My Icelandic horse gets strong and won't listen out hacking

Hi!

I understand that this feels hard. Hacking out together is so lovely, and usually safer too.

It sounds as though you would benefit from help with your basic schooling and your communication with your horse. Here are a few questions and tips:

☘️ Do you have a trainer you trust and feel safe with? The better your basic schooling is in the arena or indoor school, the better you will be able to control your horse out with his horsey friends too.

☘️ Have you had help fitting his tack and equipment? Even if your horse listens nicely when you ride alone, it can show up more when you ride with someone else and he gets very keen, that ill-fitting tack gives you poorer conditions for contact and communication with your horse.

☘️ Work on staying calm yourself. Your energy and frustration rub off on your horse. If you get angry and start shouting, your horse will want to run away from you. That is no good start for teaching him to respond to your rein aids.

☘️ Try other types of work with your horse, such as long-reining or trick training, anything that strengthens your bond and improves your communication. Make sure you have clear voice commands for slowing down and halting, which you can use when riding too.

☘️ Take care not to hang on the rein and pull too much on the horse's mouth. It becomes unpleasant for the horse and makes him want to run away. Sometimes it helps instead to ease off and give the horse a release, even if it feels odd. Practise a very light contact with the horse's mouth and slow down with your seat.

☘️ Try riding in front, behind and in the middle. Horses differ, and for Icelandic horses it can help to be allowed to go first or last.

I hope you have found some useful tips. I think the key may be working on your basic schooling. Remember too that everything we do with the horse trains it. When you lead him to and from the field, when you turn him on the yard, when you take the headcollar off and on, when you tack up or load him into the horsebox, absolutely everything we ask the horse to do is a kind of training. If you are precise, use clear commands and praise the horse when he gets it right, you will surely notice that hacking out becomes easier too.

Good luck🦄