Can your horse see Ghosts too...!?!

[lilpinkdonkey4]

Whilst out hacking yesterday my mare had a 'moment' and decided to dump me... I went through the thought process of; shall i hang on to the reins... no, ill let go, she is rearing above me and normally she doesnt pi$$ off. But alas off she went across a nice deeply ploughed field, round the corner so that i couldnt see her and on and on for about a mile and a half (she really isnt in my good books).

anyway, back to the main reason for this post. Beau is normally a super little girl and will happily hack out alone, we recently moved yards and she has been fine, no problem since. So, i found a new hack a few months ago and have gone on it not that regularly- but a few times since. However everytime we go down this track she has a moment... not enough to throw me but 'a moment'. she has never gone down this track well (shes fine once we get off it..) Its not scary... there is an open field on one side and a fence then another trac then some trees on the other side... there are normally lots of pheasants about but nothing super scary that we are not used to. ANYWAY do you think it could be ghosts? i used to know a pony who would never hack through a church field (besides a graveyard). has anyone ever experienced random fear of a certain place? how did you overcome this? what was YOUR explanation!?! hehehe

if im missing something blindingly obvious please say!!!

 

[clipclop]

I guess you will never know.
Sometimes it can be something that they can smell, hear etc that we can't? I wouldn't be surprised if they can sense ghosts etc as they are very sensitive creatures.
I guess you need to try not to think about it too much and just kick on and reassure her. If you start to feel wobbly about that place she will certainly feel wobbly too.
If only they could talk huh?

 

[alphanumeric]

My interpretation would be as follows. Horse spooked for the first time at something that you didn't expect her to. You took more notice of this spook because it was somewhere that usually doesn't bother her. Because you took more notice and thought about it, the next time you rode there you immediately started wondering if she would do it again. She picked up on your apprehension and thought 'oh, well, if Mum thinks there is something there then there must be' and spooked again. Horses can often pickup your feelings even if you don't think you're displaying them obviously.

Just my thoughts though.

 

[Shilasdair]

Perhaps she was sensing the presence of a fellow Satanist...sometimes I just like to leave a pool of evil for people to wade through?
S

 

[mememe]

oh dont worry buster says there are horse eating monsters learking every were, there round every courner and they jump out and bite every time we're not looking! they can take the shape of lions, tigers, bears (ghosts r putting it mildly!

) you name it they will be watching!

 

[welshstar]

I believe that they have extra senses which we don't have- as said above they are sensitive creatures.
At my old yard quite a while ago me and my dad used to look after an elderly cob and an elderly pony mare. We would bring them in, feed them and then they would both pick about at grass together- the little mare would never leave his side. But once we put their feed down to eat- the cob ate as usual but the mare wouldn't go near the area- even though she had eaten there quite a few times previously. A few days before a horse had been put down by injection in this spot and i still believe she could sense something a lot of the other horses didn't notice- she was a sensitive girl. It could have have just been the 'scent' of death...or maybe something a bit more spooky

 

[Cahill]

years ago we occaisionally used to hack to an old hill fort on the downs.it was quite a long way but the ponies used to go `funny` there,we always used to joke that they felt the accient spirits up there,its a very old place.

 

[mememe]

[ QUOTE ]
I believe that they have extra senses which we don't have- as said above they are sensitive creatures.
At my old yard quite a while ago me and my dad used to look after an elderly cob and an elderly pony mare. We would bring them in, feed them and then they would both pick about at grass together- the little mare would never leave his side. But once we put their feed down to eat- the cob ate as usual but the mare wouldn't go near the area- even though she had eaten there quite a few times previously. A few days before a horse had been put down by injection in this spot and i still believe she could sense something a lot of the other horses didn't notice- she was a sensitive girl. It could have have just been the 'scent' of death...or maybe something a bit more spooky

[/ QUOTE ]

freeky!

 

[YorksG]

At the risk of sounding totally balmy, I think our old tbx "came back" for our old Appy for about three weeks before the "Appy" was pts at home.

 

[Mid]

i think they can see things we can't - i think most animals can! you know what cats are like!

there could be a completely unspooky explanation though - we used to hack down a track that all the horses hated... we were thinking there was some evil spirit haunting it, until we realised that there was an old electric wire through the hedge (for livestock) and if you got close enough, you could hear it buzzing, and the horses obviously could hear it from where we rode down!

 

[Ravenwood]

I agree with the horses extra senses theory. I remember when we were kids and riding on a really long hack with my sister. We went to cross a small bridge over a railway line and my sisters pony absolutely refused to go over, even though mine would. We just didn't know what to do - to turn back would take us hours to get home and we tried everything we could think of to get the pony over.

Eventually, after some considerable time, we heard a train coming which then passed us. As soon as it had gone the pony walked straight over the bridge!

 

[wireweiners]

I don't know but we used to torment my younger brother when we were kids by telling him that horses could see ghosts and if you stared through their ears, you could see them too. We would do this while riding home at dusk, past the "haunted" house. After telling him this we would ride off on our horses leaving little brother on his pokey pony behind yelling threats about telling mom.

 

[spider]

Both times recently i have been dumped by my pony spooking, I have received a text immediately after. Do you think he sensed the radiowaves or however mobiles work? Just a thought.

 

[Ottinmeg]

i live very near to borley (rectory) ,which some of you may know is reported to be one of the most haunted places in england, the church is on one of our hacks and the horses as we approach the church will be on there toes until we get past it and down the road a bit. then they just go back into plod mode..its almost as if they want to get past the place as fast as they can.

 

[alleycat]

[ QUOTE ]
we used to torment my younger brother when we were kids by telling him that horses could see ghosts and if you stared through their ears, you could see them too.

[/ QUOTE ]
LOL Wicked! How did you think that one up?

Just once I have felt that my horse saw something that I couldn't, and it was pretty wierd.

I was riding down a lane near Aberystwyth on a bright sunlit day. There was a field gate ahead & to the right; I think it was beside a little bridge- and you could see right out across the fields in the bright sunshine. The fields were quiet & pretty well empty; nothing to attract your attention.

My pony stopped, & I couldn't get her to move. She was watching something intently, right out across the valley. She was a bit nappy, but this was different; she wasn't actually trying it on, just observing something; but there was nothing there. Her gaze slowly followed this invisible something right across the fields, her head & neck turning in a slow arc; I got the impression that whatever it was, it was coming closer & closer to us and was going to cross the road just about level with the gate, a little way ahead. I stopped trying to push her on and tried to make out what she was looking at: visibility was excellent, but I couldn't see whatever it was that she could see. It was odd rather than frightening; whatever she was watching was approaching much faster than a person could walk, but maybe not as fast as a bird could fly.

However, when the invisible something, tracked by her gaze, reached the gate and so came to the road, she panicked & tried to whip round. I stayed on and turned her the other way against the hedge; but she was momentarily so afraid, she was going to go through or over the hedge with me, and I had to let her turn the other way.

Even though she was, as I say, a nappy pony, this whole episode was unlike anything she had done before or did afterwards, in the whole 14 years that I had her. Her napping, pretended horror of bin-bags, unscheduled runs home and monitoring of my balance so that she could drop a shoulder on me and tip me head first in the ditch were all totally deliberate; this time she even forgot to try and get me off when she had me at a disadvantage. She didn't try to run home, either; she just wanted away from that spot, and a few yards were enough.

A little way down the road I jumped off & led her back and on past the gate. Whatever it was had gone, and she went past without trouble.

I realise how daft this sounds, & though it is true I don't actually expect anyone to believe it, or think it anything but normal napping (I'm afraid that was what I would probably think if someone else had written it). However, I've often wondered if there was anything significant about that place and if anyone else ever had problems there. There are some creepy places in Wales, but this really wasn't one of them; a wide valley in bright sunshine. (The place was called something Gog? Means "Cuckoo", unfortunately enough ).

Remembering the way she exploded in genuine fear when the Thing reached the gate still makes my flesh creep.

 

[SpruceRI]

Both my mare and my friends' mare are particularly spooky about crossing a local river, whether through the river or over the bridge and I've been dumped in the river during a particularly vicious spook! Nothing odd there as my mare is terrible for that.

But my friends' mare never spooked or refused anywhere else but here. Both of them would happily cross the river over the other side of the lane.

Local lady said that area was well known in ancient times as a cross point for highwaymen.

Thought it a load of codswallop, but 10yrs later my girl still freaks when we get to that part of the lane.

 

[Hollycat]

Horses have loads of senses that are far better than ours. 200 years ago a radio or electric light would be callled witchcraft. Science has now caught up. Maybe in 100 years what we call ghosts will be something we understand? And realise our horses were right after all.

I have seen loads of things that I can't explain no matter how much of a scientific explaination I try to find. There simply is none for some phenomena I have encountered. Maybe one day there will be.

 

[blueberry]

I definitely believe they do see ghosts.
We bought our stable yard approx 5 years ago, we have experienced 'funny goings on' there but i have never seen anything at all.
My daughter who is autistic (not sure if this makes her more sensitive, but i wouldnt expect so because she is a very logical thinking person) has seen the same ghost on regular occassions. In fact the apparition was becoming rather 'bold' with her.
I myself have physcic tendencies (that i block out as very unwanted))but have seen nothing.

Our horses certainly seem to see something quite often.

Our yard is quite private, with only a couple of liveries it is quiet. I could write a book on the strange occurances that have happened with our horses that are not normal.

Even our most sensible older schoolmistress, who is a real lady and does not get spooked by anything once managed to uproot a wooden pole that she was tied to (and yes with a quick release not and baling twine) and concreted to the ground. She took off at a gallop, running into her field and away from her stable companions (still with the pole in tow). Moments earlier she stood rigid with her eyes -that at this point were on stalks- staring at a corner part of the yard. There was clearly nothing there, no sound or anything.

This is just one of scores of instances over the years. Reluctantly and at the point where we had, had enough and could not ignore what was happeneing anymore we have had the yard visited by a clairvoyant which proved interesting.

One day i decided to randomly take pics around the yard, of course i saw nothing through the lens but when i downloaded the pics onto the computer there was a clear white transparent image by our yard gate.
I kept this on our comuter to show disbelieving family members. This was the proof that i needed to prompt me to contact a clairvoyant.
A few months later i decided to send the pic to someone to analyse it. Strangely, when i went to find the pic to e-mail, the white image had gone competely from the photograph.

Now that was even more odd.

 

[Pedantic]

My beast wouldn't go past a house on hoilday, there was no reason for it, he did a 180 spin and a bit of a rear, it took a bit of getting past, I asked a local rider I bumped into, it turns out that the man that lives there isn't very nice and that he runs a dog boarding kennel ect, I think there are some animals buried in his long large garden and that his lordship sensed the unpleasant atmosphere of the place, no other reason for him to be spooky, he was fine the rest of the ride.

 

[lilpinkdonkey4]

wow what interesting experiences! I do think they can see stuff we cant, not sure if its ghosts ghoulies or whatever but there was definatly no excuse for what Beau did that day... honestly she is normally 'bombproof' a bird will fly out and yes she will jump but not dump me and run as fast as her legs will take her. Like other people say, she just wanted out... if she was being a prat she would have run home... not in the opposite direction! I understand about getting tense and the horse feeling this, but i wasnt tense the first time we went down there yet she still had a moment, im pretty sure i wasnt anticipating it the 2nd time as tbh i cant remember exact places she spooks.. i can hardly remember the day let alone where she spooked on a ride each time! She may have caught me unawares as my YO said today, i was probably off in my own little world again (they are getting to know me quite well). Anyway, thanks for such fab responses, glad to know im not alone (or not glad in the other way... spooky!!!).