Do you think she would do this with me?

Cornish on the Cob

Cornish on the Cob

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Hi guys, a few weeks ago, I posted about my horse decking my friend while she was riding her. She was quite badly hurt (back etc) Anyway, being a nervous rider myself and she is my first proper horse, I have lost a bit of trust with her as she is usually the best behaved horse on the yard, only 5 but known as The Geriatric! Anyway, my friend rode her past a large hose reel and she FREAKED! :eek: I am still riding her no problem but someone suggested she may not have done this with me as, although my friend is very confident and a good rider, at the end of the day, I'm her 'mum'. I think that my friend may have got complacent as Bridie is so good usually. What do you think? :)
 
I think a lot of people will say you are attributing human thought to your horse. But. I have a horse who is way too big for me, bullies one of my friends who will have nothing to do with him and had a terrible reputation in that respect at his old home but with me he's a pure kitty all cuddle and kisses. I think some people connect and some don't. Horses could be the same without it meaning we're humanising them.
 
What I'm trying to say is maybe she would have trusted me to get her past that hose reel as she can be quite nervy past scary things and maybe my friend got complacent as she rides her every couple of weeks and used to ride her quite a lot when I was having confidence issues.
 
Or maybe you would have been a bit less strict with her in the moment, in a good way. You might have let her stop and look, or walk a bit further away and diffused the situation. Young laid back horses can sometimes react strongly to what some people would consider an reasonable aid because they are not used to being forced/told off and are genuinely unsure not disobedient. Your friend might not have done anything severe but she might have temporarily forgotten your horse is as young as she is, as she is so chilled. She may also have not wanted to lose face on a horse she considers 'easy' - you know what they say about pride and falls!!
 
There may have been lots of contributing factors to the accident. For example, your horse may have done a little spook, your friend may have lost a bit of balance and pulled on her reins whilst clinging on with her leg, which then made you horse react more to the original spooky thing resulting in your friend coming off.

Every accident is different, everyone reacts to things differently, so probably if you had been riding you would have stayed on as the horse probably wouldn't have reacted in the same way (if that make sense)
 
Yes I know what you mean. I think the way we deal with our horses when they are nervous differs. I know when she is just being silly I'm like "don't be so b****y stupid and get on" but if she is nervous, I let her analyse the situation so perhaps my friend reacted differently to what I would have. I hope this is the reason as, if she did it with me, I don't know what I would do.
 
I agree with both comments above.

I also wonder if your girl picks up on the fact you're not always the most confident and puts herself in the place of looking after you. I know when we first got our lovely cob for my very novicey OH, he took great care of OH - if he had a wobble, cob would slow down or even stop if he thought he might lose OH - it was very sweet. It also changed as OH became more competent :rolleyes:
 
Oddjob's Wife said:
I agree with both comments above.

I also wonder if your girl picks up on the fact you're not always the most confident and puts herself in the place of looking after you. I know when we first got our lovely cob for my very novicey OH, he took great care of OH - if he had a wobble, cob would slow down or even stop if he thought he might lose OH - it was very sweet. It also changed as OH became more competent :rolleyes:
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It's funny you say that because I always thought horses pick up on your nerves and play up, but Bridie seems to look after me! When my friend rides her, she says Bridie goes a lot faster with her but she plods along with me!
 
Some horses just do not like to be ridden "correctly" and object to hands and legs and much prefer the sloppyness of the novice rider. I think they also know when you need looking after so I wouldn' worry to much and carry on as you are. I know because I have one of these which is great. She makes me look like some great rider when really I ride like s**t!;):D
 
Maybe she was not alert to the fact that the hose reel could pose a problem? I'm quickly learning that when you ride a horse you have to start thinking like a horse and stay aware of their body language. That way you can at least be ready for the spooks and also help the horse keep calm. We were hacking out last week when a Lancaster bomber flew very low overhead. We all expected the horses to spook but they never batted an eyelid. Guess their DNA isn't programmed for flying predators but hoses ..them be snakes :eek:
 
TrasaM said:
Maybe she was not alert to the fact that the hose reel could pose a problem? I'm quickly learning that when you ride a horse you have to start thinking like a horse and stay aware of their body language. That way you can at least be ready for the spooks and also help the horse keep calm. We were hacking out last week when a Lancaster bomber flew very low overhead. We all expected the horses to spook but they never batted an eyelid. Guess their DNA isn't programmed for flying predators but hoses ..them be snakes :eek:
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LOL! We had that happen on a hack and an American fighter jet went over really low and we were all like :eek: and horses didn't bat an eyelid but as for the leaf on the floor.....
 
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