Hacking Issues - Spooking/Spinning

[Horse_addict_0890]

Hi everyone,

I was hoping to see if anyone could help with some issues I am having with my horse. As a character, he is usually quite lazy and laid back, and needs lots of encouragement to go off my leg - he definitely isn't a sort I would describe as sharp or sensitive.

However, ever since I have owned him, when we are out hacking on our own, on the very odd occasion he takes a dislike to something very random, and goes from a very laid back, almost ploddy walk/trot/canter, to a sharp 180 spin, and then tries to charge off. At the beginning, I was sitting them and bringing him back to a halt and taking him back past with lots of encouragement and positive riding. However, this behaviour...although no more often....has started to get more extreme and I have now started to fall off. Once I have fallen off, I have tried holding onto him, but he is bolting back home, so for my own safety, I am having to let go.

I am a confident rider, and been riding all my life. I have ridden ex-racers and other more challenging horses and pride myself on having a fairly good seat, where I don't fall off too easily...but this is something else! The best way to describe it, is like him putting in a dirty stop at a fence...but you have no idea where that fence is...as there isn't one! It feels like he is dropping his shoulder, and grabbing the opposite rein, leaving me with nowhere to go but the side door. This behaviour only happens whilst we are hacking along lanes or in the fields - he is as good as gold when we are on roads.

The thing I can't get my head around is the randomness to this, as he can literally go a month (sometimes even longer) without doing it. He is in a good routine, where he is ridden 5-6 times per week, which involves mostly hacking with a bit of lunging, and I also try and get him to shows every couple of weekends, where he behaves impeccably and really looks after me. It is also equally puzzling that 90% of the time, he is a pretty lazy, backwards thinking horse - there are no other occasions where I have experienced this sharper more forward side to him.

He was hunted a lot when he was much younger, so I have been advised that this could be down to lack of respect, and that I need to get a lot tougher with him, but this doesn't help me try and find a way of staying on and disciplining the behaviour on that odd day when he decides to behave like this.

I am not a huge fan of chucking loads of extra bits of tack on him to stop this behaviour. I feel I need to try understand why he is doing it and working with him to help solve the issue.

If anyone has experienced similar issues and has any useful tips or advise you can give me, I would be super grateful.

Thanks!

 

[Michen]

Sounds like its become a habit, almost a form of nappiness. I'd put him on the long reins with two handlers if need be so that when he spins he is not getting away with dumping a rider and bombing off, he's being held on to and has to continue the ride. Might just break the habit. I assume he doesn't do it in company?

 

[MotherOfChickens]

my old horse did this-he was was 100% in traffic and (I believe) not scared of anything but occasionally he would throw a spin in that would make your eyes water and bog off. I'd had him from a youngster and he was a very quiet 4yo, started this at 5. he was also very short in the neck lol. he wasn't nappy though, he was pretty forward going and sharp generally.

honestly?I had to learn to ride it even after I thought I'd sorted it in the long reins. I always rode him fairly defensively-no going half to sleep on a hack because I swear he would put one in to wake me up. he eventually gave it up and actually didn't do it the last few years at all-even when faced with new scary stuff (like a pony and trap towing three shetlands). one of the last ones he did was at a blackbird flying out from behind some corrugated iron-I swear that every time we passed it even years later, he would cock his head at it and give a wee toss of his head. At the end I classed him as the perfect hack-completely reliable, I just never took him for granted but heaps of fun.

 

[be positive]

Sounds like its become a habit, almost a form of nappiness. I'd put him on the long reins with two handlers if need be so that when he spins he is not getting away with dumping a rider and bombing off, he's being held on to and has to continue the ride. Might just break the habit. I assume he doesn't do it in company?

I would agree if he did it often enough, as it is only once in a while it would take a lot of long reining to see if it worked, personally I would put on a martingale, something to hold onto as much as anything else, if you don't already use one, and work on getting him in front of your leg, school him out hacking especially off road where he is known to try it on, get tough and don't let him or you switch off, sharp horses are easier to deal with in many ways as you are always sitting there expecting something so tend to be able to stop it or stick with them when they do spin round.
Make sure your stirrups are not too long so you can get your weight into them and stay behind him rather than get tipped forward, obviously not too short either but too long and the chances are you will lose one as they drop their shoulder and move away from you, your core strength will be the key to staying on and don't worry about grabbing hold of the rein, the one he is going away from, as soon as he starts, if you can catch him quickly he may get a shock and stop in his tracks, they nearly always go the same way so keep your whip in the hand they go towards a slap down the shoulder can work if well timed.

Above all you need to stay as safe as possible, he also risks injury getting loose, so if a bit of kit will help then put it on, I have used running reins on some to stop them getting away from me in a similar way, going back to the girth under the saddle not between the legs, there is no shame in the correct use of something if it keeps you safe and helps stop bad habits.

 

[Horse_addict_0890]

No, you are right, he doesn't do it in company, hence why I think he is also foot perfect at shows etc. It is literally when he is on his own, that is the only common factor I can work with right now

 

[Horse_addict_0890]

That's good to hear that he eventually got bored and stopped doing it. You never know, the same might happen with mine. He is 10 now, so if it is a bad habit, it might take a bit of shifting!! Yeah I have been advised by other people to make sure we are both always working to keep his mind on me, so I have been trying to utilise that advise when I ride at the moment.

 

[Horse_addict_0890]

I would agree if he did it often enough, as it is only once in a while it would take a lot of long reining to see if it worked, personally I would put on a martingale, something to hold onto as much as anything else, if you don't already use one, and work on getting him in front of your leg, school him out hacking especially off road where he is known to try it on, get tough and don't let him or you switch off, sharp horses are easier to deal with in many ways as you are always sitting there expecting something so tend to be able to stop it or stick with them when they do spin round.
Make sure your stirrups are not too long so you can get your weight into them and stay behind him rather than get tipped forward, obviously not too short either but too long and the chances are you will lose one as they drop their shoulder and move away from you, your core strength will be the key to staying on and don't worry about grabbing hold of the rein, the one he is going away from, as soon as he starts, if you can catch him quickly he may get a shock and stop in his tracks, they nearly always go the same way so keep your whip in the hand they go towards a slap down the shoulder can work if well timed.

Above all you need to stay as safe as possible, he also risks injury getting loose, so if a bit of kit will help then put it on, I have used running reins on some to stop them getting away from me in a similar way, going back to the girth under the saddle not between the legs, there is no shame in the correct use of something if it keeps you safe and helps stop bad habits.

Yeah I currently ride him in a running martingale. Problem I find is that unless I am holding onto the martingale all the time, I always get caught unawares and don't have time to grab it. I appreciate your advice regarding the schooling. My other yard friends have said the same, to make sure he is listening to me and not making his own entertainment. I am trying to use schooling as a way of disciplining him - so for example when he looks at things or gets distracted, I am making him work in an outline straight away to put the focus back on me, but when he relaxes, I give him some contact back as a way of rewarding that behaviour - who knows if that will help!

Yeah you are absolutely right. I was quite surprised at how easily he throws me off, but it is the lack of preparation time to go from very slow to very quick in a split second lol.

I accept that I may need to utilise some more tack to assist me, as you are right - safety always comes first. Just need to find something that doesn't get in the way until I need it to. I have been advised to use draw reins. What is your take on those?

 

[be positive]

I would certainly think about using them, not as draw reins between the legs as you want to be able to use them when required but only lightly if at all the rest of the time, if they go back to the top of the girth it is far easier to avoid using them when you don't really want to, when they go down between the front legs it is far too easy to just reel them in and have the horse with it's head tied in, with one that is not forward in front of the leg that will not help get him up in front of you, one of mine always hacks in running reins, usually loose on his neck but there if required they can be picked up if he gets tense or I am suspicious of what is going on in his head.
They can be considered the work of the devil but like everything it is the person using them that is most important, I would prefer to use them in certain circumstances than stick stronger bits in, mine are all in snaffles and I rarely use anything else, my snaffle collection is extensive but I have only a few other bits, whereas some people think nothing of upping the bit to try and remain in control.

 

[Northern]

My mare has started doing this exact thing, right down to bogging off home! I had a think about it and changed a few things, lengthened my stirrups (jump saddle), added a martingale (also so she doesn't break any more bridles). I think with her it is lack of confidence (she is four), she was very spooked by a cyclist around a corner the other week. Because I rarely have someone to hack with, I make sure I ride her the entire time. Schooling, transitions, bending etc. It appears to be working so far, but haven't gone out on a proper hack alone yet (trying to find people to ride with to get her confidence up). I just have to call her bluff!

 

[LynH]

I've been having this issue with my mare and have been really struggling.
She started it in the warm up at dressage when she got scared by someone riding straight at her. She does it if anyone comes too close from the front but is fine from behind. Then it started on the road if a big truck came at her too fast. Then a couple of noisy but slower trucks, then all trucks. She also started with cars that wer far too fast, then cars that just weren't v slow and then most cars. She also does it with horses passing us out hacking. I get some warning as she tenses up but the actual moment she goes is so fast it's unseating although I've not yet come off.
As the traffic on our road has got worse she started it in the arena when she could hear trucks passing too fast. Now it's turned into her go to spook for anything. I've stopped hacking altogether but persisted with the warm ups which are tense but she's not done it for a while

I bought her as a bombproof schoolmistress and we have got her more forward and responsive but also the downside is she's much more reactive. If she has time off she's safer and she's been at the beginning of a session. The looser she gets the more she's likely to do it. It's not every ride so it's very hard to predict and be ready for. I've caught her a few times with the rein she spooks to usually left and then she shoots away from that rein. If I hold her so she can't go sideways she then will shoot forward and get in a panic, it's like she's expecting to be beaten for it when I've never done that. I suspect she may have been properly told off for it before I got her as she really panics if you catch her with the reins on her neck.

My trainer has also ridden her when she does it and we have really struggled to stop her doing it. Leg yield or shoulder in away from spooky stuff just makes it worse. Fortunately the rest of the time she's amazing so I keep going apart from the hacking but I'd love to stop her doing it in the arena and to be able to take her

 

[MotherOfChickens]

running reins are a good idea-I always thought about trying a RS-tor but never did.and neck straps are rarely useful as you don't have time to grab it. my horse would spin either way so part of my defensive riding was riding with slightly wider hands than I would-I go to the point where I would stop him before he went but mostly I preempted it. I also (for the first time) wore a BP. he'd also do it in the arena-he was a very noise reactive horse-not scared of anything he could see really but unexplained noises were always a thing.

 

[ihatework]

Definitely try running reins to the girth. They were my default bit of kit for my mare who could be a bit sharp in open spaces / gallops.

 

[Horse_addict_0890]

I would certainly think about using them, not as draw reins between the legs as you want to be able to use them when required but only lightly if at all the rest of the time, if they go back to the top of the girth it is far easier to avoid using them when you don't really want to, when they go down between the front legs it is far too easy to just reel them in and have the horse with it's head tied in, with one that is not forward in front of the leg that will not help get him up in front of you, one of mine always hacks in running reins, usually loose on his neck but there if required they can be picked up if he gets tense or I am suspicious of what is going on in his head.
They can be considered the work of the devil but like everything it is the person using them that is most important, I would prefer to use them in certain circumstances than stick stronger bits in, mine are all in snaffles and I rarely use anything else, my snaffle collection is extensive but I have only a few other bits, whereas some people think nothing of upping the bit to try and remain in control.

Ok, that looks like it might be the answer for the time being. Hopefully if it stops him a couple of times he will give up the game.

Completely agree about bitting. He is currently in a lozenge snaffle and I wouldnt use anything else. Afterall, I am trying to encourage him to go forward so a stronger bit would just have the opposite effect.

Thank you very much for your advice, been very useful

 

[Horse_addict_0890]

running reins are a good idea-I always thought about trying a RS-tor but never did.and neck straps are rarely useful as you don't have time to grab it. my horse would spin either way so part of my defensive riding was riding with slightly wider hands than I would-I go to the point where I would stop him before he went but mostly I preempted it. I also (for the first time) wore a BP. he'd also do it in the arena-he was a very noise reactive horse-not scared of anything he could see really but unexplained noises were always a thing.

Yeah I have brushed the cobwebs off my body protector as I have ended up with a couple of soft tissue injuries from the falls.

Mine appears to be exactly the same regarding picking up noises but not seeing anything. He will quite often will get tense past a hedge where he can hear a bird or something rustling around but cant see anything.


Looks like some kind of draw reins is going to be the answer for the time being