Help with naughty horsey..................please!!!

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kafue

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Morning!!! Hope you are all enjoying this fine English weather!! lol. I need some advice about my mare. She is a 16.2 Irish sports horse, fantastic in the school, and on yard. However when it comes to hacking out its a bit like Jekyll and Hyde!! A good girl going out, when she knows your homeward bound she changes. Jogging, head shaking, sideways, cantering on the spot. It doesn't matter if cars are there or not. She has been checked out and nothing physical seems to be the problem. When she acts up I've tried to giving her all the rein and taking my legs away (useless!!!), tried riding her through it (also useless). She is ridden in a filet baucher french link with a flash. looking forward to the help. xxxxx
 
How often do you hack her out and generally for how long? Do you always (or have to) come back the same way??
 
hey, my ponyo (tb mare) started doing the exact same thing when I move yards a couple of months ago as its a long straight road back to the yard and she knows exactly when its home time! Ive changed her behaviour by asking for walk then if she jogs or shows any undesirable behaviour we stop, halt for 4 seconds then continue on, I just keep repeating, took me about 2 hours the first time but shes now as good as gold. Every so often she will jog but we halt and start again,
Hope this helps,
ps Andrew Mclean from the equine behaviour centre has written some good books on equine behaviour/training and there really usefull,
 
I'd also be inclined to do what Apritina has done. Also, if she jogs towards the yard etc, walk straight past it. Ride away for 10 minutes and then come back. If she jogs, ride straight past it. Get her used to the idea that the 'way home,' doesnt really mean home
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Will try the halting tip!!! thank you. Hacks vary, from 30mins to 3 hours. We go out 3 times a week depending on weather. We have to hack down a road to get back to the yard, this is where most of the trouble happens. xxx
 
always the same, we hit the road and she is a pain in the butt. She can be exhausted from the ride and still find the energy to act up. xx
 
similar idea to the above two but if she starts jogging turn around & start your ride backwards (not literally, just the other way to you were going, although rein back for an entire hack would be impressive), then if she does it in this direction to, turn around again & dont return to the yard until she is walking nicely. obviously you need a lot of time for this so stick to the school when time is limited & only venture out when you are able to spend time waiting for her to be good before going home. also tell people that you are doing this so no one starts to worry when your not back for ages!
 
i had a similar problem for a little while and it stopped as soon as my mare realised that she wasnt going to get untacked and put in the field when we got home - she was schooled instead! if she didnt jog she didnt get schooled
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- simple - it was up to her then, she soon started walking home nicely
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I used to ride a pony years ago who was exactly the same..... There would be no difference in his behaviour whether the hack was short or long.
He terrified me when I first rode him as I was only a kid, and had never ridden a pony like that before.
Just persevere, I had to go on a fairly fast road, but made sure I was very visible and always slowed the traffic down. I also instinctively knew when I could let the reins drop - I had to keep hold though up to that point or he would have tanked home. He would eventually settle with a loose contact, and whilst a little joggy, would walk and keep straight (i.e bum not in the road).
It just takes time and patience.....
 
I'd also be inclined to work the horse once you have got back from the yard (you may of already tried this though), or just simply cool off for a lengthy time in the school but making sure you do it after every ride, sometimes this helps, makes them think twice about rushing back and getting back to the field mates.

Ro does this when she's coming home, problem is she swings her quarters out into the road and jogs like you say to the side, she is worse when in company, she's be ok in front but then she's not good in heavy traffic plus she's a very spooky mare so needs to be in the middle but of course this just winds her up....she has done it for years.

However I've got her going out on her own now and have made a habit doing some schooling when we get back to confuse her and let her know that she has not finished...until the fat lady sings lol and the last 3 times she's walked back sensibly, ok if stopped her she's no doubt swing out and get wound up but its progress at least.
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Thank you all SO SO SO SO SO SO SO much!!!! cant wait to see if they make a difference. Will re-post in a few months with an update!! xxxxx
 
This is really interesting to read as my mare who is 7 years old this year is an absolute angel when schooling, on the ground and all other things but hacking is different only this year though has she started jogging and becoming anxious when hacking, and going with another horse makes no difference to her if anything it makes her worse, anyway my OH took her two days ago, me on bike and she was really bad but we continued on a circular route, last night we took her again and she was totally different, almost like well that didn't put them off so i might aswell go round with least effort rather than wearing myself out!!! Can it be an age or phase thing I wonder?
 
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