What would you have done??

[Mahoganybay]

Had a bit of a drama with the big lad this morning, out on my hack with a friend (from another yard) and we spot two mares from my yard up in front!

I hack out my lad with these two mares and so he recognized them straight away, starts trying to jog to catch them up but my friend and i go another way.

Friend and i part company on our ride (we always do this, horses are fine with this) and i head home, on the road towards home (30 mph road) he spots the two mares again in front and they go round a slight bend and therefore out of view. Thus starts my lad throwing himself about on the road causing cars to stop/swerve etc.

Now, he wanted to catch them up and i figured this would be a mistake so whilst the cars had stopped i crossed the road and rode him away from the mares for about 500 yards and then crossed the road again and came back up the road. Mares gone and big lad nice and calm.

My logic was that if i had let him catch up with the mares he would expect to do the same next time and it may start causing a problem passing other horses whilst out on a ride on my own.

Interested to know if other people would have done the same??

 

[hnmisty]

Probably would've done something similar! A good time filling tactic. Agree if you'd just caught straight back up with them then he might think he'll get to do that next time as well.

 

[Mongoose11]

Yup, I probably would have forced mine back out the opposite way for a while.

 

[Theocat]

So would I, unless the behaviour was likely to get worse by turning away and cause a real danger to other road users, in which case I would do whatever was safest.

 

[LittleBlackMule]

I think you dealt with that very sensibly.

 

[limestonelil]

I hope I would have reacted as calmly and logically as you did MB, and achieved a good result, just like you did.

 

[Love]

I think you hit the nail on the head

 

[babymare]

10 out of 10 from me

 

[Strawbz]

Not read any of the replies but I probably would have jumped off and turned him the other way (instant thought when I imagined your situation) but I think what you did was spot on.

 

[Foxhunter49]

Agree - correct thing to do.

 

[Ce'Nedra]

Excellent action. I think you did exactly the right thing.

 

[Tilda]

I think you did exactly the right thing too however much as I wish I would have the foresight to do as you did I think I would wimp out and catch them up!

 

[indie999]

Yes you are right he is to do what you want and not what he wants whilst being under saddle. He is listening to you all the time. Easy to give advice and thats the challenge of hacking out is the unpredictability of it!

 

[Mahoganybay]

Thanks everyone! I hack out alone quite a lot & I need the big lad to listen to me & not take over the ride, as much as I wanted to get off /catch up ( as that would have been easier for me) I know that in the long run I have to win small battles with him without making a fuss!

Felt awful as when I got back to the stables the two ladies were waiting for me as one of the cars had stopped & told them I was having trouble! They did not know what to do to wait or carry on!