A very strange incident

[Annagain]

As you know I've had Charlie 10 weeks now and he's been a darling. Saturday his halo slipped ever so slightly but it was a very strange incident. We were hacking with two friends, walking along a very quiet residential road. I was slightly in front of my two friends and turned around to say something when, all of a sudden, Charlie, leapt off all four feet, did a fly buck mid air, landed and carried on walking perfectly calmly. It wasn't nasty, it didn't unseat me, he didn't even so much as trot on landing and it didn't particularly bother me, just left me completely bemused!

He was on the buckle and I wasn't asking anything of him so I wasn't annoying him. It felt like he'd been startled but there was no attempt at all to run, which I would have expected if something had frightened him. Although I was turned round talking to my friend so couldn't see all of him, there was no sign of a fly, wasp or bird, no trees nearby for a leaf to fall and hit him- my friends said nothing hit his feet, there were no loud noises or sudden moves around him. I can't for the life of me work out why he did it!

Rode him yesterday and he was back to his usual self - we rode along the main road for the first time and he saw everything from a gang of about 25 cyclists, two huge lorries, several motorbikes, an ambulance with its siren going (they turned it off to go past us) and a JCB and none of it bothered him at all.

Any thoughts?

 

[ihatework]

One of those things, I wouldn’t sweat it.

If I were going to offer a reason I would wonder if when you twisted and shifted your weight, the saddle pinched him somehow and he wasn’t expecting it

 

[milliepops]

i'm so used to mine doing weird things i wouldn't give it a second thought

all's well that ends well

 

[meleeka]

Perhaps there was a flying bug bothering him underneath where you couldn’t see? My cob is very dramatic with bees, wasps or horseflies and that would be something he’d likely do.

 

[thefarsideofthefield]

One of those things, I wouldn’t sweat it.

If I were going to offer a reason I would wonder if when you twisted and shifted your weight, the saddle pinched him somehow and he wasn’t expecting it

I would agree with this - just the action of twisting in the saddle could have caused a reaction and am also assuming you didn't do anything like rest a hand on the cantle or his back as you turned .
You could always test it out in the school if you're brave enough !

 

[scats]

i'm so used to mine doing weird things i wouldn't give it a second thought

all's well that ends well

Same here!
I wouldn’t worry too much OP.

 

[Archangel]

Static? Is he clipped? Short hair is good at working up a charge.

 

[WandaMare]

My unspooky horse has only ever done that when she has thought or there has been something underneath her. A shadow even passing under her or once she stood on a flattened burger box and it made a funny squeak, we lifted off vertically

 

[ElleSkywalkingintheair]

My saintly cob occasionally leaps up all 4 feet off the ground, lifts a leg (not to kick just pulls it up) or scootched forward for no apparent reason. I wouldn't worry as long as he went back to normal after it was probably a pinch from saddle or a Pixie sneaking up on him that scared him ?‍

 

[Annagain]

Static? Is he clipped? Short hair is good at working up a charge.

Not clipped yet. I'm quite prone to static but think I would have noticed if I'd caused it. I went through a stage of giving my old boy a shock every time I put a headcollar on him and he was terrified of me for a week or two! It certainly felt like something as short and sharp as that though. As I said it didn't bother me, I'm just curious and would like to stop it happening again - more because whatever it was was unpleasant for him rather than scaring me.

 

[Dasher66]

Our otherwise saintly TB did that very occasionally when we first had him. We were advised to get a new saddle (and did), and he never did it again in 15 years.

 

[Flowerofthefen]

Have you seen the video of the dressage horse walking quietly along the arena then it leaps 6ft in the air when a leaf blows round it feet then Carrie's on walking as if nothing happened? Could be a rogue leaf of bit of rubbish that startled him for a second?

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

I would think it was the movement of your weight which caused the reaction.

 

[cumbriamax]

I had one do a similar thing with me but it was on the beach and the horse wasn't used to the sensation of sand under foot and the changes in sand. Possibly he stood on something? I heard of fell pony that used to do bunny hops in the road and the owners discovered he was doing it everywhere there was a drain under the road but it must have been super sensitive.

 

[Annagain]

Our otherwise saintly TB did that very occasionally when we first had him. We were advised to get a new saddle (and did), and he never did it again in 15 years.

Was the suggestion to get a new saddle because it didn't fit or there was something wrong with the original saddle?

Obviously, having only had him 10 weeks everything has been checked. His saddle is my old boy's that was adjusted to fit him about 7 weeks ago so I don't think it's a saddle fit issue unless he just doesn't like it, although there's been no other sign of that. I think it's more likely something just pinched him as I moved. Will have to wait and see whether we get a repeat!

 

[Annagain]

Have you seen the video of the dressage horse walking quietly along the arena then it leaps 6ft in the air when a leaf blows round it feet then Carrie's on walking as if nothing happened? Could be a rogue leaf of bit of rubbish that startled him for a second?

Definitely not - my friends were behind me and were as baffled by the whole thing as me. There was nothing that any of us saw or heard that would have made him do it.

 

[GreyMane]

Just a thought, has he ever been checked for "beans"?

 

[Annagain]

Just a thought, has he ever been checked for "beans"?

Yes. It sounds weird when I say "my dentist did it" but my dentist is a vet who, despite being fully qualified as a vet, does nothing but dental work - she's a lecturer in equine veterinary dentistry part-time and works as a dentist the rest of the time to keep her skills up to date. However, when she comes to do their teeth she gives them a brief once over and checking for a bean is part of it - she did find a relatively small one back in August.

 

[Trouper]

On a totally wild track, I wonder if your voice sounded odd as you turned to speak to them and he thought someone else was nearer than he liked?

 

[Flicker]

Oh they can be so funny sometimes. I remember one hack on a horse I used to own who everyone called ‘Mr Perfect’ - he was a saint. One afternoon, pootling along with two friends on a hack and suddenly found myself and Mr P facing the opposite direction. He’d spooked at a crack in a wall and spun 180. Turned him round to look at it, he gave one ‘dragon snort’ then walked on like nothing happened ?‍?‍ Never repeated it.
Sometimes the fairies just get them, I think.

 

[palo1]

Ha!! Exactly this has happened to me previously but twice I have seen the culprit immediately after the flying horse moment; on both occasions it was a squirrel running underneath poor horse Your horse was probably trying to avoid something startling underneath him, whether squirrel, leaves or something else.

 

[Dasher66]

Was the suggestion to get a new saddle because it didn't fit or there was something wrong with the original saddle?

Obviously, having only had him 10 weeks everything has been checked. His saddle is my old boy's that was adjusted to fit him about 7 weeks ago so I don't think it's a saddle fit issue unless he just doesn't like it, although there's been no other sign of that. I think it's more likely something just pinched him as I moved. Will have to wait and see whether we get a repeat!

The saddle he had was recently fitted to him by an excellent local saddle fitter - may be it gave him twinges.

 

[teddypops]

My ponies all do random things so I wouldn’t worry unless it became a regular occurrence.

 

[thefarsideofthefield]

Have you seen the video of the dressage horse walking quietly along the arena then it leaps 6ft in the air when a leaf blows round it feet then Carrie's on walking as if nothing happened? Could be a rogue leaf of bit of rubbish that startled him for a second?

Have you seen the video of the dressage horse warming up for his test in an outside arena in the middle of a force 8 gale ? He is doing piaffe as a discarded newspaper blows noisily across the arena , the pages wrap around both front legs , then unwrap from first one leg and then the other before flapping off into the distance . He stays in a perfect rhythm and never breaks stride .

Sigh ….