Help with young horse hacking alone, number of problems

[coffee1]

Hi!

We have a 5 year old horse who we have been trying to hack alone. Before we got him he ad never hacked out much alone, and never without someone on foot.

He has got better and will now walk out slowly alone with someone walking however he always stops when we pass some horses on the road and will go forward. It takes about half an hour to pass them, but will walk past on the way back fine, so don't think he is scared. Also has become spooky with traffic which he previously wasn't, but this could be due to the narrow country lanes, is this normal?

Also, today we tried a small trot with him by making him wait for a few seconds behind the walker, but he suddenly took off in a fast canter to catch up and literally stopped dead when he reached the walking person and slid a lot (nearly throwing me off!) He does this with other horses too and after he stopped wouldn't go any further forward than the walker. On the way home I managed to get him to trot by himself just before the yard. We have been trying to make him walk in front of the walker for a bit to get more used to it and other horses but he will only reluctantly go and then stop again. Another thing we did is made him walk completely alone home and he was OK, but he won't go out alone. What should we be doing? Thanks

 

[Kenzo]

I wouldn't really class it as a problem, just something you you have to expect with some youngsters, it takes a lot of time and patience which will only build up slowly before they are confident enough to deal with hacking out alone.

Keep routes short and sweet and stick to the same ride, so he learns where he is going and gains confidence that way, also ride out with other horses, take him for walks on the same route and continue to take him out with a friend either on foot or by bike, but just stick to walking, if they are not confident it's not really wise to push them into a faster pace or hold them back otherwise they will react worse and panic at things if they are very green, better to be safe and take things steady, just sticking to a good controlled walk until he's more settled.

 

[coffee1]

Thanks, yeah will just carry on. Have never dealt with hacking issues before!

 

[Ranyhyn]

My mare is new to me and still a bit spooky and protest-y when being taken out alone. Today we didn't have the usual end of the yard lane argument - but then we got down the lane and she caught sight of a recycling box.

Well.

We had a mini rear spin and a skitter back the opposite direction(!) Now I am a confident hacker but after an episode with my old horse I am definitely more cautious. First I got a bit anxious but then I got angry! She's not a newly broken horse and a recycling box is not on my list of things its "ok" to be scared of. So I shouted at her.

Well.

We then proceeded past the box in a smart trot with blowy nose snorts but she passed it and was ok the rest of the way - we finished the hack with a good trot up the hill to my yard. She didn't feel quite so choc after that!!

What I'm trying to say, rather long windedly is yes its normal - however, don't be too soft. Sometimes they need you to rule with an iron fist in a kid glove.

Regarding passing things, my mare definitely prefers to face the offender (dog/walker/cyclist) but will jump a little when being asked to move off. That's pretty normal, I deliberately try to avoid traffic atm because she's still in her "testing me out phase"