Does your horse have an irrational fear?

0ldmare

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Just wondering, not like being spooked by a bird flying up, but a deep seated inexplicable fear of something unusual

My old horse, Netty, was terrified of balloons. Just the little hand held ones. She could go to a county show and canter past the bouncy castle, trot happily past the firing range, watch sky divers land in the next ring with interest, but if a small child had a balloon at the ringside I would have to take a detour as we couldn't get within 15m of it

Does your horse have something strange that scares them witless?
 

Maddie2412

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try other horses!!! in the yard and field oh its fine but as soon as we r in the school and they are on "the other side of the fence" my god they become ginormous rosco-flesh-eating monsters!!!

yeah rosc its not like your one too or anything!
 

Pampered Ponies

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One of mine is totally petrified of Donkeys. He is absolutely convinced they are the Spawn of Satan!!

Encountering such creatures requires a quick bout of shadow-boxing followed by spinning and galloping off in the opposite direction. At least these days I know what to expect:D
 

tormor

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Drains and drain covers! Apparently to pass them safely u need to be the other side of the road or up the bank! And no he's never slipped on one as he's never got close enough
 

smiles24

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My old boy is scared of white butterflies, fine with other coloured ones.

My two girls are scared of the kitten at the end of our village and we have to jog past it, I'm convinced it thinks its a tiger now!
 

hippo-horse

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Things that are painted yellow.Not yellow things? Lines on roads are to be either jumped or passed doing shoulder in(so she can keep an eye on them).Great fun when the pothole patrol have been out with the paint:rolleyes:,not that they come out often round here.
 

babymare

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murhpy the big lad - of work!!!!!!
babymare - of not getting her tea!!!!!!!

seriously murph hates pheasants has we have a mile stretch where they fly from hedges and over us all along the mile - poor lad does a beautiful half pass with eyes on stalks
- 10 in any test lol
Babymare is forgiven as due to sight everything can be scary( sadly no longer can ride her
out ) but she so hated yellow lines on roads - just stopped looked snorted then went on lol god love her - and she was half blind then lol
 

Dizzydancer

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My old boy is petrified of donkeys. He sounds just like pampered ponies horse.
Most irrational is that he is sacred of those riding hat silks that have pom som
 

CatStew

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My mare is petrified of llamas.

I tried to lead her past a paddock with 3 of them once (without realising she was scared of them) and after lots of spinning, rearing, running backwards (and falling over) she just stood and physically shook. It was horrible! Never known anything like it!! We now avoid that way at all costs!
 

Toffee44

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Lol donkeys my old gelding used to just stand and snort at them. Toffees irrational fear are donkeys laying down, she's fine with them braying and trotting about but as soon as said donkey lays down or rolls she's offski!
 

maletto

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One of mine is totally petrified of Donkeys. He is absolutely convinced they are the Spawn of Satan!!

Encountering such creatures requires a quick bout of shadow-boxing followed by spinning and galloping off in the opposite direction. At least these days I know what to expect:D

mine too!! but only the white ones.... :rolleyes:
 

SpruceRI

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Donkeys and pigs are terrifying.

White roadside flowers - or big leaves that have got a white hue to them!
 

SpruceRI

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Leaves turned around the wrong way. I kid you not. Tractors, buses, quad bikes, dogs, bikes, no problem. A leaf or a fern turned around the wrong way = horse eating monster. He's a very odd horse :p

Yes, I think leaves turned round the wrong way is my horses' problem too. they're the wrong shade of green!!!
 

Kellys Heroes

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Anything remotely cow shaped.
Drain covers.
And sports cars, or any car low-ish to the ground.
And if we go past a fence one day....and the owner has painted it a slightly different shade the next day...we have a paddy.
K x
 

Vizslak

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My old pony, bless his cottons was petrified of daffodils! Made spring hacking rather amusing! He went out on loan for years and came back for his twilight years. After initially thinking he had very little time left he soon got back up to health so I decided to keep him ticking over with some gentle hacks a few times a week, this was of course in March, had totally forgotten the daffodil fear! Cue 27 year old pony spinning snorting prancing and broncing down the road lined both sides with daffs for about 1/4 of a mile :rolleyes: Bless him! :D
Current lad is irrationally fearful of many many things...scissors for instance! But never fails to amaze me the things me (and 90% of other horses) would consider justified for him to be scared of he doesnt bat an eyelid at!
On a slightly different note my dogs had a total headfit the other day when one of the fields on our regular walk had been silaged! Well 100 big black silage bales on a field...thats an alien invasion clearly! :rolleyes: They hid behind me (all four of them) growling and shaking! :p :D
 

Sanolly

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Shetland ponies!

ETA: Vizlak my YO has a rocking horse that lives on the yard for her son. It lives in the shed with the shed door propped up against it on it's side like a little stable. Her lab hadn't seen it yet until I picked him up and took him down the yard one day... he went MENTAL!!! I o have it on video so will get it up eventually :)
 
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FanyDuChamp

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Fany is terrified of an empty feed bucket, to her they must always be full :p:D

Captain is scared of his own shadow, the idea of hacking alone and pigs, absolutely terrified of them. It took Elizabeth a month of work to get him to even jog past the pigs on the next farm.

The funniest thing I have ever seen is my daughter panicking because said pigs had escaped come onto our yard and headed for the barn. she was shouting "if they go in there I'll never get him out of his stable" and trying to block a huge barn door by standing with arms and legs out! The rest of us were in such hysterics laughing we couldn't help, she did manage to keep them out though.

FDC
 
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Aidey

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My TB's fear is poles on the floor in the paddock, or well anything on the floor in the paddock! She did hurdles when racing and I jump her in the same paddock and she flies them, doesn't even bat an eyelid when there fillers. But a pole on the floor? No way we leg yield away from it, usually to the gate! ;)
 

superted1989

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My dearly departed Welsh cob was totally petrified of a sheepskin pad that was used as a wither protector for one of his field mates! If it had come off and was lying in the field he gave it an extremly wide berth. If somebody had picked it up and left it on the gate, the offending pad had to be removed or he wouldn't come in!
I tried desensitising him with it in his stable etc, but he'd obviously been attacked by one with teeth in his youth! Sheepkin numnahs or grooming mits were no problem, just the horse eating wither pad!
 

LaurenBay

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Nelly is terrified of Horse and carts, I don't know if someone has tried to drive her and she had an accident or she has just never seen one.

In the 2 years I have been sharing her I've come accross 2, one was at our old yard and she bolted back to her stable and the 2nd was out hacking on the road, she backed into someones driveway and then the owner of the house let his Dogs out to get her out again, didn't work, she would rather back into Dog's trying to bite her then go near a cart.
 

Archangel

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I live in a mad cycling area so horses are well used to bikes.

However, I took a short cut across their field on my bike and all hell broke out. Snorting, cartwheels, mad galloping. You would think they had never seen one before. Mad.
 

Cadfael&Coffee

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Tractors... Even the tea trolly tractor!! It makes no sense- he runs to it, cause he knows there's hay on it, then stops 20m away and has a trauma...

It's genuine tho :) he's also terrified of big things like lorries- though I can't blame him for that- I'm not a fan myself :)
 
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