Advice please - my horse hates the rain!

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krichardson87

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Hi all,

I'm not even kidding... my horse hates the rain. If being led when raining he will toss his head around, leap around, shake his whole body, barges you, snorts, spins etc. Its never really been a problem and is something that we have patiently told him off for when really bad but otherwise kind of ignored. However, I was riding him the other day and it started raining... cue above behaviours...including a full on roll.

Is there anything I can do to get him used to the rain, other than constantly riding him in it? Lol. He is now good for bathing, although the first thing he does is rolls. It is literally like he cannot bear being wet!

Any ideas much appreciated.

Cheers x
 
I did know one horse like this, we put it down as a type of headshaking. He was fine when it was not raining, a well schooled and sensible horse to ride, but if it started to rain when you were out he would snort, shake, stamp, paw and occasionally look as if he would go down.

Never did find a cure, but it was decades ago before modern diagnostics. He seemed fine in the field in the rain.

The owner just did not ride in the rain!

I did also have a horse that simply hated it, but he was different, it felt like napping. The previous owner later told me that he personally hated the rain, and if it rained he would ride the horse straight in. That one cured with some discussion about his work ethic, but it did feel very different to the first horse.
 
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Whilst he is actually out he is okay, perhaps gallops around more than normal and rolls more often. He is known to stand at the gate and look miserable when raining also but I don't bring him in unless it is normal getting in time so he is out in it plenty.

Red-1 I was reading an article about head shaking earlier and was beginning to wonder. Thank you for your input. Unfortunately I want to compete him as he is awesome so could really do with getting him over this obstacle, rather than just not riding in the rain.

Thanks both xx
 
One of my Arabs is a nightmare to ride in rain worse when it's windy he will literally turn and try and run the other way in the school so it's not blowing in his face, out hacking he will jog sideways and generally be on his toes and he is a very slight head shaker has very sensitive skin and is just a very sensitive soul, I really think he just hates the sensation of the wet hitting certain areas if he is in the field and it starts to rain heavy he will run and stand behind the stable block wall so his head and neck keeps dry.
 
We had a mare for a while who would became a nightmare in the rain - it was definitely a form of headshaking. The additional stimulation on her face from the droplets created the pain response - really strong wind would do the same. We found a nose-net improved matters somewhat for general riding; but she was a BS competition pony so we used her for the indoor shows. Her next owner was planning to have the surgery to block / reduce transmissions from the facial nerve to stop it more permanently, but we moved out of BS juniors so I don't know how that went.
 
Some horses do hate the rain and regard it as an insult that they should be required to be out in it, while ridden. I am surprised that some racehorses don't down tools if required to race in the rain.

An eventer won the Junior European Championships because he horse hated the rain and she said it was the first time ever he kept his head down during a dressage test. Luckily the rain had stopped by the time they did the cross country and he stormed round as normal and won it.
 
I knew a horse like this years ago ... i'm sure the owner said something about the nerve endings on the horses face being oversensitive & used to smear Vaseline over its face when it was raining, which helped.
 
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