Are there things your horse just won't do?

[Cortez]

Where in the foothills of the Rockies, Cortez?

Larkspur, south of Colorado Springs.

 

[Caol Ila]

Yeah, I know where Larkspur is. Didn't go there much but have traveled through it when going to the San Juans or Gunnison area.

 

[Cortez]

Yeah, I know where Larkspur is. Didn't go there much but have traveled through it when going to the San Juans or Gunnison area.

It was a very long time ago, more than 30 years....

 

[Caol Ila]

I'm the last person who should ask why you moved from Colorado to Ireland! People ask me why I'm here all the time when I tell them I'm from Boulder, CO. The answer.... I don't know.

 

[Cortez]

I'm the last person who should ask why you moved from Colorado to Ireland! People ask me why I'm here all the time when I tell them I'm from Boulder, CO. The answer.... I don't know.

I moved because the call of home is very strong, and many, many things about America.....just didn't suit me (I'm being polite here...).

 

[Pippity]

Another time, she did a flying spook out of nowhere across the track, and my first thought was, "WTF was that about?" My second thought was, "Oh, hello, little rattlesnake."

Meanwhile, mine saves me from wheelie bins and manhole covers...

Here she's glaring very firmly at some wheelie bins to make sure they don't get Ideas about Things.

 

[Caol Ila]

Anything could jump out of those wheelie bins.

The US is strange, and the Springs are beautiful, but politically.... interesting.

 

[Keith_Beef]

Meanwhile, mine saves me from wheelie bins and manhole covers...

I have to watch out for manhole covers and move the horse to the side, otherwise every single one of those I've ridden will quite happily walk onto the manhole cover and then get really, really surprised when its shoes slip on the cast iron...

 

[Dave's Mam]

I couldn't go in a field of cattle. I'd never get out until Dave had washed all of their faces & had a good conversation.

 

[tiga71]

Yes, he won’t stop eating ....

I have two like that!

 

[DabDab]

Meanwhile, mine saves me from wheelie bins and manhole covers...

Here she's glaring very firmly at some wheelie bins to make sure they don't get Ideas about Things.

View attachment 51839

Haha, yes much much less glamorous than bears and cougars but my horse does the same dead stop in the forest when there is a mountain bike about to come flying out of a sidetrack into our path. Though it is very useful him doing that because a lot of bikeists really just dont even think to look as they converge with another track.

 

[blitznbobs]

Canada geese is the only thing I’ve found ... he is petrified of them -my sane little con will gallop past them sideways if we come across them on a hack .

the big guy is terrified of one particular gate - not gates in general but this particular one - the only thing he doesn’t do is go forward willingly in a dressage area. Take him on a cross country course and the breaks are a little lacking but the acceleration pedal is broken in an arena

 

[Caol Ila]

Haha, yes much much less glamorous than bears and cougars but my horse does the same dead stop in the forest when there is a mountain bike about to come flying out of a sidetrack into our path. Though it is very useful him doing that because a lot of bikeists really just dont even think to look as they converge with another track.

Mine pauses and looks, which gives me warning. At my old yard, we were going up a trail and she started balking and spinning, but I pushed her onwards. It took a lot of leg. We came around a corner and found ourselves facing a bunch of teenagers drinking Buckfast and setting an old car on fire. I'd prefer the mountain lions.

 

[ycbm]

I'm the last person who should ask why you moved from Colorado to Ireland! People ask me why I'm here all the time when I tell them I'm from Boulder, CO. The answer.... I don't know.

You could tell them it's because Boulder has no water and Ireland has plenty ? I have friends who moved way north from Boulder because of climate change, but he is a world expert in it and knows whats coming!
.

 

[southerncomfort]

I used to have a big bold cob who was as bombproof as they come. Took absolutely everything in her stride. Right up until she me some noisy ducks. We had one of those 'leap 6ft in the air and land with all 4 feet pointing in different directions' type of spooks which resulted in me sitting on her neck.

 

[freckles22uk]

Freckles (sadly no longer with us) would not have a rosette put on her bridle, she would absolutely freak out.

And solo combs or anything trying to pull her mane. Big no no

Her son Harley he doesn’t really care about anything.

 

[rowan666]

My boy won't go through water and can be a real arse to jump away from home which is a shame because he flys over them in our paddock yet he will do a lovely dressage test out but is a struggle to school at home, hes a fecking weirdo haha

 

[paddy555]

I couldn't go in a field of cattle. I'd never get out until Dave had washed all of their faces & had a good conversation.

I had one like that but with pigs. He was a pure bred arab and we had some old dears on one of our routes with large white pigs. A very quiet lane and they used to drive the pigs down it to their field. The pigs frequently got loose and wandered back home. A boar and sows.
The arab adored them. He made a bee line for them and stood by the side of the road licking them . I just sat thinking this is a boar and it's not a brilliant thing to do but they both loved it.
Getting him away was difficult but when they had piglets in the field next to the road that was it. He just wouldn't move. He watched and watched.
At the same time I had a cob terrified of them who would belt off in the opposite direction if they were even in sight and the arab who would belt off to the pigs.

In the end I got the arab a pig of his own. He was delighted. The pig was around 10 when it died and the cob still wouldn't go within 100 yards of it.

 

[Cloball]

We had a Fell pony who absolutely hated motor bikes . She was totally bombproof in every other way and with all other vehicles from bicycles to roaring , back firing sportscars to combine harvesters passing within a hairs breadth , but she couldn't stand motorbikes . Fortunately my OH was the proud owner of an enormous Harley Davidson V Rod so one summer we took it upon ourselves to desensitise her once and for all . It took hours and hours of work over many months before I could finally ride her around the field whilst Mr Farside rode alongside on Pearl ( his motor bike - another long story ) . He could weave around her , revving the engine , and we even had a pillion passenger feeding her treats .
Success ? No . What I discovered on my return to the roads was that she still went bonkers at the sound of an approaching motor bike - unless it was a V Rod , in which case she would pull my arms out in her desperation to follow it .

I wonder if it's the fell pony I rode a few times a good few years ago and got chased up a bridleway by an a_&#-#+!! On a Motorcross bike.

 

[pansymouse]

Mads won't stand still under saddle - she 27, I've just accepted it; if she was younger I would try harder train her but as she's beautifully mannered in every other way I let it go.