Trust issues (mainly mine!)

[Boulty]

Sooo slight update on the fuzzy thug. Yard move completed & he's settled well & only escaped to where he shouldn't have been a few times (when the fence was turned off for maintenance) although he does harass anyone with a poo rake into scratching him with it & likes upending wheelbarrows.

Saddle has had tree widened (which apparently was a right faff & not something I think my saddler would be keen to repeat!) and flocking adjusted.

Feeling a lot better in terms of going forwards on first time of asking the majority of the time and we have a hacking buddy now (hopefully when their horses are properly up & running will have a couple more) so have been managing more of that.

The latest issue is that we're at that awkward stage where we're still not really working properly as a team & (as he's quite lacking in common sense & seems to have missed out on some of the usual pony cleverness) I don't really trust him to make good choices if given a bit of space to think for himself but I also would like not to be holding his hand over every little thing forever.

Would ideally like him to be starting to be able to take a bit of responsibility for picking his way across ground that isn't perfectly even/ goes up or down a hill but at the moment that leads to a lot of skidding about & well I'd like him not to end up on his knees... I think he is in the process of filling out & growing into himself a bit & whilst his balance is improving its still not great (what probably also doesn't help is he's booted for hacking atm, going to discuss weaning off them with trimmer as I think his grip off-road would be better without).

Today I ended up feeling I had to get off twice. Once because I wasn't happy he could safely handle the ground with me onboard (basically balancing on a narrow field edge that was on a slope) & then to go through a narrow gap (although as he refused to go through it "properly" when led through & instead squished himself against the gatepost I was quite glad I got off for that & would do the same if I went there again as there was a handy log the other side)

Also, with not having a saddle for just over a month before we moved plus settling in time then it being stupidly wet (& the issues with getting him going forward initially) I've still not cantered him under saddle & this seems to have become "a thing" in my mind. He was cantered a few times when backed but was quite unbalanced so it was filed under things to come back to later. Debating whether paying someone else to do this alongside a sensible horse once the ground dries up might be a good idea.

Think part of it might be that I'm going through a period of missing the orange idiot & his 5th leg & general self preservation. He probably spooked 10-20 times per outing but could normally be trusted to keep himself on his feet whilst doing it (again not sure if the lack of spooking at everything that's going is part of the problem... It's unsettling after years of waiting for the next small meltdown)

Sorry that there's not a lot of point to this just slightly frustrated at myself atm for not liking the "vibes" on a horse who hasn't actually done anything (& just needs to keep learning a bit more about the world & for me to find a way to put a bit more trust in him) when I used to happily get on something that would ping sideways because he saw a horse in a field/ a blade of grass moved half a mile away / would turn itself inside out because I dared to ask for standing still!

 

[Boulty]

Just to add he's just had the most glowing report from the physio that he's ever had but also that we've gone from quiet roads & lots of tracks on a country estate to much busier roads & mainly field edges & I think he's possibly dealt with the culture shock of that better than me.

 

[AntiPuck]

I empathise with what you mean about not trusting your horse to make good decisions over dodgy ground - I used to feel this way with mine, as she would just clatter through everything, try to run down slippery hills whilst sliding about all over the place, etc. it was quite daunting sometimes.

I'm going to paste in below a reply I posted on another thread about winter hacking, which summarises the approach i've taken to this - in addition, we did twice-weekly 20 min sessions of in-hand pole work (going over poles unevenly spaced, at diagonals, on a slope, 'walk jumping', etc. also reversing over a single pole with forelegs, then progressing to back legs, and then backing up slopes in-hand, eventually backing up a slope over a single pole, etc.). All of these things plus the below have culminated in a much more balanced, careful horse over time, so I now feel I can 'let her go' down a hill and she's actually trying to stop herself from falling on her face, whereas before she didn't seem to have that kind of self-preservation.

I did have to let her 'fail' in small ways by allowing a few minor slips and trips, though, as otherwise she'd never learn. I just put knee boots on, crossed my fingers, and sat up straight! I think it was just lack of strength and body awareness in the case of my horse, might be the same with yours.

...
I tend to do a lot of walking hacks at the moment as I'm in the process of building my horse's strength and fitness after overcoming napping issues.

One thing I try to do if I'm hacking alone, especially during the week where time is tighter, is deliberately pick the more difficult routes through things. For example, we have tracks with steep-ish banks either side, so I make her serpentine along the track up one bank, around and down it, then up over the other, etc. rather than walk along the flat track. Similarly if there are twigs, logs, little ditches, areas of long grass, etc she's walking over them instead of around, and if we go up or down hills we do regular walk-halt transitions and sometimes even back up the hill a few steps so that she's working harder than if she could just use momentum to get up/down, walking diagonally up/down hills is also great.

All of this adds a lot of proprioception training that is so good for their brains and bodies, and it makes the hack more fun for me as I start looking for new obstacles to try her on. Mine used to clatter through things but she is excellent at clearing even bigger logs carefully in walk now. So it's a hack mostly in walk but she's actually worked a lot harder than it sounds.

 

[Skib]

When i started to ride (in my 60s) I believed that horses were like cats and squirrels and could choose their own safe path up and down gradients and on rough ground.

My hacking experience soon proved that this is not so. Where there is any doubt about the width or surface of the track, the horse needs steering and this careful steering creates a safe hack because ones horse is listening to one and responsive.

I too ride transitions and aim for exactness out hacking, but it is mostly to amuse myself and not to work the horse.

 

[Boulty]

Thanks I'm a bit limited in what I can do re polework as field that was drying out is back to sopping wet again. Hopefully at some point will have a small area of sand but wasn't finished before machinery went back so YO having to level by hand which sorta requires dryish sand. Have spent 2 years before backing doing various polework exercises for proprioception & thoracic sling strengthening & lots of inhand walks & longreining all over the place plus some TREC training but he has always struggled going down steep slopes & staying in balance (better on longreins than led)

We are mainly walking with bits of trot on good ground or to make roadwork go faster. Don't think it's helped that since moving a lot of the routes we've been on have been really flat & mostly roadwork mainly due to my time constraints due to dog training commitments so probably not been actively working on it as much as I could be.

 

[JFTDWS]

Today I ended up feeling I had to get off twice. Once because I wasn't happy he could safely handle the ground with me onboard (basically balancing on a narrow field edge that was on a slope) & then to go through a narrow gap (although as he refused to go through it "properly" when led through & instead squished himself against the gatepost I was quite glad I got off for that & would do the same if I went there again as there was a handy log the other side)

Getting off for tricky ground isn't a failing, it's a sensible training strategy with a young horse. I'd advocate in hand "cross country" / ditch / rough ground training, either getting off on a hack when you find something trainable, or going out in hand to find it. Most horses aren't born strong and sensible enough to cope with tricky ground and a rider's weight. D took ages to learn to keep his feet, and he still sometimes throws himself down slopes like a maniac, but he's pretty reliable about landing on his feet these days (even if it doesn't always feel like it!). It will come in time.

Cantering, I'd see how you feel when you've got better ground. If you have a competent rider, that's a good option, or just a competent hacking buddy who can pop up into a steady canter in front in a good spot and can pull up if necessary.

 

[Boulty]

I have done a fair bit of inhand stuff over the last few years (there's one route at the old place I used to do that involved going up & down hills complete with tree roots to navigate, little banks to climb up, logs to walk over etc. He'd do it, but getting him to do it well / correctly without having his nose on the floor was very very hard) but not much of it seems to have transferred into an ability to do things with a human sat on him (or at least not in an easy, balanced way). I guess I do need to just keep chipping away at polework etc when ground allows & will see if I can find some interesting places to take him for walks again.

Lack of completely steady & reliable canter buddies is the reason I'm mulling over maybe getting someone else to do it! The horse I've been going out with atm is an older boy & don't think his owner tends to canter him anymore unless he chooses to following someone else & both others that we'd be able to go out with are a lot speedier & more forward than the fuzzbazz & kinda wanting to take things steady at first until I know I can steer & stop. Debating asking if the groom of the person who backed him could take him on a few rides for me when ground is better as she rode him a lot whilst he was there & quite likes him but think I'd probably have to box over to them so she had sensible company (In a totally ideal world would probably work best to send him there again for a few weeks when time is right but he's so settled now where he is living the track life that I just don't want to disturb that)

 

[Arzada]

When i started to ride (in my 60s) I believed that horses were like cats and squirrels and could choose their own safe path up and down gradients and on rough ground.

I have been blessed with horses that could and did choose the safe route. Sometimes it felt a little hairy but all was fine.

He'd do it, but getting him to do it well / correctly without having his nose on the floor was very very hard

I don't see a problem with this. Over time your horse will need to do this less often. Hold the buckle end of the reins with one hand and if necessary the cantle/pommel/neckstrap with the other hand and marvel at your horse's ability. With the boots off.