once under way a good businesslike trot is good for shaking off nerves and settling you both down. Going slow and carefully all the way can give extra time for horsey to spot things to spook at if she can tell you are bit twitchy, and plodding with give you more time to worry too!
Think you have hit the nail on the head with this one!
The mare is actually as close to bombproof as you'll get, any spooks we have had have probably been more my fault (her feeding off of my nerves!) but on the whole nothing phases her. As desperate as I am to bring my riding on this summer a part of me just thinks that I've waited till my mid 20's to even sit on a horse so I shouldn't be getting impatient about wanting to hack alone. If it takes another few months then so be it. The only thing with the mare is, she is as clever as the day is long & I think when she realises we are alone she'll take the p#%€ out of me :| (her owner is the YO & friend & i'm not as strict as her although i probably should be!) I do like the idea of a foot soldier though.... I may have to drag a friend along & see how we go
On the plus side I started hacking along a few relatively busy ish roads recently & put the theory of bhs riding & roadcraft into practice
didn't think i'd be doing that any time soon but my friend/YO surprised me with a hack that involved a 3/4mile stretch of main road :O she had more confidence in me than i did! We did have a small situation with her horse & a noisy tractor & the mare did a little tap dance when she was considering having a spooky moment at the same time but we managed
In hindsight I had no idea what I was letting myself in for when I started riding last year!