Inspiring a young horse to hack alone

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Rosiejazzandpia

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Hi all.
My young mare has been brilliant in the past month, hacking in company with others very nicely and learning to canter up hills after others. She is very forward in company and although I started her hacking out alone she is so much lazier alone. She ignores leg and voice cues, and I'm reluctant to have to get after her with a whip as she had been beaten and ear twitched at her last home and so is still very nervous.
Any tips and tricks to get a more forward ride when hacking alone?
 
Mine is more forward when out with friends. It's not that he's lazy, just not so confident alone. His friends are mostly bigger than him, and he doesn't have the most, shall we say, naturally ground covering walk, so without the motivation of a friend to keep up with he would prefer to mooch along at his own pace gawping around at what people are doing in their gardens. Not that he's allowed to. Well not all the time.

If she isn't listening to your aids, some time in the school getting her to move really smartly off a really small aid would probably help. She must do it every time, not just when she feels inclined. Little aid, if she doesn't answer the question, big aid, and if necessay then stick. Once she goes, take your leg off and keep it off until you need it again. You know the drill. Hacking alone is a particularly good opportunity to work on transitions within the pace, leg yield round cars, a bit of shoulder in, especially to deal with any potentially scary things (and a nice wither scratch when she's gone past it nicely), straight square halts at junctions and traffic lights, walk/trot transitions at alternate lamp posts, trot/walk one horse's length/trot transitions by every third driveway, frequent transitions between competition outline and free walk on a long rein in appropriate places, a bit of lateral flexion etc. etc. You have to keep her attention on you rather than the scenery, which means constantly giving her something positive to think about and focus on. Also I like to stick with fairly short and very familiar routes when we hack alone, which we do but not as often as we hack in company. The more relaxed I am in my body, the more forward he is, if I tense up it blocks him and he starts wondering what's to be bothered about, and the walk gets smaller and stuffier which isn't the point of hacking at all.
 
I used to hack to somewhere with lush grass and stop there for a munch. Worked well for my boy but he is a ganet!!
 
Have you tried taking her out in-hand and letting her graze somewhere nice before going home? Hacking in-hand can really build a young horses' confidence!
 
Don't fret about it too much. My boy was always a bit more forward with company than he was on his own but now he is 6, he has a bit more confidence therefore more forward in general. I also found his forwardness has improved as he has got stronger
 
I'm another who thinks that forwardness will come with time and confidence. I've recently moved my green mare to a new yard where both of us are a bit nervous, and as a results we've had some hideous spooks and 'backwards' hacks alone. Just yesterday I felt an improvement with her striding out a bit more forward, and the spooking has definitely lessened. It's just a case of repetition and building it up slowly, sticking to short, well known hacking routes at first.
 
Do you go in front when hacking out with others? I find this increases their confidence as their friends are still with them, but they are being encouraged to be brave and take the lead.

{needs to take own advice as current horse thinks there are gremlins everywhere.......}
 
Thirding the forwardness with time, age and confidence. When i first got Toby as a 7 year old 2 years ago all he had ever done for 2 years was hack once a week, round the same main road with the same 2 other horses and about 3 different riders (no exaggeration!) and had never been anywhere else, i wanted an all rounder who had been there done that but my heart burst when i saw his little face in the stable when i went to view him.. anyway i digress.. despite being on a 30+ horse yard, nobody really rides regularly so have always ridden alone so Toby had to learn! When i first brought him home he was fine for a couple of weeks just pootling up and down the lane on the way to his field but when we started venturing to further places the napping/planting began. Never nasty, he would simply just stop and refuse to move and then he started backing up. It took a good few weeks, all of the checks and every trick in the book (including similar to the video a couple of posts up!) to get him to go forward but once he did I started long reining to build his confidence.

Fast forward 2 years and he is much better! Of course he is still better in company, I notice he is bouncier and tries to stay in front and he's great fun on the stubbles with some competition but unfortunately nobody rides so we go it alone mostly. He is a bit lazier generally, tends to hollow a lot more and would go up people's driveways if i let him and he can still be a little hesitant and spooky in new places and on occasion he will try and nap and also do some fairly impressive sideway spooking but I have learnt to preempt this and just trot before he gets the chance. I agree with Micropony on doing plenty of transitions and giving her and you something to think about. Hacking alone can get a bit boring so it's easier to let them just slob along but if you have a plan in place of something you want to do then it makes it a little more fun and I notice Toby is much perkier if we circle once in a while or do a bit of back up or leg yielding.

Good luck and keep persevering. Keep a hacking diary each time you go out and then look back in say 3 months, 6, 12 etc and I'm sure you'll see an improvement :)
 
Thank you all, brilliant replies and something to apply later today!
She goes in front, middle and behind on hacks with others and is generally very inquisitive. We're lucky in that we have no roadwork to do and just miles of woodland with plenty of nice stop points to let her have a munch. We don't have a school so schooling is being done out hacking and she is very willing to learn, if a bit stubborn at times. She doesn't spook, just has a look and then goes forward.

A hacking diary is a brilliant idea too, definitely going to start this :)
 
Maria13 said:
Thank you all, brilliant replies and something to apply later today!
She goes in front, middle and behind on hacks with others and is generally very inquisitive. We're lucky in that we have no roadwork to do and just miles of woodland with plenty of nice stop points to let her have a munch. We don't have a school so schooling is being done out hacking and she is very willing to learn, if a bit stubborn at times. She doesn't spook, just has a look and then goes forward.

A hacking diary is a brilliant idea too, definitely going to start this :)
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Good luck! Let us know how you get on! Jealous of your hacking, sounds lovely! Have fun!
 
Love the sound of a hacking diary too! Thanks for starting the thread OP, it has been interesting to read. I have a young mare, we currently hack out in company but would love to be able to hack alone once I pluck up the courage!
 
Beth206 said:
Love the sound of a hacking diary too! Thanks for starting the thread OP, it has been interesting to read. I have a young mare, we currently hack out in company but would love to be able to hack alone once I pluck up the courage!
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I hope you manage to get out alone with her. I used to hack my other horses alone and obviously it's so handy not relying on others and being able to go out whenever you want. I think I need to just practice practice and practice some more :)
 
I long reined my young horse out hacking before I was even on board. It then meant when we did start riding that hacking herself or with others wasn't an issue for her. This will help her confidence and hopefully help her to go forward better out hacking.
 
My babies are allowed to half length their nanny, that allows the baby to be leading without realising and as their confidence grows they get a little further ahead. The rider of the nanny must be absolutely on the ball and reading what is going on at all times being ready to move up immediately if needed.

All babies must have go and whoa installed before hacking out, so that starts with voice aids backed by leg aids. Anyone willing to hack a horse without go and whoa is a lot braver than me. Lack of willingness to go forwards will be lack of confidence and strength. I am not convinced about laziness in young horses, yes in older wise ones, but not in youngsters, it will be inability to understand and weakness. With the big horses never under estimate just how quickly they tire especially 4 year olds. They are of course, herd animals so a young horse will always get towed along in a group, but he is not learning anything if he has no concept of what his rider is saying to him, all you will get is a leaning confused horse.

A single good nanny can teach so much to a young horse on the roads and in the fields. The 4 year old we are doing at the moment strides along in front of his nanny on very short hacks, with her just at his quarters on the outside. Today he worked in the fields with his nanny stood in the middle. The hacks will gradually get longer and his nanny will be further behind and when the confidence is solid the baby will go out alone but a car will be a few hundred yards in front of him out of sight of the horse, but his rider will know there is someone to ride towards. Obviously you do need appropriate routes to do this safely on, we are fortunate to have little loops through villages to build this sort of work on, they do have a lot of farm traffic though so the babies don't tackle anything without nanny until they are able to walk past a stationery tractor or stand in a gateway.

All the baby training has to be incremental and the very first part of the training is a horse that responds when asked, I absolutely maintain that a horse who does not move forwards or away from the voice and leg has no place on the roads until it understands go and whoa.
 
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