Horse ran off with me - advice please

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Tayto

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So I have had my mare for 4 months now and she has been so chilled out I can't quite believe it. She takes everything in her stride and although she is green in the school etc, we have been enjoying hacking. Last night after a really bad schooling session where I ended up in tears (not my finest moment), I decided that in order to finish the evening on a good note, we would go for a short hack. 2 mins into the hack, we had to pass some logs that had been dumped in a lay by at the side of the road. She hasn't seen them before but I didn't think anything of it as she hasn't been spooky up until now and walks past "scary" stuff all the time without batting an eyelid. WELL..... The little madam decided these logs were the scariest thing ever and started snorting and backing into the grass verge. I pushed her on and told her not to be silly and the next thing I know, she spun and cantered off up the wrong side on the road - I wasn't able to stop her to start with and eventually somehow managed to stop her long enough to jump off. I took a minute to catch my breath and then walked her back to the logs in hand and let her have a look at them. She wasn't sure at first but after a few mins she realised they weren't going to eat her and started munching on the grass next to them. I used one of the logs to get back on her and headed for home. On the way home she was back to her normal chilled out self.

Firstly - do you think I handled this situation correctly?

Secondly - I am scared that this will be her reaction every time I try to push her past something she doesn't like. Should I just brush this off as a bad day and carry on as normal or should I hack past the "scary" logs again in company to make sure she goes past them?

Sorry for the long post, she is my first horse so I am having a bit of a confidence crisis just now!
 
I'd have done as you did, only once on again I'd have finished the ride as I wouldn't want to encourage nappy bahaviour (I don't like going home the way I came unless it's a lolly-pop shaped route, so no turning on the spot).

To be safe, next time you go past the logs, hop off and lead her past them, then remount and carry on. If she's calm, try to ride her past them the next time.

If you meet something that she huffs and puffs at in the future, get off and lead her by. She's green and new to you and when hacking on the roads safety must come first. Also I don't believe that hopping on and off does any harm as long as you make them stand nicely for you and you do progress to riding past the scary thing when ready. :)
 
OK - I am not an expert but I have had a few unsettling incidents myself so here are some thoughts from me FWIW...

- First, WELL DONE! You didnt fall off, you didn't get hurt, the horse didnt get hurt, and you got back on again.

- I dont think there is anything wrong with getting off, especially if like you you got back on again.

- The final thing to say is, I dont think it is a coincidence that this happened after your difficult schooling session. If you were in tears, I'd say it is quite likely your mare picked up on your emotions and this will have unsettled her. Just for the next little while, while you rebuild your confidence together, try and carefully set yourself up for success. Eg after coming off my boy recently I now try and time my riding so he has just come in from the field, rather than just before he is due to go back out.

We all have these wobbles from time to time. Take confidence from the fact that you coped and neither of you is any the worse for it. You will be that much more prepared in the future to deal with any problems. :-)
 
Hi, Well I think you said it yourself, you'd had a bad schooling session and no doubt you were both a bit worked up. These things happen, no harm came to you or your horse but I can see it would knock your confidence. Yes, I'd hack out in company for a little while and get your confidence back. Why not try putting some spooky objects in your school, work her in circles bringing her closer to the scary object, putting pressure on when she's furthest away and taking it off as she gets closer to the object she doesn't like. i know it sounds counter intuitive but she needs to understand that it the easy option is to listen to you rather than so her own thing.
 
As with the above, would have done exactly the same and well done for hopping back on again. It can be unsettling when horses which have been foot perfect suddenly throw situations like these in our face. I went through much the same thing with my mare a couple of years ago when I first bought her, so I feel for you (she was also my first 'own' horse).
There's definitely no harm in hopping on and off, provided that you don't make it a big deal, and try to catch the right moment- ie. don't jump off in situations when you could potentially push her past things without causing too much trouble, even if you're feeling a tad nervous; but at the same time try and catch it before you've had problems, so that she isn't allowed to realise that anything is wrong in the situation.

I think the most important thing is to be prepared. You know that the logs aren't scary; fool your body into believing in advance that there is nothing worrying about her behaviour (when I used to share a very sharp pony as a teenager, we developed the 'sack of potatoes' technique, which worked perfectly as I was a rather anxious rider at the time). Remember to breathe, and try to keep your breathing regular (so, for example, count 4 in; 4 out). Horses pay attention to the breathing of the dominant mare; if her breathing is irregular, then they know that something is wrong. Therefore, if you try to keep yourself calm and your breathing even, then she will begin to learn to have confidence in you.
But remember; you stopped her. You turned her around, and calmed her down, and hopped back on again. Actually, you dealt with the situation really well. So if it does happen again, then you can do it again, and you'll be okay. Just remember that.
 
Thanks everyone, this has made me feel much better. It all happened so fast I didn't even have time to be nervous! I've checked with people at the yard and no one is hacking today as there is a dressage competition tonight so I am prob going to have to hack alone. I'm thinking that we will (as mentioned above) set ourselves up for success and go on a hack that we both enjoy. Hopefully this is just a little blip - I am sure there will be plenty more!
 
Its so refreshing to hear people being positive about people hopping off. I advocate it all the time, and encourage people to hop off on other occasions too, so the horse doesn't think its an issue. With my OH (who does sometimes have confidence issues) we have days when he simply doesn't ride as he isn't in the right frame of mind. Having had a bad schooling session, I understand why you wanted to go out for a relaxing end, but it never quite seems to work. In your position, the only thing I would have done differently was to carry on a bit further, before heading for home. If possible, I'd go out with someone else over the next few days, and have a confidence boosting jolly.
 
Think you handled it well, though I am in the other camp to Zaminda - unless there is VERY good reason in my book you should never dismount - unless you or the horse is injured, so some saddlery needs attention that can only be done from the ground. I was always taught to 'stay on board' the principal reason being that it is very very difficult to control a really upset horse on the ground. You have only two legs, they have four, and even a small determined Shetland can easily take a good sized adult off their feet. I've so often, and I'm sure you have, seen people just got off balance and towed by departing horse. On it you have legs, hands, voice, feet - on the ground just voice and hand, and that isnt' enough.
 
I think you were very sensible, a similar thing happened with my daughter a few weeks ago when our boy decided he was terrified of a couple of flags outside a house, daughter jumped off when he felt like he was about to do something stupid, he's very good on the ground so once he was led past she popped back on and all was fine. I'd much rather that than him taking off down a road. Just one thing our lad does not like to go out for a hack after a schooling session and vice versa, in his mind it's one or the other, I have no idea why his like this Other than he thinks his work is done and it's not something we usually do anyway but it might just be a thought as to why she acted out of character.
 
I think you handled it well and also agree that getting off is often the right thing to do. I think this is especially the case with a spooky horse as you being there to lead them gives them confidence and someone to follow. Often this type of behaviour only takes one or two 'no, that is NOT what we do here' corrections (referring to the cantering off). Sometimes this kind of incident can be just what they need to realise you are the one making the decisions and they can trust you to keep them safe.

As above, Ideally you should carry on for a bit before going home.

Hope your next hack will be a calm and happy one!
 
My mare definitely takes a lot of confidence from me on the ground, the moment I got off and reassured her she completely relaxed. We are working on our confidence when riding. I do agree that normally you should stay on and I would have tried this but she was cantering down the wrong side of a road so felt in the situation I could calm her down better from the ground. Today we walked out in hand past the scary logs and at first she was unsure but we walked up to them, she sniffed them, walked round them and then carried on. On the way home we passed them again and she barely even looked at them. I am going to attempt riding past them tomorrow. Thank you everyone for being so positive :)
 
Rose Folly said:
Think you handled it well, though I am in the other camp to Zaminda - unless there is VERY good reason in my book you should never dismount - unless you or the horse is injured, so some saddlery needs attention that can only be done from the ground. I was always taught to 'stay on board' the principal reason being that it is very very difficult to control a really upset horse on the ground. You have only two legs, they have four, and even a small determined Shetland can easily take a good sized adult off their feet. I've so often, and I'm sure you have, seen people just got off balance and towed by departing horse. On it you have legs, hands, voice, feet - on the ground just voice and hand, and that isnt' enough.
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Would tend to agree in some cases, which is why I suggest hopping off before anything becomes too much of an issue, as it gives the rider more of a chance to fool the horse into thinking that there's nothing up with the situation. Also, to be honest, my mare went through a phase last summer of planting and just not going forward. Tried patience; waited for 30minutes and yes, COULD have waited longer but didn't have the time on that occasion. Attempting to push her through it resulted in spinning/going up/running and leaping backwards into ditches. Again, I could have just tried to push through this, as some people might have seen it as a tantrum and on the occasions when it progressed to this point I never once dismounted, simply rode her through it. However, it wasn't pretty and was a heck of a lot easier to jump off the moment she said 'no' and just lead her past things. That way she learned that she was going forwards, rather than fighting me or making a fuss of things. After a couple of weeks where we'd had issues, once I'd started doing this it only took a few hacks before I could ride her through it without having to deal with the mother of all teenage temper tantrums.
If you're worried about loosing hold of her OP, you could always wind a long lead rope up and clip it to a d-ring? That way, if you have to hop off, you have something extra to keep hold of.
 
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Shy had a major "incident" last month, when he flat refused to go past a certain part of the bridleway that had a shed and jumps stored beside it. Absolutely would NOT move - he's never done that before. Having tried everything, i got off and led him a few steps, then got on and tried again - nope, off again, led him, on again.

I suspect there was something dead and rotting in that shed.
 
shampain said:
If you're worried about loosing hold of her OP, you could always wind a long lead rope up and clip it to a d-ring? That way, if you have to hop off, you have something extra to keep hold of.
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I always carry a lead rope ( with chain ) when I ride my youngster just in case of emergencies. Last week he bucked me off, luckily we were 'at home' on the farm so no roads involved, but there was no way I felt able to re-mount so I led him home. The chain gave me a little more control when he thought he was in charge for the first few steps, after that he was a 'lamb'.
 
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