Hacking out Help needed please

[Bessieboo]

Hi everyone

I have had my horse for about 18 months now. She was sold to me as being pretty much bombproof but I soon found out that she really does not like tractors or for some bizarre reason white vans (especially with ladders on the top of them). I have worked really hard on hacking out on her to try and get her more used to tractors etc but I seem to be getting no where fast. Not only that but most recently she even spooked at piles of grass and dirt at the side of the road when normally she would just walk past stuff like this without bothering.

At the moment I am trying to hack out with a friend whose horse is very well behaved to give mine more confidence and when she does play up I have started to ride her forward into the bit with plenty of leg in order to reassure her.

Does anyone have any other ideas or advice they could give me? There are tractors on the yard we are on and she still spooks.

Thanks.

 

[OWLIE185]

I have bombproofed/spookproofed a number of horses for use in London. Most of it is done by riding them out regularly by themselves on a daily basis and getting them used to all sorts of different things. I find that it normally takes a good two years of regular daily hacking out to get them to be good.
Some horses never make it because they just can not cope with different things and that is down to the temprement of the individual horse.
Based on many years of experience I would say that 1 horse in 250 is bombproof/spookproof when being ridden out by themselves and even they will have their moments!