Introducing a hot horse to hacking

[Polos]

Bit of a backstory: I’ve owned my 11 year old mare since she was 4 so I know her quite well now. Unfortunately I have never hacked her due to always being stabled on a main road and she never hacked with her old owners in the country I imported her from. She went to the beach when we were at a show in Spain which involved a short walk down a very quiet road but she did she parked cars and speed bumps which she was ok with.

I’ve recently become friendly with a lovely lady who’s invited me to come hacking with her. Her horse is sane and sensible and hacked a lot so should be a good baby sitter. She’s stabled just up the lane from me so it will involve a short walk up a very very quiet country lane until I get to her yard, the only cars that go up that lane are going to her yard and it’s a private yard so not a lot of cars. Horse is very hot and tends to plant herself if she’s unsure and if the pressure is not relieved she will rear and spin so I do want to avoid that if possible! She isn’t too spooky in the arena/at shows but obviously there’s more to see out hacking! So if anyone has any tips to make hacking as stress free as possible for her I’d love to hear them ?

I was thinking of putting a neck strap on but not sure if that’s overkill!

I’m planning on booting up too just in case!

Also if anyone has any relatively cheap brushing boot recommendations for fine legged types I’d be grateful ?

 

[Trouper]

I would start off by leading her up to the other yard for the first few occasions and hacking out from there. Don't give her the opportunity to plant on leaving your yard. Take the first few hacks very steady and let her have the opportunity to look at everything and suss it out. I bet she will soon start to look forward to it.

Definitely add a neck strap!!

 

[Roxylola]

Neck straps are useful if you need them and can be ignored if you dont, definitely not overkill.

As for the hacking, when I had to do similar, I kept it pretty low key, stuck to straightforward quiet routes. He was allowed to stop and process things but not to spin or go backwards - so I wouldnt particularly put pressure while he stood still, I'd just let him stop and think. This worked well for us and he sounds similar to your mare in the hotness and reaction to pressure

 

[maddielove]

Following this with interest as I am in a similar position with my 10 year old mare. I have hacked infrequently in company previously, however not for about 3 years, initially stopped due injury and now I'm so out of habit I think I've just lost confidence in it.

I'm having success in hand so far and have seen her get bolder so I could recommend doing similar. Taking it super slow, not sure how to gauge when to get on!

 

[J&S]

I had a very reactive chestnut WB x mare. I had amazing help from a friend and her 100% pony who literally rode every step of the way with us, not behind or in front but up along side. We started this in about March of one year and by the autumn we were doing 15 mile endurance rides on the forest and later 20 mile rides on Dartmoor.

 

[scats]

Can you get someone to walk with you once or twice up to the lady’s yard?

 

[cauda equina]

Or get her to come and meet you at your yard to start with, rather than you going to hers.
Once you start, do the same route over and over again with your nanny until it becomes boring and easy, then pick a quiet time to go alone

 

[CanteringCarrot]

My horse is the same, sort of, he's gotten better about it, and will hack alone.

When he's with his "old lady" trail companion, he hacks on the buckle. Alone, he might ask me more questions. So a good trail companion could really help your mare relax. I would handwalk to the other yard or have her meet you at your yard and begin from there together. I think eventually she will get it and look forward to it, then you may be able to ride alone directly to the other yard.

 

[Polos]

Thank you for all the advice

I’ll ask if we can meet at my yard but if not I’ll walk her I hand down to her yard and get on there.

side note: has anyone got any brushing boot recommendations for fine legged types at a price that won’t break the bank!

 

[Polos]

Just thought I’d give you all a little update on how it’s going. We’ve been going once a week since mid October.

the first hack took a while to settle because as soon as she saw my friends horse she turned into a fire breathing dragon so we spent the first 20 mins jogging sideways and prancing. But she was really good and didn’t look at anything. She saw a couple of cars on the lane which she was fine with and they passed really slowly which was great.

We just stuck in walk for the first few hacks but we’ve built it up to trotting and some canters. She’s been a lot bolder than I thought she would and she’s not looked at anything! It’s almost as if she’s done all this before in another life. She’s seen tractors, cars, heard chainsaws, passed other horses, seen cyclists, dog walkers, children, piles of rubbish, walked over bridges. The only 2 things she’s spooked at have been a pheasant which flew at her head (which is totally acceptable!) and another horse (not sure if that one is acceptable haha). It’s been funny as sometimes my friends horse spooks at something and she doesn’t even bat an eyelid.

someone suggested letting her stand to take things in before moving forwards and that definitely works. She’s more confident if we stop for a second to have a look at the car/bike/tractor before carrying on. Although the first time she saw a cyclist she wasn’t keen on walking forwards until it had passed her but I’m glad I didn’t start a battle to get her going forwards as now she’s confident when they pass her.

she’s still lacking confidence a bit and goes a bit green if I take her in front so she’s not ready to start going out on her own yet but we are working on getting her more confident going out in front but I’m sure we will get there