Do some horses just not move past fear

[motherof2beasts!]

My boy is 15 so no spring chicken , I’ve posted very similar posts before and taken advice on board.

He has a fear of all livestock (bar sheep !) so cows, donkeys, pigs, goats. His go to fear wise is generally poops himself , trembles and runs whilst making that awful noise I have named the death snort. He lived next to pigs for a whole year and still reacted the same every time he saw them. He is as good as gold with road works/lorries/motorbikes etc. people will say “put him in a field with cows” but I’m not going to do that, would cause himself injury as it’s blind panic. Weirdly if they are head down eating, he kind of jogs past but if they are looking at him no chance.

Do you sometimes just accept that is them … rather than trying to fix it? He’s the kind of boy I could do tons of work with moving past cows in hand etc but then if those cows move to another field or are different cows , right back at square one(big baby)

He has no health conditions bar asthma which is managed well.

He’s gently plodded along past fire engines whizzing past with sirens on , it’s just living creatures and old men with flat caps and walking sticks ….

I’m at a point that I think do I just not keep pushing and hoping and just avoid , it’s also not that safe to keep trying as most are alongside busy ish roads. I’ve owned him 5 years and he’s come a long long way but this issue nope!

 

[Herewegoagain]

Maybe I’m lazy but if he’s that scared and has been for years I would just avoid.

Fear isn’t always based in logic so seeing something over and over and not being hurt by it won’t necessarily stop the fear. Think of it like humans and spiders, most people have seen thousands of spiders and never been hurt by one but it doesn’t stop them being scared.

I could live next to a field of snakes for 5 years and I’d still be scared

My mum had an Arab from a colt until he died in his thirties. He was on the same yard fi most of that time and had to walk past this old broke down tractor that literally sat there for 30 years. Every single time he went past it with his eyes on stalks doing a little dance. He was fine with moving traffic. Some fears just don’t leave us.

Maybe someone else will have better advice but I would take the easy route and avoid!

 

[motherof2beasts!]

Maybe I’m lazy but if he’s that scared and has been for years I would just avoid.

Fear isn’t always based in logic so seeing something over and over and not being hurt by it won’t necessarily stop the fear. Think of it like humans and spiders, most people have seen thousands of spiders and never been hurt by one but it doesn’t stop them being scared.

I could live next to a field of snakes for 5 years and I’d still be scared

My mum had an Arab from a colt until he died in his thirties. He was on the same yard fi most of that time and had to walk past this old broke down tractor that literally sat there for 30 years. Every single time he went past it with his eyes on stalks doing a little dance. He was fine with moving traffic. Some fears just don’t leave us.

Maybe someone else will have better advice but I would take the easy route and avoid!

Yes I’m leaning more towards this, may need to move area as they are everywhere now, hopefully they’ll go back in for winter. My last yard had very few but all routes seem to lead to horse eating cows/goats/pigs. He’s also scared of shetlands

 

[motherof2beasts!]

Maybe I’m lazy but if he’s that scared and has been for years I would just avoid.

Fear isn’t always based in logic so seeing something over and over and not being hurt by it won’t necessarily stop the fear. Think of it like humans and spiders, most people have seen thousands of spiders and never been hurt by one but it doesn’t stop them being scared.

I could live next to a field of snakes for 5 years and I’d still be scared

My mum had an Arab from a colt until he died in his thirties. He was on the same yard fi most of that time and had to walk past this old broke down tractor that literally sat there for 30 years. Every single time he went past it with his eyes on stalks doing a little dance. He was fine with moving traffic. Some fears just don’t leave us.

Maybe someone else will have better advice but I would take the easy route and avoid!

I’m terrified of frogs, always have been , always will be so maybe he’s the same. Stems from mr toad from wind in the willows

 

[Herewegoagain]

I’m terrified of frogs, always have been , always will be so maybe he’s the same. Stems from mr toad from wind in the willows

Mr toad is so creepy!

 

[Spot the Merry Risk]

I owned my cob for the last 26 of his 31 years, and he was just as yours is OP. Wasn’t cows for him, but pigs (yes we bought pigs in the end, didn’t help), yellow flowers, anything where it wasn’t normally situated caused a problem.

He was rock solid in traffic.

At 29 he nearly flattened me in the field when a tractor appeared two fields away, where it never normally was.

Someone once told me he wasn’t an idiot, he had a healthy sense of self preservation, and tbh they were right.

 

[motherof2beasts!]

I owned my cob for the last 26 of his 31 years, and he was just as yours is OP. Wasn’t cows for him, but pigs (yes we bought pigs in the end, didn’t help), yellow flowers, anything where it wasn’t normally situated caused a problem.

He was rock solid in traffic.

At 29 he nearly flattened me in the field when a tractor appeared two fields away, where it never normally was.

Someone once told me he wasn’t an idiot, he had a healthy sense of self preservation, and tbh they were right.

They are very sensitive little souls aren’t they. Someone told me cows stare , so prey animals assume they are about to be eaten , no idea what’s so terrifying but it’s not something that seems to be working its way out.

 

[SEL]

If you stuck me in a room of spiders I'd blind panic too.

Both my mares lived next to a pig at my old livery. One would happily walk up to strange pigs & sniff / lick them the other would be doing her best passage and feeling like a little bomb. She also lived next to cows for a year but still panics if she meets them now. Otherwise rock solid.

The one who licks pigs started her life on a small holding so she's met everything. Alpacas? No problem. Trees changing colour in autumn = meltdown...

 

[Spot the Merry Risk]

@motherof2beasts! when our pigs got out of their pen Harley chased them, trying to stamp on them, he went from a gentle kind horse to a potential killer.

My other horse, who I had from five months, always seemed like an old soul, whereas Harley was living his first life and everything was new!

 

[motherof2beasts!]

If you stuck me in a room of spiders I'd blind panic too.

Both my mares lived next to a pig at my old livery. One would happily walk up to strange pigs & sniff / lick them the other would be doing her best passage and feeling like a little bomb. She also lived next to cows for a year but still panics if she meets them now. Otherwise rock solid.

The one who licks pigs starred her life on a small holding so she's met everything. Alpacas? No problem. Trees changing colour in autumn = meltdown...

Yes I think that’s just who he is, I know little of his history but reckon he was a town horse rather than countryside. I think I may just need to accept he will always hate them , at least they go away for winter but schooling all summer ….. boring!

 

[motherof2beasts!]

@motherof2beasts! when our pigs got out of their pen Harley chased them, trying to stamp on them, he went from a gentle kind horse to a potential killer.

My other horse, who I had from five months, always seemed like an old soul, whereas Harley was living his first life and everything was new!

Haha pig killer, I think Apollo would run through a fence to save himself, but he may turn murderous who knows …

 

[HaplessHorse]

He’s also scared of shetlands

Who isn’t scared of shetlands sometimes?

I had one who was terrified of Pygmy goats and tractors among lots of other things, he once had a mini-bolt at a tractor that was literally a mile away. Not to mention when one turned up behind him . He was 17 at the time and just never settled, I resorted to letting him be a trick pony so he could avoid pony-eating tractors and goats. He was pretty dramatic about everything…

Erin once savaged a sheep that got into her pen, she chased off. She’s good with sheep when we’re out, not so much when they’re in with her!

 

[Nancykitt]

My AJ hates cows too...we had a lovely hack yesterday but there was a point where I refused to go down a certain road because I could see cows grazing on one of the crofts. He doesn't do anything horrendous or really dangerous but he snorts, dances and bit and is clearly very tense. He's 16 now and has been like this since I first got him.
On the way back home we saw a deer leaping about in a field next to the path. It actually made me jump because it sprang out of the trees. AJ did not bat an eyelid.
We were out on a hunt ride once and had to ride through a field of cows. There must have been 50 horses and about 6 cows; AJ was the only horse who reacted badly.

There will be times when he has to go past cows as they are all over the place up here. He does 'recover' fairly quickly once he's past them so we may both have to put up with it on occasion.
But if I've got the choice and there's an alternative route I'll take it.

The spider analogy is a good one!

 

[Exasperated]

My boy is 15 so no spring chicken , I’ve posted very similar posts before and taken advice on board.

He has a fear of all livestock (bar sheep !) so cows, donkeys, pigs, goats. His go to fear wise is generally poops himself , trembles and runs whilst making that awful noise I have named the death snort. He lived next to pigs for a whole year and still reacted the same every time he saw them. He is as good as gold with road works/lorries/motorbikes etc. people will say “put him in a field with cows” but I’m not going to do that, would cause himself injury as it’s blind panic. Weirdly if they are head down eating, he kind of jogs past but if they are looking at him no chance.

Do you sometimes just accept that is them … rather than trying to fix it? He’s the kind of boy I could do tons of work with moving past cows in hand etc but then if those cows move to another field or are different cows , right back at square one(big baby)

He has no health conditions bar asthma which is managed well.

He’s gently plodded along past fire engines whizzing past with sirens on , it’s just living creatures and old men with flat caps and walking sticks ….

I’m at a point that I think do I just not keep pushing and hoping and just avoid , it’s also not that safe to keep trying as most are alongside busy ish roads. I’ve owned him 5 years and he’s come a long long way but this issue nope!

Yes, definitely come across very similar behaviour with livestock, including types of livestock said horse actually lived and grazed amongst very happily.
I actually think it has to do with eyesight. Nothing like a disease or damage that a vet could identify, but how well the horse can focus on the moving ‘shape’ in a green field - those little pale blobs bobbing about - lambs - same as back home, and fine once they get close enough to the wall to properly identify (assuming we hadn’t already left the area in a huge rush!).
Noisy big traffic - no issue, it basically keeps to the expected confines of the road, reliable in a way that winter- bare fields suddenly full of unpredictable movement, isn’t. Likewise innocent Ramblers.....
Probably need spectacles for myopia, I think you’ll just have to live with it, and be grateful you don’t live near any spiky bushes in the heather that suddenly rise up into a full-blown red stag! Bang next to a busy road! Scrape me off the moon.....

 

[SEL]

be grateful you don’t live near any spiky bushes in the heather that suddenly rise up into a full-blown red stag! Bang next to a busy road! Scrape me off the moon.....

Pigeons are bad enough! Why do they have to make such a racket when I ride past??

I can remember being on cannock chase many years ago and riding right past a doe in the hedge. I was praying she'd freeze because I knew the old boy hadn't clocked her and wasn't convinced I'd sit a 180 spin! I offered up a very quiet thank you..

 

[Caol Ila]

My old horse was exactly like the OP's. Terrified of cows. She'd turn herself inside out, utter those loud dragon snorts, and would throw herself around in her efforts to get out of dodge. I got her to the point where we could creep past them giving them a bug-eyed stare so long as they were placidly grazing, but if they looked at us, I could kiss my arse goodbye. Had that horse for 21 years and never got her over that.

I did try. I remember one time the neighbour of my yard put some cows in the field next to our XC field. Great, I thought. We have this big field to work in and slowly make our way closer to them, rather than the usual thing of encountering them whilst on a road, which is the wrong time for fixing anything. Well, once I got within a certain distance or a cow raised its head and looked at us, my horse went from 0-60 in a second and was so insensible and scared that you coudn't get her to think about it. I gave up before I fell off.

 

[motherof2beasts!]

My old horse was exactly like the OP's. Terrified of cows. She'd turn herself inside out, utter those loud dragon snorts, and would throw herself around in her efforts to get out of dodge. I got her to the point where we could creep past them giving them a bug-eyed stare so long as they were placidly grazing, but if they looked at us, I could kiss my arse goodbye. Had that horse for 21 years and never got her over that.

I did try. I remember one time the neighbour of my yard put some cows in the field next to our XC field. Great, I thought. We have this big field to work in and slowly make our way closer to them, rather than the usual thing of encountering them whilst on a road, which is the wrong time for fixing anything. Well, once I got within a certain distance or a cow raised its head and looked at us, my horse went from 0-60 in a second and was so insensible and scared that you coudn't get her to think about it. I gave up before I fell off.

This is exactly him blind panic running , which then leads to me being a blind panic and my brain can’t process, so I’m not even trying to stop ….. maybe just screaming “help me” even if no one’s there. Being out of control is scary as you get older, i loved it at a teen .

 

[motherof2beasts!]

My AJ hates cows too...we had a lovely hack yesterday but there was a point where I refused to go down a certain road because I could see cows grazing on one of the crofts. He doesn't do anything horrendous or really dangerous but he snorts, dances and bit and is clearly very tense. He's 16 now and has been like this since I first got him.
On the way back home we saw a deer leaping about in a field next to the path. It actually made me jump because it sprang out of the trees. AJ did not bat an eyelid.
We were out on a hunt ride once and had to ride through a field of cows. There must have been 50 horses and about 6 cows; AJ was the only horse who reacted badly.

There will be times when he has to go past cows as they are all over the place up here. He does 'recover' fairly quickly once he's past them so we may both have to put up with it on occasion.
But if I've got the choice and there's an alternative route I'll take it.

The spider analogy is a good one!

I also loved the spider analogy, never really thought of it like that for some reason as seems to obvious .

Cows do stare so wonder if they think they are about to be dinner ….

 

[motherof2beasts!]

Yes, definitely come across very similar behaviour with livestock, including types of livestock said horse actually lived and grazed amongst very happily.
I actually think it has to do with eyesight. Nothing like a disease or damage that a vet could identify, but how well the horse can focus on the moving ‘shape’ in a green field - those little pale blobs bobbing about - lambs - same as back home, and fine once they get close enough to the wall to properly identify (assuming we hadn’t already left the area in a huge rush!).
Noisy big traffic - no issue, it basically keeps to the expected confines of the road, reliable in a way that winter- bare fields suddenly full of unpredictable movement, isn’t. Likewise innocent Ramblers.....
Probably need spectacles for myopia, I think you’ll just have to live with it, and be grateful you don’t live near any spiky bushes in the heather that suddenly rise up into a full-blown red stag! Bang next to a busy road! Scrape me off the moon.....

He smells them way before they are even in sight, his head suddenly hits my chin and the jogging begins ….

 

[Esmae]

I had an old Criollo polo pony. Drop dead sensible with all things except sheep. Sheep in a field were fine. If a few moved they were fine. If one moved it was fine. If the lot moved it was not fine. Cue pony disappearing at very high speed, back to Chile if possible. I have no idea why. I had a youngster out with him at one point. 6 months old and the sheep in the next field decided to move all at once to the other side. Old boy went nuts. 6 month old stood scratching his head in puzzlement, wondered what the hell was going on and carried on eating. Who knows what goes on in their heads at times.

 

[Exasperated]

He smells them way before they are even in sight, his head suddenly hits my chin and the jogging begins ….

?nose net saturated with aromatic oils? It’s usually vision, or sound, first triggers flight in horses!
Sunglasses, ear muffs, nose net and a stoic companion pony - try that....

 

[sarcasm_queen]

Mine is scared of sheep. He lives in the middle of a bunch of sheep farms, sees sheep every day.
He’s still scared of sheep

Some of them are just scared of stuff, and for the most part, I don’t think it’s worth trying to force them to get over it.

 

[oldjumper]

My boy is 15 so no spring chicken , I’ve posted very similar posts before and taken advice on board.

He has a fear of all livestock (bar sheep !) so cows, donkeys, pigs, goats. His go to fear wise is generally poops himself , trembles and runs whilst making that awful noise I have named the death snort. He lived next to pigs for a whole year and still reacted the same every time he saw them. He is as good as gold with road works/lorries/motorbikes etc. people will say “put him in a field with cows” but I’m not going to do that, would cause himself injury as it’s blind panic. Weirdly if they are head down eating, he kind of jogs past but if they are looking at him no chance.

Do you sometimes just accept that is them … rather than trying to fix it? He’s the kind of boy I could do tons of work with moving past cows in hand etc but then if those cows move to another field or are different cows , right back at square one(big baby)

He has no health conditions bar asthma which is managed well.

He’s gently plodded along past fire engines whizzing past with sirens on , it’s just living creatures and old men with flat caps and walking sticks ….

I’m at a point that I think do I just not keep pushing and hoping and just avoid , it’s also not that safe to keep trying as most are alongside busy ish roads. I’ve owned him 5 years and he’s come a long long way but this issue nope!

Treat training around livestock like anything else you train your horse to do. Introduce the process unmounted in a quiet place and do it gradually, patiently and make sure every tiny step forward is positively rewarded. You need to take introductions ‘one cow (or sheep, donkey, turkey) at a time’. Def no flooding which just adds to the fear. When a positive connection is well established it helps to add the word to horses vocabulary of instructions so when strange cows are encountered elsewhere the word will reassure them it’s something they know. Daft as this might sound it really does work. Good luck!

 

[motherof2beasts!]

sadly my boy isn’t very intelligent and we have done this a lot …. He’ll get used to that one, if I’m on the ground, but if that one moves to another field , or we see an identical one elsewhere , game over.

 

[Exasperated]

sadly my boy isn’t very intelligent and we have done this a lot …. He’ll get used to that one, if I’m on the ground, but if that one moves to another field , or we see an identical one elsewhere , game over.

Sounds about right.
As he gets older, reactions will probably get less frantic, tho’....
My money on spectacles.

 

[motherof2beasts!]

Sounds about right.
As he gets older, reactions will probably get less frantic, tho’....
My money on spectacles.

I hope so but he is 15 I’ve owned him 5 years, he was more of a field ornament for 5 years before I got him, was with a dealer before that and Irish travellers before that, so isn’t very mature, but remains quite scared. Last week he stood on my toe , I screamed, and honestly he trembled and shot around for ages after, like I was going to beat him (he’s never even had a teeny smack off me) even with my toe blue I felt more sorry for him , he must have been through it.

 

[Boulty]

I think if he’s gotten to that age and is still so phobic it’s unlikely you’ll be able to get him to accept these things happily so it may just be a case of working around things the best you can.

The Welsh D I used to have bolted down a road with me because a cow looked at him funny. I tried hours of hand grazing him near fields with cows in etc but he was never really comfortable with them.

He lived in places where cows were turned out with the horses a few times. On both occasions he spent weeks hiding from them behind other horses whenever they were vaguely close before sort of accepting they weren’t going to eat him. On both occasions it was only THOSE PARTICULAR COWS that were sort of ok. He couldn’t generalise it to the rest of their species. He did stop the tendency to leg it if one looked at him from over a fence but he was never “happy” about them.

All other animals including pigs, goats, sheep, donkeys, peacocks etc that he had an initial positive or neutral experience with / that he learned would move away if he chased them he was totally fine with but he just could not get over his initial bad experience with cows.

 

[Lois Lame]

They are very sensitive little souls aren’t they. Someone told me cows stare , so prey animals assume they are about to be eaten , no idea what’s so terrifying but it’s not something that seems to be working its way out.

Cows stare all right. A staring cow has always worried me (and I do very much like cows). A cow pulling at grass is a much more pleasant sight.

 

[motherof2beasts!]

I think if he’s gotten to that age and is still so phobic it’s unlikely you’ll be able to get him to accept these things happily so it may just be a case of working around things the best you can.

The Welsh D I used to have bolted down a road with me because a cow looked at him funny. I tried hours of hand grazing him near fields with cows in etc but he was never really comfortable with them.

He lived in places where cows were turned out with the horses a few times. On both occasions he spent weeks hiding from them behind other horses whenever they were vaguely close before sort of accepting they weren’t going to eat him. On both occasions it was only THOSE PARTICULAR COWS that were sort of ok. He couldn’t generalise it to the rest of their species. He did stop the tendency to leg it if one looked at him from over a fence but he was never “happy” about them.

All other animals including pigs, goats, sheep, donkeys, peacocks etc that he had an initial positive or neutral experience with / that he learned would move away if he chased them he was totally fine with but he just could not get over his initial bad experience with cows.

This is exactly what Apollo did, we were on a country lane (steep hill) , we both spotted cows lying down with babies to our right (very close), he stood and stared, they started to get up and he took off down said lane. Equilab said we were doing 27mph , only lasted a few seconds till past the cow field , was very lucky no cars In that time. To be fair to him I was so stunned I didn’t really do anything to try and stop him in those moments.

 

[Boulty]

This is exactly what Apollo did, we were on a country lane (steep hill) , we both spotted cows lying down with babies to our right (very close), he stood and stared, they started to get up and he took off down said lane. Equilab said we were doing 27mph , only lasted a few seconds till past the cow field , was very lucky no cars In that time. To be fair to him I was so stunned I didn’t really do anything to try and stop him in those moments.

Mine sideways teleported onto wrong side of road, barged his way through the 2 horses we were with that tried to block him in against the hedge and just set off at full gallop. I sat there not daring to breath / do anything that might unbalance him as this was back when he was shod in front. After 30 seconds or so there was a road planings / gravel pull in that I managed to steer him into with intentions of doing a one rein stop but at around the same time he suddenly realised his mates hadn’t come with him (& at this point he wouldn’t go anywhere on his own) so suddenly lost the desire to keep going anyway (which was a good job as we were coming up to a junction anyway!)