Advice on hacking please !

Kelc-S

Kelc-S

New Member
Sep 5, 2008
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Iv recently just bought a 16'2 dark bay irish draught x tb gelding only to find out from his preveice owner that he isnt good on the roads.

As i love to hack out ect, i was woundering has anyone ever had a horse that isnt that confident on the roads an they have over come it ??

Or just any advice on how to help me with this situation an get taz back out hacking again saftly thanks .
 
My main suggestion would be to find a nice sensible hacking partner who your horse can take confidence from as he gets used to his new surroundings.

Short, calm hacks will also help - keep it positive - even walking him out in hand will help.

Also, keep him thinking when you are out - don't give him time to mess about - practice transitions, leg yielding, shoulder in etc that way he's listening to you rather than getting upset about being out on the road.

Good luck with him!:)
 
Maybe also take him out a lot in hand or longreining before you try to ride him, go all the usual routes etc so really when you ride him (with a nice steady hacking pal) there isnt anything that he should really say Oh No to.
 
When I first started taking my youngster out on her own I would school her and then, just take her out for 5 minutes to cool her off. Then just gradually reduce the time schooling and increase the time hacking until you are going just out on a hack.

The other thing to do, if there is anything that you want to go past that you think my upset him a little, ride past that on the way home instead of the way out as he is much more likely to go past as he heading home. Good luck and enjoy your hacking :):)
 
It all depends WHY he isn't good on the roads.

If it's due to nothing more than uncertainty or lack of confidence, then you aready have some good suggestions.

If it's due to his having suffered an accident on the roads, or being involved in an incident which really scared him, then you would have a more difficult, possibly even long-term, problem to attempt to overcome and specialist re-training might have to be considered.
 
Ditto the first reply, but at home you can also do stuff to help.
Do lots of de spooking stuff - tarps, bags, strange objects, have someone drive around the field whilst riding (follow them, get them to go past etc) - all this sort of work not only de sensitise but also helps improve the bond between you and therefore will come in handy outwith the afe home environment.
 
Might also help if you can get him into a feild that is close to a busy road.....he will eventually not notice all the fast scary cars and lorries, and he can do the hooning about in the safety of his feild..... you can always boot him up for the first couple days so he doesnt knock himself by accident
 
It might also be a good idea to do some de-sensitising work with him like in the school first so things like plastic bags and barking dogs arent so scary! But yeh its also a good ides to find a horse who is already a happy hacker who he will get confidence off of.
 
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