Iznurgle
Well-Known Member
I have a 5 year old connie gelding, who's a complete boy. Quite playful, independent, green but coming on great in the school and on the ground (unless there's a new horse in the arena with him, he's quite insistent that he should get to come over and say hello). Hacking in company he's fine, clearly pulls confidence from the other horses, but happy enough to toddle along and even get left a little behind without getting flustered. On his own however, he's a total monkey! He'll plant, any attempt to push him on (hands forward, seat pushing, squeezing with the lower leg, even a few pony club kicks if there's a car waiting for us!) usually results in a fair pace backwards. He'll try to turn, end up sideways across the (thankfully quiet, horse conscious) laneways, and will pop a few small knee-high rears.
I carry one of the padded short sticks, and will tap him on the shoulder to minimise the turning, but between the backwards and the rearing, I'm at a bit of a loss. I've hand walked him in tack and in just a headcollar, not a bother. Long lining down the road? Total disaster. Under saddle? I count myself lucky if we get 200m out of the yard and 10 good steps continuously. I'm not in a position where we can do looped hacks, and it's roads for about 2km to the nearest off road area in both directions.
This is clearly a learned behaviour, as when he first arrived he was happy to go for a pootle alone or with someone on the ground walking next to us (or behind, or in front!). I'm kicking myself for not keeping better notes, but I think he started becoming nappy when a farmer next door left a roller in a field along the drive, and it blew his mind. About once a week we go out in hand, marching up and down the road, very confident, very curious, but under saddle he's just a sod. With Summer here, we can also ride in a field used as a polocrosse pitch, but to get there we need to head down a lane (still on the yard) to the field, and the same behaviour happens there. The lane we go down is the exact same one he uses on turn in/out.
I'm quite certain it's not fear, and I'm happy that his tack fits and he's not in pain (saddler, physio, dentist etc. all up to date and no issues in the arena) and he's completely sound, fully shod with road pins as it's quite hilly. Obviously I'm not expecting a quick fix, but I've overthought it to the point where I can't even be bothered trying to think of a solution, everything seems too overwhelming. It's not the end of the world if he never hacks alone, but I'm thinking of what happens if we go schooling somewhere.
I've not been forcing him, I've been reassuring and cooing and praising him for being good, and staying calm and tactical when he acts up, but it's wearing me down. I'm certainly sick of the arena! I've picked up some of the Premiere Performance calming cookies and I'll be giving him half of one today to see how it hits him, and once I'm happy with how he feels on them, I was going to try another short hack after he's had one, but at this point I'm anxious at the thought.
Apologies for the length and possible rambling, but can anyone even point me in the right direction of what to be thinking of and what to be doing? Thank you!
I carry one of the padded short sticks, and will tap him on the shoulder to minimise the turning, but between the backwards and the rearing, I'm at a bit of a loss. I've hand walked him in tack and in just a headcollar, not a bother. Long lining down the road? Total disaster. Under saddle? I count myself lucky if we get 200m out of the yard and 10 good steps continuously. I'm not in a position where we can do looped hacks, and it's roads for about 2km to the nearest off road area in both directions.
This is clearly a learned behaviour, as when he first arrived he was happy to go for a pootle alone or with someone on the ground walking next to us (or behind, or in front!). I'm kicking myself for not keeping better notes, but I think he started becoming nappy when a farmer next door left a roller in a field along the drive, and it blew his mind. About once a week we go out in hand, marching up and down the road, very confident, very curious, but under saddle he's just a sod. With Summer here, we can also ride in a field used as a polocrosse pitch, but to get there we need to head down a lane (still on the yard) to the field, and the same behaviour happens there. The lane we go down is the exact same one he uses on turn in/out.
I'm quite certain it's not fear, and I'm happy that his tack fits and he's not in pain (saddler, physio, dentist etc. all up to date and no issues in the arena) and he's completely sound, fully shod with road pins as it's quite hilly. Obviously I'm not expecting a quick fix, but I've overthought it to the point where I can't even be bothered trying to think of a solution, everything seems too overwhelming. It's not the end of the world if he never hacks alone, but I'm thinking of what happens if we go schooling somewhere.
I've not been forcing him, I've been reassuring and cooing and praising him for being good, and staying calm and tactical when he acts up, but it's wearing me down. I'm certainly sick of the arena! I've picked up some of the Premiere Performance calming cookies and I'll be giving him half of one today to see how it hits him, and once I'm happy with how he feels on them, I was going to try another short hack after he's had one, but at this point I'm anxious at the thought.
Apologies for the length and possible rambling, but can anyone even point me in the right direction of what to be thinking of and what to be doing? Thank you!
