Horses with hacking solo anxieties

Weezy

Weezy

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My new boy has serious issues when asked to go up to the school alone. The hack to the school is about 500 metres up a lane. We manage to get a certain distance and then he freezes and he physically cannot make himself go any further. He holds his breath, gulps air and is, IMO, honestly traumatised by it. He will back up onto the verge (it is as though he doesn't feel safe on the tarmac) and there we stand. I will not let him back up any further as there is a fence with an electric strand and a drop behind said verge. I have tried booting him, etc, but he just stands there. Person in question thinks I should let him back into the electric fence or fall down the drop....I am afraid I value my life and his too much to let this happen
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He is getting better and I have no doubt that I will crack it, but I have been told that it is me and I need to beat it out of him. If he was napping, spinning, trying to go back to the yard, I would possibly agree that he is just being a git, but this is very different. If I lead him up the road he is marginally better and I get him there, but he doesn't breath much. I have legged a couple of friends up on him and walked alongside and this works but he is still hesitant. I told said person that quite frankly if this is the only bad thing about him, that I have to lead to the school, then so be it.

He is now going up the tracks alone and starting to breath and almost relax, it is a work in progress and I am 100% he has gastric issues as the air gulping leads me to this conclusion. He will be put on Coligone this week to see if it helps matters.

He is hesitant about being led anywhere he does not know, it is almost as though he just doesn't have a brave gene, but he will jump anything LOL!

So, naughty or genuine fear? Do you agree that some horses just do not trust themselves to hack alone? Or do you think that he needs a good beating? I think some horses just cannot stomach hacking alone and are genuinly petrified of the tigers lurking in the bushes
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Luckily I have a friend who is off work for 4 days next week who is going to help me go up and down the road a million times. Oh and he is not so bad with another horse, and I am now managing to walk back to the yard aboard, even though it is not in a relaxed manner! He is 9 and always been on a pro yard, so never done hacking before.
 
I would say some horses are genuinely scared, Daisy was genuinely petrified of hacking alone when we first got her, you could feel her heart beating through the saddle. It took a few months of patience and people leading her from the ground as well as someone on top but we did get there and she will happily do 20ml endurance rides now.
 
Genuine fear id say weezy. My d does the same when there are new things out on our hacking routes. Completely freaks him out. Have started being able to get him past the majority of things with quite a lot of encouragement but somethings i have to get off, walk him past to show him that mummy wont take him past anything scary or anything that will eat him. When i first had him i spent most of the time walking him!
 
Pickle did exactly this, he got so dangerous because of it. One hack he went nuts and then got disorientated and couldn't even get him home, took lunge lines and a quad bike to bring him back! he was genuinely scared and had no idea what to do!

I hacked him out with one other horse for 2 months, then gradually increased the distance between him and the horse he was used to hacking with. He gradually got better with this, and if he freaked out I would put him back at a distance he was happy with until he settled. He now happily hacks out alone after a lot of hard work!!
 
Mine has a similar issue as we have a long drive way from the yard to the road. The only thing that I have found to help is to ask for rein back. Mine will walk on ,freeze,tense up and then spin but won't go anywhere once he has spun if that makes sense. As soon as I feel any tension ,I turn ask for rein back for a few strides ,halt then turn again forwards and ask him to walk on . Think it just gives him something else to think about rther than the omg sensation of I am walking down here by myself . The only other thing is could you feed him by your school so he assocaites going down there with something nice
 
Sounds mad but have you tried completly dropping the reins when hacking and holding reins on the buckle? Really dont know if it would work for other horses but it was fab with mine- someone told me to try it with woody, as he really holds his breath and is always completly on edge when hacking, always on the look out for a single scary leaf twitching in the back of the hedges. Dropping the reins , somehow seems to help him relax a lot.

Also try, a large double handfull of espsom salts for a week....could well calm him down lots.

Otherwise I think it would be a case of day in, day out, someone leading you about with you on board...
 
Ah should have mentioned hacking with others! He hacks pretty much every day, with another horse or more. He will NOT put a nose in front and prefers to be directly behind the horse he is with, you try and trot up alongside and he just stops behind the other rider's leg. He will now canter alongside rather than behind, but you have to really boot and shake reins to make him do it (hacking out with friend on 14.2hh today was comedic TBH!). He has started to feel safer to put a nose in front when walking home, but you couldn't make him go in front for love nor money.
 
O_B I am an on the buckle girl and we spend a lot of time like that, I have tried marching him up the road on the bit, trotting, mooching, all the same result. Epsom salts are a good idea, I have some at the yard and will dose him up!

toomanyhorses - I have tried that, and shoulder in, leg yield, etc, he is the king of stopping dead and just saying *I can't*, it isn't a *no, f-off* but I really *I just can't*

dw and 4legged - cheers, I KNOW I will crack it, it is nice to hear I am not the only person that believes some horses really just cannot do it immediately!
 
My new one is the same, He genuinley is a spooky bum, Even old owners says he is spooky. Makes me laugh as people see the size of him and say ooh he would be a good police horse. I laugh and say try riding him.
Some days he is fine and wont spook at anything. Other days he is a wet lettuce.
Funnily though he is fab on roads, On hacks will walk past diggers etc. Its stupid things that he spooks at really.

I do find him better if I give him a bit of rein though.
 
Ted is great in traffic funnily enough, doesn't bother him at all. Cantering along a field today though there was some horse eating grass and we went from onwards canter to canter on the spot in an instant LOL!
 
My mare can be a bugger to hack alone......she wouldn't go more than 50yrds up the lane without tensing up, snorting, and shaking all over, it was fear....i used to get off and lead her for a while and then build on this, she will now leave the yard and hack alone, although she is sharp and spooky -i will never ride her on the busy roads, and i have to leap off and grab her head if something like a motorbike appears!! but TBH you get used to it - there would be no point beating her - she would be even worse.....don't let people tell you what to do, do what you feel is right for you and your horse, good luck.
 
I think it's a nap. Sorry. Doesn't mean you should beat him (it never pays, obviously).

In your shoes I would totally ignore the behaviour and just ride him to school as 'normal'. Don't make an issue of it. Don't hastle him, and don't hit him. Just ask him to do what you want and expect him to do it.

Same out hacking - but if he won't go upsides another horse and actually go in front - he'd have a slap if he were mine.
 
I had a horse that napped really badly. I found that once she had planted herself the best thing was to turn her head in the direction you want to go and just hold her so her nose was touching your stirrup and wait, and wait, and wait. Don't kick, don't do anything, just hold his head by your foot. Eventually she would let out a big sigh and do what I wanted. It was as if her brain had reset. The wait gradually decreased, and then she gave up napping. I had tried all the usual things and none of them had worked.

It might be worth a go.
 
Ditto everything said. He sounds scared - if you were to beat him up there, you'd probably turn him into a loony
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Dizzy has stress moments, but she keeps moving - backwards at speed! I turn her round and we go past the scary object/up the scary lane backwards. Works for her as she is movement orientated. Beating her would get bucks and rears.
 
My suggestion would be to take him out for walks in a bridle and just get him used to going out with no pressure. Let him walk behind you if that's what he wants, obviously not along a busy road but just mooch him around the countryside. I know it is long winded and time consuming for you but take the pressure off him and let him gaze around. Your horse is only young.

This worked a treat with my mare who was seriously nappy when I first got her but now she hacks out on her own well. She is not naughty just very insecure.

Also don't always go into the school once you have got your horse down the lane. Getting a nappy horse's confidence doesn't always come from riding them.
 
Pmsl that is like Murphy, Honestly he is such a wuss. It is frustrating sometimes, but he has come on loads since I first got him. He generally goes past everything now, Odd jump but nothing like how he was. Just perseverance worked with him.

Murphy is more inclined to spook if you are not riding him forwards. Hes quite weird really, the only time really he is likely to spook now is say the first ten minutes into a hack, after that hes fine?
 
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I think it's a nap. Sorry. Doesn't mean you should beat him (it never pays, obviously).

In your shoes I would totally ignore the behaviour and just ride him to school as 'normal'. Don't make an issue of it. Don't hastle him, and don't hit him. Just ask him to do what you want and expect him to do it.

Same out hacking - but if he won't go upsides another horse and actually go in front - he'd have a slap if he were mine.

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You are welcome to come try if you like
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He gets a slap, believe me, and he has had pony club spur kicks, it doesn't work, but then maybe it is me. I ride him *normally* ever time I ride him, I don't tense, I don't shift, I don't fidgit.
 
What happens if your hacking partner turns around - and moves away from you in the opposite direction?

Automatically your horse is in front then - hacking partner turns back and simply rides behind you.


Simples......
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DD I rather like that idea and will give it a go
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MrsMozart - if he was moving backwards then at least he would be moving LOL! This is genuine stop, won't go, shift on spot, can't/won't/shan't/whatever. He has NEVER been turned towards home BTW, I do not allow him to even consider that an option.

Tictac yes, that idea has crossed my mind and he is now very trusting of me on the ground and is prob why I am getting him further and further - I haven't just led him up to the school sans tack just for a jolly at all, might be worth doing that every evening for a week.

Should also say that once at the school (it is another yard) he is fine and works really well.
 
any person who told me to beat something out of my horse would be the one getting the beating tbh!.

he sounds like he really is scared, i know with jay i have to be firm and take charge for him, he spooks at the end of my drive every single time, in hand or under saddle, he freaks out and refuses to go forward to start with, i just sit and ask, have a break, ask some more etc, this goes on till he is happy enough to go.

hope you work something out to help him x
 
[ QUOTE ]
What happens if your hacking partner turns around - and moves away from you in the opposite direction?

Automatically your horse is in front then - hacking partner turns back and simply rides behind you.

Simples......
tongue.gif


[/ QUOTE ]

He freezes, simples! Seriously I have never known such a wussy horse in my life! I know how to deal with nappiness but this is just very new to me!
 
That's the time hacking partner get's sent home - and you sit it out.

Been there and done it. Took 4 hours. But got there in the end.
 
Unfortunatly this is all natural behavour. Horses are prey animals and like to be in herds for saftey. I am very lucky with my pony lucy she trusts me compleatly and will go anywhere for me alone or in company. you need to teach your horse to trust you and create a bond with him. you need to create situations which scare him when you are in control so he lurns that you are his protector and wont let anything hurt him. Hopefully he will lurn to trust you and feel safe enough to hack out just you and him. This way will take time and some horses never hack out on there own sadly but i have to say i don't agree with hitting a horse who is frightend. all you acheve is making him more scared of you than the thing he was scared of and you will never get his trust. If they are messing around and are not scared i do slap them.
 
Bless him its a big scary world!! If he has always been on a pro yard and not really known the joys of hacking etc its bound to be a shock for him, by the sounds of it your doing all the right things, if i were you id keep doing what your doing, It sounds as if he is getting braver and trusting you so im sure his confidence given time will increase.
Goodluck
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MrsMozart - if he was moving backwards then at least he would be moving LOL! This is genuine stop, won't go, shift on spot, can't/won't/shan't/whatever. He has NEVER been turned towards home BTW, I do not allow him to even consider that an option


Oh yes indeedy! I only do the turn because otherwise we end up with our ar&es down ditches/in hedges, or spinning like a top
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. Thelwell kicks do occasionally work with her, whereas a tap on the bum normally gets a buck, and one on the shoulder gets a rear. Ho hum. Bought me a rocking horse lol.
 
LOL I have renamed two of my horses Peabrain and Dimwit today... there was a puddle on the road, there was no way around it... there was a lot of running backwards - into another puddle...

Weezy - I have 1 like that, and I did try to bully him into moving - ended up throwing himself on the ground in desperation.
What does work is boring him to death, standing there singing/smoking/talking on the phone until he moves. I'm down to 5 minutes now, used to be 2hrs.
 
I think he's genuinely scared and beating him won't fix it.
Of course continue with your schooling because it will help, but you need to tackle his confidence issues first.
Can you long rein him along there? It's the best way to make them walk on their own.
Have you tried getting someone to ride a bike with him?
Often that's all it takes , just something else with him.
Try putting your ipod on loud and singing to it as you approach his scared place, oftne because he's so transfixed by the racket he may just carry on walking!
Another trick is to start lateral work before you reach that spot, if he's busy thinking shoulder in he may not react as badly.
If he wasn't holding his breath I would say have a fight, but I really think this is fear not plain old "NO!"
 
It does sound like genuine lack of confidence, but mixed with dis-respect for the rider's aids for him to go forward. Sometimes you need to make the horse do something for it to realize that doing it won't actually kill it.

I'd trot down the road. If he hesitates, kick him. If he stops kick harder. If he still stops smack him. If he still stops have someone on the floor behind him with a lunge whip to back up your aids. Any movement forward keep talking to him, praising him and tickling his neck. Any refusal to go forward, give him all the grief you can throw at him. He won't gain confidence if he doesn't understand he has to do what you tell him to do IMO.
 
Long reining is my next step HH, the lane is quiet so I have no probs with doing it. Riding a bike, no probs, walking, no probs, it is when he doesn't have a *lead* that he worries.

Have tried lateral work, doesn't work
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We have zig zagged leg yielding, flexing, left the right SI, travers, the lot, we still get stuck - gargh! On the way home from hacks in company I always do lateral work and it is helping and he is a tad braver and will *show off* so I will persevere.

Will try the iPod, I like the idea of that, along with cigarettes and phone LOL! I need to block out a whole week of mornings that I have free time so can just sit there and wait,but time is precious!
 
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