Riding Out With Other Horses

Flipo's Mum

Flipo's Mum

Heavy owner of a Heavy
Aug 17, 2009
9,611
1,492
113
Perthshire, Scotland
Just started riding out with other horses and getting a feel for how my horse's brain works -
Infront - he has an active walk, looks quite happy and is pretty forward going (bit of an issue stopping for junctions for more than a minute but will work on this).
Behind - he will turn into an absolute plod not caring how far behind he is from the other horses and difficult to speed up.
Side by Side - he will try to slip back behind and slows to a plod.

Impressed with him being so good out infront as he is normally quite insecure but would hazard a guess that the horse behind is pushing him along.
I'd really like to work on getting him better at keeping up with the other horse for walking beside and immediately behind in a ride. I guess this will be down to some serious schooling on my part.
Does your horse have a preference for what position he takes on a hack? Have you overcome similar issues and can offer advice? Can a heavy ever keep up with an arab?!Any tips/games I can play to help improve this?

ETA we're talking about walking btw - I know we won't keep up very well for the likes of trot and canter - short legged fat horse, short legged fat rider.
 
Abby will go first or last. If she is last she does hang around and can get lazy, and then when anyone trots she realises and turns into red rum!

I always keep abby in an active walk when out, because we dont do much more than walk, with the odd trot. She can be lazy but i always keep squeezing her on into that active walk.

I think it may take flip a bit to get used to. But id just say keep putting him at the front, back, middle as its good for them to be able to take the place in any part of the ride. And keep working on that active walk where ever you are in the line up:wink:

I love hearing about flip, he such a character. I can just imagine what hes like, a hairy man in a string vest, who drinks pints and farts alot (from previous thread) a bit like jim royle !!! Who speeds up for certain things, like the remote control and a bacon butty :giggle: But who you cant help but love!
 
well - it all depends who we hack with as to whether we lead or follow.

If me and my friends daughter then Moet has to lead, shes usually ok, can be a tiny bit nappy leading out (but generally only after we have been a follower on a few rides). she tends to have a nice walk and is generally safe and steady.

If out with a more forward going horse then we follow. Shes calmer behind and less spooky. Depends on how Moet is feeling as to whether she cares about keeping up or not, and it depends on if i am 'riding' her rather than 'asleep' on her.

She doesnt like going side by side, but i do try to make her sometimes as i feel its something we are lacking in, if heading home then we can usually get a nice side by side pace but she prefers to go behind if then given the choice.

we tend to vary who leads in canter and trot and also if theres something spooky ahead then we usually take over in walk.

Well....you would think that a heavy couldnt keep up....its not true! just depends how active the walk. I rode my old Rosie the other eve - 23 yr old retired short legged HW cob (15h), my friend was riding a 3yr old 17.1h sports horse. On the way out we were seriously lacking in speed and getting further and further behind...i didnt push her as she is taking it slow in her old age....then she took me by suprise on the way home across the fields she power walked and over took the youngster and we were leading making the gap bigger and bigger!! it just depends how active she walks as to whether we can keep up or not!

edited to add: that if Rosie saw a feed bucket up ahead then she would 100% beat any horse to it!!
 
Last edited:
I'm awful with this active walk stuff. I guess I just need more practice in the school and getting the feel for when he's easing off but I just want to enjoy a hack! My mate has to keep stopping to wait for us - and ofcourse there's the lying down incident a couple of weeks back.

I got my RI to help me encouraging one of the RS horses into an active walk in our last lesson. It was like a light went on but she had to tell me exactly when to squeeze/kick him on to get him moving and once he was, it was like he realised I mean't business. Its soooo hard doing it alone though, I just don't have the right feel for it in walk. Trot yes, walk lousey!
Julie - they can flippin well move when they want to can't they! We went out with the clydesdales and Flip almost seemed to ignore them, rush past into the lead and wouldn't slow down the whole way round the stubble field. I had to keep turning round and shouting to talk to anyone. He's like a horse on a mission. Guess I still don't have the measure of him - what he's thinking, why sometimes he's really forward going, and sometimes slow.

me_n_super_abby said:
I love hearing about flip, he such a character. I can just imagine what hes like, a hairy man in a string vest, who drinks pints and farts alot (from previous thread) a bit like jim royle !!! Who speeds up for certain things, like the remote control and a bacon butty :giggle: But who you cant help but love!
Click to expand...

I think you might've just come up with Flip's halloween costume for this year. Cheers mrs!!
 
To begin with I hacked Ziggy alone so I'm still learning about riding out. This is what I have learned so far.

  • with some horses he is more relaxed than others. When he is relaxed, he will go beside willingly. Otherwise it's a constant battle of adjustments to get him to walk beside another horse. He prefers ponies to horses in this respect.
  • When he is in front, he is keen and on full alert all the time for things to spook at. Fast fast walk!
  • When he is behind, he lops his ears and enters trekking pony mode. I can ask him to leg yield etc but he's fairly switched off - until the horse in front goes faster.
  • Trot he is just about controllable, he will trot behind if I work hard.
  • Canter - he has got to be in front, and will get really strong if I try to stop him. I read something the other day about this being a fear/flight response - if everyone is running then obviously you want to be in front to be as far as possible from what they are running away from. Makes perfect sense in Ziggy's mindset.

So we still have a lot to learn about riding in company!

I am very interested in everyone else's responses, thanks for starting this thread.
 
I would give anything to get a power walk out of Samson!
We are doing pretty well int he school but the hacking thing is starting to get me down a bit. He walks soooo sloooow, partly because he is not very confident on his own and partly because he has a bit of a physcological foot soreness thing since being barefoot (he is not sore on grass/in the school) so he kind of picks his way along.
When we go out in company he does not speed up very much/at all so I try to avoid it as I feel bad for people having to wait for us!
 
I bet he could keep up. Friend (lucky for her!) has a dope on a rope 14.3 Section D who is generally miles behind us whilst Tobes spooks and whips around and she plods along behind. HOWEVER, when she wants to walk out, and Tobes is in medium mode she can really get in front of him. She has a cracking extended trot and can beat Tobes easily because she just seems to get into a loop with it. Friend can't get her to keep up when she wants her to, but she can def do it if she wants. Just cracking making them want to!!
 
Arnie is happy first or last but not particularly keen on side by side. Out hacking, he usually has to take the lead as our hacking buddy is very nappy. He will walk out without spooking and will pass anything. Out solo for some reason is another ball game. He is a bit spookier but to be fair he will still go forward for me when asked. Walking at the back in company usually ends up a pony trek!

Again, trotting or cantering, fine first or last but side by side he can try to race a bit. If there are more than one or two horses, I prefer to be at the back as he isnt keen on a crowd behind him. He will bounce on the spot once or twice then settle down (he used to do one single buck - just the one but he's stopped that now that he is a sensible 7 year old:D). He then has 3 or 4 strides where he is tanking off then he will settle and will come back to you no matter what the horses in front are doing if you ask him to. I had to learn to just relax and let him have these first few strides - give the reins and let him sort himself out. If I hung on, he would get all stressy and we would both get upset but it did take me a while to realise this and start to trust him and relax about it.

He cannot cope with being in the middle of a crowd of horses - either side by side or in a row. He gets very upset (and has been known to kick out:eek:). Even walking in the middle of 2 of his field mates gets him uptight. He's not a very sociable horse with other horses at the best of times though.

When he was younger (about 5) I had a hellish summer where he started to attack other horses if they came anywhere near him if I was either on him or leading him. That was pretty scary but with a lot of nh ground work we got through it:eek:. I am still very wary of horses around him though.
 
Im not keen on hacking out with others, fin is a bit of a pain in the ass! lol :giggle:

If hes behind another horse, he will firstly get right up the leading horses backside, try to bite there butt and when that fails he will try to over take o his own accord.

He loves being infront but can get more spooky, spec when the horse behind is really clumsy!

Side by side is a no no....he will try to race them :redface:
 
Vicki100 said:
If hes behind another horse, he will firstly get right up the leading horses backside, try to bite there butt and when that fails he will try to over take o his own accord.

He loves being infront but can get more spooky, spec when the horse behind is really clumsy!

Side by side is a no no....he will try to race them :redface:
Click to expand...

That sounds very much like Oscar! lol apart from the biting bit, I think it's a thoroughbred thing tough. Oscar does have a very long stride and only ever seems to go anywhere on a hack in 'power walk' or faster. If were doing anything other than walk I prefer to go infront (I'm still nervous from my fall) as although you can take the horse out of racing I get the feeling with him you can't take the racing out of the horse. Out in front at canter he's an angel, lovely controlled and will slow down the second I ask, if something comes up beside him he's on a mission and just gets faster and faster and stops listening to me :(
 
I've been hacking Rafi out in company this week and he doesn't seem to be any different first or last or side by side, although he is definitely less jumpy out with others.

My old loan (Clydie x) would be very spooky and nappy in front but a total switched off plod behind. You could take a breath between each of his steps in walk, but he had a cracking trot!
 
Vicki100 said:
If hes behind another horse, he will firstly get right up the leading horses backside, try to bite there butt and when that fails he will try to over take o his own accord.
Click to expand...

Sounds like my hacking partner!!

I go out mostly as a pair with my horses field companion, a TB with a fast walk, we nearly always used to be behind and I found it really difficult to keep her interested in doing anything other than plodding along behind the TB.. Now that we are more and more becoming the TBs eyes (she is going blind) we now lead and she is much better at the front however I think part of Mays confidence at going forward is because she has the boss right behind her (and if we slow down her bottom gets nipped...) and she still sometimes drops back for a bit of reassurance..

Side by side never works, May always tries to bend back behind her, it seems to be a slightly submissive action...

We also have a good bottom barging technique, particularly at the ponies when my other friend hacks out, May subtly swings her bottom over and over until she has squeezed them out if they are trying to walk along side :redcarded: ..

We have got it though now that we all can walk/trot/tolt and canter while the others just carrying on doing their own thing and they don't care if something comes speeding up behind them so think that is quite an achievement!! :happy:
 
Last edited:
My boy Bertie in front is switched on, very alert.
Behind goes into plod mode, but spooks more.
Side by side, wants to drop back behind.

Daughters pony Zeb, likes to be in front, is very chilled.
Doesn't mind being behind if the one in front has a ground covering stride, if too slow gets quite stressy.
Fine side by side, doesn't race unless cantering.
 
newrider.com
Top Bottom
Back