Does your horse scare you, even the slightest bit?

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skewby

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Just pondering this. I have had my horse over 7 years, I adore him but he keeps me on my toes. But I do love that about him!! I feel like I'm always learning and achieving something. He always goes well for me. But he has the capacity to make my heart pound!! What's it like for everyone else??
 
I get a few heart in the mouth moments. I have an obnoxious 17.3 warmblood and a hyper 16.3 warmblood. both are generally good as gold but my 16.3 spooked to day and stood bolt upright on the lead rope before walking in beautifully. they like to keep me awake!!
 
Kenellen did - the last few months I rode him he began rearing and turning wild almost, such a highly strung tb that had lots of energy from absolutely no where! Definately one you couldnt leave for a few days, he needed to be ridden a lot to keep him in check. He is now 20 and retired.
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No, none of them scare me, Im wary of the youngsters as you never know. I wouldn't own them if I was scared of them
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Bear can be a barsteward around food but I just ignore it or get the lunge whip out, he know's then not to mess
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*I dont hit him with it, I crack it off
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Oh yes - I don't know what your age is - but I have found the older I get......We have a couple of Pointers - one is a TB who thinks he is a donkey, so never worry about him - but the other - is V big, only 6 years old. Last year I rode him all the time, and never came off him, but he would often be very fresh, I always went out and got him with trepidation - but once aboard was fine - but this season, I think I have ridden him once......Today, I should have taken him out - as normal rider was off racing - but he was turning himself inside out in the stable, bucking, rearing, and fighting with his companion, so guess what.....I gave him the day off! Has your horse ever really frightened you? It sounds like you must have had an incident or two? If this horse was my 'happy hacker' then I might think that I would not want to have that heart pounding thing everytime I went to get on him. It might not be much fun in the long term?
 
Yes - I'd be stupid if he didn't, he's a half ton animal with the ability to kill me fairly easily. For example, he scared me today when he crushed me against the wall trying to scratch his bum (I couldn't get him off me and thought he was going to break my ribs!). But I never feel that he'd deliberately hurt me, and I trust him as completely as it is possible to trust any animal.
 
Charmaine, good point, I dont *trust* ANY horse 100%, they could knock you down and crush you if something spooked them but I know my boys wouldn't do it intentionally, thats why Im not scared of them.
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I've only had mine a couple of months and we've had a few 'testing the waters' moments but have come out the other side with me still having the upper hand despite few shaky times. I do think we can become complacent and underestimate what a horse in fear or excitement can do. Good wake up call, not to flip but to wake up and be more aware of the signs they are giving you every day but we probably fail to notice due to time, stress etc. Don't ever call a horse a donkey:- donkeys have their moments too and are extremely bright!!
 
I can genuinely say that no, I'm not. I used to be a little, and can be a little wary/scared/cautious of other horses, but with her I'm not. I sat in her stable with her for ages today, and never felt at all worried. Call me stupid if you like
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the answer to your question is definitely no with my horse, but ive been looking after a horse for a lady who went away for 5 weeks and she didnt tell me that she kicked out when rugging up needless to say she scared me and the yard helper who helped rugging , just fast kicking no warning and biting so extra care was needed with her i was glad when the owner returned , she kicked the other girl three times and got the farrier twice she is 16.3hh and a rescue very quick at it with no warning luckily i didnt get kicked, my philosophy about handling a horse like this is simply dont, minimul only x
 
I'm sure everyone sometimes can be a little bit scared of their horses. They are unpredictable prey animals. You might not be scared that they will hurt you but i'm sure most people have had moments of fearing what their horse will do next.

My mare has started doing stupid frog leaps while being ridden at the silliest of things. She has always been fine in a school with other horses but recently she has taken a dislike to horses going past her or heading towards her and she does a sort of frog leap. It worries me that she will unseat me doing it one day. Also after I fell off her out hacking a year ago we've never got all out confidence back out hacking in the fields, especially not alone.
 
I dont think I will ever trust Dozzie completely again since she went through her broncoing stage. Well in fact it was spook, spin then bronco the length of the arena. I trust her to hack out but dont like cantering her much as she will spook and spin from time to time (usually at twigs and clumps of grass) and i dont fancy walking home! .
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One of my oldies I never felt scared on even though he was pretty electric to ride at times. The other one would tense up in the dressage arena and I think I didnt ride him forward because I was a bit scared.

Having dealt with Dozzie though I think I am more aware of the need to ride forward when they are being silly. But it is often easier said than done.

Interesting post! Made me have a think about things! Dozzie comes back into work next week having been off since the beginning of September! I am a bit scared! LOL!
 
mine does sometimes if you go in his stable and he doesnt want you there he starts jumping round and squashes you against the wall ( on purpose ) he is 16.3 and has a massive attitude nobody else on yard will have anything to do with him but i try never to show him that i am scared
 
He doesn't scare me, but I do get a few moments when he makes my heart race! He can be spooky on a hack on his own, so if I see something 'scary' ahead I do think 'eeek' but 9 times out of 10 he's just fine!
 
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Has your horse ever really frightened you? It sounds like you must have had an incident or two? If this horse was my 'happy hacker' then I might think that I would not want to have that heart pounding thing everytime I went to get on him. It might not be much fun in the long term?

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Lol yes you are spot on, when I first got him I was desperately overhorsed, I hadn't ridden properly for 10 years plus and he had issues! We did get over them though and that's why I keep at it, every time I face him with a new situation he comes through for me. Even though I cr@p my pants beforehand! That's the buzz, lol!
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never on the ground but when ridden yes- probably coz i'm a nervous rider. he doesn't really give me any reason to be scared of him- yes he has the odd spook and spin but i don't think he'd ever try to purposefully scare me

i think fear can sometimes be a lack of trust and trust comes with a bond and learning to cope with those possible situations
 
Yes my horse does - only because I love her so much and I am a paranoid owner!!
I lost my last horse to grass sickness and I don't think I could bear anything happening to Tara. It's the most stressful part of owning a horse I think.

Apart from that no, she is a safe and lovely little mare.
I canter her through fields bareback in a headcollar, sit in her stable to talk to her and crawl around her legs to clean them lol x
 
A tiny bit, but he's such a mentalist you really can't afford to be nervous (or let him know you're nervous lol). I've had him six and a half years and he definitely keeps me on my toes!
 
ive not had my mare long, and yes every time i hack im a bit on edge, shes only a baby, so its more the fact that im not sure what to expect and how she will react to new things, then again i hate hacking after so many incidents in the past, so ye think it may be more a general thing
 
Hmmm I not quite sure how to answer this. When I first bought my TB 2 years ago I was scared hacking him as he would spin around so quickly and keep on doing it, I was rather un nerving. However we worked through it and 9/10 he doesn't do it however now when he does it I am not worried about him doing it more I am worried about us being hit by a car or me coming off which I really don't want to do on tarmac or us falling over and me being crushed. Same when he has spooky days, every so often he will have a day where he turns himself inside out at anything and completely stresses over nothing, I am more worried about someone hitting us than anything else.
I have been known to ride him a little more defensively than normal after he once rodeoed with me and put my back out
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I wouldn't say he scares me, he certainly keeps me paying attention when he has his off days and provides me with heart in the mouth feelings.
 
Teddi is 4 and only broken in may, but he doesnt scare me in the slightest... exept when he puts a stop in at a fence, and i think im gonna fly over his head.

But my daughters 12hh lead rein pony does as i have to ride it so it doesnt get used to lead rein, and its naughty will spin, bounce etc all cause it doesnt want my fat weight on him. He does settle after about 5mins though. He can sometime be unpredictable in the field too, but is getting better.
 
I have a 17hh gelding who has been battered in the past so is very deffensive on the ground and can sometimes strike out at me and try to eat me amongst other things, im not so strong myself and he often scares the crap out of me although hes a doddle to ride. Thinking of selling him actually..
 
I was never scared of Malaga when he was in his "Mad Malaga" stage,I was more worried about what he'd do to other people.
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Now I don't worry about them,just look after him and things are much better
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in the school no, at shows no, hacking on the roads no.

now hacking in fields can be a bit interesting as he's an ex racer and he gets really stressed by it. i dont canter him in open spaces at all, and do a lot of work with my sister and her super steady horse, reassuring him its ok, and walking steadily with her horse etc (he gets wound up if he thinks he's got to race, not through wanting to GO, he doesnt want to race at all!!!).

he only makes me a bit wary as he really leaps off both back legs, like a salmon going up stream, but sometimes he spins and forgets to put a leg out at the same time, so staggers and goes down on his shoulder-its that,that scares me rather than him if you know what i mean.that he might end up in a ditch or fall over. if he did it in the school on a perfect surface i wouldnt bother, but out hacking you never know what each clump of nettles is concealing.
 
George doesn't scare me, but in the early days he threw an awful lot at me to deal with, so I've pretty much grown to realise that I can handle most of his quirks.

Lanky's size scared me at first, but he's a real gentle giant. The only time I was scared to tears by Lanky was when we started walking him out after his op; I was about 16/17 weeks pregnant and he started losing the plot more and more each day, until one day he just started buckarooing and I just saw a really bad accident coming.

The thing that scares me is traffic. Both of my horses are great with traffic. I'm not.
 
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