Horse refuses to hack alone - help?

Tori3610

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I’ve had my 5 year old chestnut mare for a month now. I like to have a weekly routine with her and Sundays are our hacking days. The first time I hacked her was with another horse and she sometimes spooked or spun round but when she saw the other horse walking forward she followed. I didn’t think much of it but I’ve tried a few times now to hack her alone and have ended up getting off her multiple times and leading her up the road. She just stops and spins round, sometimes I can get her to stand still and turn her head and eventually she’ll walk forward but only for a few yards before spinning round again. If I put my leg on her she starts to jump around and I don’t want her to rear up. I tried a using a whip today but all it did was amplify the spinning and jumping. A yard friend advised me to long rein her down the road so I tried that but the same thing happens. I am really at a loss right now. Maybe she is just a horse who won’t ever hack on her own, but at the same time I want her to be able to so that hacks can be chill time for us. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! (She’s an ex racehorse too, just off the track in December if that means anything). Thanks :)
 

MDB

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Take a look at Warwick Schiller videos on destinatipn addiction. I could not have gotten my herd bound mare out alone without them. It took 6 days of an hour a day and by day 7 we were out on our own for short hacks. By two weeks we were out for proper hacks of 1 to 2 hours.
 

Mrs. Jingle

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There are a multitude of ways and means to retrain them to hack alone and some excellent and experienced advisers here on the forum if you search hacking alone. - I have a horse myself who only ever hunted among a herd of other horses until she came to me, so hacking alone (which is all I ever do with her) was problematic but we got there. Really annoying and disheartening to start with I have to agree.

However if you have a real, difficult, rear up, spin, bolt for home type refusing to go out IME the only thing that worked for a mare I had back in the day that truly had a huge problem and worked, was to ride her out to the limit of her tolerance, in her case about 200 yards to begin with. And just sit, and sit and even the slightest attempt to turn for home just turn her in a circle and sit and sit.. Every 5 minutes or so nudge her forward, if she resists again calmly but firmly turn a full circle and again sit. Sooo boring but it eventually won her around. I think the key with her was to ensure you would out sit her tolerance of boredom. the longest I ever sat with her was nearly 2 hours! After a couple of weeks she was well and truly cured though so well worth it IMO>

Incidentally the mare I have now who was a real cowbag to hack alone when I first had her is now one of the best hacking horses I have ever owned so do stick with it if you posssibly can :)
 

AmyMay

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She’ll never have hacked on her own, so you’re going to need several weeks hacking in company to start getting her used to just one other horse first. You’ll need to do this several times a week. Practice working alongside the other horse and going in front. Her confidence in you and just a single companion should then steadily build allowing you to start venturing out alone.

Don’t longrein on the roads without a helper at the horses head.
 

splashgirl45

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a month is no time at all. she is a young horse in a new home with a new owner and obviously not confident. you need to slow down and hack out with company for a few weeks and try to get her to go in front once she is more relaxed and have the other horse lag behind a bit so she gradually gets used to being on her own. only then would i start hacking alone and would go the same route that she did with company so she knows where she is....bellaboo 18 has the right idea
 

Carrottom

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I've had a few straight from racing yards who are not too happy going out alone. The approach I have taken depends on the horse so I think it takes a few months to get to know them and during this time I go out with company.
Then I decide whether I should get off and lead, sit and wait, keep the pressure on and reward any step forward, or with one who would plant in a certain place I would turn him and reverse past it. I don't think its a one size fits all solution.
Some horses are better to go the same route each time for a few weeks, others are better to go different routes. The main thing is to allow yourself plenty of time, I never hack out a new horse in the afternoon.
 

Mule

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Mine was a terrible napper when I got him. He didn't spin but marched backwards and bunny hopped.

I wasn't an experienced enough rider to push him forward so I went for the bore him senseless method described above.
I didn't circle him though. He would have marched off for home if I did.

His prior owner did say he was very nappy. He described how on one occasion he marched backwards and ended up sitting in a ditch :eek:

I just brought him to the edge of his comfort zone and gradually increased the distance.

I also did a lot of walking him in hand and let him graze so he associated leaving the yard with something good. His problem was that he was very herdbound so hacking meant leaving his herd.

Walking in hand helped a lot. When I got more experienced and more confident I was able to laugh at his antics and that resolved the tension and he just got on with it. So it's doable, it just takes time and patience.
 
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Northern

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I've taught two 3-4 year old chestnut TB mares to hack :p Your girl is only new off the track into the wide world, she's probably wondering where her racehorse safety blankets went!

What worked for me is going out in hand on short loops every day. I gradually built that up to riding out with another horse every now and then at the walk. And then alone at the walk, introducing trots and canters when they were more confident. Yes they did stop and nap, but you just have to remember to stay calm and quiet. If she stops, sit for a minute but do not let her walk backwards. If she does, turn a few small circles and then ride her forward again. Same if she starts bouncing

It won't solve the issue overnight but gentle persistence will win over eventually. You'll probably find that a few weeks of persisting will build her confidence up enough to go out alone with confidence.
 

DabDab

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Well it sounds like there's two things you have to tackle there. The first is teaching her that spinning round and knobbing off is not an appropriate response to finding life stressful. If she does it when she's in company too then that's great - if you can organise a very patient and non reactive friend to go out with, and then when she spins and runs stop her, turn her back, give her a moment, and then ask her forwards again. Don't let your friend take the lead, just have them stand while she stands, and walk alongside her when she goes forwards again. Make sure you're not in a hurry to get anywhere and keep everything very calm. She needs to process that it's ok to take her lead from you, not just another horse, otherwise even if you fix the hacking, the spinning stress response will probably pop back up somewhere else further down the line.

The second thing to tackle is the going out alone. And that's just a case of finding her comfort zone and then gradually chipping away at the edges of it - lots of good advice for this up thread.

Good luck :)
 

Denbob

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My boy naps when asked to hack alone, I haven't had time really to make strong progress consistently for reasons beyond my control so I've been hacking where I can in groups, never putting us in a situation where he's overfaced. The aim is for him to learn hacking is a nice fun thing not scary and full of monsters!

My plan this summer is walking out in hand round a short circuit, getting on just before we get home and slowly increase the distance I ask him to do ridden as opposed to in hand round the same loop. Mixing that up with confidence building hacks with companions so he doesn't get bored. Doing this we progressed to a short hack with a helper on foot who stayed 20/30ft behind and didn't have to 'rescue' us once!

The key is patience and consistency! As others have said lots of great advice on here. Good luck with your girl :)
 

Daughter of the Moor

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Give her time. She is very young and you have only had her a very short time. Try taking her for short walks in hand to give her confidence and gain her trust. It can take a long time for a horse to settle into new surroundings and a new regime.
 

spugs

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I’ve had two nappy sods who didn’t want to hack alone. I found lots of hacking in company so they know routes, always do a circular one, never let them turn round to go home or win when they’re napping. Both of mine where the rear and spin types so I would just circle them and wait till they were ready to move on and then pat and good boy. They both needed consistent work and hacking out regularly alone or they’d revert but they were both a lot older and had gotten away with nappy behaviour in previous homes.
 
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