FestiveFuzz
Well-Known Member
So it's been a ridiculously long time since I last did an update on how H & I are getting on. To be honest for the last few months I've felt we've been rapidly undoing all the progress we made last year and in turn my confidence has been edging dangerously close to disappearing all together! It's been tough. Really tough.
On the bright side H's schooling had been coming on in leaps and bounds; he was no longer falling in when asked to ride a circle and had become a whole lot more balanced. We'd even started working on some dressage tests and he was beginning to work in an outline. However whilst it felt we'd really cracked our school work when hacking he was becoming a nightmare. He'd become the master of the drop and spin and just when I thought I'd found a way to stop him spinning I started reversing at high speed and then bucking or rearing. This coincided with me asking a bit more of him and expecting him to lead hacks in company so it was definitely him just being a nappy sod rather than anything else. As frustrating as it was I tried not to loose heart, I was still winning every battle but deep down I didn't want a horse I had to fight with every time we rode out and my aim of having a horse that happily hacks alone was looking less and less likely.
We hit our lowest point when we went on what was meant to be a lovely long hack in the sunshine. He napped at everything, bucked and kicked out with force every time I used my whip to back up my leg aids and the final straw came when the rest of the group started cantering only for H to charge backwards and start bucking followed by two almighty rears when I tried to push him forwards. He'd never reared until that point and I spent the whole ride home in tears vowing that H should probably be put up for sale as he just wasn't what I wanted or needed and he was slowly ruining what little confidence I had left.
After a good nights sleep and a chat with our YO we had a look at his back and found he was really sore through one side so decided to assume this was the reason he was acting up. So I gave him a couple of weeks off until I could get the physio out. Unfortunately this all coincided with me moving house so it was another couple of weeks until I could ride again.
The house move had also meant I was now not getting to the yard until nearly 7pm so there was never anyone to ride out with. I was beginning to feel really fed up. Thankfully I bumped into one of the other liveries one night who convinced me I should just tack him up and hack out with them so I dug deep, found my big girl pants and went for a ride. It was a lovely hack, we even had a little canter and I came back grinning from ear to ear, but since then no one ever seems to be around to ride out with.
Usually I'm happy to just potter around the school but with the sun out I've been longing to just go for a nice hack in the countryside. So today I mustered every ounce of bravery I had and decided to hack H out alone.
He started out really well but as we came up the track to leave the yard he decided to start napping and trying to spin. When I stopped his spin he charged backwards and managed to back himself into a live electric fence which soon got him moving forwards. A few strides later he tried to spin again and this time through in a mini rear and a buck. It was a tantrum in the purest sense and I decided that as he was throwing nothing new at me I would just keep at him until he went exactly where I wanted. It took a few more bucks and another backwards charge at a live electric fence but we were then on our way. The rest of the ride he was looky but didn't even try to nap and I came back beaming from ear to ear.
I know hacking alone isn't a big deal for most (and with any other horse it wouldn't be for me) but H knows every trick in the pony handbook for evading work and today has been the first time I've managed to push through his napping and have an enjoyable ride alone. I know we have a long, long way to go before he's the horse I always hoped he would become but I really feel that today we took the first step in the right direction.
On the bright side H's schooling had been coming on in leaps and bounds; he was no longer falling in when asked to ride a circle and had become a whole lot more balanced. We'd even started working on some dressage tests and he was beginning to work in an outline. However whilst it felt we'd really cracked our school work when hacking he was becoming a nightmare. He'd become the master of the drop and spin and just when I thought I'd found a way to stop him spinning I started reversing at high speed and then bucking or rearing. This coincided with me asking a bit more of him and expecting him to lead hacks in company so it was definitely him just being a nappy sod rather than anything else. As frustrating as it was I tried not to loose heart, I was still winning every battle but deep down I didn't want a horse I had to fight with every time we rode out and my aim of having a horse that happily hacks alone was looking less and less likely.
We hit our lowest point when we went on what was meant to be a lovely long hack in the sunshine. He napped at everything, bucked and kicked out with force every time I used my whip to back up my leg aids and the final straw came when the rest of the group started cantering only for H to charge backwards and start bucking followed by two almighty rears when I tried to push him forwards. He'd never reared until that point and I spent the whole ride home in tears vowing that H should probably be put up for sale as he just wasn't what I wanted or needed and he was slowly ruining what little confidence I had left.
After a good nights sleep and a chat with our YO we had a look at his back and found he was really sore through one side so decided to assume this was the reason he was acting up. So I gave him a couple of weeks off until I could get the physio out. Unfortunately this all coincided with me moving house so it was another couple of weeks until I could ride again.
The house move had also meant I was now not getting to the yard until nearly 7pm so there was never anyone to ride out with. I was beginning to feel really fed up. Thankfully I bumped into one of the other liveries one night who convinced me I should just tack him up and hack out with them so I dug deep, found my big girl pants and went for a ride. It was a lovely hack, we even had a little canter and I came back grinning from ear to ear, but since then no one ever seems to be around to ride out with.
Usually I'm happy to just potter around the school but with the sun out I've been longing to just go for a nice hack in the countryside. So today I mustered every ounce of bravery I had and decided to hack H out alone.
He started out really well but as we came up the track to leave the yard he decided to start napping and trying to spin. When I stopped his spin he charged backwards and managed to back himself into a live electric fence which soon got him moving forwards. A few strides later he tried to spin again and this time through in a mini rear and a buck. It was a tantrum in the purest sense and I decided that as he was throwing nothing new at me I would just keep at him until he went exactly where I wanted. It took a few more bucks and another backwards charge at a live electric fence but we were then on our way. The rest of the ride he was looky but didn't even try to nap and I came back beaming from ear to ear.
I know hacking alone isn't a big deal for most (and with any other horse it wouldn't be for me) but H knows every trick in the pony handbook for evading work and today has been the first time I've managed to push through his napping and have an enjoyable ride alone. I know we have a long, long way to go before he's the horse I always hoped he would become but I really feel that today we took the first step in the right direction.
