Advice to get horse hacking out alone

[ba]

In the 3 years that I've had my lovely horse I have only hacked out once on my own and that was nearly 3 years ago! I would like to be able to get him out and about on his own with confidence. Any tips? Oh and I am anything but a confident rider!

[happysnail]

Get out and about in hand together first. Fun, a good way to build up trust

[lizpurlo]

Totally agree with happysnail. Lead him out first, round the route you're going to ride, then lead him with his tack on, and when you feel happy and he's relaxed, hop on board and ride for a bit. You can gradually build up the riding, but equally you can just keep on with the leading, there are no rules to follow - just enjoy being out with your lad.

[janwilky]

I'd third going for in-hand walks, I've done it with both of mine. It's enjoyable, improves your groundwork and confidence in a variety of situations, gets you both fitter, improves your bond and connection with your horse and gets you both ready for hacking out together. I've had my tricky cob for 5 years now and I've probably walked out with him more times than I've sat on his back

[ba]

Thanks guys, my horse is a pretty dependable chap and is 'safe' however we were attacked by a dog on a hack last year and it knocked our confidence. I'm sure he will be fine hacking on his own but it seems sensible to take him out in hand first. Thanks I'll let you know how I get on :-)

[hislordshipsmum]

Totally agree, leading out first and even when you start riding out on your own, take time to get off and lead during the ride to keep the confidence up.

[lawyerbunny]

Yes, leading out a brilliant way to start building your collective confidence IMO. With Twig I used to switch between ridden and lead excursions rather than hopping on and off, but I can see that the latter should work really well.

The other advice I would give is just really to stick at it, little and often into lots and often. We have had no real company for hacking at all for the last year-and-a-bit and it has made us become super-happy solo hackers (well, save that I miss a good chat!). Oddly, the further from home we go, the more settled she used to become. I suspect the further away you are from home, the less they think about home and getting back there.

[ba]

It's lovely to hear your solo hacking success stories, it gives me confidence to get out there and do it. I feel that I'm too reliant on others currently and I would like more independence and control over when I ride :-)

Fingers crossed!

[ba]

I thought that I might as well strike while the iron is hot! We went for our first lead out to the woods this evening. About a 25 min round trip with a couple of short (2-3mins) stops for grass - is stopping for grass a good idea? I don't let him graze when I'm riding.

He was very well behaved and although a little 'ploddy' he went away from home and back home at the same pace. He was happier to follow than walk by my side - is this a problem? and he ears where back the whole way! Not flat back but definitely back.

My next venture out will be Saturday morning, I'm planning on leading him to the edge of the woods, which is a 10 min walk in hand then hopping on board and riding into the woods and riding home - possibly with a lead on the way back past some fields with horses in as they can run around a bit and I don't like it! Ha ha my boy doesn't normally care too much.

Any more advice on moving forward?

[janwilky]

Well done for having a go 

Re the grass, it's up to you to decide but I think you need to be consistent with it either way. I found with Lucas that he got very cross if he was never allowed to eat while out, as he's on limited grazing at home. I used to not let him eat at all but then he would try and snatch or tow me to grass and he's blooming big and strong! Then I tried letting him eat 'sometimes', when I chose to allow it, but he got really frustrated as he didn't know whether he was allowed or not. Eventually what I did was teach him a clear cue for 'it's OK to eat now', and another one for 'time to stop please' and I now allow him at least one grazing stop on a walk - a good one, of 5-10 minutes, usually when we're almost home but sometimes about half way round. If he does snatch at grass, I don't make a fuss about it or get into a battle but let him have a mouthful and then immediately give my 'time to stop' cue and walk him on smartly or ask him to back up - something to keep him busy and take his mind off eating. It works for us but you'll have to decide what works for you.
I find that by allowing him to eat a bit on each outing he is more enthusiastic and willing, and I want him to enjoy his walks - and if that means spending some time eating, then so be it. I also like to give him the opportunity to choose herbs, hedgerow shrubs etc that he doesn't normally get the chance to eat, and I love watching what he chooses - hogweed, preferably!

I do quite a lot of groundwork while out for walks too - leading from both sides, making sure he's moving off my energy and stopping when I do, doing a few walk-halt and walk-trot transitions, perhaps a bit of backing up and maybe choosing a good spot to do a turn on the forehand or a couple of nice calm circles. If he's sluggish we do more trotting and that usually wakes him up a bit. I usually ask him to walk behind me and to one side, rather than level with my shoulder as I used to find he tried to take charge and would get nippy if he was level with me. I find if he's too close behind me he can get a bit pushy, I prefer to keep him well behind me though now he's so much better I do relax it sometimes and let him walk alongside me. Sometimes I even drop back into more of a driving position, sort of like single-line long-lining, just to ring the changes and see if I can lead from further back - not on the road though!

Good luck for Saturday. You're not in a shooting area are you? I only ask because it's like the Somme her on a Saturday in the winter, and last Saturday was the first shoot day of the season. I just don't bother riding on a Saturday from now until the end of the season, as it's horrible finding myself out on (or leading) a horse when the shooting starts. Mine are all fine about it in the field, but I still don't fancy being caught out in the middle of it all.

[lizpurlo]

That's a great start ba, well done, and sounds like a good plan for Saturday. Though I'm in the same boat as Jan as far as Saturdays go, we get shooting parties round here too from now on! And if they're not around, the hunt are, so we don't go far from home base.

I like Jan's ideas for groundwork as you go. It's always easier, safer and pleasanter to have a slightly ploddy horse which you want to wake up than a whizzy one to try and calm down!

[portiabuzz]

Keep up the good work ! X

Sent from my SM-G800F using proboards

[holi]

well done - I walk out in hand all the time - take it slowly though and if you don't get on it doesnt matter.

[holi]

Just thought I would add my best friend never ever hacks out alone. She got fed up beating herself up about it so one day just said well tha's it I always go with someone and hasn't bothered anbout hacking since. Easy really when you think about it and the only person who beats us up for not going alone is ourselves!

[kathryn]

I used to have a horse that would never hack out alone and I also have a large youngster that I'm just starting to hack out and of course I want to be able to hack him out alone and in company. The one thing I have done that really does help with the youngster is doing what I call "petal rides". So the first time I took him out on his own I literally picked a point down the road that was only a 5 min hack. On reaching that point I reward hugely with a great big scratch on the withers and then turn around and come back. Then the next time I would aim in the same direction but pick a point further on- maybe a 10 min hack. If at anypoint I felt him get worried. I would stop him. Scratch him and reassure him then ask him to take a step forward. If I felt that asking him to go the full 10 mins was too much for him then I would decide to stop him before he decided "no" and then turn for home. The point in doing rides like this is I choose to stop him and turn him for home before he does, but at the same time I'm helping increase his confidence by doing the same route. Now I'm up to going out for 40 mins on his own and he is quite happy. This would also be good for your confidence too as you are not in danger of overwhelming both of you with a long and challenging ride. You can also add transitions in to keep you both focused on things.

Before any of this though I did an awful lot of longlining so he knows voice commands and I had no problems in getting him to move forward. I carried a whip wop the first time out to help get him "unstuck" if he planted. This worked well combined with a small growl of the voice.

People always comment that doing hacks the way I am training my youngster will instill bad habits as I'm turning him around and coming back home and he may learn to just stop and turn for home but I've not yet had a problem and infact I have a confident and happy youngster. I always think it is better to take small baby steps as I want each and every time out to be a positive and happy one, and they will remember that and me happier to co-operate and go out with you the next time.

I also take our youngster out with another horse on a route that I would do on our own. Again this reinforces that it is all okay and safe. I did this quite a number of times before taking him out on his own on the same route.

Do lots of spook busting work too as this will help you if you come across a situation that could scare you both. If you are both prepared then you will be able to mentally and physically deal with it better. We took our boy to agility a few times to get him used to flapping things and obstacles that you may encounter on the road.

Hope this all helps