Hacking Solo - Open Fields

[Dyllymoo]

Is it just repetition that helps with the horses confidence in the above?

J is a star to hack. Literally so chilled when with another, barely spooks (sometimes "jumps" but doesn't go anywhere!). He has no issues with traffic (we had a bus, skip lorry and cement mixer go past us Saturday morning!), and I can hack him solo, around the lanes and woods where he can be a bit more on his toes but it never feels like he could do something (spin or bolt). In open fields he is generally the same with a friend, but solo he becomes so worried.

Admittedly I haven't done much in open fields with him because I took him in hand once (long reins) and he bolted home (at the last yard), that was with my OH at his head as well. I have taken him around the open fields where we are solo, but he spooked at a branch that was down and refused to go past it, so I did my route backwards, so we came past the branch on the way home and he didn't even notice it (he did however spook at the same branch when we were out on Saturday with a friend!). We didn't trot or canter as I felt it would just be too much for him to deal with. He didn't DO anything, but he felt very on edge. However, I'm wondering if that's the case because he feels so chilled most of the time and this just feels extra but actually isnt.

I want to make the most of the fields before we cant ride on them and I need to make use of the daylight we still have, so would repetition be the key? The hack I have done around the fields solo is around 35 mins, and I spent around 15 mins total in the fields walking around the edge next to the hedgerow, the rest was a wood/ village walk.

 

[doodle]

I’m not sure if the same but if Robin is a bit tense and excited he is sooooo much better in trot, taking a contact, leg on and ride him rather than sit quietly. It took a while to work that out. Him getting more and more tense and me sitting quieter and quieter until he exploaded and scared us both.

 

[Dyllymoo]

I’m not sure if the same but if Robin is a bit tense and excited he is sooooo much better in trot, taking a contact, leg on and ride him rather than sit quietly. It took a while to work that out. Him getting more and more tense and me sitting quieter and quieter until he exploaded and scared us both.

Possibly, he is still a bit baby brained though so I do worry about overfacing him slightly. Tonight we are going solo (first time in nearly 2 weeks due to the weather - we have been out a couple of times this weekend with a friend) but I'm going to do the lanes and woods, maybe tomorrow I will do a short circuit of the field and see how we go

 

[criso]

My tb gets much more tense in open spaces, not keen or strong but worried. He's better if it's a familiar field that he's gone round a few times so repeition may help. He prefers woods and closed in spaces to the point that if they cut down the undergrowth in familiar woods he'll be noticeably tense until it grows back. It's the same cross country, he likes jumping little trappy fences in and out of woods, but as soon as we get to an open field with a fence on it's own, I feel him freeze.

 

[Dyllymoo]

My tb gets much more tense in open spaces, not keen or strong but worried. He's better if it's a familiar field that he's gone round a few times so repeition may help. He prefers woods and closed in spaces to the point that if they cut down the undergrowth in familiar woods he'll be noticeably tense until it grows back. It's the same cross country, he likes jumping little trappy fences in and out of woods, but as soon as we get to an open field with a fence on it's own, I feel him freeze.

I kind of understand why, being pray animals, but J is the slowest out of his friends, and if I was him and I was worried about a Tiger I would be worried in the company of my friends as well as solo!! Ha!

Bless him.

Think we just need to keep going, taking our time and not overfacing him too much.

 

[criso]

I kind of understand why, being pray animals, but J is the slowest out of his friends, and if I was him and I was worried about a Tiger I would be worried in the company of my friends as well as solo!! Ha!

.

I tell Tigger it's much easier for the Lions to creep up on him in woodland than open plains where he can see them coming a long way off but I think he's worried about Dragons.

 

[Dyllymoo]

I tell Tigger it's much easier for the Lions to creep up on him in woodland than open plains where he can see them coming a long way off but I think he's worried about Dragons.

Dragons makes much more sense. Might have a chat with J tonight and see if we can find a solution, either that or I can get my suit of armour out of storage so we at least look the part?

 

[Leandy]

I agree, trot on firmly with a good contact. Make him work, transitions, leg yield etc etc to make him focus on you not the surroundings. Do a bit of actual schooling if there is space, circles, serpentines etc. He'll soon settle down when he focusses on work and burns off some energy in a controlled way.

 

[ihatework]

All mine have schooled in open fields from very early on and generally have no issue. I’d say keep him busy and give him something to do other than look for monsters!

 

[Skib]

Is it just repetition that helps with the horses confidence in the above? . . .
The hack I have done around the fields solo is around 35 mins, and I spent around 15 mins total in the fields walking around the edge next to the hedgerow, the rest was a wood/ village walk.

I dont know your horse. But my current share is more likely to spook when next to a hedgerow. She does it in the school.
From what you describe, the horse is being ridden in a straight line along the field edge and not being asked to do anything? So his attention will be on himself and the hedgerow or the wide open space and spooking might be more likely? My way would be to keep him occupied with leg yields, transitions (within the gait as well as change of gait).
I started hacking totally naive and rode the horse as if I was driving a car. That actually works pretty well because at the wheel of a car one is always alert, steering and controlling the speed. You dont leave a car to think for itself and hope for the best.
Unlike you I also asked for trot quite early in the hack. I am old and soon ache unless I do some rising trot. It never entered my head that trotting might be dangerous. My OH always reminds me that horses were bred for centuries to carry people safely from A to B - all this modern NH reminder of how they are flight animals sometimes makes one forget that.
If the horse makes you feel he is worried, dont allow that to worry you, but work it out logically. Give careful thought to the signals he is giving and see if you can correct them, or at least moderate them. If a horse tenses up (and head position is a give away) then there are things riders can do to relax it and to lower it. Breathing is one solution. Or allowing the head to drop on a looser rein. Riding in what is these days regarded as a correct outline, compresses the horse to prime it for flight and if you too are worried that ups the tension. There is no way you can control the horse when both of you are fraught. But you have a far better brain than your horse and if you keep his mind occupied, that often works wonders.
If you try this on hacks and find he is not paying attention, in your place I would go back to the school and ask many things of him in the school, so he is accustomed to having his mind on you as a rider. Then gradually increase the hacking again with the exercises you did in the school. The school was designed as a safe place to prepare a horse to hack safely.
Lastly, dont clock watch. I have never looked at my watch when hacking. You are there to look at the colour of the sky and the details of the ground. Being on the back of the horse gives you a view and an experience that you cant get on foot or from a bike or a car. The horse is giving you that and you should be able to take some pleasure in it.

But no, I dont think repetition does a lot. Every horse is constantly on the look out for new danger. Mine fled just from a white plastic bucket in an unusual place. It is the way you ride them and the detail of the conversation between you that creates an easiness between you. He will never get used to the hack but he will get used to you as a rider and responding to what you do.

 

[ester]

I'd actually wonder if he'd be better travelling, rather than just walking.