dreading hacking out again

[cellie]

I took mare out on saturday and had horrible incident with motorbike.She is very nervous but will hack on her own now its took me months to gain her confidence.
The Bike was coming towards us at high speed on country lane it was a scrambler but driver had obviously taken baffler out .Not only did it scream past us but he tried changing gear and made it much worse think he missed the gear completely.I dont know how I stayed on she reared span and leapt all I could think about was getting my legs back down .I must have left the saddle in the air by good foot.
Poor little thing shook and jogged all the way home. I schooled for couple of days but she heard another bike schooling and completely lost concentration.She is good in traffic just hope this hasnt messed things up for her and wont go out on my own until shes settled again.

 

[dangermouse64]

How inconsiderate of the biker! Hopefully with time and patience she'll be ok again. Good luck and well done for staying on! I'd have definately hit the deck.x

 

[Elliep25]

Poor you, I hate road riding. Is there any way to de-sensitise her.
x

 

[Lucy_Nottingham]

i had a similar experience yesterday.
we had a mental horse followed by a very noisy clangy tractor followed by soemone emergence stopping onto a mini roundabout (from the left hand side so should have been giving way) and nearly hitting us! and we were in a group of 4 so not exactly easy to miss!
by this point the horse had just lost it and had enough, then we had an R-Tic get WAY to friking close to us (luckily I had dismounted and was walking her home!) but she was just totally shaken up by the whole thing, was too much all at once too intensely! I cudnt blame her for freaking out!

Id say just keep schooling and next time u go out go in a sort of nanny group so lots of nice calm horses to box you in in cases of scary things coming at you!

 

[Horseyscot]

Oh no!

Just take it slowly and hopefully she will get her confidence back again. When you do go out next, can you get someone on a bombproof horse to go with you to give your horse some confidence? If not, at least take someone on foot, to be there for both you and your horse should you need it.

Goodluck

 

[cellie]

Ive just done 6 months of work and made huge progress she used to spin and rear and had never hacked alone.Could ask my son to bring his bike to yard when he comes home in late dec .She has been brilliant with bikes but this new incident will make a difference .

 

[cellie]

I plan on going out with friend on wednesday who has bombproof horse.I had changed her calmer /magnesium so dont think that helped either.Ive ordered original already to try and bring her back on track.
Thanks

 

[cellie]

If nothing else she has given me a good seat

didnt want to hit the road and she would have bolted for home.At my age you dont need falls to ache lol.If I see him again Ill try and catch number plate as its illegal .Cant believe none of the cars slowed down to ask if I was ok .Inconsiderate B*******s

 

[cellie]

Drivers are unbelievable at times.

They give cyclists more room .Group wouldnt be good idea as she is highly strung tb and gets excited in lots of company .Back to basics for few weeks and hope I meet considerate motorbike driver the next time we are out in company.Im sure it was the noise as she has been so good in traffic.I cross main A road most days and she is excellent with lorries etc.
Hope you have better hack next time too

I never get off and lead I feel safer in he saddle

 

[canteron]

Just a thought. Without meaning to I desensitised my horses quite a lot to quad bikes.

When they are in the bottom fields, I take the quad bike with their hay, and consequently appear suddenly from behind a hedge loaded with goodies.

They now think quad bikes behind hedges mean food!!

If your son has a bike you might be able to put him to good use!!!!

 

[MochaDun]

Really feel for you, I had exactly the same thing on a very narrow track a couple of years ago. Could hear the stupid kid coming from miles off, I was approaching a bend and didn't have time to turn and get horse and I further away so tucked in to side as much as I could. He appeared, thought once about slowing (must have been doing horrendous speed) but both he and I knew he would be on the ground sliding towards us if he did brake so he kept on coming, engine roaring. Horse went up and spun round as he went past, a matter of feet between us, I stayed on. My legs were absolute jelly...the guy then reached the end of the track and thought about coming back the same way at same speed - I turned my horse at right angles and blocked the path and screamed at him about how he was going to kill somebody. Just a young teenager (which means no tax, plates, insurance) and I think shocked him with my anger but it worked. He then followed me and horse back along path quietly, and apologised profusely when we reached the end and went our separate ways. Motorised vehicles and bikes banned on that path too which was the biggest joke!

Aside from that my horse had big issue with quad bikes but there was one on the yard and seeing it going back and forth regularly really helped him. Gentle regular exposure to the scary things seems to help though obviously you don't want to be exposed to that idiot on the scramble bike again. I hope you both recover your nerves soon.

 

[PeterNatt]

I would also suggest that you regularly go out with a bombroof schoolmaster which will not react to motorbikes etc. This will help to make your horse more confident when hacking out.

Also when you hack out always ensure that you and your horse wear Hi-Viz including a long sleeved Hi-Viz jacket so that your hand signals can be seen by other road users.

Also take the bHS Road Safety course and exam as this will teach you additional skills for riding on the roads including the correct hand signals to ask motorsists to stop and slow down.

 

[Box_Of_Frogs]

Cellie hun, what a terrible fright for you and your horse. But I'm just going to tell it a different way.

You took your horse out today for a hack. You've put a huge amount of work into getting her to hack out alone and to be brave with things that frighten her. Today, you met a thoughtless and stupid motor bike rider and his actions really frightened your mare. But even though you were frightened too, you sat calmly while your mare panicked a bit. She must have remembered a lot of what you have taught her because she didn't tank off and she eventually settled enough for you to make your wobbly way home. Thank goodness you had put all that work in!

Give yourself a hug. You did brilliantly. Don't let it get to you any more though hun or your girl will pick up your vibes and it will become a big thing. She did you proud by listening to you even though she was very worried. Onward and upward! xxx