5 Common Hacking Fears + How To Gain More Confidence | Riding With Rhi, UK Equestrian YouTuber
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 ก.ค. 2024
- This week, we'll be talking through some common hacking fears such as losing control and cantering in open spaces, meeting dogs, traffic and spooking and hacking out again. We'll discuss things we can do to make those moments less frightening and more enjoyable.
Sources & Resources:
William Fox-Pitt and the Neck Strap: • William & the Horse Ne...
BHS Guidance on Meeting Dogs: www.bhs.org.uk/advice-and-inf...
BHS App For Reporting Traffic Incidents: www.bhs.org.uk/our-work/safet...
Set Up Medical ID For iPhone: support.apple.com/en-us/HT207021
Equilab App: equilab.horse/
Chapters
0:00 Introduction
2:41 My Equipment
7:00 Cantering Out Hacking + Open Spaces
16:58 Dogs and Traffic
24:23 Spooky Horses + Riding Alone
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Riding with Rhi is a British equestrian TH-camr who shares her experience of moving from sharing, to loaning to now looking for her first horse.
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This video literally made me cry haha, it just articulates so perfectly how I feel about this stuff and is so reassuring. I feel so much shame around being nervous and it’s so nice to know that I’m not the only one and that there are things I can do such as speaking up when I’m uncomfortable and not just freaking out in silence. Thank you ♥️♥️♥️
Thank you for being vulnerable and sharing! We know we shouldn't feel ashamed being nervous but it can be so difficult to remember at times ❤️
I hope you get the confidence I wish you luck 🤩this video helped me a lot to x
I had a horrific incident with a bull in the lane , I was terrified, my horse was brilliant, I thought it was best to turn round and walk slowly away , he stayed calm , and we did just that. I’m sure my horse knew how frightened I was, but he calmly turned, walking slowly away. I turned my head round and the bull was following me. My heart was going so fast. I just didn’t know what to do and as he got he’s speed up to follow us, I asked my horse to trot. I had no where to go no open gates to go into a field and no houses near, thankfully a farmer came meeting us in the lane on he’s tractor. There wasn’t much room for me to pass but he turned the engine off, got down from the cabin, and told me, it was he’s bull and was I ok?!!!! I’m sure if he hadn’t come round the bull would have charged and goodness knows what would have happened. It took me ages to ride out again, and I decided I wouldn’t go out on my own again. It was an experience I never want to be repeated. My horse was just amazing. We had a well deserved treat arriving back at the yard !!!!!
I'm always quite nervous at the start of a lesson or hack and if we are going up a speed. But after I have been riding for a bit I start to feel relaxed and its great to be able to trust your horse 🐎
Super helpful! Rode again for the first time yesterday, after a fall on a hack in July, got bucked off, broke my ankle in 3 places, but was lucky there was someone with me to catch the horse. xx
Oh crumbs. As you said, super lucky that someone was there with you ❤️ Well done for getting back on - what an achievement !
Hope u got better ok :)
thank you so much for this!! It came at a great time 😊 x
You got this 💪🏻
I’ve never hacked before, but I’m getting close to the requirements to go hacking with my local riding school that I ride at, so I’m happy that this video is here, it made me more confident and less nervous, thank you. ❤
Thank you, I had a nasty accident last year and hurt my ankle and my coccyx… to this day these injuries are still causing me discomfort…won’t go into much detail but my foot got caught in the stirrups and I was hanging there until the safety latch let the whole stirrup go.. galloping in an open field alone on a green horse… now I got a horse on loan, a 14.2hh cob and he’s 6 and still a little green and spooky however I feel much more confident on him, I don’t have any friends really so I hack out alone and it’s scary for me because of my own confidence and what happened before, thank u for this vid
Thank you, this was super helpful!
I was always told that you should always wear clothing that covers you..even if it is hot..grazes etc if you fall.
Superb, thank you very much!
Oh god just thinking about how my first canter was on a group hack on the road 😂 I spent months just hanging on to my horse for dear life while my instructor cantered in front of us. I had no idea how to start, stop or sit the canter properly, since it was a trekking centre. This backfired horribly of course when I was allowed to try a canter on my own and couldn't stop, and after about 10 minutes of out of control galloping on a rocky, muddy downhill slope, I fell off. My horse went back to the yard, but it took me a good 6 months of getting used to walking and trotting before I was finally brave enough to try a few strides of canter on a really short, dead-end track. My last lesson there was March 2020 due to COVID-19, but when I was bucked off during a canter not long before lockdown (by the same horse! He was lovely though), I was ready and got straight back on 😊 it took a while, and I had to go really, really slowly at my own pace, but never stopping trying and getting my confidence back again helped me hugely with my riding in every way!
Fantastic video 👌🏼
Very well done and thought out! Thank you Rhi.
Great work
Omg I needed this so much, thank you!!!
I really needed this thank you so much love your videos xx
This was great
Thank you this helps so much, I’ve just got my first loan pony and I’m terrified to hack as he’s very spooky. This makes me feel a lot better x
I absolutely loooove your message at the end about mistakes and things happening. How true!
This video is going to save alot of accidents, thank you ❤️
Brilliant video! Thank you so much. 👏😁🐴
Excellent information RHI, thanks
Love this video so much!! I know soooo many people whatever age will benefit from this!!
Ok this might be a long comment but anyway 😅
Background info;
I just recently got my horse, she's 4, she is from a place where she was just ridden on hacks in large groups. If there is a person on ground she will follow them untill in a field she'll trot away but keeps an eye on them.
For today: this morning she was fresh but I needed to get her put and went for a hack down to the field and she was being so good walk, trot, cantering and stopping.
Then she spooked, turned and bucked, I fell off and she ran home, thankfully neither of us were hurt all is good.
I just don't know where to go with her I've only had her for a short period but her wanting to be with people/horses isn't getting better but I want to be able to ride her alone as riding with someone on the ground isn't always an option and riding with horses isn't an option for a while.
Any advice whatsoever is welcome! Thank you!!
My hacking fear is less about the process of falling off or dogs/traffic and more about falling off and not being able to find the horse and less about the fall itself. I've seen way too many people looking for their lost horse and not being able to find it. Sightings of the horse easily but not able to catch and the horse losing their tack.
Latest one is Ameera in AZ who was at an endurance event last I knew she's been missing 3 weeks.
I'll opt for a field over an open trail any day then you have a nice fence and they can only get so far and you don't have to hire airplanes to search for them.
this women is literally the purest person I've ever come across, by far my favourite TH-camr!❤️
This is such a lovely comment! Thank you so much ❤️
The first few times I hacked without another horse I had someone on the ground. This gave both me and the horse confidence as well as being able to see how he would react without another horse. I then progressed to trotting and cantering away from my ground person and looping back round to meet up with them. Baby steps!
Thanks, that's a really good idea!
What a great video! Well done! I saw the neck strap first in your videos. I had never seen one before, and I grabbed an stirrup leather as neck strap for the very next ride. It saved me today on my bucky horse....
I love ur videos xx
very good stuff and very informative
Thank you very much! Glad you enjoyed it.
just found you channel and love it! its realistic and helps me feel less ashamed about worrying. I had a bad fall on a friends horse where he bolted and took me through a row of trees and i came off in the trees. I knew he had an old hock injury so i didnt turn him just in case he tripped and hurt himself but i should have (hindsight is great) since then ive been quite nervous with my own horses even though neither of them have ever bolted or given me a reason to be nervous other than being spooky. I need to invest in tags for their saddles and make a neck strap
thanks for this video!
i absolutely love this video!!! it covers everything i used to be worried about!!! is it possible you could do this same type of video but confidence jumping?!🥰
So pleased to have watched this video, currently feeling very apprehensive about hacking alone and this has helped me tremendously with good tips and advice and most importantly reiterate that I am not alone in my fear. Thank you.
It’s so reassuring to hear people have the same concerns (makes me feel less of a wimp 😂). Also Interesting about neck straps - I think I’ll try one. Will be replacing my stirrup leathers soon, so will use one of the old ones - fab tip!
This is such an an important video/topic thank you. Another tip when in an open space you can treat open spaces as flat work arenas. You can try lots of walking trotting flat work out in your open space and your horse will get the idea it's not always gallop time therfore getting more control. Plus to always make sure you are on a reasonably safe horse that is regularlly worked before you go out on your first hack, and if a younger horse who's very fizzy talk to your trainer about natural calming herbs, because excessive spookynes is so unsafe, sometimes if you need longer stirrups (if you can) and legs on, hands foward when spooking at things, holding onto your strap or breastplate like she said is the way to go. Sometimes if I have to if my horse spooks and is too close to a fence or ditch I will mover her head at the fence so she knows it's there instead of where she's spooking and then inside leg on.
hi rhi
i was wondering if you could make a video on your riding journey, like when you started and your journey all the way up to now?
Hi lovey I have come from Tiktok... you commented to me about checking out this video. Thank you so much and even tho I knew the things about cantering... you have made me feel not silly about my fear of cantering and I appreciate you and this video 😃 I have subscribed and I look forward to checking out some of your other videos 💜
Ahh I'm so glad you found it! And glad it was helpful ☺️
Thanks for this. I've a 5 year old, who has been slow and difficult to start. I can see that I'm doing things mostly right. We have just now started to tackle solo hacking. I've chosen the road that goes from our farm to the next one down, so very familiar ground. She's not even comfortable on this road yet, but after watching this, I feel more confident about asking her to go ahead. The only change I'll make is to wear the body protector. I just usually forget. But I appreciate your video on this subject. It's an important one!
Thanks a lot for this video! Lots of very usefull advice. I'm going to order a neck strap right away :) I have my horse in a really difficult area with lots of cars and I am always very scared to fall off, not so much because of me but because my horse might run into a car or get himself injured and I don't want to put him in danger. We will be practising small rides with an older horse, I think that will already be a good start.
I agree, be honest with yourself and don't set yourself up for failure. It's perfectly okay to start slow and work your way up.
Concentrate on your position, use your legs and ask your horse to work with their whole body (it's harder for them and can make them think twice about going fast), use circles if they won't stay in the lower gaits. Circles are harder than straight lines and it gets them nowhere because they end up where they started.
i did my first loan day today with my best friend and the yard owners insurance policy is that you have to be wearing a body protector 100% of the time (whilst riding) and me and my friend went on a hack in the woods and someone had set up a cross pole from branches ( no bigger then 40 cm) and there was a small log set up as a jump as well so it was like a mini course, but after going over one of the jumps i lost my balance and fell of -it was all my fault in fact i started to dismount so i would do less damage and he stopped dead for me luckily it wasn't bad but i bet i would have hurt a lot more if i wasn't wearing a body protector
I always like to put hiviz on the horse so if we are separated they have some on too. There are some great light hi viz quarter sheets fo the summer.
That's a great point !
It’s taken me a while to hack out on my own on my share pony. I usually have someone walk on foot alongside us as there isn’t really anyone I can hack out with. He has been amazing for the most past but my biggest worry is when he spooks, he will not move. He won’t even turn around and go home which I don’t want him to do anyway as it encourages that behaviour, he used to nap quite a lot but he has become so relaxed recently it has been lovely. Last week he spooked and stopped because of a tractor and the farmer was kind enough to turn off the engine and actually had to walk us past the tractor. I was so so thankful. It did worry me though as I’m not sure what I would have done if the farmer wasn’t there. I am going to try practicing mounting and dismounting from the fence and the ground in the arena to give me the confidence to do this out hacking as he is not the best with mounting at the yard. I will definitely be looking into getting a luggage tag as that is a great idea, especially as he is not my horse. I love Equilab and I use its every ride. I always hack out with my body protector and we always have a neck strap. I think hi viz needs to be talked about so much more though! I wear multiple colours as at certain times of day and in different seasons some colours just don’t stand out! Thank you for sharing this video, it’s so great to know I’m not alone.
Im not afraid to fall on hacks because i have only fallen of with jumping. But my horse is super spooky alone and with horses at home and not having people that live near with horses it's hard to hack together. Also he spooks mainly on the road less in the forest and that's anoying because then i have a nice forest ride and on the way home we both get stressed again...
Could you please make a video on how you would work on your secured seat, to ensure that you are anchored and ready for whatever happens? Thank you 😊
I’ve had a dog at my horses back legs going to bite ! My boy was so good and patient - gave it loads of chances and hints to get off but he gave him a little tap to get it off - it was fine btw ! - owners fault for leaving it loose unfortunately but glad my horse wasn’t scared just more irritated at it. One thing I’m trying to get him used to is getting used to lorry’s coming from behind... and bikes that don’t shout hey ! Nippy cars are scary when they go so close. Generally traffic is pretty kind to horses where we are. I Havnt braved hacking alone yet !
This helps, I go to a riding school but due to a bad experience with bolting I'm terrifyed of it happening, like put me on a horse that bucks or rears, no worries, but it bolts? I'm not getting on it 😂 trying to get over the fear
Have concluded that hacking my horse isn't a good idea unless I am with a sensible person on a quiet horse. Best horse I have ever hacked out was my Thoroughbred. Still miss him. Definitely is another Thoroughbred in my future.
The hardest and most frustrating part of hacking is finding a sensible person to hack with. Even if I have supplied the quiet horse that they are on, there is still complaining about having to be sensible for the benefit of whichever horse that I am on.
Meeting dogs. Current horse, please don't kill the loose dog. Pretty please.
I never ride on the road ever. I love my fellow Australians but a decided minority are aggressive drivers.
Great video😀😀.
But what happened to teddy I never knew what happened
I wondered that too
Ted returned to his owners in January - I shared it on my Instagram 🥰 instagram.com/p/CJfzGJOnTDg/?igshid=wmob0dgb0sy1
@@RidingWithRhi I see. I don't have instagram.
I went for my first hack on my new loan horse yesterday. I was really pleased at how responsive she was to my half halt in walk and trot as she can get overexcited (trained as a polo pony so likes speeeedd). However in canter she took off! I had to be out front as she will buck and rear if left at the back. I was able to stop her but it was a little scary and unexpected as her canter is lovely in the arena! I tried to sit it to slow her down. Would I be better taking a light seat or will this just encourage her to go faster?
At my current yard, I hack out with an older friend that has more than 20 years of experience. She always has a spare lead rope around her waist just in case of spooking or a fall. By the way, in early January me and some of my friends went up to our yard's xc but as i went for a gallop up a hill my friend lost control of her horse. He ended up spooking my horse and they both galloped and I ended up falling off. Ever since then I feel too nervous to go there again, though it is a woodland look-alike enclosed space there is a chance for the horses to go left and gallop down a steep-ish hill. Because of that, I've been too scared to try and even walk down that path. Do you have any tips? I wouldn't be able to do any circles as the space is too small :/
Is there another horse you can borrow who is very calm who you could borrow and go along there a few times?
The dog thing is definitely situation dependant.
My mum and our pony got severely attacked a few years back. A bull terrier came flying out of a house in the village our pony is kept in and he made multiple puncture wounds on her 😢 my mum figured she would end up on the deck if she didn’t dismount so she dismounted on the grass and was fighting off the dog. In the end it went to court and the dog had a dangerous history and killed a previous owners cat... scary stuff
This weekend another dog went for my mum and our pony whilst hacking, the worst since the accident mentioned above. The pony was an angel considering what had happened to her before, she was kicking out a bit but the dog was getting fixed on the pony, in that situation riding away would of meant the situation escalated so mum rode back to the owner to get the dog under control before anyone got injured.
In terms of hacking overall, I feel partially lucky as I was actually taught to ride as a 4 year old out hacking so I feel comfortable with it, but then I had the other way and as a teenager had to learn how to ride in a school etc. 👀
Great video too! 👏🏻
Oh wow, very scary story indeed, but yes it seems we definitely agree on the dog situation being dependent. So much of hacking depends on what happens in the moment I think !
nice
I was in a riding accident last summer, it was pretty bad and I ended up in a hospital. I tried to start riding again like a week later, I was really scared and my friend wanted to trot and canter all the time. So ofc I had to get off. She also tried to make me ride a horse Im not comfy on- anyway I started riding alone, I managed to trot but Im still scared of gallop :T Do you have any tips on how I could get more comfy and eventually gallop?
I’m more nervous in the school, hacking has always been my safe please. I don’t know why🤔😅
How do you over come cantering in open spaces with a horse who bucks in canter? Xx
Sort out the bucking in canter in a confined area first, and practice bending down to a stop with one rein, from a canter as often as possible. Check out Warwick Schiller 👍
What breed is woody? Beautiful. Thank you for this video, great x
He's an Irish Sports Horse ☺️
@@RidingWithRhi aw he's a beauty x
What body protectors do you use ? I’m about to invest in one and not too sure which is best x x
I have a champion BUT as soon as I can get it fitted I'm upgrading to a Racesafe as I hear they are the highest quality whilst also being the lightest and most comfortable. Plus you can customise covers to go over the top so they blend with your XC colours etc. That said, Champion is a great affordable option.
Love my Racesafe but it's quite important to get them fitted properly with help of a professional from a store. I measured myself and bought online and I knew it didn't sit right, so had to return it and then got it fitted in a store. What a difference! From Large to Small in size and from short back to regular 😀 and I have measured myself and followed the guidance on their website 😀
Yes this is what makes me want to wait. I'm not good at accuracy at the best of times 🤣
Thank you lovely xx
I love my race safe vest. I tried a viper and found the bits over the shoulder sat so high that they were level with my ears and I felt like a turtle going into my shell lol. The race safe suits the female shape a whole lot better.
If you ride a 13hh pony, does it hurt less falling off a like 17hh horse? Just wondering lol.
I think there are more people out walking their dogs due to lockdown. where I hack mainly people are nice to get their dogs
I've generally had that experience too. Most people are great 🥰
I'd like to add that some horses are naturally better at hacking. There are also some horses that would never be ''enjoyable happy hackers'' despite tons of training just due to the temperament. So if hacking is important for you - insist on hacking out as part of your viewing process and buy a right horse!
Yes absolutely ! Alex Harrison said exactly the same thing in his recent interview on my TH-cam. Some horses just don't like hacking and that's ok too.
@@RidingWithRhi also could you please share any tips from your recent buying experience what could indicate that the horse potentially is maybe not the best for hacking out? Have you ever had a situation that the seller refused/was reluctant for you to try out hacking? Thanks
No, but I was very specific about which horses I tried, e.g. I spoke to hundreds of sellers but only tried 5 horses and of those 5, I only ever took Woody to the "next stage" of hacking him out.
i would kick the dog! we had a situation at the beach. we were swimming the horses up to their knees. the dog ran to our horses the owner did NOTHING. the dog actually bit one of our horses on the belly. i wouldnt want to experience this again