Do your horses act weird in windy and/or wet weather?

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SpruceRI

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Went down to feed the ponies tonight and none of them would approach their feed area. Even my Shettie whose not the nervy type.

The youngster just kept charging about full throttle all over the place and Rosie stood in the field looking into the middle distance.

It was very windy and pretty dark.

Rosie wouldn't let me near her (until I put her feed down), which is normal when it's windy. In the end I had to take the feed to them as they didn't want to come to me.

Shettie gobbled his down, youngster was still flying about after every other mouthful, and Rosie would only eat her tea if I stood next to her patting her neck.

They are very odd!
 
Maybe it's not the wind, have any stangers been around upsetting them or farmers working along the hedge ect, we had this last year, they seemed to think something was on the other side of the field and kept looking running round agitated, found 3 bikes at the side of the gate, I put them in my 4x4 and dumped them, some kids being where they shouldn't had obviously been upsetting them, bloody trespassers.
 
Well I don't know - and hope not! We've got a footpath running down the side of the adjacent field.

But they've not eaten any of the hay I put in the rack this morning, and that's round the top end of the field.

It's extremely boggy up the top end which it always is, so though unpleasant, they're used to it.
 
Horses can't hear as well when it's windy. As horses are prey animals and use their hearing to stop them being eaten (well in the wild, but try telling a horse that it's not wild any more!) so they are more jumpy when it's windy! Makes sense to me anyway!
Berlin was a bit joggy today, well mostly he was fine but we saw another horse on the horizon out hacking and then he jogged and spooked on the way home. He's not normally tense like that when he's hacking with another horse. Maiden on the other hand doesn't care a jot!
 
My pony acts a bit silly if I ride him in wet or windy weather. He's just more on his toes and speedy than usual
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Currently my horse is scared of his own shadow!
He hates the rain on his face!
Couldn't catch him tonight, just through a hoolie!
Then calmed down and came in!
Very weird.
We seem to spook at just about everything at the moment!
Not nice especially when riding!
Roll on the summer
 
My horse tells me that she is more wary on windy days because that is when lions hunt. Apparently it is much easier to eat a horse without it noticing if you sneak upwind on a windy day, whereas calm moonlit nights are nearly always lion-free.
So she says, anyway.
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My horse tells me that she is more wary on windy days because that is when lions hunt. Apparently it is much easier to eat a horse without it noticing if you sneak upwind on a windy day, whereas calm moonlit nights are nearly always lion-free.
So she says, anyway.
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Well in that case my newfie would be lion fodder!! My welshy on the other hand would live forever as she's a fool no matter what the weather
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Love it Shilasdair! Used to know a nutty TB who pretty much felt the same about puddles and aligators!

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My horse has words of wisdom about puddles too -
'Why go through when you can go round? There is no point getting your hooves wet and risking anacondas unless it covers the whole road. If your owner should ask you to walk through a puddle for no apparent reason, it is a sign they are mad and you should take control and ignore them'
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All joking aside . . .

Horse vision is based on seeing movement, not detail. On a windy day, where everything is moving, it is substantially more difficult to pick out potential threats so horses who are already vigilant tend to be significantly more stressed.

Same with hearing - the constant sound and changing winds make it very hard to pick out and locate sources, which results in ramped up awareness. While YOU may not think this is sensible there are centuries of breeding telling your horse his life depends on it.

Besides, next time you're walking through a dark, unfamiliar area have one of your friends run up and grab you unexpectedly - bet you'll react a whole lot more "enthusiastically" than if they did the same thing to you at home!
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Like people, horses are not all the same level of "reactive" so obviously they aren't all going to be affected by such things in the same way.
 
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All joking aside . . .



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I wasn't entirely joking re lions. Predators do hunt on nights without a moon...and with a strongish steady wind...as it is easier to sneak up on prey (horses) without being spotted or smelled.
So horses and other prey animals have to be more vigilant (spooky) in weather where predators have the advantage.
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Can I add a little story about wildlife photography?
Before night vision cameras were invented, wildlife photographers were reliant on moonlight to see/capture films of lions hunting at night...but every moonlit night...the lions lay around sleeping....which led wildlife experts to conclude that lions don't hunt at night.
When they invented night vision cameras...they were shocked to find that lions really do hunt at night...but in the darker stormy nights...
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