Introducing a horse to hunting?

[rotters13]

What is considered the best way to do it? I have a 5 year old light weight warm blood type which I would like to do a bit of hunting with in the winter to encourage her to move forward and to give us a nice day out! Obviously I would use a green ribbon but should I use a stronger bit? At the moment I am in a rubber snaffle which I have good brakes in. Would it be best to take her cubbing although I am not a 100% certain what this is!

Many Thanks.

 

[winterhorse]

Hi cubbing or autumn hunting as it is now called, is when the new young hounds are bought out to learn from the more experienced hounds, so the pace is generally slower.
I personally wouldn't use a stronger bit the first time. It would be easier to see the difference in your horse in it's normal bit. You might get a bad reaction from a stronger bit and not know if it is the bit that is the reason for the behaviour or being out hunting.
Enquire at your local kennels about hound exercise.
This is when the horses go out on exercise with the hounds in their last stage of getting fit. It is a nice quiet way to introduce your horse to hounds.
Hope this helps and good luck.

 

[Christmas Crumpet]

I am doing exactly this with my new horse who although is just 7, is an ex racehorse.

I am starting by taking him on hound exercise, then will cub him a lot and then take him hunting. If you introduce them gently at the start of the season when its not just galloping about and jumping lots they tend not to get their knickers in a twist and get overly excited.

It is also a sensible idea when hunting proper starts to have a few gentle days i.e only stay out a couple of hours. Its usually too much for them to do a whole day. I also find with young, inexperienced horses that I make sure I alternate what kind of days hunting they have. E.g Tuesday's are our flying over hedges days and Saturdays are much quieter. This way they don't anticipate and think "brilliant - we're going hunting today and its going to be wild"!! They take a much more sensible approach.

 

[LindaW]

I've been a bit different and it's worked for 2 so far. I tend to throw them in at the deep end with a faster lot, but do the optional jumping. I prefer to get them out and get on with it, finding the slower days gives them more time to muck about and get wound up.

Both of mine I took out in their normal snaffle, went with a steady experienced horse and rider - they like the security of their buddy. I don't keep checking the brakes, just go with the flow and they pull up with the others.

Mine are v well schooled on the flat and they are fit before we start though. One is now a hunting schoolmaster after 3 seasons, the younger one will be by the end of this year I expect.

I'm not saying that you should do this because all horses and riders are different, and maybe I've just been lucky.

What I do see, when people seem to be having issues is sometimes the horses do get a bit bouncy, rider gets scared and gets in their face - it just seems to lead to more and more wound up horse and tense rider. I prefer to just sit there, make sure I'm out of peoples way, in space and keep them moving/kick on.

 

[DollyDolls]

When I did this many yrs ago with Fella, I phoned the sec up beforehand, and asked which days were quiter & also where the meets were. We did cubbing first when the mounted field was only about 5 in total. I hacked there to make sure he was warmed up & settled. The first time was easy (if a little embarrassing), the 2nd/3rd time got a little more hairy (as did the 8th/10th etc). As it was a very small field, I was able to introduce ourselves and explain 1st timers. Everyone was very helpful & made sure to give us loads of extra room.

 

[Beanyowner]

I just made sure Benson was fit and took him out one day...stayed for about an hour and a half...got tanked off with a few times but it was great fun. Then just kept going...after a few visits he soon got the hang of it and saved my hands and shoulders a bit! lol!!