Eeeep...hacked out Trev this morning. What to do...??

catembi

catembi

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I thought it was time we ventured off the property to see what Trevor was like out hacking. Aimed for an early start this morning as the road past our house can be a bit manic, & if o/h had to scrape me off the road, I'd rather not get run over as well.

So off we went kitted out in our fluoro gear, plus martingale for safety, & o/h on foot just in case. Adrian was in his stable to stop him galloping around the field screaming, & gave him some food just as we were leaving to encourage him to keep quiet. (Which didn't work as food doesn't last long with him.)

Trev was very tense...okay with 'hazards' such as joggers & cars but after 50 m he planted & had a good old panic attack. Going backwards, threatening to rear, tossing his head. I tried reversing him in the direction I wanted to go, but he wasn't having it.

Headed back towards home & tried walking him up a farm track nearly opposite the house just to get him off the road, but he wasn't having that either. Got maybe 25 m before he went berserk.

So went back home & took him in the school & he was perfect. So now we have another thing to add to the list of things he won't do. I was really hoping that he'd hack as there is a show centre about a mile away that does regular beginners' xc & sj, & I was hoping that would be do-able.

The only thing I can think of trying is for someone to lead Jenny out so he can follow, the problem being that Jenny at the age of 37 gets tired v quickly, plus she must be the only horse on this Earth that's slower than Adrian. Or for someone to ride Adrian, the problem being that he & Trev hate each other (apart from when I'm trying to take Trev off the yard, at which point they're inseparable) so it might be tricky trying to take a lead from something that's trying to kick Trev's head in. Plus Adrian, when he's decided he's done enough, will suddenly squeal & start bucking, & his buck is like an ejector seat, so it would have to be someone who can sit tight.

I'm not sure I like the idea of taking out 2 horses who hate each other, one of which is very nervous & the other who will suddenly throw the toys out for no good reason.

Or I could just abandon hacking as well.

Feeling quite disheartened, tbh. I thought that the biggest challenge with my racer would be reschooling to BD/BS, but that's going to be the easiest bit. The problem is going to be getting him to comps & getting any sense out of him...OMG from this morning's behaviour, we'd last about a nanosecond in a BS warmup... I really, really dread to think how he'd behave at a comp, but I s'pose by the time he's learnt to go in the lorry or hack up the road, he's gonna be about 25, so perhaps old age will take the edge off...
 
Flippin' horses!! Is there anyone local who can hack to or box to you and go out together - the exciting new friend approach?

Re the boxing - my friend had the ability to turn her ex-racer away for 6months then basically rebroke her and took her hunting a few times so had other horses on the lorry which seemed to "cure" her of the exit through the jockey door dramas :rolleyes:
 
Bloody horses!

If you're around during the week although I'm hardly an exciting hacking companion I could bring over an extremely sensible mare who won't take a lot of notice of your lad's antics and certainly won't feel inclined to emulate them. She's also a brilliant loader and traveller so we could try loading her and him to see if that helps with his lorry fears.
 
Im sorry to hear you had trouble but TBH im not surprised it happened.

Racehorses always go out in a string, he's probably never hacked alone before!! Also you havent taken him any where different except your school so hes going to be insecure and spooky going somewhere different alone.

I think you need to take up the offer of a nanny horse to hack with. I bet going behind he will be fine.. you then need to get him used to going in front before venturing out alone. You have to treat him like a baby in this respect.

Also unfortunatly you turned him around so he's going to be 10x worse next time...

My past 2 ex racers learnt to hack in company first before going alone. My current one, the first time we went alone we had a few tantrums. I was scared but I had to sit tight, use my whip (just a little bit) and ride through it. Once they gain trust in you they are great hacks as traffic ect usually never bothers them.

My mums ex-chaser used to just stop and not move! She did the circling trick and that worked with him.

He just needs training to hack. I would get the nanny horse to help me first and then I would practise going up the track alone for 10/15 mins and then round a field or something. Only when he can do that would I take him out for a proper hack alone. If he did start napping even if you are taking it slowly you are going to have to be firm and never let him get away with it.

Sorry about the loading thing.. again hes probably been travelled in a large lorry with lots of other horses before. You need to get him travelling with a friend again and then get him used to being in the lorry alone.. e.g feeding him in there every night or something before trying to take him somewhere alone. Just break it all down into small steps.

In some ways he's like a just backed horse..
 
I could come down with a nanny horse if you want? Pip is super-nanny for that kind of thing. Just say the word.
 
The lady I bought him from said she'd been doing loads of hacking with him alone & he was absolutely fine, and stupidly I believed her, so this morning's antics were quite a surprise. He is very chilled in the school.

The thing is, there is no track... The one I used is private property & I shouldn't have been on there at all, but it was early so no-one saw me. (The owner is very anti-horse.) There is a fast road running past the house and there are no bridleways for about a mile. He has to get to the crossroads, turn right & go another 1/2 mile to get to a bridleway, therefore any hysterics are going to be with cars whizzing past at 60.

I can't box him to the safe offroad hacking in the next village because he doesn't load, or rather, he *does* load but will stay loaded for about 2 seconds before going nuts...and I *mean* nuts.

And I couldn't really *not* have turned around. The last time I hacked Adrian out, he had a nap attack, which turned into the bucking broncos, but it's one thing to deal with a naughty horse & another thing entirely to deal with one that's having a genuine panic attack on the road. We are both still alive & unhurt, & as soon as we were back on the yard, he was perfectly calm & happy to work.

Thank you everyone for offers of hacking companions, but logistics make it hard as I work in the City during the week, so I don't get back here til 5.50. Will have to have a think about what to do for the best, but the road means that there is no margin for error.
 
Quite a lot of horses will follow a person almost as willingly as they will follow another horse - could you get someone to walk out with you if it is difficult to get a horsey companion for hacking?
 
catembi said:
The lady I bought him from said she'd been doing loads of hacking with him alone & he was absolutely fine, and stupidly I believed her, so this morning's antics were quite a surprise. He is very chilled in the school.
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It's not impossible that in a familiar place going round familiar routes he was OK.

It is quite typical of ex racers, after alot of work Frankie is much better than he was and someone seeing us wouldn't think he has problems. However in a new situation or if I haven't been out for a while he can revert.

When I first got him, I always did new routes with another horse so he knew them well before we tried on our own.
He plants and if pushed runs backwards. He is not fooled by the reversing him the way you want to go trick so I tend to sit it out not letting him go backwards or sideways, just quietly keeping the pressure on till he gives up which he always does in the end.

The other thing that helps us is really going somewhere right from the start. As long as ground allows picking up a good trot gets him in a forward thinking mode.

If he doesn't respond to someone on the ground then you are going to have to find a way of getting him chaperoned. Even if you work, the nights are longer so plenty of time for someone to box over and hack with you after work or there's the weekends. Just until he know the route.


Good luck.
 
Someone on the ground can quite often be helpful - when my old horse was only ridden occasionally my OH used to come out on foot with us and it helped.

It is a shame your road is so busy as long reining may have been an option but obviously not as you haven't got any where safe to do it.

I hope you get it sorted.
 
Thank you everyone... I did have o/h with me...when hacking Adrian or Catembi, he used to go out on his mountain bike & I used to trot along behind. This morning, he was on foot because if it all went a bit wrong I thought the bike would be one more thing to worry about.

Trev def wasn't up for taking a lead from a person. Wouldn't follow, wouldn't be led & was v adamant about it.

Trev only has 2 moods really - one is chilled & the other is flat-out panic, & once he's panicking he loses all rationality. In the early days, he threw himself on the floor because of something v trivial e.g. I turned Jenny out & he was tied up outside the stable & couldn't see where she went. I think it's going to be a case of coaxing & trying to stay within his comfort zone as once he's flipped, there really is absolutely nothing to work with, & he certainly has no sense of self preservation.

He's learnt v fast that it's no big deal being tied up while the others are in, out or whatever, so I'm hoping that he'll be okay once he's worked out that there's nothing to worry about.
 
How would he be to lead out from the yard on your hacking route? To show him there's nothing to worry about?
 
H'mm...not sure. I know it sounds feeble, but that road really isn't fun. I used to hack out 3 x week four or 5 years ago when the horses were in DIY on a farm & I could get straight out onto the tracks. Now that they live at home, I only tend to venture out once or twice a month, with o/h in front, also in fluoro, as people tend to slow down slightly better with 2 of us.
 
Not feeble at all - most Cambs roads are pretty horrific, I'm sure there is an unwritten "minimum speed" that i don't know about :rolleyes:
 
Yeah, ex-racer, but his last owner said that he hacks fine alone.

JoG, I think you're right about that minimum speed thing. Where we were before, cars used to slow RIGHT down, but here they blast past, barely swerving to avoid us. There is also a natural hazard at the top of the road in the form of a field of donkeys. Sometimes they're miles away & grazing, or sometimes the whole herd is galloping about braying.

Didn't get near enough for it to be immediately life threatening today!!
 
His last race was Oct 09, then a lady bought him as a project as her eventer was lame. She did very little with him due to snow, then her eventer went sound earlier than expected, so she didn't want her project any more.

So I s'pose he's not long off the track. When he's chilled, he's so good that you'd never imagine that he could behave as if he's had a lobotomy.
 
I know how soul destroying it is. I have Sovereign who will go anywhere I ask on his own (he prefers company but will go alone) without much drama or incident. Or Emerald who if he doesn't go on the same hack every single day will have a complete canary fit which can include one or all of: rooting, reversing, leaping up/down/sideways/forwards/backwards.
We do now after 2 years have 3 small 45 minute hacks we can do on our own, although sometimes we are thwarted by imaginary TB eating monsters!
Even if he hates Adrian, they will still be better together, just try to do 30 minutes at a time, and then when Trev has done it a few times with company try him alone. Then try a new hack with Adrian accompanying him and do the same again.
 
Have yu tried putting Adrian on the lorry with him, as someone else said maybe the compant will work. If you can get him to eat on there might help him, will adrian stay on the lorry by himself at a show?
 
Really feel for you on this one. I am very lucky with my older boy who is exactly the same alone or in company, and fine in even the heaviest traffic, but am currently working up to taking youngster out alone... We also have a fast road outside our yard that we have no alternative to, and I will actually go through the hassle of loading up and boxing elsewhere to avoid that road, will hack 4 year old anywhere else but that road really freaks me out!! Which in turn is clearly going to freak him out....

If I were you I would probably forget hacking for the time being if you only ever hack a couple of times a month anyway, and focus on the boxing.... suggestions of company or feeding sound wise. Then if you can crack the travelling you can box him to other places and initially ride in their schools maybe, then venture out for an accompanied hack?
 
At least it doesn't sound as if I'm the only one who's having this problem!

Perhaps you're right...concentrate on the loading first & then worry about hacking. I don't like hacking at all because of the road. The most convenient round-trip hack involves going up the road to the crossroads by the donkey field, turning right, going up a road for another mile, turning left at the next crossroads, then back on the bridleway parallel to the road until most of the way back to the first crossroads. That stretch of bridleway has 7 gates on it, all of which are s*ds to open, so I need o/h on his bike.

The whole thing is an ordeal & I'm always pleased to be back still alive.

I've decided that we're going to do that new dressage comp where you video your test & e-mail it in. All we need is for them to do one for jumping & we'll be sorted... :-)
 
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