Hacking help needed

Becca2403

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I have 3 geldings, 2 of which are really good to hack out (minus some scary yellow objects and the odd falling leaf spooking them), they are excellent with gates, my 16year old gelding is used as a nanny horse, is used to a steam train passing within 3 feet of us, and doesn't blink an eye in the heaviest of traffic. I backed and broke him myself, and taught him everything he knows, and yet I have hit a roadblock with my new gelding. He's 7, was backed at 4, turned away until 6 months ago :-0 (shocker I know), and then I bought him last month. He is an avid napper, its his favourite hobby on a hack, which I can deal with, as we are always in company. But I cannot get him near enough to a gate to open it. When I do, as soon as I go to grab the handle, he backs up at speed, regardless of what is behind us (a drop, another horse, a tree, a lake) and spins. I cannot figure him out. He is happy for me to do them on foot, and he is happy to go through them when someone else opens them, he even lets me push them shut, just not OPEN them!
Help?
 
Is he scared of the gate? Can you open/close them on the ground whilst manoeuvring him through as you would if you were doing it mounted.
Are you unbalancing him and scaring him?

Mine is similar in his dislike for opening gates. I can close them, but not open them as he gets daft and starts getting over excitable. However, when hacking alone, he's a perfect gent with gates of all descriptions!!
 
He's absolutely fine on the ground, I manoeuvre him as if I was riding him and he even gives them a little shove with his nose if I'm not quick enough to close them! Its driving me insane. His last owner has started teaching him rein back before he had started moving off from the leg, which was the start of his napping and going backwards a speed, the more leg you use to push forward, the faster he goes. I'm starting to think he assumes I'm ASKING him to go back when I reach for the handle of the gate!
 
Training, training, training. You need to do gate opening and shutting with him until he finds it mind numbingly dull. Start off with him in-hand if that gives him confidence and with a gate that he's used to and is in a safe, contained area (hopefully you will have something like that at the yard). When you move onto a 'new' gate, expect to have to go back a few stages.
 
Does the size (width) of the gate make any difference?

Mine will do full size field gates no problem. Narrower gates are a different story though, i have to get off and lead her through (she gets very upset if I persist from on board, I do wonder if she once knocked herself in a narrow gateway before I had her, because she does seem genuinely scared). Frustratingly, there don't seem to be any medium sized gates to practice with getting her used to smaller ones, they're all either full size or narrow.
 
Does the size (width) of the gate make any difference?

Mine will do full size field gates no problem. Narrower gates are a different story though, i have to get off and lead her through (she gets very upset if I persist from on board, I do wonder if she once knocked herself in a narrow gateway before I had her, because she does seem genuinely scared). Frustratingly, there don't seem to be any medium sized gates to practice with getting her used to smaller ones, they're all either full size or narrow.

No, he's not fussed, big or small they all want to eat him!
 
I have a pony similar, except he's a tiny pony so easier to boss about when he tries to spin and bolt. I've figured he thinks he's going to get hit when they are opening towards him. He's fine with them being shut too, even if I slam them a little too enthusiastically.

Try to make some mock up "gates" at home. Use wings, barrels, get inventive. Get him used to you leaning over side to side, having things being pulled towards him. Those pool sausages have endless uses, you could use one to make the arm of a "gate" or tape a load to some jump wings and have him walk through it. Stop and grab them towards him.

Then slowly try to bring some training into your hacks. Dismount, and try from the ground first. Practice it as if you were on his back. Pulling the gate towards you first, holding it, pivoting around the open gate while still holding it, then close it. Once you have done it a few times try it on board. If it's too much, go back a step and do it in the ground. Don't be afraid to go back, just warn your company this is going to be an aim of your hack and your going to spend a while working with your horse - I'm sure they'll understand - means you won't be reversing into them and they won't always be the one having to get gates! :-)
 
I have a pony similar, except he's a tiny pony so easier to boss about when he tries to spin and bolt. I've figured he thinks he's going to get hit when they are opening towards him. He's fine with them being shut too, even if I slam them a little too enthusiastically.

Try to make some mock up "gates" at home. Use wings, barrels, get inventive. Get him used to you leaning over side to side, having things being pulled towards him. Those pool sausages have endless uses, you could use one to make the arm of a "gate" or tape a load to some jump wings and have him walk through it. Stop and grab them towards him.

Then slowly try to bring some training into your hacks. Dismount, and try from the ground first. Practice it as if you were on his back. Pulling the gate towards you first, holding it, pivoting around the open gate while still holding it, then close it. Once you have done it a few times try it on board. If it's too much, go back a step and do it in the ground. Don't be afraid to go back, just warn your company this is going to be an aim of your hack and your going to spend a while working with your horse - I'm sure they'll understand - means you won't be reversing into them and they won't always be the one having to get gates! :-)
THANKYOU so much for that advice, didn't even think of those pool noodle things! my mum is normally my company on my old bombproof pony, who's been our nanny horse for the last 10 years, so no worry that my company will get annoyed haha
I'll be going to buy some pool noodles tomorrow!!!
 
Are you facing the gate when trying to open them? Is it worth doing them side on instead? I wonder if your weight going forward to grab the gate is similar to the aids the previous owner used when teaching him rein back which is why he seems confused.
 
Are you facing the gate when trying to open them? Is it worth doing them side on instead? I wonder if your weight going forward to grab the gate is similar to the aids the previous owner used when teaching him rein back which is why he seems confused.
I always teach them to open gates side on. When I'm out with my friend she always faces her horses to the gates and it takes her several attempts to open them because of the horse backing up as she starts to pull the gate. I feel a lot more in control being side on and leg yielding with the gate.
 
As well as mocking some gate situations up in the school, see if there are any Trec or Working Equitation clinics around you. They have fake gates and will give you plenty of practice, as well as having a go at other interesting and mind bending obstacles for your youngster.

I have found Trec training very helpful in getting mine bombproof as well as good at tackling challenges when out hacking.
 
as some else said-small steps.

mine is younger- 4, but been under saddle longer and NO way could i open a gate off him yet.

i am thinking about it though, so am practicing leaning out and picking things up and down off fences or just holding the top rail and asking him to back up parallel to it etc so he gets used to my off centre weight as he moves.
 
I suspect it might be due to the back-up training he's had: it sounds as though he's confused by your aids as you go to open the gate and thinks he's being asked to rein back.
There have been some great suggestions so far: I'd add an intermediate step when you're out and about, to have someone riding him but not aiding, while someone else leads and controls him around the gate. Then you can gradually add in the rider's aids, with that support from the ground just to keep him 'anchored' to the gate and able to resist any backing up - just enough to reassure him that you don't want high-speed reverse!
 
So guys, thank you all for the support and help, today I bought some pool noodles, and went to the yard with mum, in the hope of getting him to stand patiently by a gate. We played with the pool noodles, he's a very inquisitive kind of boy, and eventually he got used to me moving my weight all around on him. Mum suggested I relax my reins a lot more, and it worked, not a single step back on our mock gate.
So we went out onto the yard to practice the real thing. The field gate. He knows the gate and feels comfortable with it, however it doesn't have a bridlepath lever, just the spring loaded bolt. AND WE DID IT. Perfectly! twice. Massive pats and a handful of minty treats later, and we moved onto another gate. Took him a few seconds to settle by the gate, and I had to put my faith in him when I relaxed my reins as a chainsaw started up, but we did that too! So we are going to try out on a hack on Wednesday with mum and our nanny horse!! So far so good!!! :)
 
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