Horse not happy hacking out alone all of a sudden, Tips please?

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PONYPC

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Hello, i hack out alone or in company and my horse is usually very happy, (a little cautious on the bridle paths when alone even with lots of encouragement) but very happy on the roads. Over the weekend he simply would not leave the yard, he was bolt upright and no matter what coaxing i did, he was not having it! So I did manage to get him out backwards, but he was still not happy to continue up the bridle path forwards or the road. I took him in the school for 20 minutes and voilla he was less hesitant, along with some encoragement we progressed slowly. Several times though, when hacking alone, he did whinny sevral times as we emerged from the bridleway onto the road and set off for home looking for his friends. It's great going out with others, but often after work and with lighter evenings it would be beneficial for us to go out alone. I am usually very jolly and even sing to him, so i always keep calm.
 
Has he particularly bonded with a new horse or has the herd dynamic changed? Has his special friend come into season or the like?
 
Equi said:
Has he particularly bonded with a new horse or has the herd dynamic changed? Has his special friend come into season or the like?
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no, he is not bothered about any particular horse, he is turned out in a group of 5 and surrounded by others, he is always happy to be with the herd , but off to one side on his own. He is turned out with geldings but has previously been turned out with mares, but generally keeps himself to himself.
 
so my horse started doing this and ended up being diagnosed with hock spavin, pedal osteitis and then eventually grade 4 ulcers. but even after all of that was treated he was still nappy, I assume due to pain memory, so I started taking him out every single day, started with a friend walking with him, then walking behind, then cycling, then cycling off out of sight, then cycling in the opposite direction, so that she could help if he'd stopped, but every night he got better and better, to a point that he stopped napping completely!

so if its not pain related, it could be confidence related! good luck!
 
Any mares in the herd? Two mares in our mixed herd are in season and there’s a lot of this behaviour going on. Obviously not to overlook pain or some stress somewhere, but just came to mind. Good luck!

EDIT: Sorry! I just saw you wrote he’s with geldings.
 
Pearlsasinger said:
I would be wondering about trigger stacking, so checking his tack/eyes/back etc and if nothing obvious was found contacting the vet. Horses don't usually change personality like that without re
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kerrieberry2 said:
so my horse started doing this and ended up being diagnosed with hock spavin, pedal osteitis and then eventually grade 4 ulcers. but even after all of that was treated he was still nappy, I assume due to pain memory, so I started taking him out every single day, started with a friend walking with him, then walking behind, then cycling, then cycling off out of sight, then cycling in the opposite direction, so that she could help if he'd stopped, but every night he got better and better, to a point that he stopped napping completely!

so if its not pain related, it could be confidence related! good luck
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I had one who struggled to hack out on her own but would go out fine with in company -turned out she had very low grade foot pain, and when we resolved that, she was fine to hack solo again. I feel like there's some sort of trigger stacking mechanism, whereby if their attention is being distracted by being sore, they know they're not fully attentive to their surroundings so they get anxious / nappy etc, whereas in company, they can trust the other horse to protect them a little - it may just be my attempt to understand why the solo hacking was an issue but it made sense to me! Ultimately though, sorting out the foot pain for my mare resolved the hacking solo overnight.

And in terms of what was causing the issue if anyone's interested, she presented as just 'not quite happy' - couldn't really put my finger on it, but was also slowing in the air slightly over a fence. Trotted up sound for the vet, but we could both hear that one foot wasn't quite landing flat and ultimately blocked and X-rayed to find bilateral NPA with pain iwo RF navicular - injected the bursa and resolved NPA with better foot balance and pads, and she's been grand for over 18 months.
 
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