Near miss with lorry, cows and ended in ditch

[samp]

Had a lovely hack last night til the last stretch home. There was scary cows in the field - now lot's is not terribly good with cows as she is still very green. These cows were moving though. We also had a huge Iveco lorry close behind us. I was asking her forwards, praising etc but she was v worked up tried spinning round and escaping - towards the lorry. With this I had to really hold on to her as this was not an option. However, kept trying to run into lorry and I was having none of it - perhaps hould have got off and led her past? She ended up freaking out doing rear as cause I really had hold of her to stop her running inot lorry we went straight up over and fell into the ditch. Both got up unharmed, she seemed sound. Walked her past cows then took her and rode her roud the school to make sure she was ok.

Problem with her is if she doesn't like something and you hold on to her head she will rear straight up. Any ideas what any would have done/ would do in the future?

 

[Murphs_Mum]

I think to be honest you can make most horses rear if you hang on tight enough. I hope the lorry had stopped for you? What I would have tried to go is ride her forwards into a leg yield with her head away from the scary cows but so much easier said than done! Have you got a cow proof horse you can hack out with to get her used to them? I hope you are both all right!

 

[AmyMay]

You need a damn good babysitter. That's just a total overreaction - and if you had the company of a sensible horse it woulnd't have happened. You don't need to hang on to their heads - the looser the rein the better. Contact when needed - and then very little. All you did was to reafirm her anxiety by hanging of for dear life.

I'm so glad that you weren't damanged in any way - but it could so easily have been different, and you may not have been here today to tell the tale.

Please don't go out alone again until your little horse is less green, more confident and hacking quietly and confidently with a companion.

 

[samp]

One had to kind of hang on due to the feact she wanted to bolt into the lorry - now some how I would not have come out of that looking pretty. In a normal situation had the lorry not have been behind her I would have slackened the reins - though had a contact and driven her forward. I am a firm believer in horses most go forwards past something even if they rush

 

[Murphs_Mum]

I know it's difficult but I agree the tighter you hold them the more wound up they can get. You should be able to stop her turning without having to constantly hang on to her mouth - but it's easy to lecture - not so easy when your in the situtation yourself. I really would find a nice quiet horse and hack out lots - they do learn from example - Also remember to breathe yourself, if you think she is going to play up it's easy to tighten up yourself, try and sit up and ride forward, turn her head away from what's bothering her and try not to grab the reins. Good luck!!

 

[samp]

She is a lot more trusting from the ground and being sensitive in the mouth perhaps I should have just got off and lead her. I was doing what I thought was the safest option (clearly it was not). I plan to lead her out past the cows etc tonight and then we will hack out with a nanny - however we have had her over a year and never had this problem before

 

[Murphs_Mum]

I will get off if necessary but a lot of people really disagree and say it's safer to stay on, but only you know your horse - in your situation I guess getting off and leading is better than being put in a ditch - really pleased you have a nanny to hack out with.

 

[samp]

It is handy that my partners horse is good at things like that and huge so he can help us overcome her little drama

 

[samp]

spoken to lots of friends. My mare is great in traffic etc, ok with most things and never reacted before as she did last night. My thoughts are it was abad situation and do not know many horses that would have reacted normally at the circumstances. Tense horse dancing around then cows intrigued and running around to see what fuss is about.

 

[bellaboo]

Agree totally, it was just a bad situation, if the horse is still green then is able to make some mistakes its all part of learning. You may not ever be in that situation again and if you are then you know you can handle it differently. Had a similar situation when my horse was younger with passing a small garden bonfire, tried to ride her pass, as agree with not getting off, and she went mad, coming back had to pass the same area she was upset with, got off led her passed and she was fine and has been ever since ( passing bonfires). You dont know that it was the wrong way of handling it untill you tried. Have to find these things out, so just put it down to experience.