Hopeful thread about spooking...

[gemisastar]

I'll caveat this at the beginning by stating my mare is 33% Arab so I may we'll be stuck with the issue ?

Spooking, do they grow out of it? In general my little mare is Absolutely Fabulous, but the warp speed spooks usually when we're doing fast work are a bit unnerving. I'm usually prepared (for example today I had clocked the patch of grass that was a different colour as we sped across a field so was ready as she threw in a dramatic swerve), however other times I've come a cropper when there's been some seemingly innocuous change to the status quo (a rock that wasn't there before!) - and it bloody hurts and I'm getting too old to come flying off at a fast canter - it always happens in canter!

She's 8 now, can anyone regale me with hopeful thoughts or am I doomed to always be on the defensive?

 

[Michen]

My now 8 year old was very sharp and spooky as a 5 year old. He could spin and teleport on a sixpence and left his pro rider on the floor from doing so (and me).

He’s still a spooky and sharp horse but significantly better. Hard work, training, discipline and learning about how to ride the bugger really helped with this. He still has it in him but he’s so predictable now in many ways so it’s much easier to nip it in the bud.

That said he once nearly got me off last season spooking at a flat out gallop out hunting Because the leaves in a hedge changed colour..

 

[doodle]

Nope! Robin is a 13yo warm blood that shouldn’t be half as sharp as he is. The spook spins generally have me hanging on off his mouth - tough. He dosnt learn tho. They are actually more spiny the slower we are going and if in canter he tends to just accelerate at a 45 degree angle.

 

[gemisastar]

Hmmmm- Ugh!! In her defense she doesn't really ever spin, at least not properly, but she's got me out the side door a time or two from directional changes and once over the top when she slammed the brakes on momentarily when we were galloping! I am thinking she may never grow out of it properly, however I have learnt there is an element of predictability to it as long as I always keep my wits about me!

 

[Auslander]

My 23 year old is the most accomplished spooker on my yard! He makes sure he practices regularly

 

[gemisastar]

I only really want replies from people whose horses grew out of it if that's ok everyone!!

 

[risky business]

Only hearing replies in which the horse grew out of it won't improve the chances of your horse doing so hehe.

Mines 6 and on occasion can be spooky, would love him to grow out of it but I've just accepted thats how he is. But then his have never had me out the saddle so I'm not bothered on the whole.

 

[Ben2684]

My horse was terrible, to the point I wasn’t hacking him on his own. Cut his feed back, saddle check vet check physio etc. Nothing wrong, so despite loving where I was I changed Yard’s- cue happier horse! It’s a much quieter smaller yard with 24hr summer turnout and he is now very zen and though a little sharp and reactive still, I feel safe once more going out hacking out alone. May be worth looking at overall picture

 

[milliepops]

I only really want replies from people whose horses grew out of it if that's ok everyone!!

*tumbleweed*



sorry, my spookers haven't improved with age

 

[gemisastar]

risky business I know, but this was meant to be a hopeful thread lol! I am thinking I'm going to be looking for things she may spook at for the next 20 years!

 

[teddypops]

Nope! My 29yo is as spooky as ever!

 

[gemisastar]

Ben2684 - she lives with 3 other mares, they're the best of friends and they live out pretty much all year round, she has the best life Zen wise that a horse could ever wish for ?? in fact I don't think I've ever seen a happier bunch of horses!

 

[Ben2684]

Ben2684 - she lives with 3 other mares, they're the best of friends and they live out pretty much all year round, she has the best life Zen wise that a horse could ever wish for ?? in fact I don't think I've ever seen a happier bunch of horses!

min that case.... best be in the look out the whole time then ???

 

[gemisastar]

Oh ? never mind! Realistically routine and lifestyle wise she couldn't have it better, I think I'm going to have to finally accept that it's just the way she is!

 

[Goldenstar]

Sky my horse was sold to me because of his spooking he arrived in October he’s pretty well cured now .
he did not grow out of it I worked and trained him out of it .

 

[scruffyponies]

We took on a welsh D a couple of years back with a bag of issues, but the worst was his persistent (evasion) spooking. It has taken a while, but he is much better now, because he understands his job and what is required of him. He also knows it will just get him a growl and a 'get on with it', which he doesn't like.

 

[gemisastar]

Thank you for the replies - I think I'm going to have to accept it, she is apart from the spooking an honest, forward going and forward thinking type who loves to work, I think underneath the bravado she isn't as brave as she makes out hence the spooking, but it's literally her only fault!

 

[Crazy_cat_lady]

My Welsh D remains spooky at 22!

Today small blue arrows painted on the road were terrifying

Poo or mud on the road is evil and there to eat him

Yet he isn't too bad with the typically scary things

I was stood talking to someone after returning from a hack the other day and he glimpsed one of the yard cats and apparently his spook took him really low to the ground and she thought he was going to fall over!

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

I have 2 pure bred arabs they spook a lot they are 15 and 16 and no they haven't got better with age sorry!

I have ridden Arabs all my life they spook that's just what they do, I find mine are worse if they are fresh or if things are a bit too easy, I make them work in the school so they are using there brain so they don't get so much of a chance to spook, they get no high energy food and I can't ever just slob along with a loose rein on a hack.

 

[Wheels]

I think they can get a bit less dramatic with age but I've found that's usually already happened by the time they get to 8 years old, sorry.

Working them harder, making them use their brains, giving them something interesting to do can help until they see something their not happy with then off they go.

My show jumper spooked at the start and finish markers at every single show we ever went to! Frustrating in the extreme

 

[scats]

My 10year old is better in some respects than she was two years ago. We’ve mostly cracked the spin and run, but essentially she is still the same with what she spooks at, she just now reacts a little less dramatically. I’ve just accepted that’s how she is. Fast work and I do have to be on my guard and try and keep my legs forward a bit as she will dart off to the side.

 

[Boulty]

Doomed I'm afraid! The Welsh one still had a decent sideways teleport / ability to bounce straight up in the air mid-gallop in his teens. He did stop scooting his butt under him & launching off at warp speed so that's something at least or maybe I just learnt to apply the brakes earlier!

 

[asmp]

My 20 year old still spooks but luckily doesn’t do the spins that he did when I first got him 13 years ago, which had me out the side door many a time. He‘ll now do what we call a “splat” if he sees something, even in a fast trot so I end up on his ears ?

i did use to use a monkey strap to give me something to hold on to for more security. I now have an air jacket although one day I was suddenly standing next to his neck (luckily without the air jacket going off) as he’d splattered.

 

[Auslander]

Sky my horse was sold to me because of his spooking he arrived in October he’s pretty well cured now .
he did not grow out of it I worked and trained him out of it .

Pfft - an amateur! A career spooker, like Alf, gets better at it the more he's worked!

 

[w1bbler]

If you don't use one already, invest in a neck strap, saved me more than once.
If William fox-pitt can use one then its good enough for me ?

 

[gemisastar]

I don't use a neck strap - I use a hunter breastplate and hold the strap that attaches it to the damn saddle!! I have found that solely a neck strap is not quite as secure!!

 

[Red-1]

YES! I have had 2 who were trained out of it.

Charlie Horse took a year to even ride in the bottom corner of the arena reliably (the gate there could make a squeak, plus birds!), after a few years he could carry the smallest jockey with safety and taught loads of people to ride. He was bulletproof. Nearly went to the Special Olympics as a team horse, but that is another story.

Jay Man was notorious for rearing and spinning, turn and burn... He only took a year.

They had a load of work, using scary effects, but it was not about 'introducing' them to this and that, it was about introducing stuff to the work area and he had to keep his attention on me and do as I suggested. He was allowed to glance at stuff, but not fixate on it.

I am talking hours of work. Plastic, umbrellas, flags, bin lids, skipping over 2 lunge whips tied together... All without them paying undue attention to what was happening. I had a couple of FAB trainers who would teach with an umbrella, friends who would throw fitness balls at us whilst we schooled, a husband who would bang stuff, etc etc.

I new I had won with Jay when a sheet of insulation material, approx 4ft by 4 ft, came flying at us in high winds on the main road. The hard type, backed with lightweight board. I requested he stand still, he did, it hit his legs, fell and flew off again. I am talking gales. That horse had been through 3 pros and was considered extremely sharp and nappy. It did take hours, but it was possible.

But then, at the time, my day job was training Police Horses and I found it a bit disconcerting to have one at home who would divert their attention at a whim!

My current horse is good, but not that good. I retired! She could be that good, I guess, if I put the hours in.

 

[southerncomfort]

Well our 20 year old welsh cob X still spooks but not as often and they are a lot tamer than the spin and bog off type spooks she used to do.

I don't know if its that her age has mellowed her, or if its that im a more attentive rider now and stop the spooks before they start. I was once told off by a riding instructor for letting the spooks happen. She said they would be less likely if I rode in a more forward positive manner and I did generally find that she was right.