Spooky horses out hacking alone....

[PolarSkye]

I've found that one thing that helps when riding round the fields is ensuring that he is always going forwards and off the leg. It may not seem like it, but spooky horses are more often than not behind the leg and a bit backward-thinking. If you keep them thinking about listening to you, there's less chance their attention will be diverted by the hedge monsters

This! And often people take their leg OFF spooky horses, when actually what they need is leg on and soft hands - forwards, forwards, forwards.

I know it's easy to say and hard/counterintuitive to do, but IMHO it does work. Good luck!

P

 

[ladyt25]

I'll just say, I have had my horse for 16 years and he is STILL spooky! I believe he likes the 'rush' if i am totally honest. He's like one big comedian. He still has a thing about parked cars - I reckon it's because he sees his reflection in the window as he passes and that's what spooks him. However, he is never difficult to get past anything and it doesn't worry me - makes me jump sometimes though when (as he is doing currently) decides he's scared of those killer pigeons flying out of trees!

You will get used to it - just try ride him on and, once you get to know him better you will know whether you can actually give him a bit of a telling off for it. If mine pushes it and is a real idiot and I've had enough then he may get a bit of a kick and I'll ride him a bit harder for a while - he tends to get the message!

Thing is though mine is not scared of tractors or anything like that either, I trust him in traffic totally. It's the dock leaves, killer birds and parked cars we have jumps at!!!

 

[Naryafluffy]

I used to have the opposite problem, mine's was great to hack out on her own, but a complete muppet in company.
Hacked her out in company the day after I got her and she basically done back flips up the road interspersed with cartwheels, no one would hack out with me after that so we had to hack out on our own, couple of years later went out in company and was a complete paid in the backside, wanted to be out front, wanted to be at the back, spooked at the cows/wall/cyclists/daffodils etc that we pass no problem on our own, seemed to be the more company she had the worse she got!!!!

 

[burtie]

I can totally sympathise. I bred my horse and I ridden loads over the years and /herbie is clearly the biggest woss I've encountered and nothing like his mum. I could resolve spooking by riding him totally on the bridle and in charge but as I do a fair bit of schooling so like to relax out hacking!

I have now solved the problem by getting a western saddle and if he starts jumping at his own shadow I just hold on to that, plus I'm more held in anyway so can just let the front end go loose and kick on in those situations! I'm lucky in that all my hacking is off road so I can just hold on while he dances sideways at a crow or butterfly! It is getting better as he gets older but anything unexpected still makes him jump!

 

[NeverSayNever]

My question on this thread was has anyone ever had a spooky horse become less spooky/wussy the more it's hacked on it's own? Or is he always likely to crap himself at his own shadow?

ive had mine since june and he is a pain hacking on his out, spooks and goes sideways at the stupidest of things. I still hack him out on his own though.... A few things that are helping, found sticking to one short route he knows, someone on foot with me if he hasnt been ridden for a couple of days, riding in degogue with 2 reins and only using the degogue rein if he is silly and ignoring me to get him on the bit again and paying attention which = no spooking. And YES stick at it, I had a hack on our own plodding along on the buckle the other day! Other thing is as others have said spooky horses are often backward thinking, mine can be nappy. So keep him well infront of your leg all the time and do give him a telling off and ride strongly when he is a prat.

 

[Firewell]

I agree with the person who said to ride forwards with soft hands, I also agree with the person who said about some horses wanting to go faster and letting them.
I also agree with you lol, when you said M is in someways better alone then in company as he doesn't have any horses behind.. That's what J is like!

I find J just likes to plod behind the horse in front when in company. If he is fresh he wants to go in front, however once in front he will lead the ride past anything really scary *untill* he decides he doesn't want to be in front when he will suddenly just stop for no reason.. At nothing. It's then a battle to get his arse into gear as he has decided he wants to plod behind the others again.
On his own it's much quicker to get him moving on.

J has actually got a lot better as he has gotten to know me. Initially he would try and spin round and run off if he didn't like something! Now he tends to just stop or he will take himself into a trot and wizz us past what's bothering him. He's pretty good to hack alone now but every now and again he will try it on! He's an Alpha horse and I think he does it to test my leadership.

Take this morning... He's been an angel for weeks but when I got him in I knew he was in one of his moods, I could tell by the look in his eye!
As predicted on our hack he just felt a little tense. I did a route we have done lots and because of him feeling a bit tense I trotted most of the way round and just let him bowl on past his normal spooky spots.
We were on our way home riding through a very familiar part of the village so I brought him back to walk to bumble on home. He was quiet as a lamb and then at nothing he just stopped and had a massive tantrum!! It was on a really slippery part of road which wasn't ideal! I stood him for a while in case there was something he needed to look at but everytime I went to move him on he would start spinning, and slipping and trying to run the opposite way or backing up. He throws me these tests every now and again. There was a car coming up but I asked them to slow down and I gave him 3 massive hard wacks with my stick behind my leg and just rode him forwards like a devil possessed, it meant we cantered up the road with him snorting and being a weirdo but I just kept kicking and kicking and kicking while holding on to the martingale lol. I think the car must have thought we were mad as I went flying past them shouting . He was just throwing me a leader test though as we were nearly home and there was nothing to spook at.
Horrid Horse!! He will be fine for a while now. I do think my horse may always have a tendency to do this sort of thing but he's so much better already that I do think he will grow out of it.
The silly thing is, if there is something really scary he will be brave and go past. He is also as brave as a lion to jump and won't look at a thing and he's not spooky in terms of jumpy, he doesn't flinch if a bird suddenly flaps up in front of him or whatever.
He's just a bit strange sometimes, it's just who he is the little monkey . He can feel a bit scary when he's flying all over the place being horrible but he won't rear or buck or do anything truely horrible, as long as I sit tight and am brave he does eventually listen. I think half the battle when getting used to a new horse is knowing their limits.
You haven't had M long enough yet to know his limits but once you do you will safer and not mind his spooking so much .

 

[Mahoganybay]

My pony is really spooky out alone too. He does get a bit better if I ride a route a lot of times, but any where new and he is jumping at everything! I also have to be permanently aware he may spook at any time!

I can't canter in many places when hacking - for the same reason you have mentioned (and I have come off side ways on several occasions). There is only one place we can really have a blast which is up a big hill in the middle of a field as there is nothing either side of us to jump out / scare him. I don't even trot on bridleways where there are hedges that are very close as he is very sharp and will spin and try to run the other way if really spooked. He is actually better on the roads and seems spookier off road.

It is definately not relaxing to hack out and I too would love long, relaxing rides in the countryside. I haven't really found anything that works apart from riding the same routes over and over again which is starting to have a bit of an effect. I try to ride with long reins to help him relax and with long stirrups so I have a more secure seat when needed. I don't tense up or get annoyed with him, although occasionally if he is spooking at everything in sight in a funny 5 minutes I growl at him - as he is being silly rather than scared.

We have some great hacking near us including a golf course with lovely long gallop stretches on bridlepaths that I used to have a blast on with my old horse - but its a bit of a no no with my pony unfortunately.

I've also tried calmers etc which don't have an effect.

Same here, I have had my mare 4 years and she has always been spooky out on her own, i can ride the same route over and over and she is still the same, i too have tried calmer's to no avail, i have come to the conclusion that it is the way she is.

My mare is also better on the road and there are certain routes that i do where i know i can up the pace without fear of a spook but most of the time i just try and keep the ride calm. Fortunately, she does not do anything silly or dangerous and i find that when i approach things i know she will be scared of it is best to kick her on past it.

 

[Hippona]

This! And often people take their leg OFF spooky horses, when actually what they need is leg on and soft hands - forwards, forwards, forwards.

I know it's easy to say and hard/counterintuitive to do, but IMHO it does work. Good luck!

P

Indeed it does.....keep them moving forwards.

My horse had never been hacked out alone before I got him...I have never met a horse who was as unconfident as he was.

One year later he hacks out alone, in traffic- took him over a motorway foot bridge at the weekend- he was fine, I almost poo-ed myself

Small hacks...litte and often- build up his confidence- you have to be confident for him.