Hacking with nervous horses

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lynsey1808

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Hope you can all help I'm in a bit of a dilemma. I've had my horse 8 weeks and we're doing great generally. He hadn't hacked out much before I got him and now we go out quite a lot with another lady at the yard and her horse who happens to be one of his field buddys. He has complete confidence in this other horse and doesn't bat an eyelid at anything. I went out with one of the other liveries last night and it was a nightmare. He was spooky,nappy and on his toes. The other horse we went with is a bit nervy, the rider is incredibly nervous and obviously he picks up on this. My question is, do I push him out of his comfort zone to get used to it or stick with what he's comfortable with a bit longer? Obviously I don't want to sap both of our confidence but realise I can't hack with one person forever!
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Don't go out with nervous riders. It's their nerves they pick up on - not the horse's.

I would only go out with riders whom you know to be competent and confident.
 
The only time i would allow one of ours out with a nervous horse is when the one going with it is very calm and doesn't bat an eyelid to help the nervous horse. I took one out yesterday, so laid back he did not react to my nerves. I took him as one was going on its first hack and we wanted to give it confidence. I was nervous as i have not ridden for a while and my daughter was on the one going for its first hack. Horses do pick up very easily on nerves and emotion.
I would carry on as you are for now, and further down the line go out as three. Your horse will get the confidence from the confidence giver, the nervous horse will hopefully gain confidence from the confidence giver and if it gets jumpy your horse will see that the confidence giver is not reacting. Then gradually build up to riding with others.
Just our way which works for us but i obviously do not know your situation. I must say nervous horses and nervous people are not a good match. The person will set the horse off and it ends up in a viscous circle.
Enjoy your new horse
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Still with the confident horse for the time being until you know yours better. We had one who'd not hacked out infront before and was only used to seeing a horse's backside. If he was made to go infornt he really wasn't happy as wasn't confident but we slowly increased the amount of time he would lead on a hack and now he is very confident (save for the odd wobble here and there!). if you ride with someone else who's nervous, they convey that to their own horse and that horse's nervousness is picked up then by yours.

Until you are 100% confident in your horse don't put youself in teh situation where it is going to make either of you unhappy. Once the horse has learnt to trust you it won't matter whjt another horse is like cos your horse then should just listen to you.
 
I went out with a friend and her nervy horse last night, and my mare was absolutely priceless. Even when a pheasant flew up right under our hooves, and the nervy horse put in a massive spook, the Moose just stood there and didn't bat an eyelid. If she'd not been there and reacted so calmly, he might well have done a runner. By the end of our ride, her horse had settled right down.

Its always worth going out with a calm and confident horse (and rider!) until you are really settled. I also ought to mention that at Christmastime, the Moose and I were the ones who needed a calm confident escort, because I was the nervous one, and she picked up on my nerves. I feel much more confident on her now after a solid winter working in the school, so she doesn't pick up nerves from me.
 
My horse is a very nervy boy sometimes. We have a 5 year old at the stables who is bomb proof and never shies at anything. When my horse panics at something on a ride it often works the youngster up but not a lot, he's great. Its good to have my horse near him for support so mine doesn't feel so worried about everything because youngster isn't but its not so good vice versa, I don't really like hacking out with the youngster too much just incase the nervy-ness inflicts on him and his behaviour.
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I don't really like hacking out with the youngster too much just incase the nervy-ness inflicts on him and his behaviour.
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I think thats a very good point. My mare is 12, and a bit of a grumpy old bat, so I don't think there's any danger of her picking up bad habits from our nervy horse, but yes, i would be a bit worried about a youngster.
 
My mare is nervy to hack, she will nap and buck, spin around and be a complete tw*t. If the horse I hack her with is exciteable, she will get wound up too and completely boil over and nap, same if the other horse is nervy. At the moment I can only hack her with horses I know will not react to things and will not get excited. Eventually she will get confidence and learn
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