Hacking issues- dropping behind contact, jogging and not halting- help

[charlie76]

I hack a horse for a friend who has always been a good boy to hack but the last 2 or 3 times I have ridden him out, whether alone or in company, on the way home he drops behind the bridle and half jogs. I have tried taking more contact- this makes it worse, if I use more leg he either jogs faster or trots off, if I give him a long rein he trots off( at speed!)
He also fidgets at road junctions and starts reversing, bouncing up and down or swings his quaters. Again, if I put more leg on he shoots forward- not ideal on the road and if I take more contact we just bounce or reverse even faster.
When I ride him in the school he halts like a star and will stand for as long as I want with or without a contact. He also is working well in the school and does not jog so I can't try and correct him in this safer enviroment.
Any ideas of how to stop this?
Yesterday I tried turning him back away from home everytime he jogged or refused to halt but this made him even more wound up!
I also took him back in the school after his hack and took him out again on the roads once I had got him to a more secure contact in the arena- he was good for a bit but then started again.
Help

 

[Madam_max]

Oh god I tried the turning away from home once-NEVER AGAIN!!!!

 

[Shilasdair]

If a good horse starts misbehaving unexpectedly, I think you have to check him for physiological changes (lameness, sore back, different saddle) or psychological changes (reduced turnout, had an unpleasant experience, separation anxiety).

As to the ridden aspects - if he over reacts to the leg, you must use MORE not less....until he accepts it (or he will train you to sit with your legs out in space

) and the same with the rein contact. Ride him strongly forward into the bit. If he jogs, halt him, then give the rein and walk forwards...as soon as he bobs into jog mode, halt again, then give the rein (use your legs) and walk forwards. Distract him by leg yield, shoulder in, etc.
Hope this helps
S

 

[charlie76]

Shilasdair - checked all of that and there is nothing wrong, also he is not misbehaving in the school.
He is the same if alone or in company- at the back, front or middle and I use different routes.
I do have a consistant leg on him the whole time and I keep him on a contact.If I try and keep his attention by doing other things such as leg yield ect he over reacts which causes a problem on the road- he is happy to perform these movements in the school

 

[Madam_max]

My mare used to be terrible like this exactly the same. If you asked her to leg yield etc it made her worse. I spent a whole summer of just hacking her and she packed it in. However, sometimes she trys it on.

 

[Shilasdair]

[ QUOTE ]
If I try and keep his attention by doing other things such as leg yield ect he over reacts which causes a problem on the road- he is happy to perform these movements in the school

[/ QUOTE ]

Over-reacting is an evasion - by doing so, you then back off...possibly because you don't want to be squashed by an HGV or similar

You need to keep your leg/rein aid on and ride him through the over-reaction/evasion.
Perhaps it might be worth long reining him to see what he does?
Either that or give up hacking him....as there is no miracle solution

S

 

[muddy_grey]

Has anything else changed? ie feed, less hacking, new clip etc. If not then he could just be a bit fresh at the moment. My old TB used to jog home sometimes and it was really annoying so I used to trot home. Ebery so often I would walk, but if he jogged we trotted again. It certainly wasn't a magic cure, but did stop me getting annoyed.

 

[loobiloo]

My mare does exactly the same. It is so unnerving on the road. We jogged all the way round on a hack the other day - all I wanted to do was get off but I couldn't because I couldn't stop! (which is a good thing because I know if I had it would have been ten times worse the next time I rode). Like your horse, she is good as gold in the school so it's really difficult to solve. Is there a short hack you can do? I have changed the bit to one a bit harsher so it's made her easier to stop jogging and have gone on a short hack regularly where I have solely concentrated on this behaviour. Now she's getting better with the jogging I'm going to tackle her impatience at junctions. It's such a shame that she has turned like this as she was 200% on roads until now but I know why she has so it has made it easier to tackle. I've also given her a supplement which has helped loads. Maybe try a calmer?

 

[Mooch]

Oh hun I know how you feel.

My mare disgraced herself on Saturday.

She hadn't been ridden for 3 weeks, as I had been really poorly for a week and then had my kids off for Christmas.

I knew she would be fresh and knew she would nap on the way home if I turned her around or she guessed where she was!

I decided to go on a round root to avoide any issues, ha how foolish was I!

On the way out I was really pleased with her and was enjoying the fact that she is more forward going now and thinking what an improvement she had made.

We then went down by a pool and I underestimated the amount of water that would be coming out from it! (Milly doesn't do water!!!) The water was gushing under the road into an overfill pool and she was on her toes, so I pushed her on and let her go next to the farm buildings. She was miffed but we carried on.

To cut a long story short she then spooked at some cows that she hadn't seen and then flipped at the ford! ( my mistake for taking her towards it

) She spun round and headed for home! Every time I tried to turn her back along the lane we had loads of sillyness.

I made the choice to let her go back the way we had came as noone knew where I was and not a lot of people go along there. We jogged most of the way back to the farm and once she had gone past the water she settled more.

Well, until further along the lane when she decided it would be fun to canter on the lane!!! Such poor manners!

She didn't do it just once, but decided to canter sideways towards the shooting party exiting from the field just before home!

I did my best Pidge 'tttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttrot' and she did trot, but I was not amused!

The following day I took her out the other way around the same route as she had not gone that way before and she was miffed when we got to the point where the ford is. She didn't do anything silly but we did come back a little faster!

I know with Milly it is just the fact that she hasn't been out and is full of feed, so the sillyness will stop with more work as she is a lazy cow at the best of times.

Like you we wouldn't have any of this in a school. Just her leaning on my hands instead!

I am determined to get her over her water issues this year, but will hopefully develope it more when it is safer for me to do so!

I know some people won't condone the way I dealt with the issue, but I have to put my kids first and that means getting me home safely.