Slight hacking drama last night

[Kenzo]

We encountered something Mr M has never seen before....*drum roll*


A pony & trap!

Coming back through the village and up comes one of those big monster looking tractors with a trailer on the back, didn’t batter an eye lid when it past but right behind that approaching us was lovely pretty grey pony trotting along merrily in it’s trap.

Mr M grew a few hands, head came up, eye on stalks, could feel his body starting to freeze in anticipation so I thought eh up here we go, so I shouted politely with a smile to the gentleman driving the trap, ‘he’s never seen one of those before’ (hint hint….slow down into a walk while you pass me pleeeease) but no, he kept on trotting past, Mr M turned himself inside out, spun in wards and up the grass verge which he stumbled up and nearly put me in the hedge (thanks Mr M, it’s one of the reasons I love you so much) so asked the guy if he could just stand a moment and let my horse look at it so he could soak it up before he continued.

So next time he’s either going to be more or less ok, or he’ll be 10 times worse, wish me luck!

Ideally we need to bump into it on a regular basis so he gets used to it but unfortunately it’s not always a safe environment (being on the roads) to get him used to them when cars are about but hey ho the joys of horse riding an all!

The more scary thought is, early Sunday mornings out of the village that is, on the lanes the travellers sometimes role up with a few horse boxes and whip their trotters out, they do that racing, now there is not a chance in hell of them pulling up for little old me if they come thundering down the road as fast as the poor things can go, I’ll be a gonna then.

Anyone else had similar experiances?

 

[kerilli]

yes, my horses have always utterly freaked out at horse-driven vehicles. it might be worth finding where the pony and trap live and asking very nicely if you can go there with your horse and get him used to them, rather than risk encountering them on the road again. i've been in the same position and it's not fun at all.

 

[cob&onion]

My nan & grandad have a cob whome drives, he is also broken to ride, he is rather young still and funnily enough my mum rode him out when they first had him and he spotted a horse and rider and didnt know what to make of them, snorting etc he is fine now with horse and riders just funny to think he must of not seen many before despite him always pulling his trap, never batting an eye lid in heavy traffic and being ridden himself.

 

[MrVelvet]

yes! near me are 4 beautiful black horses which pull a herse (sp) and also a wedding carriage. My old pony didnt give it a second glance but Im dreading the day I run into it on my youngster!! it's one of those things you never think of till you see one!

 

[Kenzo]

yes, my horses have always utterly freaked out at horse-driven vehicles. it might be worth finding where the pony and trap live and asking very nicely if you can go there with your horse and get him used to them, rather than risk encountering them on the road again. i've been in the same position and it's not fun at all.

Yep good idea there and yes I do know where they live, however...there's a but, a bit bug, it comes with another problem. one which we are yet to tackle (waiting for a quiet Sunday afternoon for this one).

On the road that you need to ride up to get to where the people with the pony and trap live, the farmers have very kindly turned the growing fields into a pig fields, now full of little piggy wiggies (actually there not little, there rather huge!) and their little huts, it's right at the side of the road with only electic fencing between them and us (no nice hedges to block the view) but because they will be on my left if I go that way, if we have some drama then he’ll spook into the road so my plan is to ride all the way round so I pass them on my right so we are already to the left as the village does a loop.

That’s the 'grand plan'…..looking forward to it, I love challenge!

 

[LaurenBay]

My old share Horse is absolutly terrified of them. It is actually quite dangerous, she gets so wound up. We have no idea why is is so scared of them. She's seen 3 in the past 6 years, twice shes bolted now. Doesn't help that the last time I came across one it was a stallion pulling the cart. She was so scared she backed up into someones driveway who started shouting at me to get off his property (didn't have a choice). He then let his 2 dogs out and they were jumping up at her. She didn't even look at them, she couldn't take her eyes of the trap.

 

[kerilli]

haha oh god, pigs don't help either, they must smell like omnivores i think, hence why horses don't like them at all!

 

[Hovis_and_SidsMum]

Hovis doesn't like them either. The worst was seeing one in a field with very high grass.
due to the height of the grass you couldn't see the ponies legs which freaked all our boys out. Cue a LOT of running about and swearing.

Pigs are funny. Sid never bothers with them. He used to groom a pig that lived where he did - never bothered at all. Hovis sees them and isn't too bothered but sheep! those clouds on legs start running and hovis does NOT like it!!

 

[Ladylina83]

God I remember being in a green riding horse class at a smallish country fair all was bliss until the first line up when the carriage driving class commenced in the ring next door - it was like a scene from 'shameless' !!

 

[Sarah1]

Yep been there, experienced that quite frequently! Now our horses can all cope with 1 horse drawn vehicle passing - any more & that's another issue...they were not impressed when we met a procession when the british driving society (or whatever it's called) visited the estate for a ride-around!
Good idea to get them acquainted, if you can get past the pigs!

 

[Kenzo]

Well we can do cows, but he’s picky on his life stock lol, he’s got used to the ones in the village (there kept both outside and in the cow sheds) but the cows that are up at the farm that we ride through….not keen on them and they have a few pigs as well I think (least it smells like they do but there in sheds), we still have prance through and a snort and ablow but it’s better than stopping dead, spinning and darting off or running backwards like he used to do, so it’s all good, so now it’s leg on, tell him how brave he is grin through gritted teeth and ride on cowboy!

 

[Devonshire dumpling]

My old ex national hunt Racer was a dream to ride, he was an absolute angel to hack, we even met a fireengine once on full sirens and blues and all he did was jump!

One day I was riding around the block on narrow country lanes and a pony and trap appeared!!!!! OMG he totally freaked out, spun in panic, I didn't let him bolt so he just cantered on the spot totally scared!! Demon things those traps, chasing horses hehe XX

 

[jsr]

We have a 'merry' little group (right miserable bunch of old farts if I'm honest) that trundle around our lanes. Can't see why they bother cos not one of them seems able to raise a smile and they never slow down or pull over for vehicles or horses and just scowl at everyone. BUT anyway my lad first time we saw them raised his head then dropped it down again as if to say 'wow so not impressed by that little thing'. I know he was broken to drive as a youngster as I bought him from a dealer in Ireland so he's unlikely to be fazed by them.

 

[Hippona]

Yep good idea there and yes I do know where they live, however...there's a but, a bit bug, it comes with another problem. one which we are yet to tackle (waiting for a quiet Sunday afternoon for this one).

On the road that you need to ride up to get to where the people with the pony and trap live, the farmers have very kindly turned the growing fields into a pig fields, now full of little piggy wiggies (actually there not little, there rather huge!) and their little huts, it's right at the side of the road with only electic fencing between them and us (no nice hedges to block the view) but because they will be on my left if I go that way, if we have some drama then he’ll spook into the road so my plan is to ride all the way round so I pass them on my right so we are already to the left as the village does a loop.

That’s the 'grand plan'…..looking forward to it, I love challenge!

You never know....he may be fine bless him! Don't under-estimate the Mr Mack

I got my arab out over a M'way footbridge ( my nemesis - had a ****-or-get-off-the-pot-moment and went for it - he was fine)....past a few tractors- over a road with plenty of traffic into the woods- past a small holding with goats AND geese - still fine.....then encountered an old tent in a heap on the floor. By this time I was soooo smug at all we'd gone past without a murmur than when he did a misicule spook......I fell off and landed on my arse. Didn't let go of the reins and got dragged 50m down the track on my right butt-cheek. Excellent.

You sound like me......plan your route to consider the worst-case scenario

 

[Merry Crisis]

Ask Merrlegs and his owner to drive to yours and then hack out with them, he will soon get used to it, thats what I did!

 

[Kenzo]

My old ex national hunt Racer was a dream to ride, he was an absolute angel to hack, we even met a fireengine once on full sirens and blues and all he did was jump!

One day I was riding around the block on narrow country lanes and a pony and trap appeared!!!!! OMG he totally freaked out, spun in panic, I didn't let him bolt so he just cantered on the spot totally scared!! Demon things those traps, chasing horses hehe XX

Funny you should say that as the the first time I took this ex racer out, round the village for someone (fresh from Doncaster sales only raced the previous month) he was going very nicely on his own, so carried on just to do a short loop, then we met a fire engine on a call out there was no where for me to go, he had a jump but nothing compared to what I was half expecting, I was lucky really but then he did come over from NZ so maybe he was used to big things with flying etc.

 

[Kenzo]

You never know....he may be fine bless him! Don't under-estimate the Mr Mack

I got my arab out over a M'way footbridge ( my nemesis - had a ****-or-get-off-the-pot-moment and went for it - he was fine)....past a few tractors- over a road with plenty of traffic into the woods- past a small holding with goats AND geese - still fine.....then encountered an old tent in a heap on the floor. By this time I was soooo smug at all we'd gone past without a murmur than when he did a misicule spook......I fell off and landed on my arse. Didn't let go of the reins and got dragged 50m down the track on my right butt-cheek. Excellent.

You sound like me......plan your route to consider the worst-case scenario

ooow Poppymoo poor you, although reading it now.... is quite funny, take it you or someone was picking grit out of your butt cheek all that night then or did your jods stay in tact, nothing worse than gravel rash...ouch!

 

[Hippona]

ooow Poppymoo poor you, although reading it now.... is quite funny, take it you or someone was picking grit out of your butt cheek all that night then or did your jods stay in tact, nothing worse than gravel rash...ouch!

Mercifully intact but I did have the tell-tale dirt streak

Was more worried that a random dog walker may have spotted me.

 

[alext]

Ah well I had a ex driving pony we think he was a harness racer at some point .if I remember correctly he was pretty scared of horse drawn carriages, other horse and riders were really really scary to the point of backing up into trees and rearing(really did feel sorry for the lady on the young horse who had caught us up and asked to complete the ride with us which i thought would be no problem couldn't of been more wrong!)he really was a character but odly I trusted him totally! Oh and he wasn't young I got him at 14 !!

 

[WelshRuby]

My boy will soon be introduced to a pony and trap - I'm getting one for the Shetty. That should be fun!

 

[thirlmere]

Oh the horror! I am having flashbacks to my most scary experience on a horse. We were out on a misty day and I hear a faint but very fast clip clop/clip clop and out of the mist looms a large horse and racing cart going like the clappers. My little horse was completely terrified, thank goodness we were near a side road and scuttled down there safely out of the way. I could feel her heart pounding through the saddle. We have never come across this guy again but I live in fear! Someone on our yard is wanting to get a trap for their shetland pony so I think we may be in for some serious desensitisation sessions. Good luck with the pigs.

 

[Bangagin]

We have a couple round our way. I'm lucky that my mare is quite used to them, although if they appear suddenly she still grows a couple of inches in height. They do slow down for us and stop if they see that a horse is worried. But I dread them coming round a corner fast as they do a really fast spanking trot most of the time. There is also a little Shetland who is driven round our bridleways too.

I just declined taking a loan horse on who was absolutely terrified of driven carts - not worth the risk!

 

[somethingorother]

You never know....he may be fine bless him! Don't under-estimate the Mr Mack

I got my arab out over a M'way footbridge ( my nemesis - had a ****-or-get-off-the-pot-moment and went for it - he was fine)....past a few tractors- over a road with plenty of traffic into the woods- past a small holding with goats AND geese - still fine.....then encountered an old tent in a heap on the floor. By this time I was soooo smug at all we'd gone past without a murmur than when he did a misicule spook......I fell off and landed on my arse. Didn't let go of the reins and got dragged 50m down the track on my right butt-cheek. Excellent.

You sound like me......plan your route to consider the worst-case scenario

Sorry but this didn't half make me laugh


Kenzo, he's been on HHO reading about how you miss having something to get your teeth into now he's been such a good boy. He obviously felt worried you may swop him for a younger model. So see, some excitement to spice up your riding life Clever boy i say