Horse scared of other other horses

[Jericho]

Does anyone have experience of a horse that is scared and over reactive of other horses either coming towards them or from behind in anything other than walk? Our 6 year old mare is becoming very scared in warm ups particularly jumping ones and not quite sure where it’s come from and what to do other than keep taking her to group lessons and shows to get her used to it. We have tried just standing around and gradual exposure, callers, ear bonnets, red and green ribbons front and back but it takes one horse to scare her and then back to square one. Previous owner said they went to lots of big shows and never had any issue.. any advice? She is currently on individual turnout (company across fences)as wondered if turning her out with others would help socialise /understand other horses more although i get the feeling that she has been chased her by field mates in the past as she can be quite defensive?

 

[scats]

I had a Welsh x TB who was dreadful with anything coming up behind him in trot or canter. Can you enlist the help of a few friends to come in and ride with you a few times a week?
I used to keep my lad very busy and very on the aids, he was far less likely to do anything stupid then (he used to bronch if someone cantered up behind him).
Turning out with another or a small herd might be worth a try.

 

[SpringArising]

I had a Sec B who hated horses coming towards her. She would spin and dart off.

It was such a long time ago that I genuinely can't remember how I got her over it but I have a feeling it was through lots of exposure and just getting firm with her. I find the more you baby them in situations like this the more they behave like one.

 

[milliepops]

I have one that gets quite anxious with this and have ridden others.
I find the key is to be really proactive when you are in the warm up and always give the horse something to concentrate on so it is less likely to be noticing the others around it. No pootling around on a long rein, straight to work with as short and focussed a warm up as you can manage.

if you do some dressage it's probably easier to rehearse this then. I try to keep mine working in a way that she believes that she has an escape route, so I try not to ride on the track where she feels like she can be squashed against the fence. Sometimes this means I have to change the rein to make it easy to stay left hand to left hand with other riders.
I always try to be on an inside track and avoid getting pinched between 2 horses which means you need to look ahead and try and see where other people are going.
I try to bend her away from horses that are oncoming so she doesn't fixate on them and use lateral work and other movements to keep her attention on me rather than other horses.

I would try this in a dressage warm up or busy group lessons. The other thing you can do is actually ask for more space if there are repeat offenders, I think often people really aren't aware that they are coming too close.

 

[albeg]

Mine is like this, he's improved as he's gotten older (I've had him almost 14 years), but even now if a horse comes towards him he'll spook sideways or freeze, depending on the situation. He's generally worse with small ponies. He's much worse in an arena than on a hack. As scats says, keeping him busy improves matters. Ear bonnets help somewhat, but don't completely eliminate it. I also try to avoid others in warm-ups, if the arena is big enough, I'll work away in a quiet corner until I need to leave it, then quickly pop a few fences and leave. In a smaller warm-up, I keep an eye out and move if someone is coming towards us and he's likely to spook.