Not hacking out after a raod accident??

indie1282

indie1282

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Hiya. The other day i was riding my horse out on a quiet road when a car approached us going too fast and ran in to the side of my horse resulting with me coming off and ending up in hospital :-( My horse got scared when the car was coming towards us and tried to tuck himself in to the hedge but reared and jumped when the car was right next to us.

The driver said she didnt see us ( despite me being clad in hi vis - riding a 16.2hh warmblood on a clear day with good visability on a straight road!!! ) then drove off leaving me to go and catch my horse down the road.

Anyway, to cut a long story short. I hacked him out 3 days after with a friends horse who is bombproof and a couple of cars passed us on a very quite road and he was a bit spooky but ok. However, when i was on the road coming home when a car was behind us he he going sideways in front of the car and spooking. The drivers were good as gold and passed us slowly and quietly. we then face a car oncoming who slowed a bit but not enough for my liking and my horse got very scared, spooking in to the road and leapt in the air when the car passed us.

My concerns now are:

If i keep riding out and another car doesn't slow and he jumps in front of it and there is another accident it could be alot worse?

Should i keep trying to get him over it?

Or If i dont hack out again does it really matter?

He is generally quite spooky when he hacks out although he always goes forward and never naps. He can be sharper on his own than in company but again, always manageable. I have access to a lovely school and can go in the stubble fields in the summer. I am happy to hack out once or twice a week with company as i can tuck him in behind the quiet horse if i need too.
 
You are better than judging than the rest of us who don't know your horse and weren't there when you had your accident but my advice would be to only hack out in company for as long as you need to, until you believe your horse is over what happened. Can be scary enough riding on the roads anyway and an accident will make your horse unpredictable for maybe a long time to come. Can you turn him out in a field next to a busy road ?
 
bonny said:
You are better than judging than the rest of us who don't know your horse and weren't there when you had your accident but my advice would be to only hack out in company for as long as you need to, until you believe your horse is over what happened. Can be scary enough riding on the roads anyway and an accident will make your horse unpredictable for maybe a long time to come. Can you turn him out in a field next to a busy road ?
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I'm just fed up with drivers not taking the time to slow down. It's happened to other riders in the area also and the incidents have been reported to the police and logged. I dont know how much he enjoys hacking out anyway. I am happy just going out once or twice a week in company if need be rather than rising my horse on the roads.

I was just wondering really if there other people on here that dont hack their horse out and how they find their horses cope?
 
Can you take him up to the car park where you keep him? In hand or mounted, whichever your horse trusts you more doing. Show him a variety of cars, different colours, and if possible, lorries or horse boxes. If you can, close a gate so he can't run out if he's spooked.
If it goes really well, you could get someone to drive very slowly past you, still in the car park. Good luck, and I'm sure it will be fine!
 
Lots of people never hack, you only have to look at the number of horses you see in fields, stables etc and how few you see out on the roads ! i had a traffic shy horse a few years ago and carried on hacking until he was hit by a police van ! I never rode him on the roads again, he wouldn't have ever been safe and luckily he was a good showjumper so I sold him to a man who didn't want to hack and only go to shows.....
 
Hang on, someone HIT your horse and put you in hospital, and drove off?! You need to report this person! At least to the BHS and then the police! I guess you didn't get the reg but at least a description of the car/woman?

I don't blame the horse for being a bit worried but it actually sounds like he will cope, obviously take it slowly - short familiar hacks with company, or take him out in hand if he is good to lead.

I guess it depends what you do with him as to whether it matters or not, I would still persevere unless the horse was terrified and out of control, in which case I guess I'd concentrate on other stuff.
 
I presume your horse as been given the all clear from the vet? If he has been hit by a car then some considerable damage could of been done and riding him when he is pain will make him even more nervous on the road and around cars.

You say you are clad out in hi viz, what about your horse? Remember you are above a drivers eyelevel, I would get hi viz leg bands for your horse and a hi viz sheet, or tail guard. To make his bum stand out to people coming behind.

Then I would continue as normal,maybe begin with a quiet friend but then go out as normal. Be confident and reassuring and your horse will be fine. Make sure he is responding well to your aids and you have full control of his hind quaters so when you say tuck in to the side he doesn't move out into traffic.

If the driver put you in hospital then she needs reporting to the police, and contact the bhs.
 
If you and your horse are ok, is it possible to get a friend to drive along a route with you as you hack out and practice going past at different distances and speeds etc, building up gradually. Maybe choose an early Sunday morning and quiet road to do this on.
 
I am very sorry to hear about your accident. The driver should have stopped produced her driving licence and given you her name and contact details and not have driven off. She needs to be caught as she has committed a motoring offence.

You really need to get your horse checked out by a vet to ensure that he has no injuries.

The incident should be immediately reported to the police with a description of the driver and car and ask them to give you an incident number which you should keep in a safe place.

Log the incident on the www.horseaccidents.org.uk web site.

I would also thoroughly recommend that you enrol in the BHS Road Safety course as this will give you a number of skills to use when riding on the road.

It is particularly useful if a horse is calm, bombproof and non-spooky when being hacked out but to get a horse to do this takes as much time if not more than when schooling a horse so you really need to hack your horse out for at least 1 - 2 hours on a continuous daily basis to get this established. Initially use the early quiet mornings to get your horse going. Unfortunately due to their temperament some horses will never settle down when being hacked out on the road and if this is the case with your horse it is your decision in the interest of the safety of other road users as to whether to continue doing so or not. Having a horse that will hack out quietly is particularly useful when rehabilitating a horse from an injury so really is an important characteristic in a horse.
Also be aware that low bright sunshine can blind a drivers vision of you so avoid hacking out in these conditions.
I hope that you and your horse make a steady and swift recovery.
 
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Echo others and would hack in company until YOU feel comfortable. Had an accident with one of mine, nearly hit head on on the lane not far from the yard. Car coming too fast, Foxy reared and span round in fright, lost his footing and we hit the deck. Thankfully he span to the right, car skidded to the left so resulted only in fractured elbow for me and bit of a battered and sore horse.

He was actually relatively unaffected - and this is a horse that was a real problem in traffic when I first got him. However, I was pretty shaken up. We can obviously consider what the consequences could have been - horrific - horses don't think like that. I was well aware that we both could have been killed, Foxy doesn't know that. He forgot about a lot quicker than I did but no doubt my (understandable) nervousness transferred to him for a while

This is probably not just about your horse feeling nervous/being upset
 
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