Carnivorous horse-eating sheep (spooking or napping?!)

[ponyparty]

I hacked Bruce out on my own for the first time on Saturday. I had been out with him before, with my bf on foot for backup - he was actually better than he usually is with other horses! (Less spooky). So I was fairly confident he would be OK.

He was.... for the first stretch of road. Then we turned off onto another road, with 2 fields of sheep on the right hand side. As we got to the first field, we hit problems - he planted, then ran backwards; I got him to stand, tried to walk him on, he spun round, every time I sent him forward in the direction I wanted to go he would do little bunny hops and threaten to rear... All the while with cars oncoming in both directions (they were fab and stopped for us). I saw no choice but to go back in the direction he wanted for a few metres into a driveway, to allow the cars pass. I then sat still and quiet for maybe a minute, and all of a sudden put my leg on, shouted "get on with you" and gave him a tap with the whip, and off we went... Could feel momentum slowing as we passed the sheep field so trotted him on, past both fields and all the way along to the next turning. There we were on a much quieter and less scary road, and the rest of the hack went without issue (including going back past the sheep towards home!).

I was ecstatic to have got him past the sheep, and was sure it was napping and a bit of naughtiness.

Sunday I thought - strike while the iron is hot, let's do it again! So off we went... got past the first field of sheep without any issues (in walk). "Progress!", I thought...

As we drew near to the second field of sheep, the little sods all starting meh-ing and running over towards the gate and thin bit of hedge closest to us!! ALL of them! We had a repeat of Saturday's battle but worse and in the end, I got off and led him past. He was running backwards, there was a ditch on our side of the road, and the road was surprisingly busy for 8am on a Sunday, didn't want to risk it. Led him past no problem, he was still jumpy when we got round the corner but I got back on and away we went.

I did a bit of schooling, made him work in an outline, did a bit of leg yield and shoulder in, transitions, kept him busy.... He seemed to relax, so I gave us both a rest, giving him a slightly looser rein... and on a really quiet stretch of road, he did it again! Planted, ran backwards, and no amount of waiting and then driving him on was working. After a couple of minutes a man went past walking his dog, in our direction, and Bruce was quite happy to follow his lead. After a short stretch the man turned off and we continued; he was on his toes but nothing too bad. We were soon facing towards home, and he was clearly eager to get back, although still spooky - he spooked at a drain cover (not something that would usually bother him!). Think he'd just wound himself up by this point. It was a quite breezy on Sunday morning, to be fair, so this probably contributed too.

So... Is he napping?! Or is he genuinely scared? I can understand the sheep thing, but not doing it on the quiet road. Did I do the right thing getting off and leading him past the sheep? Is there anything I could have done differently? Should I have just carried on making him work, to keep his mind off potential excuses to spook?

Will be taking my bf with me next time as backup... But any suggestions of ways to improve this behaviour will be welcomed sorry for the essay!

 

[ihatework]

Well yes he is napping, but it's most likely triggered by underlying anxiety/insecurity/spookiness.

It's the usual thing, you need to build his confidence in you as a rider so he is happy to go where you want him to.
Is he a new ride to you? Has he always done this? Is he getting worse?
What is he being fed? Any other things he is doing that you haven't really thought are connected but might be subtle signs of discomfort?

It sounds like you handled the situation well. I'd be inclined to keep him hacking regularly but try to go with company round the nappy routes in the short term. Start following, then lead, then go solo again

 

[ironhorse]

Do you have any bridleways which go through fields of sheep? This is the best way to get him used to them so that he ignores them and listens to you - unlike cattle they won't mob you in the field , they'll either run away or stay put so you can ride through and stop a couple of times to let him take it all in. We were at livery on a farm which rented out its fields for sheep each summer, and there were literally hundreds of bouncy lambs to ride through on the bridleway - my horse soon became very blasé about them!
Otherwise, great advice from ihatework - as long as he's sensible to lead it's never a bad idea to lead them past a problem area if they they won't go forward.

 

[FfionWinnie]

Hm well I am a shepherd so naturally my horses not only live with sheep they see me moving sheep around and doing all sorts with sheep.

However, apparently other sheep in fields could still be dangerous! My WB was a total idiot when he saw sheep out and about. However he's now got used to that too. Just keep at it would be my advice. I'd not get off during a battle. Get off before it starts if necessary and spend time going backwards and forwards past them then get on. Mine is 17h so I don't get off as I can't easily get back on lol

 

[ponyparty]

Well yes he is napping, but it's most likely triggered by underlying anxiety/insecurity/spookiness.

It's the usual thing, you need to build his confidence in you as a rider so he is happy to go where you want him to.
Is he a new ride to you? Has he always done this? Is he getting worse?
What is he being fed? Any other things he is doing that you haven't really thought are connected but might be subtle signs of discomfort?

It sounds like you handled the situation well. I'd be inclined to keep him hacking regularly but try to go with company round the nappy routes in the short term. Start following, then lead, then go solo again

- Been riding him since October/November last year; have only started hacking him out on the last few months, and then not that frequently as there isn't often someone to go out with. And therein lies the problem, I suspect!
- He was very unfit when I first started riding him, he had been off work for a year after a fracture in his knee; he's like a different horse now. Will have to post some pics actually, when I get round to it...
- He's fed on (I think!) cool mix, chaff and bran. I don't usually make the feeds up haha think that's what's in it though!
- He works beautifully in the indoor school, though he can lose his sharp edge as he feels most relaxed in there - so he gets a bit sluggish in there sometimes.
- He also works beautifully in the outdoor school now; but can be spooky. He's improved so much over the last few months, it's amazing really. We did have some issues at first, he bronced down the school, had me off and trampled me on one occasion. A previous livery, who knew his old owner, then told me that he was unrideable in their outdoor school and just bronced off :-/ but he's absolutely fine now, only "normal" spooking these days!
- No signs of discomfort as far as I can see/feel.

Definitely going to keep it up regularly but with company for sure. He will quite happily lead if there's another horse there, apart from if it's something REALLY scary!

 

[ponyparty]

Do you have any bridleways which go through fields of sheep? This is the best way to get him used to them so that he ignores them and listens to you - unlike cattle they won't mob you in the field , they'll either run away or stay put so you can ride through and stop a couple of times to let him take it all in. We were at livery on a farm which rented out its fields for sheep each summer, and there were literally hundreds of bouncy lambs to ride through on the bridleway - my horse soon became very blasé about them!
Otherwise, great advice from ihatework - as long as he's sensible to lead it's never a bad idea to lead them past a problem area if they they won't go forward.

Not many bridleways at all round by us, and certainly not through fields of sheep, unfortunately! I would have loved to have just taken him up to the gate and let him get used to the sheep, but on a 50mph road I just couldn't risk it. It wouldn't have been so bad if the bleddy things hadn't all run directly at us, it was as if they were expecting to be fed or something!

 

[ponyparty]

Hm well I am a shepherd so naturally my horses not only live with sheep they see me moving sheep around and doing all sorts with sheep.

However, apparently other sheep in fields could still be dangerous! My WB was a total idiot when he saw sheep out and about. However he's now got used to that too. Just keep at it would be my advice. I'd not get off during a battle. Get off before it starts if necessary and spend time going backwards and forwards past them then get on. Mine is 17h so I don't get off as I can't easily get back on lol

Yeah might try that next time, allow more time, lead him back and forth past. Will need to pick my time wisely though to make sure the road isn't too busy. It's not as if I can take a different route either, the way to our (meagre) bridleways is via that road. Sigh. At least Bruce is only 15.3 haha and I made friends with a nice lady round the corner who used to have horses and still has a mounting block conveniently on her drive..!