Teaching/Training a dog to hack out with you and horse.

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Roisin_M

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Hello, I have a three year old male jack russell terrier and once i start riding out i'd like to take him along with me.

Any particular tips?

I'm going to start by taking him out with me on a pushbike and see how he copes with that. I'll obv put hi-vis on him.

Any other ideas?
 
Hi I take mine out all the time without a lead.

firstly I took him on a lead from my horse around the farm then gradually from my horse up the rd to woods got off let dog off hacked back to entrance back on lead and home,


after a time he went off the lead from home.


my old dog when i said hup would put his feet in my stirrup irons and i could let him off without getting off

crossing roads no problem i say wait he does or in front and he does.

liveries had b/f out with dog while they hacked out . gradually they took theirs out on their own .
depends how obedient yours is at commands would determine how long it takes
 
Training mine right now. Not keen on the lead from a horse though as I think that it is too risky.. So mine has been trained with treats and then I have started going out and calling my dog back with treats. I am trying to teach her the " leave" command but that is still too hit and miss. ( as proved when really put to the test in Putney yesterday!). We are staying well away from the roads ATM, albeit we have only one to cross for the same reason.

I can go out with my friend who has a working cocker and he is brilliant. None of this begging for cuddles from complete strangers!
 
Depends on the horse/rider/dog combination I guess. My old dog would faithfully tuck in behind my horse's tail and would never ever move from there; I never needed to check where she was when traffic came etc coz she was always there, bless her.

The two I've got now I'm sure have a suicide wish or something, coz as soon as they see a car they'll dash out into the middle of the road and just will NOT come in! They'll just stand there, frozen, and won't budge.

Its a pity I have to leave them home when I go out riding but I've tried training the blimmin things and they're far too stoopid!!
 
I take my dogs with me, I've never really thought about any extra training to follow me on a horse. I am very lucky in the fact that I ride directly out onto the moors.

The dogs mostly run around doing their own thing but always have one eye on me because at any moment I could change direction and go off at a canter ;) So they always keep within eyesight.

Having said that the dogs are all whistle trained to both stop and recall anyway and I never go anywhere without a dog whistle around my neck!

The only specific training I have done is to teach them to come in and sit on the verge/side/layby for when I want to ride up the lane. I just shout "CAR" even though they have heard it before me and they all come in and sit whilst I stop and we let the car pass. You only have to teach one to do that and the rest soon pick it up :)

Simple everyday, general obedience training on recall, stop, sit etc is all I used.

Good luck - its so much easier to get nags and dogs exercised in one fell swoop ;)
 
When my dog was younger i could not stop him from coming with me he use to love hacking he would keep up in canter which was always a shock as his legs i am sure shrunk over the years. he is a jack russel cross is tanned colour and i use to say he use to be taller but with all the hacking i wore his legs down :D:D

I miss him actually i use to love bringing him with me i can not get him to go far at all anymore :(:(

Enjoy it all of you :):)
 
If you have a solid recall and your dog wants to stay with you on a normal walk and is used to horses then the transition to being on a horse should be a simple one.

The problem arises if you have to do road work as training a dog to walk to the left or directly behind on a road is more tricky. I managed it by starting with my dog on a lead rope from the horse but looking back this was probably a stupid move! (i was only 16 or so)

When I have to train it again (soon as have a 12 week old pup!) I will probably start by ensuring I have a 'heel' type command in place on a normal walk, teaching the dog to walk beside. From there I will probably lead the horse and dog out together and see how it goes with the aim to be able to use the 'heel' command while on a horse.

I managed it with my border collie x. I could ride up the motorway and trust her to stick on my left :)
 
i take my lab out with me on the lead, we go up the road, cross over another road where she will sit and wait until we move then i say hup and she jumps up on to a bank so i can reach to take her lead off, she stays normally in front unless we trot or canter then shes alongside, if we meet any greenlaners she will come to the side and wait with me, on the way home we have another bank that she gets up on so i can put the lead on for home. shes very much a mummys girl and really enjoys coming to the yard and is fab around the horses, i also used to take her with my ex racehorse, but she spent plenty of time around him first, i taught her hup at home by getting her to jump up onto the bed, i also talked to her alot on the horse so she could get used to the idea of where i was,
 
My dog accidentally followed me out on a hack today. He's very good at recall anyway and although we had one little bit of road he was good as gold. It was one of the loveliest rides I've had taking both horse and hound!!
 
I made sure mine had solid recall, heel, wait etc. and that I could give commands that would be obeyed at a distance. So, for instance, if I yell "sit down!" across a field, he will just drop straight away without asking questions.

I then taught him to walk ahead of me, and taught him the command "left" so if he wandered into the road he learned that "left" meant go back to the verge.

I have been hacking out with him since - almost nine years. He is a diamond and we've been all over the place. I will take him on the road quite happily as I know I have control, but it took a lot of work to get there.

The thing I love the most is that when cars see him up ahead of me, they treat me with much more respect than they do if I'm riding without him. Fab for young horses learning traffic!!
 
Starzaan said:
I made sure mine had solid recall, heel, wait etc. and that I could give commands that would be obeyed at a distance. So, for instance, if I yell "sit down!" across a field, he will just drop straight away without asking questions.

I then taught him to walk ahead of me, and taught him the command "left" so if he wandered into the road he learned that "left" meant go back to the verge.

I have been hacking out with him since - almost nine years. He is a diamond and we've been all over the place. I will take him on the road quite happily as I know I have control, but it took a lot of work to get there.

The thing I love the most is that when cars see him up ahead of me, they treat me with much more respect than they do if I'm riding without him. Fab for young horses learning traffic!!
Click to expand...

I found that too - and also useful if the horse won't go past the scary crisp packet / purple flower / traffic cone (delete as appropriate) as my dog could give the horse a lead!

I taught several specific commands for the road - on foot first then with the horse off road then onto the road - "get in" = tuck in to my left, "over" = cross the road or turn right, "steady" = this is not a race even if you are a whippet get back level with my stirrup, "wait" = stop, "on you go" = move out of "wait" and carry on / we're in an empty field you can go sniff stuff / darn horse won't go past XYZ please give us a lead!

Initially I threw treats into the verge to get him to follow my arm movements but he caught on pretty quick and we used to go miles together. I'll be training the pup up in a few months to do the same!

ETA - I had a really good Ruffwear orange hiviz for mine
 
Fantastic thread! It is my dream to take my dogs out hacking with me, but our roads are mental so I haven't dared. However, we may be moving (if our offer is accepted) and the hacking from the new house is amazing with hardly any traffic, so I have already started practising taking them on mini hacks around the farm yard!
 
I used to take my Spaniel (working gundog) out hacking - he heeled to the horse, stopped at distance to a pip of the whistle and had 100% recall. I never took him on the road though as we had access straight on to hacking, I wouldn't be happy with the liability if something ever happened, Sad that you've got to think in terms of insurance liability these days! He was very useful to quater in front of us and flush pheasant as we were based right beside a commercial shoot!!
 
MiJodsR2BlinkinTite said:
Depends on the horse/rider/dog combination I guess. My old dog would faithfully tuck in behind my horse's tail and would never ever move from there; I never needed to check where she was when traffic came etc coz she was always there, bless her.

The two I've got now I'm sure have a suicide wish or something, coz as soon as they see a car they'll dash out into the middle of the road and just will NOT come in! They'll just stand there, frozen, and won't budge.

Its a pity I have to leave them home when I go out riding but I've tried training the blimmin things and they're far too stoopid!!
Click to expand...

Mine did this at first, very embarrassing but I think it was attention seeking and solved with a pocket of chopped frankfurters. I only have a little bit of busy road, about 100 yds so I walk and lead, the dog tucks in front of the pony, a schooling whip keeps us all in a straight line.
 
Do you lead your dog from your horse . I also have 100 yards or so of road. Not busy but quite a fast road
 
No I lead both. I can't leave yard mounted anyway because I have to lock the gate and tried ride and lead and it wasn't very successful. There is a handy little wall about 50yds up the bridleway after we've done the road.
 
Ah I see. Mines awkward as the best off road bit is first. Then road then off road again so I can't walk both ha ha
 
My friend used to use a long bit of baler twine looped through the dogs collar if she needed to lead him from her horse. That way if needs be she could drop one end and the dog would be free without having to unclip.
 
If you have no road work then so long as the dog has the foundations in place on a normal walk then it will be easy. Just do it and don't think about it :)

If you have road work then it's more tricky. You will have to teach the dog to be on the inside of the horse. My collie picked it up very quickly and was faultless even with cats darting out from houses, dogs on the other side of the road etc. It depends on the dog. I wouldn't even attempt it with my sight hounds, they come riding sure, but not if it involves any roadwork.
 
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