Help Bombproofing a horse !!!

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nagsinrags

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I was wondering if you horsey people could give me some help, I have a 5 year 17.3 horse which i need to bombproof, she is good in traffic with cars, vans and even large delivery vans i,e asda vans, the problem we have is with wagons & buses, when one either comes from behind or towards she panics and jumps onto the pavement and spins round.

Does anyone have any tips on how to help her overcome these fears?

Thanks
 
She's 5. She's still a baby. More life expereince and a good relationship with you will work wonders.

If you can put her in a feild where larger vehicles go past regulalrly so she can learn for herself they are not a threat.

If you can find a freind who owns a large vehicle - a horse box might do - get them to park it up at your yard and let her explore it for a week or so with the engine off. Feed her near it. Then turn the engine on and do the same thing for another week or so. Finally, when she is calm near it with the engine running - and making sure you are safe, wearing a hat etc, get your freind to drive it a little past her, practice walking calmly past it etc.

It takes a while - but it can be done. But as I said to begin with. At 5 she is really still a baby - she probably still has a little growing to do although I'm sure she seems tall enough now! Build a relationship with her. Let her get some life experience. When she feels confident in you and in what you ask her to do then she will improve on her own.
 
Do you have the option to turn her out in a field adjacent to a road where these go past? Even if you can borrow some grazing for a week or two giving them a chance to watch them in her own time can really help. Or if not is ther somewhere you can stand with her off the road and just let her watch them go by from a distance, gradually building it up?
 
i dont have a field near a main road, what makes me more uptight about it we have a tractor etc ourselves, i was thinking about putting a bridle on her and walking her out in traffic in hand or maybe standing near the roadside and feed her there? Ive never had to do this kind of thing myself before we have always bought horses that have been broken but this one we did ourselves.
 
I would be very careful about taking a horse of her size in hand, if she does go off it could be harder to deal with than sitting on top, is there someone who could walk out with you, either on foot or ideally another horse, this may give her the confidence she needs, on her own she has no support when she gets worried only you sitting on her she probably forgets you are even there.

Use your tractor to get started let her see it moving from a slight distance and build up gradually, the other thing you need to establish is whether she is best stood watching the lorry go past or happier to walk past a stationary one, if she will stand and watch let her, you can keep her back as they go past rather than trying to keep moving as a lorry passes her.
 
Turn her in when one goes by first and turn her head to look at it. I always pull into a gateway or layby if there's anything 'scary' going by on the babies, and just let them stand there and just take it in, rather than just let it come past behind them straight away.


Go out with a quiet horse, put the quiet horse between the vehicle and you and just stop to the side and let them see it go by a few times :)
 
My horse (whom I bought last august) had absolutely no experience of traffic whatsover (he was 6 then). He was even scared of parked cars to an extent. I spent a month walking out with him in hand (in a bridle and headcollar - one lead rope on the headcollar and another through the bit, and led him from the offside). I wore a high viz tabard with L plates on (which most people seemed to understand and slowed down etc.), when any traffic came past, I put myself between the vehicle and him. I walked him up and down a fairly busy lane (it's quite bendy and stuff tends to appear suddenly) and also up to the T junction of the main A road about half a mile away - did this every day and stood there feeding him titbits while we watched lorries and buses go past. After a month, I rode out with 2 very quiet, traffic proof horses, with us in the middle. He's now great with pretty much everything, though he does "have a look" at fast, large vehicles as they pass us on the A road. I'm really proud of him - initially, he span round at slow moving cars coming towards us. It was a really, really scary thing to do to be honest, and if you'd asked me a year ago, I would have said, no way could I do that. My boy is "only" 14.3hh though - I don't think I'd manage that with a 17 hander! (having said that, I'm only 5'3").
 
I have rode out with other horses & he still does it, i think I will try & walk her in hand and see how I go first. I was going to let a professional come & help but I then I thought that if she gets worse I would have wasted my money I would rather try myself first.

I will keep you all updated
Thanks
 
Definitely lead out in hand I can never understand those who say you're safer on top (no disrespect meant but I don't get it) many horses take a lot of confidence from someone walking beside them. I have a very big young ID, very strong, if the ground work and manners are already instilled you should be fine. :)
 
I think we gained a lot of mutual trust overall by the walking in hand thing - I thought that if I messed it up when riding and gave him a bad experience, he would never get over it. One time, a stupid &$*(£*% came racing round the corner in a car and didn't slow down in the narrowest bit of the lane. I braced myself in a star shape, pushing my horse into the hedge in order to preserve him! I think he knew I was looking after him after that....

I would say, though, do it regularly, bit by bit - first day we just saw one or two cars and gradually built up the distance we went - always try to end on a good note.
 
Other thing that helps is when the lorry etc has passed, chase it in trot, firstly because they think they are seeing it off & after a while they think they can see off any, therefore nothing to be scared of, and secondly it becomes a fun game, so they anticipate the game rather than fear it. With ones approaching from the front, I trot towards them for the same reasons as above, plus giving them something to focus on instead, then turn round when its passed & trot after it.
 
Young horses generally cope better if they can be stopped and turned around so they see the scarey thing approach, I still do this on the 17 hh wb I ride and he's 13, yes you are safer on top imo because unless they are bronking and trying to throw you off you are out of the way of feet etc. That said I do have to bale out a few times and lead him last, this generally results in me getting my legs scrapped as he spanish walks into me :(
 
It was a bit different with my horse as he had hardly been ridden, so I had no idea what he would be like to control whilst riding really - leading seemed the safer option! I think most of the people on the yard thought I was mad though....
 
I could possible try both to be honest as the lane at thend end of our yard is where all the traffic is, I am going to try one tonight so I will let you all know how I get on.
 
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