When to admit defeat?

BuckingHorse

BuckingHorse

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Please help!
I have a 7 year old mare who I bought last year after she was imported from Holland. She has a fantastic jump and paces and has been doing very well SJ, the only problem is she is terrified of traffic.
When I first hacked her I thought, OK she's probably never seen traffic before so kept persevering. Now, 12 months on she has got a bit better but she literally shakes as soon as she sees a car approaching and tries to spin round, I have managed to keep her forward with legs and seat and luckily all the drivers have slowed right down or stopped but I dread the day when someone doesn't or if we meet something bigger than a Transit! I always hack with someone else too.
If she is at a show in the lorry and a lorry comes past she shakes and looks terrified and if she is turned out next to the road and anything comes past too fast she jumps out and heads back to the yard.
She hasn't had anything bad happen in her past but has only been from stable to indoor school when she was in Holland
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So.....has anyone had a similar problem? Have you cured it or do I give up now!?
I've had loads of horses and never had one who is bad in traffic before so I know its not me! Also, even with our 'offroad hacking' we have to go on the roads a bit.
Thank you in advance!
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With horses as bad as this the only way that will work is constant exposure to traffic, and by that I mean constant. so you need to find a mate with a field right next to a busy road for a week or two. Then progress to having vehicles drive round and round her in the field (for that reason we drive round all our horses from foals with cars and the tractor at close quarters)
Give her food whilst they do it and you need very helpful people as you have to do this for at least half an hour a day several times a day.
Once she ignores them you progress to passing on a quiet lane with another horse present.
We have found the majority can be traffic trained but there is always the rider element to consider, unless therider literally slumps like a sack of spuds when they meet an obstacle the horse will soon return to being traffic shy.
good luck..
 
Hi

Firstly I would say, please don't give up on her. I am suprised that she is scared of traffic, in Holland although it is true that a lot of horses have a sheltered life to begin with over there I have never seen a horse not load in Holland and also they use tractors and things a lot more over there.

What I would do is just make sure that her teeth etc are ok (I know it sounds funny but often there are a few contributary things with horses) and try to introduce her to different environments steadily.

If she is doing very well sj I would continue taking her to shoes, just try to get there early and park away from other lorries.

Can I just ask, is she good to load? Do you use a trailer or a lorry? A lot of horses in Holland are very happy to go into trailers so she might not have seen a lorry before.

If you hack with someone else she will just take time, I would also wear a bright vest so that you are as visible as possible. Even if she doesn't really love to hack, if she trains and competes well maybe that is what she prefers to do, and the rest will come in time?

Good luck, I am sure she is worth it.

Diana
 
Hi Guys
Thanks for all your advice, I will carry on with the desensitisation and see how we go.
Yes, teeth, back, saddle etc all OK and she is good to load and travel - she's a really quirky mare in that the things you would expect to be a problem are fine and what we see as 'normal' can be an issue!
Henryhorn - totally agree with you on the youngstock - we were lucky enough to winter our foals at a nearby farm complete with tractors, pigs, cows and everything!
Thanks again for your help
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