Highflinger
Well-Known Member
I bought a highland x just over a year ago . He was only 5 and had done very little. He was vey reluctant to hack out to start with -planting and refusing to move forward and spooking a lot but I persevered doing the same short hack each day and he now hacks out willingly and we vary the hacks and he does not nap at all. He will happily go past his field when we return from a ride so is no longer nappy and seems willing to go out. He does however do a lot of sudden apparently random spooks -- suddenly shooting off the path sideways usually to the right . He does this in both walk and trot at apparently "nothing". He reacts differently when there really is something to spook at e.g pheasant flying up, deer etc - he then usually shoots forward and canters a few strides before stopping. I have tried ignoring the spooks ( both types) and also growling at him and firmly kicking him on for the sideways ones and turning him round and making him walk past the area had spooked at but he seems to be getting worse - sometimes he is fine for the whole hack but another time he will do a number of random sideway spooks at "nothing". I am not a confident rider and this is starting to really unnerve as the spooks are getting bigger and more frequent. I had hoped after a year of hacking together he would be confident but he seems quite tense.
I have done a couple of in hand hacks - I am very confident on the ground but he has still spooked so I don't think he is reacting to my nerves when ridden.
Any advice?
I have done a couple of in hand hacks - I am very confident on the ground but he has still spooked so I don't think he is reacting to my nerves when ridden.
Any advice?