Can riding with a spooky horse make yours spooky?

[Honeysrider]

Lately I've been riding with a friend whose horse is known to bolt and spin etc, the horse has been good to be fair to her, no bolting or spinning! But she is very spooky, shell stop at things or dance away from something that scares her. Today when i took my horse out, alone, as we where trotting the same hill we've trotted every week for the past year, she spooked at something invisible stopped dead and span, causing me to go flying (thought she didn't bolt just span so she was facing away). I thought nothing of it, she had been on her toes from the start of the ride, my trainer said my horse may have lost confidence as she hasn't been ridden alone for a week now. But another trainer at the yard for someone else said she was picking up bad habits from my friends horse, is this true i kinda see it but my friends horse wasnt even there and hasn't been THAT bad lately?

 

[be positive]

They can pick up vibes from another horse, a nervy horse that lacks confidence can have a negative effect on even the most confident companion but if the rider is aware that there can be an issue it can be prevented from becoming a problem, you can still go out with the nervous one but need to ensure your own horse is not following the example given to her, it can be very subtle and easily missed and before you know your own has lost confidence and changed behaviour.
So I think both trainers are right, yours has lost some confidence because she has been accompanying a nervy horse, not picking up bad habits but just feeling a little worried by having a spooky nervous type with her and she needs you to be a bit more positive with her whether you are alone or in company so she can get back on track.

 

[scats]

The first year I had the Diva, I pretty much hacked out alone all the time. Nothing on the road ever bothered her.

Then my friend came on her horse who had a fear of lorries. He was in the front as he walked faster than my mare and on encountering a lorry on the road, he panicked and leapt up an embankment. My mare, witnessing this, also panicked and leapt up the embankment. The next time I took her out, she was very wary of lorries, despite the fact we'd hacked for months and encountered loads of them before. I stopped hacking out with that friend. Diva took a few weeks but then went back to normal.

 

[Mike007]

Mostly ,when Bob the notacob does one of his famous spooks ,even the youngsters look at him as if to say "What a complete tit!"