Who doesn't ride their horses in open spaces but hacks out on lanes fine?

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almrc

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Does anyone not ride their horse/pony in open spaces purely because they panic/misbehave/are naughty, but are good as gold on hacks on lanes/bridle paths etc?
 
When I bought my horse I only trialled him on bridle paths etc! he was a star! got home to an absulute nutcase, who'd only been in big open fields when hunting! However with some hardwork he is now good everywhere, think it just takes persistance and a calm horse to hack with :)
 
I never rode in fields but would quite happily go down lanes and bridle paths.
This is due to a horse bolting with me on open moors, I was getting over this fear though but I think Koko would have been fine in open spaces.
 
Nah, it all depends what direction we're going. She seems to misbehave in the woodland lane next to my field if we have just left, and even worse coming back because she wants to the field quickly. But out in open spaces i like to let her go a bit, have a nice canter/gallop and she loves it :) Is very well behaved when going out just a little excited when going home again :)
 
Ride in both open space and enclosed. Always feel safer cantering etc on enclosed bridle tracks etc. Think its all in the mind with me lol.
 
Kayfm said:
Ride in both open space and enclosed. Always feel safer cantering etc on enclosed bridle tracks etc. Think its all in the mind with me lol.
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oi you go away :) only joking! I think that makes sense too!

So whose horses don't get ridden in open spaces as they are naughty or just tank off for example, yet on hacks they are perfectly fine on lanes etc? This does exist and happen doesn't it?
 
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our regular hack route which i love involves a lane then three very open fields and then a wood and then back the same way. while we are in the lane or the wood i can do anything. no stirrups, shout, play music on my phone, canter, not pay attention. and nothing will happen but if i do any of the above in the field part im asking for death. she would freek, but if i stay awake and right her with confidence vibes she is fine, i dont mind open spaces its just the horsey
 
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Star can get very 'excitable' and begin to pull, jog and throw her head about as soon as we get to open fields. Again, a total saint when out on the roads.

But - we still do the open fields because I refuse to give in. Eventually, she WILL behave herself. Just as one day, we will be able to canter with somebody beside us without it turning into the Grand National, and we'll be able to trot around a field instead of fighting all the way around.

Avoiding an issue doesn't make it go away.
 
Janette said:
Star can get very 'excitable' and begin to pull, jog and throw her head about as soon as we get to open fields. Again, a total saint when out on the roads.

But - we still do the open fields because I refuse to give in. Eventually, she WILL behave herself. Just as one day, we will be able to canter with somebody beside us without it turning into the Grand National, and we'll be able to trot around a field instead of fighting all the way around.

Avoiding an issue doesn't make it go away.
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i feel ur pain:)
 
My mare is fine to hack out on the lanes and enclosed bridleways..get her into an open space and she panics..rears, walks backwards, naps, bunny hops, canters sideways- all sorts.

She cannot be turned out alone as she jumps in, over whatever is in front of her.
e.g. first week at college turned her out...it rained..she jumped in..cut her leg down to the bone and ended up in hospital for a week...hello £2500 vet bill and 3 months off ridden work. Little madamme.

In company she copes well being out in the field at the moment while the weather is fine, but you have to bring both in at the same time or she panics.
She is still silly in open spaces with company though...
I have a very complicated red head but i love her lots

I do think she has a genuine phobia of being out in an open space is this even possible for a horse?
 
I fear open spaces too. No problem with lanes, roads,and hedged bridleways, just hate open fields. Had a horse that always tried to tank off with me minute we came to open fields, bucking and farting in the process. This is going back several years but even now I'm anxious in open fields especially the stubble fields. God reading this takes me back..been there, got the t shirt
 
I found the NS universal, with the leather curb is brilliant. Finger-tip brakes, kinder on the mouth than trying to achieve similar results with a snaffle, resulting in walk-halt transitions from the seat alone.
And this whilst coming back down the gallops. Truly astonishing! I must say though, our piaffe can be amazing when she's in 'that' state of mind......

I have a bet with my mate. If we can manage to walk up the track through the woods -she buys the latte's. If Star jogs - I buy..... it's a good job she has a sense of humour when out hacking with us! :D Personally, I think she's onto a good thing!
 
Yep. Anyone wanna swap their tanking off one for a lazy one? Mine is lazy to the point of me worrying that she is ill..then we get the huge spooks/spin rounds which are OK on a track but in a field....she shoots off sideways and drops her shoulder the minute a twig cracks, she does it on tracks too but not so much space to go sideways in, so I stay out of fields sadly.
 
mine is generally fine on the roads, and will also canter up verges fine, very settled and chilled (am lucky to have long, flat,wide verges or else id be stuffed!), can be sharp on a cold day, but as long as i let him trot/passage (!) a mile or two to settle, is then good as gold.

open fields must bring back memories of racing because he gets himself in a total tizz, spinning, cow kicking, leaping, and eventually he invariably loses it totally and goes up....like so.....
Untitled1.jpg


he finds it so incredibly stressful, that all summer iv walked slowly in fields he seems hapy with, had a very ocasional blast, and then gone back to loads of slow walking in his *safe fields* to settle him again.he's getting better and better, but i have to be so so careful, and theres no way i can go in to big open fields on a cold, windy or rainy day, its suicide.

this totally doesnt bother me, he's a winner in the ring and thats what i bought him for, plus i think he will grow out of this once he totally forgets about his racing past :)
 
Mine seems to prefer open fields to narrow tracks - I think it's because he has a better idea of what's around him. Although he's not exactly naughty on a bridleway, if it's by a hedge he is more 'looky'.
 
almrc said:
Does anyone not ride their horse/pony in open spaces purely because they panic/misbehave/are naughty, but are good as gold on hacks on lanes/bridle paths etc?
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Oh most definitely. I don't even go out in company with her at the back anymore because of it. She is an ex racer and likes to go go go. Lanes, roads etc no problem.
 
Janette said:
I found the NS universal, with the leather curb is brilliant. Finger-tip brakes,
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Better than a myler combination? Haven't got either but just learning and interested.

My gosh some of your horses, eek! Thank you so much for sharing! Keep them coming :)
 
mine can be silly out in open spaces so i tend to avoid them. He tends to always be better on lanes as they are more boring for him and he doesn't associate them with anything fun.

Mine is also an ex racer- i'm seeing a pattern lol
 
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I can ride my mare anywhere, apart from places where there are huge scary lorries! lol! to give her a bit of slack though she is getting better bless her xx
 
Yes I was like that for a very long time after horse bolted with me and I ended up back home in my stable at a flat out gallop before he stopped. It has only been in the last couple of months (has been a year just about since the incident) that I have dared even hack out on a more open bridle path or greens or anything (and the only reason I did that is I moved yards and horse had a personality transplant - moved from a full livery to a DIY yard and we "bonded" so to speak - If he was still bad I would never have taken him out again other than on the roads or enclosed bridle paths).
 
Always rode my previous horses, including two ex-racers on both lanes, bridleways and open fields without a problem either alone or in company.

However my present horse has steadily become more and more unreliable out hacking to the stage where I only ride round the local road block ride with him now. Where we are is very enclosed - very flat with big headges to the horses don't really get much of a "view". He now seems to be agrophobic in open spaces and gets very tense and sets off fly leaping.
 
also seeing an ex racer pattern here lol!

mine is totally NOT malicious, he gets so stressed, he just cant help himself, so try and avoid putting him in situations where i think he might get upset at the moment, and always canter in diff places, dont go same way twice in a row etc etc.

this summer has really seen a change in him, and that pic was the first time in months he had done it, weather getting too cold to risk it now, but im hoping that by next summer,when he's 6, he'll get even more reliable.
 
I know what you mean about them getting stressed, especially in the winter months when they just want to go and you have to stick in walk. I really had to learn to breath with my TB, his motto is "if in doubt go faster"!! Luckily he does not rear or buck, just gets stressy!

And well sat!!:D
 
well as soon we get into a field its not fun :rolleyes:
but shes fine on roads spookks alot tho but thats not her being naughty
the only i HATE SO MUCH main road crossing ebs dont stop
ebs will just keep going she dont care or she will go up :o i ahve to trot around in circals to stop her :p
hence i dont hack alot :p lol
 
Never had any problem with previous horses re riding anywhere but Sami oh dear after a hairy ride on the downs have stuck to the lanes and tracks but the one time I did go up went witha friend and she was fine, but sorry to say at 60 plus have lost the brio and confidence I once had.
 
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