How is your horse/s in traffic?

[Alphamare]

My mare is a nightmare, doubt she will ever get over it and I am careful about where and when I ride her out and always always in company.

Took my recently backed 4 year old out in very heavy traffic yesterday (he had only seen light traffic before this) and he was a total star. Didn't bat an eyelid.

Since I backed him myself... Mamma is SO proud

 

[figgy]

i have a new backed 4 year old he is a star on the roads with everything!!!!!

 

[TheoryX1]

Both mine and Mini TX's are complete and utter stars in traffic. To be honest, would not have a horse that was bad in traffic, as we both do a lot of hacking and there is a very dangerous road junction just outside of our yard, which we have to cross to get to good hacking. I once even hacked (was very drunk though after a liquid lunch on a riding holiday), down the A44 (or is it A46) between Broadway and Evesham on the dual carriageway with my friend, waving at all the juggernauts coming up alongside our horses. Neither of them batted an eyelid and I do agree it was a foolish thing to do, but we were lost.

 

[sidesaddlegirl]

My TB is excellent! Does bat an eye- we've ridden over the busy Foxhunter roundabout here in Leicester (anyone from here will know how busy it is), in heavy traffic hacking back fro shows with lorries and cars passing by on narrow roads- she just kept plodding on. LOL, take her on a quiet country road however, she is spooking at gates, a rhubarb leaf, a cow looking at her funny...

My horse is a townie

 

[ATrueClassAct]

Mines terrible. She is scared of grids on the road and once jumped infront of a car because of one. I don't hack her on the roads anymore. It's not worth the risk for me, but I do envy the people on my yard that go for 2 hour hacks around on the roads, but we've got a farm ride! So I'll just use that

 

[Jesstickle]

BH is absolutely fantastic. I can not fault him. We have horrific hacking (cross the A14 on a main roundabout on a flyover etc) and he never looks at anything on the road!

 

[caramel]

Mine's a real saint in traffic

 

[hcm88]

All of them are (generally) fab. I hack them a lot and have done since they were young which in the long run I think has benefited them hugely. They pass everything, some things need more encouragement obviously but that's normal. I consider them safe to hack generally in most conditions!

 

[Phoebe+Sophie]

Sophie is complete star in traffic she has never spooked, not even once! Will on the other hand is only ok with cars, he doesn't like vans and as there is a hedge down the side of the path next the road, he tries to spook into the road.

 

[noblesteed]

Mine is now incredible, doesn't bat an eye at buses tractors lorries caravans, trailers etc. We have to hack down a very busy A road wihich is a bit of a race track in the summer. It took quite a while to build his confidence in traffic as he could be quite sharp and at previous yard/homes he didn't see so much as we do...
The only thing he was afraid of are motorbikes... After lots of encounters he is now fine.
I hate it when the cars etc fly past us at 60mph but horse pays no attention whatsoever... he has become more and more confident the more we have done and seen, so 'conditioning' has definitely worked.

 

[hessy12]

Mine is 100% perfect. However, the horse before him was NOT hence he was sold. I will never, ever, have a horse that won't tolerate traffic.

 

[riding_high]

my horse is excellent in traffic so long as i don't see any tractors/lorries/motorbikes/rattly trailors!

seriously though he used to be fine in any traffic and we hacked on roads all the time with no worries but since moving to a different yard which is on a busy road he's sort of lost his nerve a bit, all the traffic (with the odd exception) just whizz past and it's not safe anymore so i just stick to hacking around the farm now.

 

[cobsrule!]

same as riding_high, at old yard hacked alone and company on off road hacking and quiet lanes but now moved to yard on 60mph road and hacking is a no go unless someone will walk out with me until reach the off road part

 

[welshcobabe]

Mine is fantastic in all heavy traffic but he is not keen on men with walking sticks and flappy plastic bags but you cant have everthing :0)

 

[Lu1]

Mine is great in traffic, i think its because ive had him since he was a baby and we've always had to hack across busy roads to get to bridleways...

 

[Natz88]

My mums cob & my 4yr old are very goo din traffic, but my haffy isn't great (although he has got loads better). He doesn't like heavy traffic such as lorries, tractors etc, but if we see one coming I pull in somewhere or just stand he is fine as he watches them (be it with his eyes out on stalks lol)

 

[rockysmum]

My two older horses used to be excellent in traffic, but a few years on a yard in the middle of nowhere and they started to get a bit worried about heavy stuff.

They are now good again, we have moved to a yard with a lot of heavy stuff coming in and out, and part of their field adjoins a fairly busy country road, so they see traffic all the time.

Our younger warmblood is fine as she has seen things all the time.

We dont hack much but I would not worry about any of them, its the drivers that scare me.

 

[monkeybum13]

She's very good bless her. Once she's back in work I want to take her over the bridlepath motorway bridge, not sure what she'd make of that, she'd probably just doddle over.

I hack out so much that all my horses have been good with traffic. Back at the old yard (before I had current horse) if I ventured off the yard (where there was acres and acres of offroad private hacking) we would hack over ring road bridges, under subways and on tracks that only had a post and rail fence between the track and 4 lane ring road and the horses were used to it.

 

[Shantara]

Ned is a star. Being a rather sensitive horse, I thought he would have been spooky. Not so! Huge scary artic lorries can go past and he doesn't care at all.

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

Big Fuzzy is extremely bomb-proof in all traffic & surrounding things on the roads - as far as any horse can be so much so, that if being a t*t to hack on rare occasions, I switch to roads if I can so manners are restored

Little Fuzzy is also fine in traffic, tho a little wary with airbrakes going on.

 

[Shantara]

Ned is a star. Being a rather sensitive horse, I thought he would have been spooky. Not so! Huge scary artic lorries can go past and he doesn't care at all.

Forgot to add: This is another reason why I think he was a gyspy road racer at one time or another!

 

[rhino]

T never batted an eyelid in any traffic, I used to let my yard use him for the Riding and Road Safety award and would happily let anyone take him out.

Until an idiot drove into him that is.... Wrote off the car but walked away pretty much uninjured.

Ever since he gets a bit stressed if he is waiting at junctions, doesn't 'do' anything awful, just feels very uneasy. When he is moving he is still fab in traffic, although the yard he is on now has over 46,000 acres of forest and moor to ride on

 

[azouria]

Red's only been out a few times but he has been brilliant so far! Made me laugh today because he stepped onto a man hole, looked down as if to say 'oh, what's that?!' and then just carried on. He takes it all in his stride!

 

[JFTDWS]

mine couldn't care less. The only problem we have on roads is when the traffic interferes with our conversations by making us go single file

 

[wattamus]

Ebony's perfect in traffic, we once had a gritter go past and throw grit in her face- didn't bat an eyelid! but a plastic bag or a parked car? they're going to eat her and she cannot possibly go past even though she has passed them dozens of times before! I've had her for 6 years and she hasn't changed, I've just given up and accept it as one of her quirks

 

[Spring Feather]

Mine are all great in traffic. Although I have no need to ever ride on roads I do make sure all our youngsters get out on roads early on in their lives to get them accustomed to traffic as in most cases they will be sold to people who do not have such luxuries as not having to ride on roads.

 

[226699]

Jealous of all of you. Mine spins round or jumps IN FRONT of traffic when alone or his nose isn't up another horse!

 

[darkhorse123]

Ebony's perfect in traffic, we once had a gritter go past and throw grit in her face- didn't bat an eyelid! but a plastic bag or a parked car? they're going to eat her and she cannot possibly go past even though she has passed them dozens of times before! I've had her for 6 years and she hasn't changed, I've just given up and accept it as one of her quirks

just like mine - an angel on main roads - leeds inner ring road no problem.
If one leaf dare change colour or he spots a hare in a field 5 miles away a different story lol

Dont mind at all though - i can guarantee he will only spook on isolated country lanes or in quiet deserted woods where he cant hurt himself or anybody else

 

[Jazzy B]

lucky enough to never had a bad pony on the road. My old girl I would have hacked up the M25 and she wouldn't have batted an eyelid. New lad he appears to be pretty similar!

 

[Black_Horse_White]

My new horse is brill in company when he is behind, when he goes infront he doesn't like grids, when he's behind he doesn't look at anything. Made him go in front today after a little battle he was a star, think he's testing me a little