Ideas needed for getting my horse to hack alone again...

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Flakey123

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Hi Everyone,

I am returning to riding after a year out to have my baby. I have a TB gelding who used to be great at hacking alone before we had a break.

In the last year, he has been ridden out by a friend but only with other horses and she's never had a problem with him (last time was in September).

I started riding again just before Christmas but only in the school and he was his usual calm and well behaved self. I've even taken him out in the trailer to have a lesson at another yard and he was brilliant.

However, the other day I decided to take him along the lane and through a gate. He went berserk, rearing, bucking and spinning. I didn't want to give up and just go back (for fear of him learning to do it again!) so we made it through the gate and did a little circle around the field and back again. He didn't calm down until we arrived back.

I just wondered if anyone had some advice to get us back on track? Or had gone through a similar thing? I am worried that he will never be able to hack alone again :(

It's not always easy to find someone to hack out with and I'm not sure this would help much as he behaves really well with other horses. I am not an overly confident rider, so I am worried that this will scare me into not hacking at all. Also being an ex-racer his leading skills (and perhaps mine) are lacking somewhat so I don't think leading him out would fill him (or me) with confidence.
 
I had the same thing with my young horse. He was not naughty he lacked confidence and was a scardey cat! I got someone to walk behind with a lunge whip. I really made a big fuss of him and went a bit further each time. I also long-reined him round a track. When hacking with others I made him take the lead but only for a short time. It is about building confidence. It took a while but he hacked out on his own although was never brave. I put him out on loan. He went to a new yard and was fine.:D:D:D
 
My ex racer wouldn't hack alone so I hacked her in hand until confident, I would then take her on a small root tacked up in hand and mount when I was nearly home, I repeated this getting on earlier and earlier each time and I now have a confident horse who hacks out from the yard alone with no issues :) it's all about confidence building!
 
Can you ask someone to walk alongside and gradually drop back (probably over the course of several hacks)? As others have said it will just be a matter of building his confidence. Could you box him to hack somewhere off road but with a boundary on his own? You will probably be more relaxed knowing that you will be quite safe on an 'enclosed' hack, so he will pick up on that and relax himself.
 
I would school him first and work him hard and then go for a short cool off hack, then gradually do a little less in the school and a longer walk off. Its how I started my youngster off with hacking by himself and while he had kittens the first time, he quickly built up confidence. As soon as he was happy for a 10 minute stretch, we then extended it to 20 and so on.
 
this makes intersting reading for me - my horse who I got nearly 4 years ago was fine to hack on his own until he injured himself, was on box rest for 4 months and now wont hack alone :mad: he is fine in company, but not great on his own. Its now a year since he was injured and I just cant understand why he hates it so much? I take him off competing on his own and he is fine at competitons, but leaving the yard on his own is such hardwork!! I have tried someone walking with me, and no different....
 
I had a dog once that had a bad habit of sort of bolting forward, whenever she realized that we were going back home on the walks = nearly making me fall over, the thing is that I found the solution to my problem in a horse book, where they talked about what to do when your horse didn't want to hack out alone and/or bolted when heading back towards the stable.

The author suggested that you sort of rode the horse close to stable or around it, a little bit further and further away each turn/time, thereby slowly building up the acceptance for being further and further away from the other horses/the stable. Also to ride past the stable door over and over again, until the horse accepted that it was you who decided when the ride was over, and it was time to go back inside the stable/to the other horses.

Anyhow, one day when my dog had nearly caused me to fall over again (even though she only did it out of happiness at the thought of going home = food, back to her warm and comfortable bed, more food...), my temperament boiled over and I decided that I didn't care if it was a horse book or not, I was going to try it on my dog.
So we got home and I just walked straight past the front door, continued walking a bit, turned around, she bolted forward again, we walked back to the front door and straight past it, continued walking a bit, turned around, she bolted... After a number of times, she didn't bolt forward that much and I ended the walk.

For the next days, our walks either = just walking back and forward passing the front door over and over again or we did go out on a shorter version of our regular walks, but I ended it with going past the front door a few times.
And horse tips or not, it worked on my dog, so hopefully it can help you with your horse.

:D
 
I'll be watching this thread as im interested in any advice (:


ImmyS said:
My ex racer wouldn't hack alone so I hacked her in hand until confident, I would then take her on a small root tacked up in hand and mount when I was nearly home, I repeated this getting on earlier and earlier each time and I now have a confident horse who hacks out from the yard alone with no issues :) it's all about confidence building!
Click to expand...

My horse hacked in company with my pony fine, then when he passed away she's not taken to hacking alone well and my own confidence is pretty shot but im currently doing just as ImmyS says and its working so far. and it also allows me to calm down and i think she picks up on that (:
 
Jessi&Magic said:
I'll be watching this thread as im interested in any advice (:




My horse hacked in company with my pony fine, then when he passed away she's not taken to hacking alone well and my own confidence is pretty shot but im currently doing just as ImmyS says and its working so far. and it also allows me to calm down and i think she picks up on that (:
Click to expand...

I think it's a great way for the horse to gain confidence in the rider, firstly on the ground which then translates to the riding when it is introduced :)
 
I would hack out in company and you and he are feeling confident, take the lead. You need to be out with someone who can position their horse to help you. Build up gradually, it's so difficult at this time of the year to hack regularly anyway. My horse (also an ex racer) is now great to hack alone but if we have a gap of a couple of weeks or so, he decides that he is incapable of doing the first gate en route and plants. It's just his quirky thing, we work through it (I have been known to get off and lead through and remount if he's really adamant!) and then he is fine again. It's early days with you getting back on board - take it slowly and don't ask too much of you or him, just ask what you know you can achieve willingly and safely. If he's not great in hand, I'd be working on groundwork around the yard and in the arena. I wouldn't want to be leading a potentially naughty horse in the open! Good luck, you'll get there :)
 
Thanks all, I think the key is just going to be time. I guess it's also a hard time of year to try and achieve much of anything! I may try and get a friend to walk out with us when the weather warms up a bit, I don't think I'll convince anyone to do that just yet! :D
 
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