Feel so disheartened....(follow on from hacking woes thread)

E

el_Snowflakes

Well-Known Member
Joined
28 May 2009
Messages
3,318
Visit site
Hi again all,

For those of you who hadnt read the previous thread here is the link ...............http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=479772

Well i went out today with my mare and we didnt even get as far as the 'scary' stretch of road before she decided she was not going any further and spun to come home:( i spun her straight back round and kicked her on so she threatened to rear and went into reverse. I refused to have a fight with her so calmly got off and led her. She was a bit snorty at first (looking in bushes etc) but ok. We even got followed by a playful puppy who kept jumping up at her and she was fine:) well on the way home she sped up (so i kept halting her and making her walk at my pace) I led her for ages as i couldnt find anywhere to remount from but managed to stand on a big rock on the way home (3rd attempt- 1st one resulted in my bashing my knee:(). Well as soon as i was on her she was throwing her head when i asked her to slow down and when i told her to halt at a juction she had none of it so i tried to circle her back to the start position and she threatened to rear and STORMED accross the road (thankfully no cars) I made her take a slight detour-no problems....then i asked her to walk straight past the driveway to get her listening but no she threatened me with this rearing nonsense. I hopped off and was incredibly tired and frustrated but was will to lead her along the road but no, she started backing up so i walloped her accross the behind with my schooling whip....by this time i was in tears and walked her back to the school where I tied her (still tacked up ) outside her stable while i had a cigarrette and allowed myself a deep breath. I then remounted and took her in the school but i was so frustrated and upset about the thought of having to sell her that i just got off. I then lunged her and did some in hand work which was ok....I just feel incredibly frustrated and dont know what to do. I have got the number of an instuctor who i hope can help me. I just dont feel like i can cope with this alone- any words of wisdom or a kick up the rear needed! thanks for getting this far ;)
 
You sound like you could do with some help with her, is there an instructor or somebody who is willing to get her to go forward that isnt afraid to push her on when she threatens to rear? sounds as though she has you just where she wants you.
If she where mine and she knew i was frightened of her i would get someone in to help :)

ETA sorry just seen your bit about the instructor - give them a ring
 
Give the instructor a ring.

At first when I read it I thought she might be genuinly scared to be out and about, but reading it for a 2nd time, she is being plain rude and taking advantage of you.

Well done though for seeing it through, not sure I would be so brave
 
agree with cob - when my boy was bad hacking out, refusing to lead the yard my instructor got on him and really sorted.him out. Helped me no end and we then spent ages with me riding him and out of the yard gate (which he hated) again and again with her there shouting encouragement and reminding just what to do when he was being silly (when your scared you do tend to forget),
With persistence you will get this sorted x
 
You have just described a similar hack to mine this morning, minus the rearing and me having to get off. Add in a few cars having to reverse out the way and her trying to make herself look small and banana shaped past whatever it was that frightened her every 10 seconds and hey presto, we could both hack out together and look like right numptys:(
 
Getting help is a good idea to get over these initial issues safely and will set you both up well for the future.

Sorry if you've aleready covered this on your other thread but presumably you've had everything checked out to make sure there aren't any physical issues going on to cause this behaviour?
 
:( chin up , phone the instructor and get yourself some help, in the meantime take a break from hacking and do some schooling so that you don't feel like you're in a constant battle with your girl:)
 
Well done for sticking it through! It takes guts and know you are doing the right thing, no matter how much of a battle it feels. :)

Also well done too for not being ashamed for getting off and leading, I would do that and still do simply because mine has more confidence when he's scared of something, he likes to see me and all!
 
You have just described my horse when I first got him, and if you read some of my posts from earlier, you will see I had the same problems and issues, not to mention starting to lose confidence.

First of all, I started schooling him in a "safe" area, this to get him listening and to help me get used to him. I then got some friends to hack out with me to try to see if it was him just being plain rude, or whether he had some confidence issues himself. This also helped me see how good he can be and help me to decide whether it was worth persevering or whether I should just sell him!

Then I also started doing groundwork with him, getting him used to me and getting him to trust me.

I then got my mum to walk out with me instead of going out with another horse, and gradually made him take the lead more and more. This also helped as she could shout instructions to me from the ground when he started rearing and backing up.

when he started backing up, ~I made it uncomfortable for him to do so, so using my stick down his shoulder and kicking him forward. He reversed himself into a barbed wire fence one day and caught his backside on it - since doing that, he has stopped reversing!! When he goes up, as soon as his feet touch the ground, I do what you do and circle him then ask him to move forwards, repeating this if he goes up again.

Yesterday we hacked out on our own for the first time and he was fab.

Sorry for the long post, but thats what has worked for us in what sounds like a similar situation. Good luck!
 
Your horse's behaviour sounds very similar to my previous horse! I had everything under the sun checked with no joy...teeth, tack, back, changed feed, kept in, kept out, hundreds of lessons, calmers.....
We would start the hack quite nicely but 10 minutes in she would jog, go sideways and often stop and refuse to carry on, spinning round and then when she would carry on she would race down the road at speed! Stopping at junctions was horrendous she would threaten to rear when you asked her to halt, and more often than not would plunge across the road. Her head would be in the air and she actually made my nose bleed smacking me in the face once. I wasn't afraid of her and would push her on, being really firm and really persevered. most of the time she wouldn't actually rear very high I think she was mostly threatening and being stroppy.
However once my daughter who was 7 at the time started hacking out off the lead rein with me I realised that I couldn't risk hacking on a horse like her with my child in tow and she had to go. Fortunately she was on loan, she went back and her owner has sold her on to a competitive home where I think she will thrive.
I love hacking its my main pleasure but that wasn't fun at all .my instructor had worked with us for 2 years and things improved hugely in the school but hacking she was still a nightmare. I now have a new mare who is a joy to hack.
Sorry not to be more positive,I hope you get things sorted out and would definately enlist help from a good instructor and ask her to hack to horse for you, with you on another horse if you can borrow one....my instructor didn't realise how hard my horse was to deal with til she had seen it for her self. Good luck x
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top