Horse Terrified of Anything with an Engine.

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Pony_Problems

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I own a 14.2 connie mare. She is absolutely terrified of anything with an engine. This includes, Cars, Tractors, Lawn mowers etc. She has got to the point that I have now lost all my confidence on the roads. My mother who is confident out hacking, knows what she does and apparently isn't fazed. She is hacking her tomorrow (partially on roads) after 8 months with a friend who has a sensible horse. My gut is giving me a bad bad feeling about it.
What She does:
Spins on her hinds, sometimes canters off (Depends on how stupid driver is)
If driver is going too fast (more than 10mph) she might do a little rear.
If she is tied near to where cars go past she will absolutely freak and pull away, breaking lead rope or bailer twine from rearing.
She is genuinely scared.
The roads around us are your typical countryside roads. Not quite big enough for two cars. There aren't big hedges or anything so there are grass verges (not massively wide) and quite a few passing places.
She is fine as long as there is roughly 1-2m separating her from car. Tractors is another matter entirely. She would genuinely have a heart attack. I'm not too worried about tractors for now, more of the car situation.
What should the next steps be to try and sort out the problem. Is it worth sending her off for a week (to boot camp as people call it) and let a professional try?
 
If she is that bad she should not be out on the roads, it is not fair on the drivers who may slow down being careful but are still at risk of being involved in an accident, many horses are not totally traffic proof and can be safely ridden with extra care but yours sounds way beyond that stage, every time she has a fright and panics her fear is being reinforced so she will get worse not better and going on the roads however confident the rider is will probably do more harm than good for now.

She needs a lot of help and desensitising which may take far longer than a week and you will need to be taught how to continue with the work they start, it will not be a quick fix more of a long term commitment and she may never become totally confident in all traffic as it will be very deep rooted now, I would probably look for a trainer nearby that can come and see what can be done with you both where you are, it is not insurmountable but will take time, dedication and lots of patience.
 
How old is she and what's her history?

Just asking because my horse was terrified of all traffic (and reacted much as you describe), but it was just an instinctive fear - he was like it from when I bought him as an untouched 3yo, so there was no learned fear/behaviour associated it. If your horse is like this then I would say that it something that was sorted with lots of gentle, gradual exposure. So picking lanes to ride on that were too narrow for cars to try to pass us so that I could get him to a gateway and stand to face the car. Then gradually building up to standing him still on the road while the car past, then keeping walking, but still riding fairly defensively to stop cars passing too fast.

It was about a year before he reliably didn't react to traffic. These days (age 8) he is pretty much bomb proof in traffic of any kind and speed.

Definitely worth sending away to a pro, but I doubt a 'boot camp' type period would be long/gradual enough
 
Not really. I don't hack her anymore myself. I'm too scared to even try. I'm trying to think positively about it, but as we show jump together and compete, I feel its quite an Important part of a horses life for them to be hacked.
 
I also need to fix this issue. We unfortunately aren't keeping her forever. This time next year she will be up for sale. I'm not sure I would be happy just, ignoring the issue.
 
If pony is that bad, then forget roadwork altogether at present.

Once fields dry up then put together a plan.
Firstly have a car in yard, let pony approach it & sniff, take lots of time.
Then once all calm, have the engine on tick over & let pony approach, walk round car, both ways, allow sniffing of car.
If all good with above, put car in paddock, again let pony approach on lead rope, perhaps someone in car who can be nice to pony.
Repeat with engine running.
Then if all good have pony walking past car, round car etc, then move car very slowly past pony. Repeat and repeat.
Then work towards pony having car going past in field whilst standing, then leading along too.

If at any stage there is an issue, go back to start. Don't push too hard and go quickly, the above might take you a month to just get car chugging in 1st gear whilst pony is led.

Then get on.
Work on same person driving car past you riding in field.

Until pony is calm with car in all respects in field, then don't try out on lanes etc.

Good luck, build slowly (very slowly) and I hope you get her more calm about it all :)
 
Can you arrange turnout near a busy road? she will eventually get used to it in a safe environment. I agree that your Horse shouldn't be on the road, its not fair to other users.
 
We live in the middle of nowhere haha, no busy roads for a long way, which is very good I suppose. I shall try and start desensitising her tomorrow. She is fine with parked cars so I want to see how she gets on if we turn the engine on.
 
What is she like at a show when there are cars and lorries trundling about.

Certainly the usual way is to find a field next to a busy road, and railway too hopefully (you have read Black Beauty?) and turn them out for a few weeks. I know this doesn't get them used to actually being on a road with a car coming up behind, but it will desensitise them to a certain degree.

I think when they are used to the idea of traffic from having seen lots, then riding out with a very quiet companion would be the way to go. But at this age she might never be totally 100%. You will have to be careful who you sell to, it wouldn't be fair for her to go where she is expected to hack along a main road. (I had a pony once that had been hit by a horsebox, of all things, and she wasn't confident in traffic. She went to a very country home where there wasn't much traffic and went hunting where she was in company).
 
clicker training. reward her with a pony nut if she stands nicely near a car without engine running. take horse several meters away then start car engine. reward pony when she stands calmly. bring one step nearer to car. reward pony. and so on. take your time do it over several days. eventually you will be able to slowly drive car past pony. when shes all ok with this repeat procedure with tractors
 
I have one that is 14 and is terrified of any motor vehicle he has no regard for where he goes when his trying to get away from it, he is better if they are going very slow but because you guarantee that a motorist will slowdown to what his comfortable with I avoid busy roads, I will ride down quiet lanes for a few yards and that's it it's not worth the risk, and I have tried everything with him I would say he had got mildly better in the last 5 years but not enough to warrant taking him on a road, I have known him to physically shake with fear especially with farm machinery :(

I wouldn't force the issue if it were me I have accepted my horse is never going to be happy around traffic and I don't put him in a situation that scares him it's not worth the risk in my opinion.
 
UPDATE - My mother took Molly out this afternoon on a hack with two other very sensible horses. They rode along a quiet road for about 10 minutes, only two cars passed. According to my mother all she did was take a few steps back, out of nervousness. I did desensitisation with her yesterday evening and this morning. It has obviously helped but she is still clearly nevous around them. I will continue with some more desensitisation, thank you all for your help
 
Desensitisation does work.I live at an equestrian centre in the london suburbs and it never ceases to amaze me how calm the horses are with traffic.Simply because they are used to it .Show them a cow and "light the blue touchpaper" however.
 
The Fuzzy Furry said:
If pony is that bad, then forget roadwork altogether at present.

Once fields dry up then put together a plan.
Firstly have a car in yard, let pony approach it & sniff, take lots of time.
Then once all calm, have the engine on tick over & let pony approach, walk round car, both ways, allow sniffing of car.
If all good with above, put car in paddock, again let pony approach on lead rope, perhaps someone in car who can be nice to pony.
Repeat with engine running.
Then if all good have pony walking past car, round car etc, then move car very slowly past pony. Repeat and repeat.
Then work towards pony having car going past in field whilst standing, then leading along too.

If at any stage there is an issue, go back to start. Don't push too hard and go quickly, the above might take you a month to just get car chugging in 1st gear whilst pony is led.

Then get on.
Work on same person driving car past you riding in field.

Until pony is calm with car in all respects in field, then don't try out on lanes etc.

Good luck, build slowly (very slowly) and I hope you get her more calm about it all :)
Click to expand...

This absolutely. And download some noisy engine sounds, easy to pull from you tube, and put on an Ipod / MP3 player or similar, and play to her, starting very quiet, whilst offering tasty treats, slowly increase noise, until is comfortable with load revving.
 
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