Help, new horse nervous in traffic.

badgerdog

badgerdog

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I've had my new horse since Christmas but because of the weather have only been riding him for the past 8 weeks. He is proving to be a lovely horse. He's a 6yo TB X Connemara who is fairly green and in his previous home he mostly hunted. He is very compliant, does everything I ask, goes in the trailer, jumps anything etc. However, he is nervous in traffic which is starting to scare me a bit.
He gets very tense and at first I used to try and push him on past a vehicle but this seemed to make him worse so now I stop and pat him and this works most of the time. He's ok on wider roads but we are located on a network of narrow country roads. He is worse when cars are coming towards him and on a few occasions he has spun round and headed the opposite way.

Has anyone any ideas how I can improve matters? I'm planning on going out as much as possible in company and hopefully this will build up his confidence (and mine.) We don't have an arena so nearly everytime I exercise my horse I have to go out on the roads, apart from once a week when I take him in a trailer for my lesson.

Do you think he'll get better? He's such a lovely horse I wouldn't want to give up on him over this one thing.
 
Try going out with company as you have already said, if the other horse is quiet you should see a difference in your horse
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Definately stick to going out in company as it will raise his confidence and get used to things. My horse is now 10 and when i first had him he wouldnt even go down the drive on his own and wasnt great on the road, i remember him galloping down the high street of the village i lived in because a huge lorry was behind him and i couldnt stop him but i persisted and eventually one day he went out no problems and now he doesnt bat an eye lid at any traffic. ive never looked back since and we have been able to go out on our own for the past 6 years. take your time and you'll know when hes ready, riding out with other sensible horses will help a lot
 
I have a horse like this. She leapt off the road because a 4x4 came towards her quite fast and landed half way over a barbed wire fence.

She's wonderful in every other way but I can't be doing with it so she's for sale.

Anyone who doesn't want to ride on the roads want to buy an awesome horse?
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Course he'll get better
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A lot of babies are like tht, in fact most are a tad nervy when they first meet traffic but can get worse if you make a fuss, just ignore him keep your leg on and ride him forwards, reassure him but be isistant and firm
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PS. flame i am quite surprised to see you are selling your horse because she didn't like a 4x4.. most the youngsters I have ridden disapear on meeting fast cars they jsut need to get used to it?
 
That was the icing on the cake. There's room for improvement but I can safely say it'll be a long time before she's safe to hack on the roads without a school master alongside and for endurance that's just not good enough.

Hopefully a nice competition rider will agree with you and be happy to work with/live with this issue.
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I think the majority of youngsters are like this, especially if they have not had much experience of traffic. As the others have said, riding out in company is a good idea. Having someone on foot can help their confidence too.

We used to turn all our young ponies out next to the road in a smallish paddock, so they were within about 50m of the road all the time, and found that this helped quite a lot.

Keep calm, reassure, sing, and be positive.
 
Having got a number of horses used to Central London Traffic I would suggest that you take your horse out in company with a nice laid back bombproof/spookproof horse and rider. You need to do this if possible each day for at least 8 weeks. The laid back horse should be positioned outside you with its bum by your legs so that your horse can not move out but has another horse slightly in front of you. Keep to a walk at all times. Obviously on narrow roads and tight bends keep in single file.

Please ensure that both of you wear long sleeved Hi-Viz jackets (so that motorists can clearly see your hand signals) and hat bands and that your horses have Hi-Viz nosebands and reign covers etc.

(Don't go out on the roads when the sunlight is bright and low as it dazzle motorists vision).

After 8 weeks start going out by yourself and see what happens.
 
When my old mare originally came to me she was terrible in traffic, particularly when passing things on a narrow lane - anything larger than a car would cause her to panic. Like you I used to try to push her past things, but then realised that a lot of it was insecurity due to her not trusting me as a rider, combined with genuine fear of larger vehicles. I rode her a lot with a friend, whose horse is brilliant in traffic and that combined with lots and lots of pats whenever she went past something remotely scary improved her massively - we can now pass small lorries, transit vans and cars towing trailers without having a nervous breakdown.

Our proudest moment was when about 30 vintage motor bikes out on a rally came towards us on a narrow lane. She froze, friends horse froze. I told her she was the bravest horse in the world
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and she led the way past them. I thought i was going to cry I was so proud of her
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- I could feel her heart pounding, but she believed me that it would be OK

That said, she never ever will be 100% in traffic though - meeting eg a bus or an articulated lorry on a narrow lane is still way too much for her. Its just the way she is and I have had to accept it. She has many positives.

So I would say keep at it and use positive encouragement and best of all ride with someone who has a horse whose good in traffic
 
Thanks, some good suggestions which I will take up.
Thank God for the H & H forum! I feel much more positive than I did earlier on.
Thanks everyone!
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I agree with Flame. I had a car accident on my horse. Funnily enough he was a connemara cross. A car hit us head on. He was overtaking another car and hadn't seen us. I don't know why, it was a straight road. My boy was actually very good in traffic, there was just nowhere for us to go. When you have had a horse put down at the side of the road with a broken leg and you have lifted your head up to find it under the passenger side of a car, it never leaves you. I was also in the early stages of pregnancy. Just over a year ago I bought the most beautiful shire X, who was perfect in every way. I had bought him from a livery yard where there was no access to the road due to cattle grids and although I repeatedly asked the previous owner if he was good in traffic, I had to take his word for it that he was. In fact, he was a nightmare and although I persevered with him, he never got any better, I just got worse. I sold him to a lady that never hacked out on her own. Every time he span, the whole accident thing kept flooding back and I was turning into a nervous wreck. It wasn't fair on me or Bergie. I now have a horse that is bombproof as a horse can be. Oh, and my son is now nearly 27. You never forget a car accident with a horse!
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I would also say don't pat your horse. We see it as reassurance, but the question to ask yourself is, do you do the same thing to praise your horse? yes? Then he can't distinguish between a pat to reassure and apat to praise. So, are you praising him for resisting? Make sure you only praise for the behaviour you want. Otherwise you are teaching him that to resist is what you want, and what he will be praised for.

Use your voice to reassure more.

Does that make sense?
 
[ QUOTE ]
I agree with Flame. I had a car accident on my horse. Funnily enough he was a connemara cross. A car hit us head on. He was overtaking another car and hadn't seen us. I don't know why, it was a straight road. My boy was actually very good in traffic, there was just nowhere for us to go. When you have had a horse put down at the side of the road with a broken leg and you have lifted your head up to find it under the passenger side of a car, it never leaves you. I was also in the early stages of pregnancy. Just over a year ago I bought the most beautiful shire X, who was perfect in every way. I had bought him from a livery yard where there was no access to the road due to cattle grids and although I repeatedly asked the previous owner if he was good in traffic, I had to take his word for it that he was. In fact, he was a nightmare and although I persevered with him, he never got any better, I just got worse. I sold him to a lady that never hacked out on her own. Every time he span, the whole accident thing kept flooding back and I was turning into a nervous wreck. It wasn't fair on me or Bergie. I now have a horse that is bombproof as a horse can be. Oh, and my son is now nearly 27. You never forget a car accident with a horse!
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What an awful experience for you, I can understand how it must come back to you at the slightest thing. I too have had a horse put to sleep by the side of the road with a broken leg but he had just slipped on some uneven ground. I get a bit nervous about riding on unveven ground but your experience sounds far worse than mine.

[deleted user] - I only pat him when he's standing still and being calm but I do take your point. I try not to reinforce negative behaviour but I could be doing this unwittingly.

He's not really that bad. When I was out this morning with a friend we passed about 10 vehicles and he only really reacted to one. He tried to spin round but only succeeded in sticking his bum out, I pushed him on and then walked passed it without any more problems. As he is a new horse I think he is lacking confidence in me, I'm sure that as we bond and go out more he will improve.
 
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I would also say don't pat your horse. We see it as reassurance, but the question to ask yourself is, do you do the same thing to praise your horse? yes? Then he can't distinguish between a pat to reassure and apat to praise. So, are you praising him for resisting? Make sure you only praise for the behaviour you want. Otherwise you are teaching him that to resist is what you want, and what he will be praised for.

Use your voice to reassure more.

Does that make sense?

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Just to clarify, I always give her the big pats AFTER she has been brave, not before. I do however talk to her when she was debating whether to spin and run or to go past something. As well as talking to her I scratch her shoulder which seems to sort of help her slightly take her mind off it being scary. I guess its all down to the horse - she and I now know each other so well that its not me rewarding her, its telling her its OK. Helps with her anyway. Kicking her on forcefully just resulted in her feeling she had to redouble her efforts to escape
 
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I would also say don't pat your horse. We see it as reassurance, but the question to ask yourself is, do you do the same thing to praise your horse? yes? Then he can't distinguish between a pat to reassure and apat to praise. So, are you praising him for resisting? Make sure you only praise for the behaviour you want. Otherwise you are teaching him that to resist is what you want, and what he will be praised for.

Use your voice to reassure more.

Does that make sense?

[/ QUOTE ]

Just to clarify, I always give her the big pats AFTER she has been brave, not before. I do however talk to her when she was debating whether to spin and run or to go past something. As well as talking to her I scratch her shoulder which seems to sort of help her slightly take her mind off it being scary. I guess its all down to the horse - she and I now know each other so well that its not me rewarding her, its telling her its OK. Helps with her anyway. Kicking her on forcefully just resulted in her feeling she had to redouble her efforts to escape

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That makes sense, and you know your horse best!

Just thought it was something worth pointing out, as it's a very simple thing, but can make a real difference if people don't realise that's what they are doing!
 
Second the turning out in a paddock next to a busy road..... even just for a few weeks, it will really help.

With my baby, I've done a lot of groundwork involving roads. Started by just standing near one, to leading him with hubs on the other side, (fully decked out in hi viz, including pony AND we both had "L" plates on !), to finally going along busy stretches, until he didn't bat an eyelid. Then we did exactly the same once he was backed. It may take a while, but little and often worked for us.

I would also suggest a herbal calmer , while you try and get on top of the road issue - heard good stuff about wendalls calmer, and may just be worth the expense.

Good luck xx
 
He lives out 24/7 in a field next to a fairly busy road which has lorries, trailers etc. He's sometimes close to the fence and doesn't seem to mind the traffic from there! This has only been since Christmas so it may work in time.
I've walked him round my car with the engine turned on and he didn't bat an eyelid. I think I'll get my friend to drive up and down the road to try and de-sensitise him.
 
When i got my 5 year old we patched him off near the side of the field just to introduce him gradually to the herd but having thought about it i think it did him the wonder of good with traffic!
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I have done so much walking out with him in hand on the roads, open fields, down the village highstreet, small tree enclosed paths and i really feel it helped build his confidence and trust in me whilst we were getting used to each other.

I definitely recommend turning out near a road and walking with him in hand whilst he's new, good luck!
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One of my mares was good as a three year old but is a bit nervous after being frightened by a speeding neighbour - our roads are very narrow.

As my o/h isn't able to ride at the moment we decided to our own traffic training. I ride and he drives our landrover past her over and over again from both directions. We look a couple of fools because he opens the window and talks to her - but we got very quick results.
 
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