How to get over hacking nerves?

[Sags_Deer]

Any advice please, I have to conquer my fear.

 

[Notimetoride]

It can be done, but it takes time, patience, and determination.

Basically its a very fine line between working within your comfort zone, yet pushing yourself a teeny little bit outside of your comfort zone (complete contradiction). Always always set yourself up to succeed, so if your horse is in the wrong frame of mind, your in the wrong frame of mind, its windy, your short of time, etc etc etc, dont do it. Only attempt things when everything is going in your favour. You wont get any medals for bravery ! Make sure you have a very trusted person with you either on foot or riding, and just set a small goal like to the yard gate and back (seriously!) To someone who is petrified, that is one heck of an achievement. Do it many times till your bored of it. then go to then end of the driveway and back. Slightly slightly increase how far you go. It may take months. And im afraid what will happen, is that you will have to deal with problems, The horse will spook, as thats what they do. But you'll cope with it well and you'll survive to fight another battle. Youll learn that if the horse spooks, that nothing major happens and you become less afraid of it. You might find one day your horse starts jogging, but youll relax your contact, sit relaxed, and ride it out, and boy will you be chuffed that you sat it out and the horse settled down again. Each problem you encounter, youll learn from. Youll also learn that your a far more capable rider that you realised, and will become less afraid of problems. Youll then start to trust your horse more and build a stronger bond, and he'll then trust you more. The key is baby steps, good support (ignoring people with opinions!) and setting yourself up to succeed.

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

On your own, in company - or both?

 

[Sags_Deer]

both.

 

[Sags_Deer]

It didn't help that an old horse I had, (well retired now) spooked one day and I came flying off, thankfully just bruised myself but it shook me up seeing him trotting off down the road, put the fear of god in me, luckily he came back and I caught him. I did carry on riding him after this. but The one I have now can be a sharp ****** , as in leaping when he feels like it, so he hasn't helped my nerves

 

[Ellietotz]

I completely understand how you feel. I have been hacking out alone for over 3 years now but I still get butterflies beforehand and my new horse who I've had for about 7 months is a nutjob compared to the last but you do get used to it. Like Notimetoride said, the more you do it, the more confident you will get. I find the best way to overcome anything silly the horse does is by talking out loud like "oh you silly goof, it's your own shadow!" and laugh it off or just talking to them generally like "I'm feeling a little nervous today so be nice! I've had a rough day" etc etc. I always find if you say it out loud, it just makes you feel a bit better. Like talking out loud when watching a horror movie because it makes you feel a bit less scared!!
You'll be fine, just keep doing it, be brave, get on and go. Good luck!

 

[GirlFriday]

Or just don't bother?

If horse is out 24/7 in company it probably doesn't much matter to most of them if they also hack, as long as you don't over-school, which is unlikely with only one rider.

Or you can get another rider (sharer/occasionally a friend who rides/instructor) to hack your horse out. If the horse is calmer than you and/or well-located with decent hacking you can probably get someone to do it for free. If more 'exciting' then you may have to pay a bit.

Then, when you get bored to tears/super jealous of the other rider you'll just do it.

ETA: I've experienced the 'rider on ground/horse trotting (cantering in my case) off' feeling too. Not fun. But, on balance, worth it.

 

[indiat]

I took a self-hypnosis class and it worked wonders. My fears are not gone but it got me back into the saddle and helps me reinforce a good experience.

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

both.

Sorry, got distracted with work earlier.....
Breathing, singing and chatting are all good aids. Ensure you have appropriate safety gear on, tack fits etc, then when you have ridden as usual in school or wherever you usually ride, plan a cool down 5 mins walk out. Gradually extend this each time, if possible have a stooge with you, even if they are non horsey and on foot.
You need to have a conversation going, however idiotic you feel, as has been mentioned above, and a plan as to where you are going, even down to the last 10 feet before looping back.
No idea where you are, but happy to offer physical help if not a long way from nw surrey

 

[MagicMelon]

I didnt hack for about 10 years, I had a few incidents and decided it was too dangerous to hack out my competition horse at the time so I only schooled him. For me, it totally depends on the horse Im riding. I eventually got a pony project which I backed and because it was so sensible, I started to venture out on it but literally Id go just a short way down the road and come back and built it up from there although I never went very far as I still wasnt confident enough and didnt enjoy it, I only did it for the ponies experience. However, with my current horse who I also backed - she has regained my confidence pretty well. She's always been sensible and has never over reacted in any situation, I really trust her although I will admit that if I havent hacked for a week or two then the anxiety comes back. I think you just have to build it up doing tiny little hacks and its ok to get off if you're worried. I did that loads to begin with, horse didnt care. I still get off if my nemesis (a herd of cows which caused my incidents all those years ago!) begins to rush over to me! I did only yesterday I get past the cows then I get back on and carry on. Better that than me getting nervous which would then potentially cause my horse to start tensing up. I found talking helped a LOT, I would chat to her (I hack on my own) and say things like "Oh look at that silly pheasant running about" or just any other random rubbish as it stopped my mind going into panic mode.

I felt stupid as I was merrily eventing round novices yet I couldnt bring myself to hack out all those years which seemed like such a basic thing to do! Good luck OP, its hard with hacking as you cant control what you come across!

 

[Northern Hare]

If you don't already have one, I'd advise you investing in a good body protector and/or an air jacket - it helps your confidence if you know you are properly equipped' just in case the worse happens and you do take a tumble.

Also, do you have a school you can ride in? If so, then try to avoid going out hacking "cold", but ride or lunge your horse in the school first to take the edge off any high spirits.

If you ride out with company, it is absolutely 100% essential that they are considerate riders who understand your anxieties with hacking and do not put you under any pressure to do anything you're not happy with - ie. it may be that you just want to hack out in walk only for fifteen minutes, then thats exactly what you do.

To be honest, you're better going out on your own than go out with someone who is going to further damage your confidence - there's nothing worse than your hacking partner taking off at gallop and pretending they cant stop whilst you are absolutely terrified and potentially out of control behind!

Set yourself small goals and don't do any more than that - always try to come back to the yard feeling "well i could have stayed out for longer - i was starting to enjoy myself!"

 

[Britestar]

Try one of these confidence camps - they run all over the country and offer many solutions to hacking problems.

 

[pepsimaxrock]

for me its the company - I dont want to hack alone as we are on a busy busy road. Takes no time to get off that road onto quieter roads and offroad hacking but I'd rather do it in twos or threes than 5 or 6. At our place as soon as you mention hacking out, everyone joins in. And theres one or two horses that can be difficult. Not mine. But she'll react. So I dont go. And regret it when they all come back and say they had a great time

 

[Dave's Mam]

It can be done, but it takes time, patience, and determination.

Basically its a very fine line between working within your comfort zone, yet pushing yourself a teeny little bit outside of your comfort zone (complete contradiction). Always always set yourself up to succeed, so if your horse is in the wrong frame of mind, your in the wrong frame of mind, its windy, your short of time, etc etc etc, dont do it. Only attempt things when everything is going in your favour. You wont get any medals for bravery ! Make sure you have a very trusted person with you either on foot or riding, and just set a small goal like to the yard gate and back (seriously!) To someone who is petrified, that is one heck of an achievement. Do it many times till your bored of it. then go to then end of the driveway and back. Slightly slightly increase how far you go. It may take months. And im afraid what will happen, is that you will have to deal with problems, The horse will spook, as thats what they do. But you'll cope with it well and you'll survive to fight another battle. Youll learn that if the horse spooks, that nothing major happens and you become less afraid of it. You might find one day your horse starts jogging, but youll relax your contact, sit relaxed, and ride it out, and boy will you be chuffed that you sat it out and the horse settled down again. Each problem you encounter, youll learn from. Youll also learn that your a far more capable rider that you realised, and will become less afraid of problems. Youll then start to trust your horse more and build a stronger bond, and he'll then trust you more. The key is baby steps, good support (ignoring people with opinions!) and setting yourself up to succeed.

If you read nothing more, this is it.

 

[Dave's Mam]

If you don't already have one, I'd advise you investing in a good body protector and/or an air jacket - it helps your confidence if you know you are properly equipped' just in case the worse happens and you do take a tumble.

Also, do you have a school you can ride in? If so, then try to avoid going out hacking "cold", but ride or lunge your horse in the school first to take the edge off any high spirits.

If you ride out with company, it is absolutely 100% essential that they are considerate riders who understand your anxieties with hacking and do not put you under any pressure to do anything you're not happy with - ie. it may be that you just want to hack out in walk only for fifteen minutes, then thats exactly what you do.

To be honest, you're better going out on your own than go out with someone who is going to further damage your confidence - there's nothing worse than your hacking partner taking off at gallop and pretending they cant stop whilst you are absolutely terrified and potentially out of control behind!

Set yourself small goals and don't do any more than that - always try to come back to the yard feeling "well i could have stayed out for longer - i was starting to enjoy myself!"

And this.

 

[pansymouse]

I hack for miles in open country on my own on a sharp horse so you could say I have nailed hack confidence! I am always happy to take nervous hackers out at a pace of their choice to help them build confidence. The last time I did it my companion went for white with nerves to grinning from ear to ear within a couple of hours.

I recommend you find yourself a confident chum willing to help - if you're anywhere near Salisbury Plain I'll take you out x

 

[limestonelil]

Any advice please, I have to conquer my fear.

There are some really good answers already - but if the fear is because of busy fast roads, or even not so busy, fast, narrow, twisty single track country lanes then I am not sure there is any other way than hypnosis to help. I'm always surprised that there are not more vehicle/bike/horse accidents tbh. Can anyone help with this aspect of hacking? Realistically I meet woofing/biting dogs off lead more often.But then that's not on the roads.

 

[attheponies]

Can recommend Faye Lowe at Horse Confidence. Faye produces NLP recordings (one is particularly for hacking) and runs both mounted and unmounted workshops.

 

[rhylis]

Can recommend Faye Lowe at Horse Confidence. Faye produces NLP recordings (one is particularly for hacking) and runs both mounted and unmounted workshops.

This is good to know, I'm going to a talk by Faye Lowe at Sparsholt in July but was slightly sceptical about how good it will be. It would probably be the sort of thing that would help OP, but maybe too far to travel.

 

[Cassy]

How do these confidence recordings work? Do you listen to them before riding or whilst riding. If the latter what recording device do you use?

 

[Sags_Deer]

I hack for miles in open country on my own on a sharp horse so you could say I have nailed hack confidence! I am always happy to take nervous hackers out at a pace of their choice to help them build confidence. The last time I did it my companion went for white with nerves to grinning from ear to ear within a couple of hours.

I recommend you find yourself a confident chum willing to help - if you're anywhere near Salisbury Plain I'll take you out x

That is so kind wish I was nearer but sadly I'm not but thank you

 

[Sags_Deer]

Sorry, got distracted with work earlier.....
Breathing, singing and chatting are all good aids. Ensure you have appropriate safety gear on, tack fits etc, then when you have ridden as usual in school or wherever you usually ride, plan a cool down 5 mins walk out. Gradually extend this each time, if possible have a stooge with you, even if they are non horsey and on foot.
You need to have a conversation going, however idiotic you feel, as has been mentioned above, and a plan as to where you are going, even down to the last 10 feet before looping back.
No idea where you are, but happy to offer physical help if not a long way from nw surrey

Thank you ff sadly I'm not near you but kind of you to offer

 

[attheponies]

How do these confidence recordings work? Do you listen to them before riding or whilst riding. If the latter what recording device do you use?

You listen to them before riding and when you are calm and relaxed. I think normally for several days in a row and then as and when. They are about reinforcing positive feelings and thoughts. I also like to sing or hum when hacking as others have suggested and repeat little mantras just to keep positive.