Naughty horse?

zigzag

zigzag

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Teeth, back . tack all checked, ...

Horse is fine to ride out, in the school etc doesn't put a foot wrong..

However, on the way home from hacks he has developed a habit of not stopping at junctions (going out no problem) when made to stop (necessary if cars are there lol ) he rears vertical then jumps forward (similar to a capriole
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) then tries to canter off... now one this is dangerous in traffic, two he is 17.1 so a long way to fall on concrete
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and three it is rather scary lol when he has done it with me I have managed to stop him after picking myself up from his neck, and turned him round and go back and halt, one person he has got off
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last time when made to stop he went up and leapt and took off leaping all the way down the road, (entertained the neighbours and holiday makers lol
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) and got virtually home before he could be stopped,
It is only going home he does it, never going out.. doesn't matter if he is in company or alone.. has been doing it for about a month now.. seemed to get worse after he manged to get one person off...

Any tips on what you would do in this situation? losing my nerve slightly.. can't afford to be squashed on the road.. too many responibilities ..
 
Oh ugh, that's not nice, I sympathise. Had a similar problem with my horse when he was younger. How old is yours?

Mine got his knickers in a twist at a t-junction near to home and decided he wouldn't stop and wait. Went half up and caprioled so I thought I would make him stand the next time and instill some discipline, and of course he got worse. It was an argument I couldn't really win for obvious reasons (traffic, hard road etc).

So change of tactics - I stepped back from further arguments, and did very short circular hacks and chose a route that didn't involve stopping when on the way home for some weeks. May not be possible for you! But I justed avoided any sort of confrontation over it because he was getting too worked up about it and too dangerous.

When I finally returned to the problem t-junction after a while, I approached the junction slowly, and managed to turn without actually halting by going wide so I could see the traffic (again not possible at every junction but our roads are lovely and quiet). I did this several times and when I eventually asked him to halt he behaved, but I kept the halt as short as possible. I think I even got off once and led him home the last half mile just to avoid making an issue of it. He is a super lad to hack now, but went through this stage when he was about 6/7 I think.
 
The horse is eight, (not my horse i jusr ride him), can't avoid the stopping on the way home, we have to go dow n the road then turn right or left to go anywhere, so the bugger knows when he is on the way home , maybe i will try leading back last bit, I did take him out on long reins, to see if he would do it long reining but apart from fidgeting did nothing
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Shame he's so big really as i would try getting off if he's that dangerous and making him stand for longer than is necessary (this is presuming he's well behaved when held) and then trying it again on board once he'd grasped the fact he has to stand still at these junctions. I've never had one act like that at all so is difficult to advise but maybe more schooling and 'manners' training would help and a lot of half halting incorporated into a hack and random halting during the hack so he doesn't anticipate the point where he is going to be made to halt.

8 years old they can still be going through that 'awkward stage' in my opinion and testing to see what they can get away with. This though is dangerous behaviour and he needs to learn it's not going to be tolerated. I would also possibly suggest riding in draw reins if he can tolerate these as would help maybe stop him being able to rear up at least?
 
He is well schooled (lol) cabable of medium dressage) We have done the random halting and he doesn't bother, the bugger just knows when he is going home
 
Something else I remembered I did, I went into the school immediately after every hack, and schooled him for 20 minutes so getting home wasn't quite such a fab idea. Think that helped, although you never really know what helped when you try various things! His behaviour improved most after a break from hacking, and mine was better with a friend too, although he had to be in front on the way home otherwise he was worse.
 
Could you halt him, and when he tries to bugger off, turn him round and trot him smartly away from home, only letting him go back if he halts nicely - so each naughty halt takes him further from his goal of home?
I agree with Llewelyn - make the swine work when he gets back!
S
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