Preparing for, and dealing with, the unexpected out hacking

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Walrus

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Hi,

Had a slightly scary moment out hacking today. Coming down a hill and had about 12 scooters (the lambretta type ones) fly up behind us. I flapped my arm like some sort of demented chicken to try and slow them down, which they did - marginally :( . The first one came up behind us and pony tensed up and as they went round us pony danced sideways and bucked and kicked out towards the scooters. Fortunately there was a road off to one side so the two of us who were out hacking moved up there to let the scooters past - cue pony jumping around a bit but nothing too bad.

The fact that he bucked out towards them scared me a bit - he can be funny about other horses round his bum but I think he's getting better (touch wood).

How can you prepare for stuff like that? Or how do you react to it. I was so glad there was somewhere to take him away. I think he's better if he's facing stuff - it's when things come up behind him (and scooters are noisey!) he gets twitchy.

He's 6 and has ony started hacking out in traffic since we moved to our new yard at Easter this year and he's been great, over motorway bridges, buses, farm mchinary - no probs. We are plastered in high viz (he wears a mesh exercise sheet) so everyone can see us.

Any advice is welcome! (although I don't know anyone who owns a scooter!)
 
I think you dealt with that quite well moving him away from the situation but maybe let him have a look when your out of the way. The worst one that happend to me was the combine harvester in the field. The farmer started it when we were at the other side of the hedge right next to him. Not good and nothing we could have really prepared for. So maybe put him in situations but make sure you are both safe (if that makes sense).
 
Kaylum said:
I think you dealt with that quite well moving him away from the situation but maybe let him have a look when your out of the way. The worst one that happend to me was the combine harvester in the field. The farmer started it when we were at the other side of the hedge right next to him. Not good and nothing we could have really prepared for. So maybe put him in situations but make sure you are both safe (if that makes sense).
Click to expand...

Yeah, I turned him to face them when we had got out of the way (well, I tried to - he was trying to head off i the other direction!). I think it just scared me as it makes you think "what if"
 
Wow, that was unexpected!! I met some loose dogs out hacking tonight. My horse was fine, but the horse I was with did not like it at all. My approach is to not be too precious with my horses, I try and let them see as much as possible at home and then when you do find things like this happen, hopefully training in other areas pays off. Also, I tend to think "I'm not scared, why should my horse be" which helps as I never expect them to play up and they generally don't!
 
My TB used to go crazy when she could see other horses bombing around the fields when we rode past - she used to grow about 10ft tall and buck!
Always sensible with tractors/farm machinery etc just cows, sheep and other horses!
 
My advice is to wear a long sleeved Hi-Viz jacket as other road users will be able to see your hand signals far more clearly.
If you want to stop another road user then point at them for 3 seconds and then hold the palm of your hand towards them.
 
Incidentaly peter I was eying up a lovely high viz jacket in the army surplus store near my work today. It's just a bit warm at the moment, I have bare arms. May have to look for some high viz gloves as well.
 
im a firm believer in letting the horse look and see what scares them and you sound like you delt with situation fine- ok my mare was manic and reared and spun at anything and i mean anything which scared her and was beaten for this . when i bought her I looked through her eyes and yes a wheelie bin is just that to us but to her it was going to eat her so i took time leading her around to scarey thing - tractors trailers bins flappy things noisey things anything that was scarey and if she turned and walked away that was ok and then talking calm & singing to her we went to it again - slowly she started to trust me and her own mind and now she will follow me past anything and the dangerous unrideable mare as hacked galloped and jumped till her sight started going ( shes 13 ) -quiet calm voice a steady hand on neck firm quiet legs encouraging forward - works fab . takes time but bulild the trust and boy its amazing feeling :)
 
I read this analogy a while back which helps me in these situations;

A father and his small child are walking home on a windy, wet, dark night. They take a shortcut through a graveyard when suddenly from behind a tombstone, they hear rustling and footsteps.
Father tightens his grip on the childs hand, stiffens and looks fearfully over to where the noise is coming from. The child whimpers and is rooted to the spot.

A second father walks though the graveyard with his child, he hears the noise from behind a tombstone, but carries on walking, his hand remains softly holding the little ones fingers, his gaze remains steady on the path ahead. The child hears the rustling but sees how his father is unconcerned and walks quietly on.

From behind a tombstone, a fox cub slips gently away......


Sometimes, we sense danger on behalf of the horse, thinking, he'll be scared of that when he sees it. It can be a self fulfilling prophecy.

My attitude when meeting new scary things out hacking is, 'Great, another chance for him/her to gain more experience and learn how to be a really useful horse'.
Ride quietly, but have a coping strategy ready. Be ready to block the spin, time passing the object with a break in traffic or a space to deal with a little wobbly. Know your horse - stop and look ,leg yield or trot purposely through- whichever seems right at the time.
Don't praise for spooking. Praise when he's just getting on with the job.
 
horserider said:
I read this analogy a while back which helps me in these situations;

A father and his small child are walking home on a windy, wet, dark night. They take a shortcut through a graveyard when suddenly from behind a tombstone, they hear rustling and footsteps.
Father tightens his grip on the childs hand, stiffens and looks fearfully over to where the noise is coming from. The child whimpers and is rooted to the spot.

A second father walks though the graveyard with his child, he hears the noise from behind a tombstone, but carries on walking, his hand remains softly holding the little ones fingers, his gaze remains steady on the path ahead. The child hears the rustling but sees how his father is unconcerned and walks quietly on.

From behind a tombstone, a fox cub slips gently away......


Sometimes, we sense danger on behalf of the horse, thinking, he'll be scared of that when he sees it. It can be a self fulfilling prophecy.

My attitude when meeting new scary things out hacking is, 'Great, another chance for him/her to gain more experience and learn how to be a really useful horse'.
Ride quietly, but have a coping strategy ready. Be ready to block the spin, time passing the object with a break in traffic or a space to deal with a little wobbly. Know your horse - stop and look ,leg yield or trot purposely through- whichever seems right at the time.
Don't praise for spooking. Praise when he's just getting on with the job.
Click to expand...

that analogy rings very true.
 
horserider - nicely put!

An add on to what others have said - keep a neck strap on your horse. We broke our youngster this year, and of course had a few spooks and spins along the way. I found the neckstrap was just great, if she needed to shoot forward, sideways, turn, she could without being punished with a smack in the mouth. Consequently, I found she would only go a couple of strides before stopping, and then I could turn her back and deal with the problem. She didn't feel any pain to reinforce the scary moment, so it was never a big deal.

Extra bit re traffic - if you haven't done your Riding & Road Safety test, you may not know to turn your horses head to the right when traffic approaches from behind. The horse has a blind spot directly behind, consequently he will turn his head to one side to keep an eye on the scary object. If that happens to be the left eye, as the object comes closer the horse has to turn more to still see it - hence the bum goes into the road and head into the hedge. Keep the right eye on the traffic and the bum goes into the hedge!
 
Echo all the above,particularly controlling the quarters.
My lad is nearly fine in traffic,but if there is a string of cars he has been known to try to double barrel the last ones in the string. I now make sure he is forward in shoulder in for lots of cars.
I also make a point of controlling shoulders and bum,but trying to keep a very relaxed contact no matter what. I think if a horse feels trapped by the rein,he is more likely to panic and bolt.
Yes mine does sometimes 'run away' but he never goes very far.
 
I agree with horserider - aslong as you aren't tense or fearful you should be fine. I rode in thunder & lightening yesterday (got caught out) on my new mare - I didn't even think about it and she soon settled.
 
Horserider - I really like your answer :-)

We met about 10 off road motorbikes last year, we couldn't pull in straight away and they refused to slow down and wait for us resulting in our shire x becoming concerned. He was fine once we pulled in. I find with him that as long as he feels he has space and can see what is coming he settles. It's whether I'm afraid you can get the car/tractor etc etc to wait! It amazes me how many people are quite happy to a) ignore someone who's horse is worried and b) ignores what that person is asking them to do!

Over the winter I'm also going to clicker train him to lower his head on command as this will lower his heart rate therefore bringing his stress levels down xx
 
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