dealing with a horse that spooks when another horse does

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thinlizzy

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My horse is four and tbx i hack out 99% of the time,by myself i have rode out twice this week with another horse and this other horse is flighty/spooky and it is unsettling mine when she spooks.How would/do you deal with this and would you stop hacking out with said horse?It is a whole new experiance with other horses , he is fine by himself.
thank-you
 
I would stop hacking out with them tbh, its difficult cos you want to be nice to a friend and help them hack out their flighty one but your horse needs to not be fussed and he is!

If you wanted to keep hacking out, I'd follow the advice given for people with spooky horses. However I think you're probably fighting a losing battle as the natural horse behaviour is that if one spooks there MUST be something scary so they all run!
 
Thanks its not nice but i dont want to create problems with my own hes good hacking solo and want to keep it that way !
 
This happened with me and a friend off my yard - none of our horses are particularly spooky out but both of them put together..they just wound one another up! Eventually we had to stop hacking out together :( sad, but better all round!
 
I'd second the above - stop hacking out with your friend :(

Horse's copy each others behaviour, especially babies, so you will end up making your horse spooky by the sounds of it.

You'll have to have an imaginary friend - who has an imaginary horse - to keep you company!!
 
I too would stop hacking out with your friend especially, as he is very young so really it's important to establish a good solid confident hacker and if this means going out alone then alone it is!

Goodluck.x
 
My horse is 31 and will spook if my friends horse does if he's behind. I'm usually in front so then he'd fine, I like to be in front because then I can see any potential hazard, like a fern or leaf blowing the wrong way !

I think due to your horses age, you should be hacking with a sensible horse, try going in front, otherwise I think it will spoil it for you when you go out on your own he will be the same, he'd be sort of learning it I would think if you carried on
 
Horses are very good at winding each other up.

I would just stop riding out with this particular horse - it would drive me bonkers!
 
I have to agree ^^. Horses are very quick learners - look at how weaving and crib biting catch on. Your horse might think it's great fun (I think spookers quite enjoy spooking really) and then you could have problems.

Such a shame - I tried taking my boy out with my friend's pony who's 30. Once and only once, friend was decked twice. Shy thought it was all great fun, most exciting thing ever. NOT :D So that had to stop, even tho friend didn't click on why. sm x
 
I mean one horse does it, others see it, it looks good, so off they go too ! Sorry, is that way off topic - oops. Having a brunette moment :D
 
Your all right about hacking solo hacked out today solo youd think i was on a right old timer a mile and a half up a very busy road trucks lorries,off road past huge combine harvesters in cornfields my little angel
 
Ditto the advice about refraining from hacking your youngter out with this horse for the mo.

Sounds like your friends horse is the one who needs to go out with a sensible hack, does it spook a tcertain things i.e. tractors, bins etc?

Maybe your friend needs some help to deal with the horses fears - some work desensitising it to whatever it spooks at. Maybe if you can help her out there you will get a safe horse to hack with.

If they do just wind each other up (I don't hack with one horse who does that with mine) then maybe not hacking together would be best for both.
 
I would stop hacking out with your friend too. My bombproof horse goes mad if the other horse I normally hack out with spooks, my friends horse only spooks when hes infront.
If I do hack out with my friend. I insist on going in front and if anything scary is coming up I get her to tuck her horses head behind my horses bum (If you can trust your horse not to kick). Obviously that only works if the horse isn't spooky when its following another?
 
Without being horrible to your friend, I'd say keep the taking as a solo thing or go with a less flighty horse if you want to get your boy used to company. This is such an important stage with a baby as I'm sure you know and you want to keep going forwards - not backwards with his training. It maybe a good idea to try desensitizing your friends horse to particular objects, if any, that it finds spooky. This would also be good for your youngster too. Once a horse has started to continuously spook out on hacks at silly things, it can be a really difficult behavior to rectify.
 
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