Knock to confidence

LaurenM

LaurenM

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How do you progress with a nappy horse that appears to have had a knock to his and owner's confidence?

He's fine to be ridden in the riding paddock but once in the lanes he's a different horse and will appear to spook at birds, bees, branches, holes in the road etc.. :( This led me to think that he's playing up but I feel that my decline in confidence doesn't help?

I find that everytime I try and hack him up the lanes something usually happens to set him off which in turn is leaving me tense and feeling like my chest is too tight to breathe. I'm not as confident as I used to be but I never let him win (i.e. turn home), I just don't know how to stop feeling so anxious. Any ideas?

The last scary hack we had, there was; a large industrial lorry that sounded like a milk float that continued to drive at us, a moped, two cyclists, a dog trying to attack through an open car window (car driver then proceeded to rev and beep horn), two 'scary' piles of stones, three 'really scary' bins...the list went on and on! :(
 
Try singing - you can't not breathe if you're singing.

I used to hack around caterwauling 110 Green Bottles at the top of my voice, poor horse was probably deafened:D
 
There's only a handful of us that ride at our yard and we all tend to ride at different times due to varied commitments. Will try and convince OH to walk with us - that should work.

Also, when approaching 'scary' objects is it better to turn their head so they can see the item or just to continue as if nothings there?

Thanks for the replies :)
 
If at all possible ride out with another very calm horse, who gives off positive vibes, although having someone walking with you will be better than nothing. Another tip is to lead the horse on the route that you intend to hack, meet all the static hazards and allow your horse to sniff/inspect them. Then go round the route again, riding. You will know that the horse is comfortable passing all the static hazards and will only need to worry about vehicles that weren't there first time round. This will boost your confidence and in turn the horse's.
 
How about making little goals for yourself? Pick a close by spot to hack to, hopefully without napping, don't be tempted to go further even if it goes well. Go back home untack and call it a day. Then try to go a little further next time and see how it goes. If the weather is especially windy, rainy or you're not feeling 100% confident one day, modify your ride and make it shorter to reduce the risk of an incident, but still go if you can. With any luck you'll find you're enjoying yourself again, and you'll show your horse everything is OK. Hope it works out for you!
 
i saw a good tip on here the other day, about the nicely softly softly approach, i tried it today, my mare (just turned 5) spooks and naps, and today i just mad her stand still, and kept saying oh good girl, arent u brave, come on, its fine, theres a good girl, look how brave u are etc etc, i sounded a complete loon, but after a few mins, literally 2 or 3, she did as i asked! so i took her back to same spot, she tried it again and we did it again
 
I do put abit of the softly softly approach in - i.e. I'll let him stand, have a look and then click him on and he's fine. Despite his bad habits, I feel safe with him in general, I just feel that it's in my head as a pose to anything he does. For instance, I'll always be thinking 'what if'..

Large vehicles are a big no for him at the minute which wouldn't be so much of a problem if they switched their engines off but they rarely even slow down which makes me tense because I am anticipating something happening.

Walking him inhand around the route sounds like a good idea but to be honest I think it's my energy that gives him the vibe that he can play up as a pose to actually being worried.

There aren't really any other horses to ride out with as we all have different schedules and no weekly riding routine.

I rode him today without anything bad happening which was really good so he had alot of praise (and a bath haha)! I think if I just continue small regular hacks he should settle down :)

Thanks for all the comments x
 
LaurenM said:
Walking him inhand around the route sounds like a good idea but to be honest I think it's my energy that gives him the vibe that he can play up as a pose to actually being worried.

That was my thinking actually! If you know that he has passed all the static hazards on that route that day, you will feel so much more confident when passing them on board. Ilearned this lesson long ago, when watching my very spooky mare in the field. The YO was strimming weeds nearby and the horse wasn't taking any notice, so when I schooled a little while later, instead of expecting her to play up because of the noise I was expecting her to concentrate and she did!

I rode him today without anything bad happening which was really good so he had alot of praise (and a bath haha)! I think if I just continue small regular hacks he should settle down :)
Sounds like a plan!
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Good luck!
 
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