Hacking

[Ant123]

I took my daughter’s Welsh pony for a hack today. He is normally completely reliable and on the lazy side but today he was jogging on the spot and kept throwing his head back which meant I had no brakes. He didn’t run off but it certainly wasn’t a relaxing 2 hours. We were accompanied by 2 other horses and don’t hack out that often. My question is
Do horse who don’t hack out very often need to get used to the environment or will he always be like that?
Is there any reason why he is throwing his head up- is it anxiety or excitement or pain ( teeth / saddle check recently and all fine)
Thanks

 

[JackFrost]

Yes, if he's not used to hacking out, it will all be terribly exciting and a bit scary. Also, you have probably made things even harder by taking him out when there's lots of nice spring grass and he is feeling very well. Throwing his head about is a normal reaction, a politish way of saying that he'd like to tank off and have a blast, but he didn't, so what a good pony.

 

[webble]

Could it be hay-fever? The pollen count has been high recently and can cause head shaking

 

[Gloi]

If he's like this in company it's often best to ask if he can be in the lead. You might want to put a running martingale on until you know he's okay. The more you do ,so long as they are steady rides, not bombing everywhere then in time he should settle. If he gets wound up because the others canter off with him behind tell them not to and if they ignore you find new hacking partners.

 

[smolmaus]

if they ignore you find new hacking partners.

I am just getting my mare out hacking regularly atm too and the right person to go with is so important. Now we are going out by ourselves I can sometimes pinpoint what she has "learned" from different companion horses at different times.

 

[Gloi]

I am just getting my mare out hacking regularly atm too and the right person to go with is so important. Now we are going out by ourselves I can sometimes pinpoint what she has "learned" from different companion horses at different times.

I seem to have spent my life with my ponies nannying other people. I don't mind because I know what it is like with a youngster.
It's not good when I've taken a youngster out with someone who doesn't understand or notice when the youngster is having problems. I've been out on my newly broken one with people who just haven't noticed that the youngster is getting wound up or that they have spooked at something and are being left behind , sometimes at the worst possible time .
I have had a few hairy moments nannying though as the horses are often bigger than mine, one of them being the horse spinning and knocking mine into a quite deep ditch, and spinning and smashing its head into me. Ow.

 

[Barton Bounty]

Sounds like just a new environment for him, plenty of practice and he will be fine

 

[cauda equina]

Re the head chucking - is that normal for him?
It's the time of year for St Mark's flies to be about
My old boy was practically unrideable when they were around, I think he hated them touching his face

 

[smolmaus]

I seem to have spent my life with my ponies nannying other people. I don't mind because I know what it is like with a youngster. It's not good when taking a youngster out with someone who doesn't understand or notice when the youngster is having problems. I've been out on mine with people who just haven't noticed that the youngster is getting wound up or that they have spooked at something and are being left behind , sometimes at the worst possible time .
I have had a few hairy moments nannying though as the horses are often bigger than mine, one of them being the horse spinning and knocking mine into a quite deep ditch, and spinning and smashing its head into me. Ow.

WOW

The girl and her mare who helped us out (before she went back to uni) will both have my eternal gratitude for being so accommodating and calm. I hope we will be as good in a few years when its our turn.