Should we take responsibility for the horses we take hacking?

[canteron]

Exactly this. How do you get traffic proof horses if they never meet traffic???

Clearly not perfect but you have to use what you can. If you have a bike, cycle to your field and give the horse a treat - or a quad bike you can roar up to the field with their feed. Do you have a lawn mower or a strimer - use them at the end of the field and you approach and retreat technics to get them confident, or if you can get someone else to do these things you can build your horses confidence in you by calm exposure,

But ultimately, as there are so many unpredictable things around, your job is to make them trust you - that way you have half a chance that they will listen to you in a bad situation pm and also to learn a few techniques like an emergency stop, etc, just in case it does go wrong!!

But yep, these days you have to expect drivers to be a tad stupid, so also I too am cautious where I ride out.

 

[Woah]

Quite honestly I believe that many rural roads should be downgraded in speed limit. Many country roads are really not safe to be doing more than 40mph. Trouble is the fewer horses on the road the more motorists believe they shouldn't be on the road 'because roads are for cars, not horses'. Go back to the 1950's with many horses still being used as work horses, I don't suppose drivers had that attitude. But you do hear it a lot these days. This country is only becoming more and more populated and its only a matter of time before horses are 'forced' off the road, but it won't be in our lifetime thank goodness. It doesn't help that new roads have been carved through bridleways either over the years and therefore become off-limits as are now off busy A roads. Oh dear I really am getting down thinking about it all....

 

[Sophstar]

I have decent off road hacking from my yard however you have to spend about 20 mins on the road to get there. My clydie is only 3 but I have been walking him out on the road from 2 yrs old and letting him get used to the sights and sounds of a busy road. If something is scary he's allowed to go slow, sniff it if he wants and carry on as usual. I don't react to anything and he feeds off my attitude so even if he scoots around it he doesn't sod off completely! My must have when buying him was must be good in traffic having had a previous horse who wld ditch me at any slight spook on the road. You get what you put in and walking casually round the roads is paying off

 

[Keith_Beef]

I no longer ride and stopped riding on the roads a few years before I had to give up altogether. I get scared by riders when I am driving now. Nine times out of ten the riders I meet locally will pull their horse's nose towards the grass verge when a car approaches in the mistaken belief it is going to make their horse get closer to the grass verge. They do not seem to understand that this leaves the horse free to swing his hindquarters into the road or/and escape through the outside shoulder. All horses which go on the roads should be able to move away from the leg in an easy leg yield at least or, even better, a shoulder in. Rant over.

Just before breaking up for the summer, I went out twice in the same day, just around town, but we have special sand bridleways for horses. We can generally stay out of traffic most of the time, except for getting from the yard to the bridleway and when we need to cross a road to get from one bridleway to the other.

There's a house with a trampoline in the back garden; two small girls jumping on it, laughing, yelling and shouting, as kids do when playing. Opposite house has a dog that runs along the fence barking loudly.

The instructor's advice was "turn the horse's head so it can see the dog, and understand that it's not a danger".

 

[gingerfan]

Horses should be steady under reasonable conditions whether alone or in company. However, they do need to gain experience on roads to reach this state, hacking out sensibly with a very steady companion. The problem is that out hacking we encounter a lot of unreasonably challenging behaviour by other people. On roads we have to contend with badly driven cars, and cyclists and joggers both of whom can be totally oblivious of anything and anybody around them. Off the road we have to deal with cyclists and joggers plus dog owners who see no problem with their dog chasing any horse they come across. Yes, you should ensure your horse is as reasonably safe as possible but ALL road users need to be aware of everyone around them and walk/ride/drive responsibly.

 

[Ddraig_wen]

My new girl was great in traffic however after an incident with a motor bike we are now having to teach her its not going to kill her. A straight road bit of road between two corners and a motor bike decided to overtake her at speed. He barely missed her and I could have reached to kick him and his passenger he was that close. They then passed us again in the other direction less than 2 mins later though slightly slower.

I've taken her out since and although she doesn't bolt or spin but she does shake so much you can feel her vibrating through the saddle. Didn't help that an idiot driver decided to literally drive up her tail with his dog hanging out the window barking at her. He didn't even back off when pedestrians on the other side of the road were having words with him...
I'll be taking her out with one of the big boys ride and lead for a while as I don't have anyone to ride with and go from there.

 

[Fransurrey]

I don't ride my mare on the road due to her unpredicatability. She's fine in hand, so I just get off when we approach the road and lead her along until we're off road again. It's just not worth it or enjoyable. She's unlikely to change at her age (she's nearly 18). She's distrusting of all motorised vehicles and bikes, despite living on a busy farm!

 

[Ceriann]

My mare is good in traffic and to hack on her own or in company. When I got her my confidence was terrible so we took our time to get to know each other and I found myself a very safe and capable hacking buddy. I don’t like hacking on roads but I have do at least 10 mins of it to get to very quiet roads or onto fields my farmer neighbour let’s me ride on. My mare is more forward hacking and can spook (its never more than a sharp look, stand or flinch) so I do have to ride her and keep her confident. I now feel confident enough to do that for her whatever we meet (and confident enough to ask traffic to slow down etc if road is narrow or traffic quite large/noisy) so will now happily go out on our own.

 

[stormox]

So - to all those people who say they would only hack out on a completely non-spooky horse - Of course we should take responsibility for our horses on the road, like we do our cars or our bicycles- BUT how do you expect to get a young/nervous/ spooky horse good on the roads if you dont take them out on the road? And not only one local familiar road, strange roads too?

 

[Sandstone1]

So - to all those people who say they would only hack out on a completely non-spooky horse - Of course we should take responsibility for our horses on the road, like we do our cars or our bicycles- BUT how do you expect to get a young/nervous/ spooky horse good on the roads if you dont take them out on the road? And not only one local familiar road, strange roads too?

This is the problem isnt it? To get a youngster used to traffic you have to ride it in traffic which can be dangerous. If you dont do it they wont get used to it but you risk a accident or bad experience.

 

[Snowy Celandine]

I agree with stormox. How can you traffic proof a horse without taking it out in traffic? I'm not aware of any breed that is born traffic proof? Obviously we should all take responsibility of our actions on the road, whether we are driving, riding or walking or whatever. Who would disagree with that?

 

[Annagain]

So - to all those people who say they would only hack out on a completely non-spooky horse - Of course we should take responsibility for our horses on the road, like we do our cars or our bicycles- BUT how do you expect to get a young/nervous/ spooky horse good on the roads if you dont take them out on the road? And not only one local familiar road, strange roads too?

In my circumstances, this is the one thing I can't really work on (not without boxing up to go elsewhere, which I don't really have time for day in day out). The first road I have to go on to get anywhere is far busier than it was designed for and I couldn't traffic proof very easily there as it's just too busy, too narrow and with too many big vehicles in a very narrow lane.

I am very confident in traffic and don't have a problem riding my current horses along there as I know they're ok but it would be throwing a young horse in at the deep end which isn't fair. This is why I am prepared to pay a premium for a horse that has already had this work done with him. It's top of my wishlist when I'm buying, the one thing I won't compromise on. I appreciate it takes time to get them to this standard though and am prepared to pay for it.

 

[Kaylum]

Always take them out on the road before they are backed, get them out seeing things and having experiences. Put the work in, and a schooling session is always followed by a trot down the road.

 

[Keith_Beef]

This is the problem isnt it? To get a youngster used to traffic you have to ride it in traffic which can be dangerous. If you dont do it they wont get used to it but you risk a accident or bad experience.

How do you teach children to cross the road safely? How do you teach them to ride their bicycles in traffic?

You get them out there, crossing the road and cycling; first on a very quiet road, then a busier road, then an even busier road, and so on. And you adapt the speed of progression to the child. And if the child has a fright and loses confidence, you take a step back to a quieter road and start from there again.

You don't start by reading them the section of the Highway Code "For the road user on foot or on a pedal cycle", then say "right, now go and play in the traffic on the A1(M)".

 

[hopscotch bandit]

My horse is hacked out 3 -4 times a week. She is very good and doesn't react to cyclists, motorbikes, buses or lorries. However there are always exceptions to the rule like when a mini convertible drove past us the other day and a poodle that wasn't restrained in the car nearly flew out to attack her barking loudly as it went past. Those kind of incidents you can never foresee, and it made her jump and do a bit of a 'stallion like impression' of a piaffe down the main road. We also had an incident a few years back were I came across a load of sheep that had got out of a field hurting towards us round the bend on the country lane we were hacking down at the time. Both times a bit of leg on, outside shoulder across remedied the situation. Horses are flight animals and with the best will in the world will sometimes react to things that you cannot anticipate.

I always ride out with flashing offside leg lights front and back, a hi viz exercise sheet, air jacket, hi viz jacket and gloves and a high viz hat band. 9 times out of ten I will let people know where I am hacking and always carry a fully charged mobile with me and treats in my pocket if such a situation arises that I need to send some 'calming vibes' my horses way!

I think all horses no matter how 'bomb proof' have the propensity to spook. It is how we treat them in such a situation and how much they respect us as riders as to how the situation is handled with a good outcome. Many people I know have given up hacking having had near misses. I've had many like cars flying around blind bends, over taking us on blind bends with another car coming in the opposite direction, and people putting unbrellas up as we are walking past. But I have no doubt in my mind that I will ever give up hacking as I find it (on the whole) relaxing and my horse really does enjoy it.

 

[ester]

most child cycling training I've seen takes place in school playgrounds

 

[Leo Walker]

We've started by watching traffic from behind a closed gate and slowly proceeded to walking out in hand with someone leading her and someone walking behind slowing cars and alerting them to a horse being there. So far shes been like the other young horses I've had, not bothered at all. We will slowly build that up now. She isnt a machine and will have the odd spook or startled moment but they consist of a star jump or tiny scoot forward. She doesnt put herself or anyone else in danger.

 

[Keith_Beef]

most child cycling training I've seen takes place in school playgrounds

Yes, for balance and for learning basic rules, but to become confident there's no substitute for getting out on the road and into traffic.

 

[ester]

well you said that we teach them by getting them out there, we don't- we make pretend roads with traffic cones in playgrounds for current cycling training (now deemed bikeability instead of cycle proficiency test, going on road is level 2 )

 

[Leo Walker]

Same with the Riding and Road Safety test. First part is simulated roads and if you dont pass that, you dont go out on the actual road. When I did mine out of 12 only 3 of us went forward to the road part.