Happy hacker

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tessybear

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So our mare is brilliant to hack and I mean nearly prefect she walks Past anything doesn't bat an eyelid at tractors etc. But I was wondering would you ever consider buying a horse if you knew it wasn't good in traffic ? A friend of mine has just done this and ended up in A+E with a broken hip after he bolted from a motorbike !
 
I feel her pain mine is petrified of traffic esp motor bikes, he was hit by one, when i bought him i didnt know he has issues neither did his previous owner, anyways i love him to much to change him so just limit where i ride on my own, he is better with other horses around him.
 
It's a shame he is a beautiful boy and very well schooled but he goes into a frenzy and just bolts ! Even if we are infront and he sees us plod past :-( I don't think I could do it personally but she loves him
 
I would happily buy one that didn't hack, I really dislike it. But do love going round the off road hacking we have at yard every now and again.
Don'tGet me wrong I do hack but only because I know I should. I get so much more enjoyment out of schooling and competing than hacking, think I might be unique ;)
 
How old is your friends horse? I would happily buy a youngish horse that just didn't have experience of traffic, but if it was like 12 I wouldn't have much hope of changing its ways! I live near main roads though, but then even if I lived somewhere remote I would like to option to go on a road if I needed to :-)
 
It wouldn't bother me, we can hack out for hours (days!) here without going on a road. I've never met one that hasn't improved vastly in traffic though with a confident rider :)
 
He is 16 years old !! So not a young problem , we believe old owner as swindled her abit as he even spooks at White vans! We do mainly on road hacking so she is stuffed ! Think at one point he must of had an accident it is pure fear not naughtiness :-( she can't ride for a weeks now !
 
When I was younger it didn't really bother me. My first horse which I bought when I was 14 with my saved up pocket money was terrified of anything bigger than a van, I used to hack her for miles and on and off road without giving it a second thought.
Now I'm older I guess I've got more of a sense of self preservation so wouldn't entertain the thought of buying something I knew was bad in traffic. Why add higher risk to something that already has risks involved and is something I do to relax and unwind.
 
Totally agree she is 30 so not old but has children and works so should be having relaxing hacks not a battle ! She bought him cheap as chips and was won over by the " if you don't take him I think I will have to have him pts, I promise you he only spooks at tractors nothing else" :/
 
Sadly it's not just herself she is putting in danger, it's the unwary motorist or cyclist. I would not buy a horse that could not hack as need to be able for fitness etc. could she try to find a yard where it is off road?
 
Totally agree I told her off multiple times ! Sadly he will become a field ornament over winter she is looking into it at the moment so fingers crossed !
 
Depends. I've found plenty of horses that are bad with traffic are actually ok with a bit of work, as a kid I can think of only one horse I knew who wasn't great with traffic long term, & even that was ok with vans & cars if you rode it. So imo the abundance of 'not good in traffic' horses around now is more down to modern training methods than being born that way. And depending on how ingrained any bad training is in any sphere, it can often be put right.
 
Someone defiantly messed him up along the way the problem
Now is she is a confident novice that has had her confidence knocked so I doubt she can bring him on or trust him :/
 
If I knew something was unsound in traffic then no I wouldn't buy it because it's not only your/her own safety you are putting at risk but also any poor unsuspecting motorists and possibly any other horses/riders riding out with him.

However now she has him I think she needs to see what she can do to improve things or sell him on but honestly to someone who can hack him off road without any problems such as the few that have answered here that they have this facility.

Regarldess of his age I would question that nothing can be done. But he needs to go right back to basics I would say and not be ridden on the roads until he's a safer prospect than at present. So I'd be going back to long reining him if on the roads but if possible I'd find somewhere where I could work with him with traffic but off road - near us there is an old airfield with runways and when I had a problem with a horse recently I had bought with some traffic - tractors etc. I worked with him along the airfield and got farmer to bring along a tractor, drive past, stop, start etc. we started off with just walking past it parked up and progressed to noisy trailers with rattly loads on them. It's paid off - I can take him on the busiest of roads now and he doesn't put a foot wrong (he's 6). We started off with him just standing as things passed and then when we did that successfully moved on to walking past things.

So if he was frightened of motorbikes I'd try to find someone with one to ride past him etc. until it didn't worry him but bearing in mind he will be taking the confidence he needs from his rider it needs to be someone who isn't dreading the bike passing because of what he may to but who can instill that confidence into him.

It will take some work but I believe can be done. I have had experience of similar with an older horse. One my dad used to ride one day just returning from a hack with him and a stupid man (believe it or not he was the husband of the local RS teacher too silly burke!) thought it would be fun to pass as close as possible and spin off as he drove past my dad on his horse. Gravel spun up from his wheels as he did it spraying the horses rump and making him bolt off. After that for a very long time he was traffic shy but we did work through it using a watered down version of the methods above.
 
That's fantastic ! I shall defiantly pass it on to her. The motorbike reved his engine past her so it didn't help :-/ she was frightened of selling him on and others giving up on him but like you say at the moment he is dangerous. It's a shame I have Rode him on the field and he is good as gold ! Moves like a dressage prospect:)
 
I'd try putting in some groundwork with him then and see if you can improve things. If she hasn't had him long it's early days for him to be gaining his confidence from her and it will be difficult I would imagine for her to ride him on the road again without worrying about what might happen - which he will pick up on through her riding. Is there another field you could take him to to start with and try with things like quad bikes going past him and off roaders until you build up his confidence? Then gradually progress to roads once he is confident with things like stop, start, revving up. Start with being on the ground with him and lead him up to things then start them up and move them - just a few minutes at a time until he grows in confidence with them. I think we are quite fortunate to have the airfield near us.

I wouldn't do it in his field though - that has to be his "safe" place where he can relax etc.
 
Once she us up and about she can work with him on it till then we are letting him settle in and doing schooling . Will copy and paste everything you said it sounds like a fantastic idea! Fingers crossed she can help the poor guy out !
 
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