Over the summer we run several camps with a focus on Hacking. One of the common experiences shared by so many riders is the feeling of being put under pressure to push through, ignore, or continue regardless of what their instincts say or how their horse feels, by the people around them. Usually, this pressure comes from a well-meaning place but often it conflicts with what the rider feels is the right thing to do for them or their horse. It’s so easy in those moments to feel shut down or experience self-doubt especially if you are riding with a person that appears more confident than you.
Often people are told; the horse needs to just ‘get over it’, that they ‘must’ be ok with X, or they hack with people who are not helping them at all because they themselves have a horse that is tense and therefore unsupportive. Sometimes this leads to riders avoiding hacking all together because it becomes more and more of a mountain to climb. It doesn’t need to be.
During the camp, one of the first things we do is work out how both you and your horse feel about hacking. The intention from that point is to remember that seeing as a hack is supposed to be fun… you don’t HAVE to do anything that you feel is too much of a stretch. For both of you the key is to break it down so that neither one of you is over faced and you can both start to enjoy going out and adventuring together. Since the emergence of online learning, there has been a discussion on whether online classes are better than traditional classes. There have been competing schools of thought with valid arguments for and against both.
Often people are told; the horse needs to just ‘get over it’, that they ‘must’ be ok with X, or they hack with people who are not helping them at all because they themselves have a horse that is tense and therefore unsupportive. Sometimes this leads to riders avoiding hacking all together because it becomes more and more of a mountain to climb. It doesn’t need to be.
During the camp, one of the first things we do is work out how both you and your horse feel about hacking. The intention from that point is to remember that seeing as a hack is supposed to be fun… you don’t HAVE to do anything that you feel is too much of a stretch. For both of you the key is to break it down so that neither one of you is over faced and you can both start to enjoy going out and adventuring together. Since the emergence of online learning, there has been a discussion on whether online classes are better than traditional classes. There have been competing schools of thought with valid arguments for and against both.
Preparation
Set Up
One of the questions I often get asked is what do I do when something go’s wrong or I can feel my horse getting tense?
There are two types of situations that often riders come up against. Typically, these can be separated as the ‘sticking plaster’ situation and the ‘growth’ situation.
The sticking plaster situation is a situation where you aren’t necessarily able to help your horse become more relaxed and release tension therefore, you’re your main job becomes to keep you and your horse safe. This situation often happens on roads, narrow bridleways, times when there are multiple variables that are out of your control.
Picture this scenario, you come out of the barn grounds ready to head out hacking, the gates close behind you at the same time as a lorry suddenly appears and so your horse is stuck in a squeeze between the lorry and the gates.
You don’t have much choice in this situation but to say to your horse, stay back don’t go into the lorry despite the fact they are likely to feel pressure from the gates behind and the lorry in front.
In this situation you are unable to help your horse release tension, instead you need to manage your way through as best you can so that you and your horse stay safe ideally in no worse a state than you went in. You put a sticking plaster on the situation.
The ‘growth’ situation is one where you can help your horse have a positive learning experience. It happens when you are in a safe enough place that you’re able to deploy the strategies you would at home or in an arena.
Ideally we are always in growth situations, meaning your horse is well prepared enough that they are ok with the lorry event before it happens, but sometimes, life throws us a curve ball that we haven’t anticipated. It is possible that even with the sticking plaster you can move back in to ‘growth’ immediately after avoiding triggers stacking up and helping your horse maintain their emotional stability as you move forwards together. For this to work it’s important to have rehearsed your strategies for helping your horse become more relaxed, connected and for you to be able to re gain control if you really need to. You don’t rehearse your strategies for a lorry situation, when the lorry is already at the gate!
One of the big take away’s from our most recent hacking camp was about the power of being present enough with your horse to recognise and do something at the smallest stages of tension appearing. One of the riders on the camp felt that their horse was feeling pretty good, following a walk in hand around our hack path. Nothing felt too explosive or reactive. When I pointed out that the horse was in a state of freeze quite often and that if something more triggering were to arrive she would become suddenly more reactive it explained a lot of her past behaviour. Once she noticed this level of tension not only was she able to do something about it, but the horse became more responsive, forwards, expressive and released a lot of tension that on the surface didn’t seem to be there. It’s noticing this level of detail in the horse that creates a connection and from connection comes confidence and free, relaxed movement.
My goal is to share with people that every horse can be a confident, free and forward regardless of whether you are out hacking, during a cross country round, over show jumps, on the beach, during a dressage test. It doesn’t matter what you want to do with your horse, if you help them with the right strategies and mindset a confident relaxed hacking horse isn’t an elusive unicorn at the end of the rainbow, they are there in front of you just waiting to be shown how!
If you want to know more come and join us at one of our open events, on a hacking or horsemanship camp at our home in Oxfordshire or check out our online program where we share all the strategies you need for confident, free and forward to become part of your horses muscle memory. All of the dates and more information is available via our website www.hannawalton.co.uk or follow us on socials @hannawaltonequestrian
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