Help! My horse is a nightmare to hack!

[Oscarpop]

Looking for some advice. I’ve owned my horse for 4 months now, she’s 5 years old and hasn’t had the best start in life, I’m her 4th owner in the last year, she’ll stay with me for life now. She’s golden in the school but an absolute nightmare to hack. If she is out in company, if in front she is nervous and can nap, if behind and loses sight of other horse or is too far behind, she bucks and bronks. When out alone, she naps, starting off with planting and refusing to walk forward, when I push her on, she tries to reverse all the way home or will try and spin, kick out her back right leg/ buck/ rear. She just seems really nervous and on edge all of the time. I’ve tried lots of different approaches but feel like I’m fighting a losing battle. She gets herself in such a tizz that she’s cut her legs on multiple occasions, once needing veterinary attention. She now wears 4 boots. Does anyone have any advice or success stories? Feeling so disheartened

 

[MissTyc]

It sounds like she has no confidence. I have many success stories but it does take time.

What is she like in hand?

Where does her comfort zone end? I.e. At what point does she realise she's not going in the school?

You say in the school she's "golden" - what is her level of schooling and relaxation?

 

[ycbm]

Some horses just do hate hacking. I owned one once and in 6 years he never improved.

Is hacking essential to you?
.

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

You need to spend time hacking with a sensible horse and sensible rider who will not leave your horse so far behind that she feels the need to buck etc. You may need to pay someone to hack out with you at a nice steady walk on very short circular hacks, if at all possible. I would also get her used to going out, either in-hand, or long-reining so that she builds her confidence going away from the yard. What is she like if you box to somewhere else to hack, with a companion.

 

[Oscarpop]

It sounds like she has no confidence. I have many success stories but it does take time.

What is she like in hand?

Where does her comfort zone end? I.e. At what point does she realise she's not going in the school?

You say in the school she's "golden" - what is her level of schooling and relaxation?

She’s very much the same in hand. Sometimes she will be worse than others- we have good days and bad days. On her good days she will relax fairly quickly but on her bad days she is a nightmare.

mostly she’ll be happy to leave the yard, will be about 1/2 mile away from home she’ll start to nap.

she is green in the school but she really listens to me and tries to please

 

[Oscarpop]

Some horses just do hate hacking. I owned one once and in 6 years he never improved.

Is hacking essential to you?
.

I would love to be able to hack her without the drama. Sometimes we can go out and have absolutely no issues whatsoever, so I know she’s capable of doing it. When she has a bad day it feels so disheartening is all

 

[Meowy Catkin]

Do you have an excellent instructor who has experience in this area (IE green, young horses and hacking issues)?

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

What do you feed her?

 

[milliepops]

You need to spend time hacking with a sensible horse and sensible rider who will not leave your horse so far behind that she feels the need to buck etc. You may need to pay someone to hack out with you at a nice steady walk on very short circular hacks, if at all possible. I would also get her used to going out, either in-hand, or long-reining so that she builds her confidence going away from the yard. What is she like if you box to somewhere else to hack, with a companion.

I agree with this.

I have a horse that has had a bit of a dodgy past and she does not enjoy hacking one bit, sounds much like the OPs horse.
Mine is better if we box off somewhere but hacking from home is something I've never been able to improve with her. as it's so clear she doesn't enjoy it I no longer seek to "train" hacking and only ever go with a nanny who knows not to challenge her too much. We toddle out once or twice a week just to give her a bit of variety, i make sure to keep on the tail of the other horse and mine trudges round without any drama.

before i gave up, i did all the above things, and we made a little bit of progress as she wouldn't even go with company before mine is perfectly happy to long rein or go in hand hacking as we have a good relationship on the ground, we've covered some miles this way

 

[tallyho!]

What do you feed her?

Was about to ask the same thing. I have a PSSM horse and a diet change made such a difference it was like night n day.

 

[AmyMay]

You need to spend time hacking with a sensible horse and sensible rider who will not leave your horse so far behind that she feels the need to buck etc. You may need to pay someone to hack out with you at a nice steady walk on very short circular hacks, if at all possible. I would also get her used to going out, either in-hand, or long-reining so that she builds her confidence going away from the yard. What is she like if you box to somewhere else to hack, with a companion.

This all day long.

 

[scats]

Mine happily hacks around our farm ride on her own, but often kicks off if we go out onto the roads from the farm. We regularly treat the neighbours to a display that wouldn’t look out of place at the Spanish riding school!
The more leg I put on, the higher she goes up, so that’s pointless. If I’m short of time, I hop off and lead her a short way and hop back on. If I have time I either sit it out and bore her to death, or I keep making her do little turns and movements until she gets fed up and realises it’s far easier to just get on with it. She actually loves going out, she’s just very sticky doing the initial leaving of the yard. Once out, she rarely kicks off again.
I can box her out and hack her no issues.

 

[Red-1]

If I were out hacking a young horse with a companion, and they left me so far behind that we lost sight, I would be fuming and not hack out with them again. I think most young horses would react.

It sounds like her education has been somewhat haphazard so far. I too am interested in what 'golden' in the school means. Is it that there is little to challenge her in the school, so you can bumble around happily, or is it that she it truly off the leg, yielding in her body and mind?

Can you go round in 3 gaits on the inner track, without falling to the outside? Stand for a protracted period? Move towards and away from other horses. Rein back?

Then, looking at outside the school, her experiences outside seem to have involved worry, pain and injury. I dare say, if following th same path, she would simply get worse.

I would start with checking her medically, teeth, saddle fit, treat for PSSM in the immediacy to see if that makes a difference, try magnesium etc. Then, go the school work until all of the above is automatic and relaxed. This is my minimum before going to the streets.

I would usually then go out with a sensible nanny, but this aspect has been soured so I would do it slightly differently. I would take out in hand, to somewhere safe for a graze. Sounds like you would initially need a companion even for this. A different companion to before (or a better briefed one)! If it is a quiet lane, you could go alone just outside the gate and move further daily, for a snack. Try to make going out a nice and attractive thing to do. No more conflict, injury etc, instead a nice snack. If you keep her somewhere quiet then that is ideal. I am talking walking to somewhere nice and spending half an hour there. "Out" becomes a nice experience. Out is munch and relax.

Once she can go out on adventures in hand for a snack, pop on board and ride home, with a companion (as long as the companion is usually there, I wouldn't introduce 2 new things at once).

I would start to do a circular route, starting in hand and then popping on board to walk home. Once the horse is confident at this, the snack can be dispensed with. Then, start to mount further and further back. Only ride out of the yard once being out and about is no longer an issue.

 

[Zoeypxo]

Personally i would always check teeth, back and saddle first.
Can you find someone to hack infront of you and someone to ride behind you?
We always ride our youngsters with a horse infront and one behind to make them feel confident with things approaching behind and infront.
I would not hack this horse alone until she is happier hacking with others.

Alot of horses find the school a safe place, work on groundwork and trust in the school and it should build up into your riding activities too. She is still very young, you will get there! Good luck.

 

[Birker2020]

Looking for some advice. I’ve owned my horse for 4 months now, she’s 5 years old and hasn’t had the best start in life, I’m her 4th owner in the last year, she’ll stay with me for life now. She’s golden in the school but an absolute nightmare to hack. If she is out in company, if in front she is nervous and can nap, if behind and loses sight of other horse or is too far behind, she bucks and bronks. When out alone, she naps, starting off with planting and refusing to walk forward, when I push her on, she tries to reverse all the way home or will try and spin, kick out her back right leg/ buck/ rear. She just seems really nervous and on edge all of the time. I’ve tried lots of different approaches but feel like I’m fighting a losing battle. She gets herself in such a tizz that she’s cut her legs on multiple occasions, once needing veterinary attention. She now wears 4 boots. Does anyone have any advice or success stories? Feeling so disheartened

Yep, mirror image of my last horse who used to be a total nightmare and would spin and plant. But in the last four or five years was brilliant on the roads. Perseverance, was the key. I never once got off either. I loved hacking on my own and didn't particularly want to be forced into going with others.

I would strongly recommend turning the horse around and reining back. If they are facing the way they want to go i.e. towards home they think they already have an advantage over you and are more approachable. Then rein back - it won't be long before they tire of walking backwards. Turn around and go forwards. Even if its just a few steps its something to work on. This worked quite well for my horse.

Make sure you don't hold too tightly when asking for rein back or the horse could go up!

 

[Winters100]

It sounds to me like you are expecting rather a lot of a 5 year old who has had 4 owners since aged 4. I would not expect the horse to be a reliable lead horse, and as Red says I would also be very unhappy if my hacking companion left me and my youngster so far behind that we lost sight of them.

Personally I would start hacking behind a nice sensible horse for quite some time. When she is rock solid in this let her me lead horse on well known routes, and progress to very short hacks alone on known circular routes.

Good luck with her, I am sure with patience she will learn to be more confident, but don't rush the process. Maybe I am just a slowcoach about such things, but personally I would feel that I had done really well if by the time she reached 8 years she was reliable and relaxed hacking alone.