muffinino
Well-Known Member
Am quite upset and cross with myself (and T for being so stubborn!) so want some thoughts as to how to deal with this.
Had a bit of a nasty accident this evening. After a lovely hack around the fields, where my normally spooky horse was calm yet responsive, we got back to the hunting gate to get back in the yard. T decided he didn't like the white sign on the big gate next to the hunting gate and would not step close enough to the hunting gate for me to open it properly (we went though the gate to get in to the fields and he's been through it both ways before). He can be very stubborn when he doesn't want to do something so I didn't want to let him misbehave when he's done this a few times before and is normally excellent with gates. After 5 mins of arguing, he was not listening to my leg at all and for the first time in ages I didn't have a whip to back my leg up. He swung sideways and went backwards in to an electric fence. Obviously he tried to run off, I managed to hang on for a bit but he threw me forwards, I hit my face on his neck (now sporting a lovely fat lip), lost him and came off.
Caught him, led him through the gate a few times. I must admit did shout at him because he ran through it at first and almost knocked me over. I'm not proud of this and I know it was wrong but I was shaking from the adrenaline at this point so am quite upset about that. He did get better going through it so I got back on and went in the school. Had a walk trot and canter, he seemed fine. Opened and closed the school gate; he was very jumpy but did it.
Now, he's my hunter and was getting him fit for the new season, but he needs to be good with gates. My confidence was shaken badly a few years ago after a fall in which he bolted for reasons unknown. I had just managed to build my confidence back up and we were both happy hacking out. How would you approach getting his confidence with gates back up? Was going to leave it tomorrow, have a youngster to ride anyway, then hack out without gates on Saturday. Then Sunday maybe lead him through the scary gate and see how he is? It sounds really pathetic, and I'm probably projecting my feelings on to him, but I'm so upset that such a lovely hack ended so badly and I feel like he's not going to trust me at all now Cookies if you've managed to get this far
Had a bit of a nasty accident this evening. After a lovely hack around the fields, where my normally spooky horse was calm yet responsive, we got back to the hunting gate to get back in the yard. T decided he didn't like the white sign on the big gate next to the hunting gate and would not step close enough to the hunting gate for me to open it properly (we went though the gate to get in to the fields and he's been through it both ways before). He can be very stubborn when he doesn't want to do something so I didn't want to let him misbehave when he's done this a few times before and is normally excellent with gates. After 5 mins of arguing, he was not listening to my leg at all and for the first time in ages I didn't have a whip to back my leg up. He swung sideways and went backwards in to an electric fence. Obviously he tried to run off, I managed to hang on for a bit but he threw me forwards, I hit my face on his neck (now sporting a lovely fat lip), lost him and came off.
Caught him, led him through the gate a few times. I must admit did shout at him because he ran through it at first and almost knocked me over. I'm not proud of this and I know it was wrong but I was shaking from the adrenaline at this point so am quite upset about that. He did get better going through it so I got back on and went in the school. Had a walk trot and canter, he seemed fine. Opened and closed the school gate; he was very jumpy but did it.
Now, he's my hunter and was getting him fit for the new season, but he needs to be good with gates. My confidence was shaken badly a few years ago after a fall in which he bolted for reasons unknown. I had just managed to build my confidence back up and we were both happy hacking out. How would you approach getting his confidence with gates back up? Was going to leave it tomorrow, have a youngster to ride anyway, then hack out without gates on Saturday. Then Sunday maybe lead him through the scary gate and see how he is? It sounds really pathetic, and I'm probably projecting my feelings on to him, but I'm so upset that such a lovely hack ended so badly and I feel like he's not going to trust me at all now Cookies if you've managed to get this far