A bit of an update on Ali's "rugging phobia"...

[CastleMouse]

I forgot to post an update yesterday, but he actually seems to have a fear of rugs now, which is VERY odd! I kept him in yesterday morning, but the weather improved over lunchtime so I headed over to the yard to turn him out... As there were showers every now and then I thought that I better put a LW rug on at least, so I brought the rug into his stable and he backed away into the corner of his stable and began to shake, which was very odd, especially since I came in quietly and the rug was folded up... So I brought him outside, tied him up, and again attempted to bring the rug over to him, he backed away and I attempted to touch him with the folded up rug and again he was shaking... Managed to get him to relax a bit, rubbed the rug down his neck so he could get used to it, and after about 5 minutes I attempted to put the rug on him and he was fine... I was fiddling around for a while with one of the cross surcingles and he didn't even flinch then... Brought him in in the evening and he was fine to unrug... I kept him in again today as the weather is bl**dy awful here

Some people on other forums said that his new "phobia" could be due to him getting a static shock from one of his rugs, which is most likely the cause...

 

[c7mlm]

i had a pony once that got in a mess once in his field with a fly rug. i had trouble trying to get a rug on him after that, he would run round the stable away from me. i ended up leaving it over the door he would knock it off. then when he got used to it i hung it up in the stable and it took me a few weeks but he finally got over his phobia. i was just never able to get him used to leg straps again i just used to put a strap across the back and pull the tail over but at least i got a rug on him.

 

[PapaFrita]

Antifaz does that sometimes. He sort of shrinks when I go near him with a rug and sometimes goes really doolally if the rug rustles! Other times he's fine. A used to be quite roughly handled though, and has quite a lot of emotional baggage!

 

[wishfulthinking]

I thought it could be a static reaction as I suggested on your last post and I hope it is that as you can manage it. It sounds like he is acting quite like the mare I mentioned did. It seems funny that youre not feeling them though so I wouldn't dismiss the other possibilities out of hand.