Spooky and nappy on hacks
- Thread starter Ambers Echo
- Start date
Bernster
Well-Known Member
Finnegan is one of the less common types - wants to go look at whatever it’s is he’s not sure about. Then he’ll either try to eat it or stomp on it. I can’t remember the last time he was actually scared of something. Oh hang on, yes I can, he’s a complete wuss when it comes to needles!
JGC
Well-Known Member
I once tried the wait-it-out with my first mare who was pretty spooky and had a few times done a flat-out, unstoppable (she was built like a tank) gallop for home (not just with me but a pro 5* rider ...). She was the gentlest mare in all situations ... except about three days of every season.
So rather than escalating the situation, I thought I'd try to wait it out. I had to give it up at the end of two hours as the YO came to find us ... I just stopped hacking when she was in those three days.
My current mare is also pretty spooky. If I let her stop to look at things a lot of the time, she will just get increasingly wound up. However, sometimes, she does need a few seconds to make sense of what she's seeing. What really works best for her is for me to act as a leader at all times. So when hacking I am checking that I am stable, my core is engaged. I am looking into the distance in the way I want to go with soft eyes (as Sally Swift describes in the wonderful 'Centered Riding'). I am not looking at things that might be spooky, but I do take note of where T is looking or what she is listening to and say a few words to her, gently put my leg on at that point and do a big sigh. I am thinking about my breathing and stopping myself from thinking about spooking or anything negative by imagining a clash of cymbals smashing those thoughts. I am stopping myself bracing against the stirrups. I am letting my weight down to ground her. I am constantly reassessing the contact depending if she is feeling relaxed, or if I feel she needs me to be present. I choose my routes so that they are varied, but a ride that is difficult for her, i.e. through villages with roadwork, is followed by an easier ride through open fields or a day off. If we have a ride where she gets spooked, I make a plan to how to build back the confidence again - do a lesson to get back in tune with each other, do an in-hand hack, go out with another rider, then an easy hack together.
I think a lot of us are doing these things a lot of the time, especially people who are much better and more natural riders than me. It sounds like hard work, but I have honestly always been afraid out hacking, it's not something I did a lot of when learning to ride and because we did it so rarely, it almost always went badly. When I got my own horses, it was something I would force myself to do for the good of the horses or pay other people/get sharers to do. I also try to avoid hacking alone when she's in season because it's hard for her. I could count on my fingers the number of times I'd actually enjoyed a ride out before T.
Now with T (who was sold to me as not being able to hack alone), I hack four out of five times and only go in the school once. I have galloped and jumped, explored, done picnic rides and been happy.
So all that to say, the "spooking" with T starts way before she actually spooks, from the moment I go to greet her in the stable or field. And 90 per cent of "spooking" is about how I am feeling/behaving.
So rather than escalating the situation, I thought I'd try to wait it out. I had to give it up at the end of two hours as the YO came to find us ... I just stopped hacking when she was in those three days.
My current mare is also pretty spooky. If I let her stop to look at things a lot of the time, she will just get increasingly wound up. However, sometimes, she does need a few seconds to make sense of what she's seeing. What really works best for her is for me to act as a leader at all times. So when hacking I am checking that I am stable, my core is engaged. I am looking into the distance in the way I want to go with soft eyes (as Sally Swift describes in the wonderful 'Centered Riding'). I am not looking at things that might be spooky, but I do take note of where T is looking or what she is listening to and say a few words to her, gently put my leg on at that point and do a big sigh. I am thinking about my breathing and stopping myself from thinking about spooking or anything negative by imagining a clash of cymbals smashing those thoughts. I am stopping myself bracing against the stirrups. I am letting my weight down to ground her. I am constantly reassessing the contact depending if she is feeling relaxed, or if I feel she needs me to be present. I choose my routes so that they are varied, but a ride that is difficult for her, i.e. through villages with roadwork, is followed by an easier ride through open fields or a day off. If we have a ride where she gets spooked, I make a plan to how to build back the confidence again - do a lesson to get back in tune with each other, do an in-hand hack, go out with another rider, then an easy hack together.
I think a lot of us are doing these things a lot of the time, especially people who are much better and more natural riders than me. It sounds like hard work, but I have honestly always been afraid out hacking, it's not something I did a lot of when learning to ride and because we did it so rarely, it almost always went badly. When I got my own horses, it was something I would force myself to do for the good of the horses or pay other people/get sharers to do. I also try to avoid hacking alone when she's in season because it's hard for her. I could count on my fingers the number of times I'd actually enjoyed a ride out before T.
Now with T (who was sold to me as not being able to hack alone), I hack four out of five times and only go in the school once. I have galloped and jumped, explored, done picnic rides and been happy.
So all that to say, the "spooking" with T starts way before she actually spooks, from the moment I go to greet her in the stable or field. And 90 per cent of "spooking" is about how I am feeling/behaving.
TwoForTwo
Well-Known Member
Trust me I’ve thought about it, she is Welsh x Connemara and although born on dartmoor she is classed as a Dartmoor hill pony not a true Dartmoor. I’ve had her 10 years and did so much research on what she is/who bred her as I got her via the drift. I’d like to breed her to Kippure Lancelot, he is a black Connemara abs absolutely stunning
J&S
Well-Known Member
My NF mare was the bravest pony ever. No fear of any thing, apart from a hosepipe that looked like a snake and made her break free and dash off up the road! She was found just a few yards out with her head down on the first bit of grass.
Wishfilly
Well-Known Member
I've been thinking a lot about the "horses don't lie" quote, which I think is absolutely true- but I think also we don't actually always understand what they want to tell us. It may not be "I am really scared of that specific thing" but it may also be "I am feeling uncomfortable today and generally more on edge" or "It's cold and it's windy and I don't want to be out on my own". Or any one of a number of other things.
palo1
Well-Known Member
I had cause to ponder this today. My young mare flatly refused to pass a farmyard that she hasn't passed for about a year. It has about 24 barking dogs in outdoor kennels, ducks, chickens and pet dogs, quad bikes, sheep etc. She has, to date, been fantastically bold and forward but not today. Nothing I did; leg aids, voice aids, taps on the bum, slaps on the neck, praise etc resulted in her passing. We went forwards a few steps then reverse until I pushed it too far; she tried to go forward but then her resolve/confidence/trust failed her and she spun round, dropped a shoulder and left the scene without me. She waited a few yards down the track and I told her I was really sorry. I remounted with no trouble and she was prepared to get to a certain point without a fuss to revisit the scene! Eventually we did get past by following my friend's horse who was led past.
I was furious with myself and frustrated - it is so unlike my mare to refuse to try anything that I should have probably worked out a better solution than pony club kicks and snarling
When I got home, my OH told me that the farm has a deadstock box and that his very laid back horse had made a right royal fuss about the farm a short while ago. Gawd I feel badly now BUT I was totally flummoxed at the time and worried that this might be a rather testing 'developmental' phase - not one I approved of at that moment...I really should have listened to my girl and then, in this instance, helped her. I was certainly guilty of 'horsemanship complacency' but it is useful to have that reminder and I hope any disillusionment on my mare's part will not be long lasting.
I was furious with myself and frustrated - it is so unlike my mare to refuse to try anything that I should have probably worked out a better solution than pony club kicks and snarling
When I got home, my OH told me that the farm has a deadstock box and that his very laid back horse had made a right royal fuss about the farm a short while ago. Gawd I feel badly now BUT I was totally flummoxed at the time and worried that this might be a rather testing 'developmental' phase - not one I approved of at that moment...I really should have listened to my girl and then, in this instance, helped her. I was certainly guilty of 'horsemanship complacency' but it is useful to have that reminder and I hope any disillusionment on my mare's part will not be long lasting.
milliepops
Wears headscarf aggressively
I also was thinking about this today. For some it's a knife edge between trying it on and "needing telling" and genuine concern which deserves the benefit of the doubt. It's hard to get it right 100% of the time. My mare swapped between the 2 about 900 times this evening ? it probably looks the same but the feel and responses are different.
palo1
Well-Known Member
Yes. This!! Horses do sometimes 'need telling' - particularly young or known to be wilful horses (! lol) and it is very hard sometimes to combine that with the right amount of supportive understanding about their perception of things. I don't mean that horses intend to be awkward obviously but some horses are capable of taking a real stand where others have less determination to resist a request. I wasn't quite sure what I was being faced with today and my friend's horse is a horror - the nappiest, most unhappy horse I have met in a long while; I was rather desperate for my mare NOT to pick up on his strategies and vibe... On our return home my girl was trying to do as asked and pass the farm from the other direction but then my friend lost her patience and her horse rocketed past my mare who was, rather frustratingly, then able to just tuck in behind without thinking about it or working out the solution for herself Ho hum...we will need to revisit this. But I will do a couple of different activities with her this week just to give her a change of scene and different things to think about.
On our return home my girl was trying to do as asked and pass the farm from the other direction but then my friend lost her patience and her horse rocketed past my mare who was, rather frustratingly, then able to just tuck in behind without thinking about it or working out the solution for herself Ho hum...we will need to revisit this. But I will do a couple of different activities with her this week just to give her a change of scene and different things to think about.
nikkimariet
Well-Known Member
Each horse is different. If Fig stops it’s because he’s genuinely worried about something, he’s just not that way inclined. When I had Nova I had to be quicker than light itself and was less than zero tolerance with him. If you gave him a mm he’d never let you forget it...
Rooni gets nappy when he’s confused, it’s taken a while to figure out but the approach is quite simple. In the school we stop we pat I drop the reins and we move onto an entirely different exercise for a minute. Out hacking it’s pat and reassure and if I can get him to wait and look rather than spinning and rearing away from it, and then decide if he would like to touch the scary object (if possible) then I don’t have any problems moving forwards. He’s 99.9% curious sweetheart but whilst he can try it on like any other young sharp horse, he’s actually really very genuine.
It took me a while to stop being quite so defensive from the Nova days... They train us well!
Rooni gets nappy when he’s confused, it’s taken a while to figure out but the approach is quite simple. In the school we stop we pat I drop the reins and we move onto an entirely different exercise for a minute. Out hacking it’s pat and reassure and if I can get him to wait and look rather than spinning and rearing away from it, and then decide if he would like to touch the scary object (if possible) then I don’t have any problems moving forwards. He’s 99.9% curious sweetheart but whilst he can try it on like any other young sharp horse, he’s actually really very genuine.
It took me a while to stop being quite so defensive from the Nova days... They train us well!