Reduce spooking and gain more confidence with these simple tips for hacking out.
With hacking already posing dangers from erratic road users, spooking can only make situations worse when out and about. As riders have naturally begun opting for safer off-road routes, horses can often miss out on great hacking benefits as a result. So, we want to give you the confidence boost you need to get hacking out again, even if it is just 5 minutes, with some simple tips…
Keeping Confident…
If you’re hacking out and wavering on the nervous side, you are setting yourself up for failure. Horses can sense when you are on high alert and it can make them nervous too, resulting in a shaky ride for both you and your horse!
To boost your own and your horse’s confidence, it may be a good idea to buddy up. Not only will you have the security of a companion, which horse’s thrive off, a hacking-buddy can act as the perfect distraction to the world around you. Try to find a calming influence – a combination who are un-phased by anything. Often, placing the more nervous horse and rider in the middle of the pack can help relieve nerves too.
Hacking out in the correct gear can also make the world of difference to your confidence levels. Making sure you and your horse can see in high-viz gear is essential, and can prevent un-necessary accidents, scary situations and make sure you arrive home without shattered nerves. Kitting out both yourself and your horse with high-visibility clothing also means that in the event of a mishap, you will both be seen and found with ease! Shortening stirrups is also a great and simple way to help you feel more secure in the saddle.
Take your security up a notch by using a dedicated app for horse riders who are out and about. Apps, such as ‘Huufe’, will give you the piece of mind you need by detecting falls and tracking your whereabouts. Huufe also rewards you for time spent riding, earning you a variety of discounts and prizes from your favourite equestrian brands.
Horse Hacking Tips; Wearing something as small as high-visibility gloves could give you that extra bit of confidence that you are seen when hacking on public roads. [Hy5 Reflective Soft-shell Gloves – Naylors; £16.99]
Keeping Calm…
From the cooler winter weather to the spring grass, horses can come out of the stable feeling ‘fresh’ at any time of the year! When our horses are on high-alert and full of energy, it can be hard for any rider to talk sense to them until excess energy is burnt off.
If your horse lights up as you exit your yard, try a lungeing session beforehand. This will help to get rid of built up energy, and release feel good endorphins from the exercise. These exercise endorphins can go some way to keeping your horse calm on your hack, whilst taking away that extra bit of energy can mean that your horse is less likely to over-react to stressors. Additionally, lungeing can get your horse in tune and listening to you!
Alternatively, you could use a short hacking route as a cool down to your schooling session. Some horses find that ridden exercise is much more mentally and physically demanding than a ground-work session. A schooling session before a hack will also make sure they are in tune with leg and contact aids, and really listen to you as the rider. It is also a great way to begin introducing hacking to youngsters, painting the picture that hacking is a time to stretch, relax and wind down after a hard session.
Keeping It Simple…
If you’re stuck in a rut with hacking out your horse, it may be time to take it back to basics!
Take it slow and try not to overwhelm your horse with long and complex routes. Just 5-10 minutes of riding outside of the arena might be enough to put you back on track. This could be walking up the road, around a small paddock or just around your yard! Try to avoid objects, routes and scenarios that have cause problems in the past so your horse can experience the full enjoyment and benefits of hacking, again.
Keeping Control…
To keep in control, it is important that your horse is exposed to as unfamiliar objects as possible, as much as possible. Seeing different objects on the day to day, whether that’s out riding, whist turned-out or in the stable, can help to de-sensitise your horse to strange and ‘scary’ items they come across whilst hacking, reducing the chance that they will spook. It’s also a great way to keep their their mind stimulated and bust boredom.
Perfecting some schooling exercises are also the perfect way to keep control of your horse during hacking. Perfecting a leg yield will help to keep your horse in tune with your inside leg demands and keep control of their behaviour when out and about. Meanwhile, shoulder-in could come in handy when trying to divert your horse’s attention to prevent a spook happening. Making sure that your horse listening to half-halts, in all gaits, also gives peace of mind and ensures you have the power to break, if needed.
Some of the items featured in this article, we may earn a commission on should you choose to buy. If though, for whatever reason, you choose to return the item we will not. With this in mind, we aim to only give relevant recommendations and information that may help you in the decision process when choosing whether or not to buy. Learn more here.
You may also like to read
Suzanne Ashton, Founder of Everything Horse (Est, 2012), has a BA Hons in Marketing Management and a Diploma in Equine Science. Suzanne has ridden and owned horses all her life and has twelve years of experience in marketing, writing, design, SEO, and website creation.