Does your horse have a sixth sense??

Kezzabell2

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I'm always of the opinion that when a horse spooks there's a reason for it! a change in the colour or a bush or something being there that isn't normally there etc! but today I'm thinking maybe they do have a sixth sense!

So we were hacking down a long road, which we go down quite often, including on Saturday.

He was being a right dope on a rope, nothing was bothering him! a car was coming in the opposite direction and suddenly he started spooking (luckily not dramatically) at the hedge to his left! He sort of stops and felt a bit wild and didn't want to go past. I made him wait and waved the car past! then asked him to go forward, at this point I notice there was a load of red stuff in the road, on the opposite side, and the only think I could imagine it was, was blood! I'm not sure what has happened there, but it was defo that he didn't like, he sprung past it looking at it and snorting and was in a rush to get away. We actually had a lovely big trot up the hill after that.

Once we were away from that area, he went back to his normal relaxed self! was very odd!

Tell me the stories of your horses sixth senses?
 

Sukistokes2

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While not ruling out the sense of the sixth kind I think horses are able to use the other five to such a high degree that it appears magical, They also have almost a photographic memory for known routes and that why they notice when things are different. If it was blood on the road he would have smelt that straight off!
 

Amye

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Agree with both the replies above ^^^

Horses definitely have some heightened senses (comes from being a prey animal I would think!) so spot differences in things we wouldn't notice. My boy is a ****** for spotting when something is different and having a good stare at it! Many a time I've been on a hack and wondered what the hell he was craning his neck at to find it's a rock that's in a different place or something ridiculous.

Bloods a definite high alert smell for a horse too I think! The fields we ride around at the yard are adjacent to some farmers fields (cows and sheep). One of the cows had sadly died in the corner of the field that is also next to the corner of our field, for ages and ages my boy would approach that corner with much caution and much snorting and springs! The first time we went approached when the cow had died he tried to run off in the opposite direction which isn't like him!
 

LHIS

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I used to ride past an abattoir regularly and the horses were never settled going past it, it had a horrible smell as you might imagine, and the noises from animals waiting to be 'processed' was distressing - for both of us.
They definitely have a photographic memory too - a bent road sign, an out of place cone, a spray painted marking on a road, all doesn't go unnoticed. Reactions to it varies, from a suspicious look to a dramatic spook.
 

criso

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Mine is sometime reluctant and then when I get there, I find a dead squirrel or similar which I assume he could smell before we could see it. Also hates going past the battery chicken shed which can smell bad

Not sure if it counts as a sixth sense but both mine have a keen awareness of bank holidays and weekends when a vets visit goes into out of hours and costs double.
 

rosiesowner

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Chilli definitely remembers routes and has ones she prefers to be on. If something is different she will have to have a look at it, and takes 90% of the hack in with ears pricked and very alert
 

Mister Ted

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My Welsh pony was a highly sensitive character and spooked one day as I was leading him down a track by a field with a hedge running along it. He suddenly stopped and refused to budge and looked quite alarmed. I looked through the hedge and saw a dead sheep lying by the hedge exactly where the pony had stopped. We turned back and I mentioned to the farmer about the sheep and he said that was impossible as he had checked the field 10 mins ago.! So off he went to retrieve his sheep.Another was when I arrived at his field to see him agitated and running up and down the field line.I couldnt see what was wrong as other horses were fine. I moved to get a better view past the barn andt here in the next field an old horse had collapsed and the vet was putting him to sleep.My pony had been kept in the same field with it at one time so maybe there was a connection. I brought him in in and he refused to eat any hay or food and was visibly down looking till next day.
Horses are so highly tuned to what goes on around them too_Often you dont think they see you from some distance away but with their sense of hearing and smell they know exactly where you are without them even looking up.!
 

Caol Ila

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In Colorado I was hacking along a track, the horse relaxed, on a long rein. Out of nowhere, she leapt sideways in a flying spook. The first thing I said was "Jesus Christ, horse, what's your freakin' problem?" the second thing I said was, "Oh look, a rattlesnake."
 
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