she was throwing in a buck. Got the vet/physio etc out, and it turned out she had an inflamed stifle on one side.

OP I would be inclined to look at this being a pain and/or discomfort issue. Get your saddle-fitter out & teeth done (if you haven't already), and then ask your vet for a trot-up. It just might be there is something going on which might not be an issue out hacking, but in the tighter bends of a confined space like the school, your horse is feeling pain somewhere. I had another mare who wouldn't stand up to the mounting block, she'd been an RDA horse so you'd think she'd be fine, but she was moving away from the block as soon as I brought her home. Vet/physio found pain in her sacroiliac area. Always worth checking for pain IME first and foremost.
 
MiJodsR2BlinkinTite said:
There was one particular time in the school where we were struggling to get the right canter lead - and she was throwing in a buck. Got the vet/physio etc out, and it turned out she had an inflamed stifle on one side.

OP I would be inclined to look at this being a pain and/or discomfort issue. Get your saddle-fitter out & teeth done (if you haven't already), and then ask your vet for a trot-up. It just might be there is something going on which might not be an issue out hacking, but in the tighter bends of a confined space like the school, your horse is feeling pain somewhere. I had another mare who wouldn't stand up to the mounting block, she'd been an RDA horse so you'd think she'd be fine, but she was moving away from the block as soon as I brought her home. Vet/physio found pain in her sacroiliac area. Always worth checking for pain IME first and foremost.
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Yes, similar situation here. Our arena is much much less scary now that we have had low level pain treated. Also a cob, also a stifle issue. I also think a soft surface had something to do with it, if they have an instability or a weakness they feel it more on a surface with more give.
 
I think you are right when you say you were tense and she was picking up on it. It was interesting that she relaxed a bit towards the end of the lesson - do you think you also did the same, knowing you were nearly finished?
I'd say the more you can manage to do in there the better, as it will become more a routine and less stressful for both of you. Maybe you could do some sessions where you consciously relax yourself before trying something, and see if that makes a difference. And if you achieve what you wanted to do, end the session there while you're still on cloud 9, then that feeling may stay with you for longer :)
 
I really struggle with this too, what I’ve found really helpful is to go for a hack and then afterwards spend maybe 10mins in the school but do that every single day. It helps with getting into a habit of schooling but also I feel more relaxed having warmed up on a nice hack and so feel less likely we’ll have an explosion, mainly because I am less tense. Every time we have a good session that goes in the positive bucket and if you do that every day quickly you’ll have a ton of positives with only a few negatives (or that’s the theory anyway).
 
MiJodsR2BlinkinTite said:
My little mare (profile pic) would happily carry a novice out hacking, which is what she loves, but we've only (oh the shame of it) been in a school environment for a mere handful of times in the 8 years I've had her. I bought her as a lightly-backed needing to be ridden on, 4yo.

There was one particular time in the school where we were struggling to get the right canter lead - and she was throwing in a buck. Got the vet/physio etc out, and it turned out she had an inflamed stifle on one side.

OP I would be inclined to look at this being a pain and/or discomfort issue. Get your saddle-fitter out & teeth done (if you haven't already), and then ask your vet for a trot-up. It just might be there is something going on which might not be an issue out hacking, but in the tighter bends of a confined space like the school, your horse is feeling pain somewhere. I had another mare who wouldn't stand up to the mounting block, she'd been an RDA horse so you'd think she'd be fine, but she was moving away from the block as soon as I brought her home. Vet/physio found pain in her sacroiliac area. Always worth checking for pain IME first and foremost.
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Thanks but due to her previous lameness problem we have regular vet checks and in fact he was only out last week to trot up and carry out flexion tests. Luckily she passed with flying colours!
 
suestowford said:
I think you are right when you say you were tense and she was picking up on it. It was interesting that she relaxed a bit towards the end of the lesson - do you think you also did the same, knowing you were nearly finished?
I'd say the more you can manage to do in there the better, as it will become more a routine and less stressful for both of you. Maybe you could do some sessions where you consciously relax yourself before trying something, and see if that makes a difference. And if you achieve what you wanted to do, end the session there while you're still on cloud 9, then that feeling may stay with you for longer :)
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Well I had no idea of the time, so was not aware we were near the end of the lesson - but I definitely relaxed once she did! We've just come back from an amazing hack with a friend, where she led all the way round and was very chilled, so now I just have to work at getting that same result in the school! Thanks for the tips.
 
LillyTheCat said:
I really struggle with this too, what I’ve found really helpful is to go for a hack and then afterwards spend maybe 10mins in the school but do that every single day. It helps with getting into a habit of schooling but also I feel more relaxed having warmed up on a nice hack and so feel less likely we’ll have an explosion, mainly because I am less tense. Every time we have a good session that goes in the positive bucket and if you do that every day quickly you’ll have a ton of positives with only a few negatives (or that’s the theory anyway).
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I'm glad it's not just me! Thanks for the tips and good luck with your schooling too!
 
Thanks everyone. I'm somewhat reassured by other people feeling the same way! Some great advice, and I will start by taking her up to the school this evening for a mooch round and go from there. 👍I'm going to watch my freelance rider schooling her next week and see how she is with her. I'm sure it was me being tense and nervous about the lesson, but it will help to see her being ridden from the ground.
 
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