Horses! Honestly…

[LadyGascoyne]

Posting this because I’m conscious that I post a lot of positives about Mimosa and, to be fair to Mimosa, there are a lot of positives to post about.

But today I was reminded of the phrase “beauty is as beauty does - because Beauty did b*gger all.

Having had a good week of light schooling hacking in the fields, and a proper session yesterday with our new dressage trainer, Mim and I ventured out for a proper hack with Milagra and K, our lovely groom.

We got about ten minutes down the path and Mimosa had a complete and utter nervous breakdown about goodness knows what. Nothing to see or hear but suddenly she spooks massively at some kind of invisible wolf, hiding in the hedges and then just got more and more wound up. Eventually, she was physically shaking under me to the point that I could feel her legs wobbling so I hopped off in case she was physically unwell.

I couldn’t see anything obvious so there we stood snorting like a fire breathing dragon and shaking to the point of being unrideable until I felt she was settled enough to walk home. 20 min hack. Less than 500m.

Once back in the yard, totally different horse and happy to do a short schooling session so we could end on a good note.

Now of course I’m trying to work out what I’ve changed - same hacking route, same saddle, different bit but we have schooled in all week? I have new hi viz on? Groom hasn’t joined us that way before?

Horse not fresh, pulling, napping back to yard, or performing in any way beyond massive spook and then shaking and snorting. And pressing her head into my chest when I tried to reassure her. No better if Milagra went ahead. Just planting and shaking. Maybe I should have stayed on and pushed her forward from onboard but her legs were shaking so much that it didn’t feel happy- it felt genuine.

I’m at a loss.

 

[OrangeAndLemon]

Could it have been a snake in the grass you hadn't seen. Or maybe a dead animal she could smell and you couldn't see?

Mine did this in a field once when my show jockey was schooling him. He came to dead stop, clearly significantly scared so I walked over to see what was there. It was very deep grass. I had a look around while nearly a tonne of bright ginger HH hid behind me, so close I could feel his breath on my back.

The scary monster was....a dock plant!!!

None of the other dock plants seemed to upset him, just that particular one. Once I stamped on it and squished it he got back on with his work happily.

 

[GreyMane]

I hacked out once with a woman who was on her recently bought young Polish arab, I was on her old Arab mare.
In a green lane between fields, both of the horses simultaneously, and for no apparent reason did a violent, but fortunately static, "jump and drop" into a spread-legged posture, as if a gun had gone off near us. We had no idea what caused it, but both of them reacted at exactly the same second. Badly earthed electric cable? Small creature making a noise beyond our hearing? Something that ran under their feet?
Whatever it was, it wasn't triggered by sight, they were not staring in any particular direction.
It's frustrating to know that we don't have the same senses and can't detect everything that horses can see, smell, hear and feel. Must dig out my copy of The Nature of Horses.

 

[HeyMich]

My mare did exactly that this time last year and I still don't know what it was all about. She was shaking like a leaf and I had to dismount and walk her back - we were literally at the furthest point on a fun ride! Not sure I'll ever find out what spooked her to such an extent...

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

Can be typical arab behaviour I find ? my 2 still freak out over nothing and they are 16 and 17 years old.

I put them out about 8pm last night I always just open there doors and the field gate is literally 3 steps from the stables, both of them went out like a bat out of hell then they both galloped up the field snorting then they came back and stood by the gate staring at something, so I got the torch and walked in the field walked all round it and couldn't find anything.

They thought me being in the field was great fun I had both of them following me and decided I was there to play, hence both of them rearing up and trotting towards me they were so funny.

 

[Ratface]

They're Arabs! They are Royalty!! They are the "Don't You Know Who We Are "??? Brigade.
Mine is 28 >29: he flies round his field screeching and snorting on a regular basis. Tail flagged, ears perpendicular, airs well above the ground . . . finds a soggy bit of ground and has a good roll. Gets up and starts stuffing his face . . .

 

[LadyGascoyne]

Good to know it’s not just me.

I don’t think I handled it brilliantly though. I think I’ve just affirmed that the hedge was not to be trusted rather than proving that it is… just the same hedge we see every day.

Maybe I should have just told her to get on with it! But she’s a convincing actress. I thought she might be ill!

 

[MuddyMonster]

Good to know it’s not just me.

I don’t think I handled it brilliantly though. I think I’ve just affirmed that the hedge was not to be trusted rather than proving that it is… just the same hedge we see every day.

Maybe I should have just told her to get on with it! But she’s a convincing actress. I thought she might be ill!

I wouldn't be so sure.

You may well as just as easily shown her you're her bestest ally in the whole world as you actually listen to her limits rather than just telling her to get on with it when she really wasn't OK.

 

[LadyGascoyne]

I wouldn't be so sure.

You may well as just as easily shown her you're her bestest ally in the whole world as you actually listen to her limits rather than just telling her to get on with it when she really wasn't OK.

Thanks MuddyMonster, that’s a great way to think about it.

 

[stangs]

I wouldn't be so sure.

You may well as just as easily shown her you're her bestest ally in the whole world as you actually listen to her limits rather than just telling her to get on with it when she really wasn't OK.

Exactly this.

She sounds like she was way over threshold - a horse can’t fake shaking legs - so even if you had gotten her past it, she wouldn’t have been mentally able to absorb the information. You did the right thing by taking her out of the situation to let her decompress.

 

[Zuzan]

I've had this happen and ended up putting these occasional events down to:

1) Scent marking by Roe buck and also on one occasion very very strong fox .. very very pongy..
2) A dead deer that I didn't notice until I passed the same spot on my own two feet
3) A broken under ground leci supply cable .. was on tarmac and couldn't work out why horse wouldn't walk on over this piece of road .. until the next day there was a SSE repair vehicle and cones in place.

My take home from all the above .. there is always a reason that is valid to the horse.. even if I'm not aware of it myself at the time.

 

[scats]

Whenever Millie is being more daft than normal, I try to remember that their sense of hearing and smell is so much better than ours and they will pick up on things that we can’t.
I try not to get too hung up on it, usually the next day they’ll go the same route with no worry.

 

[black and brown]

I don't think you did the wrong thing at all. You took control of the situation and took the pressure off your horse. Sometimes taking command, even if that means turning back, is a relief to the horse, not a sign of weakness. I like to think that out hacking we are partners, sometimes my horse deals with things I worry about but equally I need to help him out when he is anxious and this makes our trust stronger.

 

[PurBee]

Animals sense so much we cant detect, its almost impossible to know if she was having a personal ‘arab moment’ or sensing something more sinister that actually saved you all from a really bad hack. You listened to her so you’ll never know, and i agree, based on all the background info you gave, i would have been very suspicious and taken her seriously and turned back. Good call. You trust her and she trusts you.

My 2 were acting very weird in the fields one time and there was a trespasser on neighbours land, trying to hide amongst the trees. They can see so far and so accurately and their faces were so serious and locked onto ‘target’ i eventually saw teeny movement. Gotta love arab blood - they’re like guard-dogs!

Animals sense so much, i trust their reactions when theyre very out of the blue and seemingly, to us, irrational. My dog, at home with my OH, knew i was in serious trouble at a location an hour away from home. I had no phone battery left so no-one knew anything. The exact chunk of time i was struggling she howled her head off. She never, ever howls, in 11 yrs even if i pretend howl , she never joins in. She looks like a wolf but she never howls….except that one time, when she evidently really meant it.

 

[Michen]

Boggle did this the other day. For the first time in 4/5 years of owning him the result was leading him past. Literally no amount of anything would get him to move.

It was a log…

This is the bravest pony in the world, seemingly ?

 

[J&S]

My coloured mare has a percentage of Arab in her and once I had to get OH to bring the trailer to rescue me when she completely freaked out. I was near to our house and he heard her hooves crashing the ground and thought it was gun fire and came out to find me hanging on for grim death. Tail up, snorting like a dragon and feet all over the place. He went down the road and brought the trailer back, she shot in and was fine when she got home to her field five minutes later. I thought it was a riggy gelding nearby yelling his head off that caused it but she turned from perfect dressage practicing pony to lunatic in a flash of a second.

 

[Arzada]

I don’t think I handled it brilliantly though. I think I’ve just affirmed that the hedge was not to be trusted rather than proving that it is… just the same hedge we see every day.

Maybe I should have just told her to get on with it! But she’s a convincing actress. I thought she might be ill!

Some horses, like mine, see this as a good decision. The trust that grows from this will pay dividends in other tricky situations.

Watch a group of horses worried by something, possibly unknown is us, in a field and one or more will advance and retreat, others may take over until a group decision is made about what to do.

 

[splashgirl45]

my loan horse was like that, she immediately broke out in a sweat and her heart was racing and she felt really shakey, it was so unlike her i let her stand still and didnt get after her to go past, i couldnt work out what it was and then a donkey shoved his nose out between the hedging. the other horse went past and we also went past rather quickly and with lots of snorting, she had smelt him and was less scared once she saw him, but still pretty upset..

 

[tristar]

sounds like she was a bit overwhelmed at something or nothing, out in the world again, you did the right thing and kindly reassured her, she will not forget that.

i find sometimes they are just a bit too lively to cope that day, the state of the grass, their own nervous system, they just felt like that, i think being accommodating to the fact they have nervous systems which can cause tension helps me through understanding a horses complexity, well done, x

 

[LadyGascoyne]

Thanks everyone, it does help to see things in context.

It’s just so overwhelmingly disheartening when you have a bad day with them. And added to that, I’d taken the morning off work, paid for an extra day with our groom to join us, bought my extra hi viz so we could both ride on the road…

Thanks Mim ?

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

Thanks everyone, it does help to see things in context.

It’s just so overwhelmingly disheartening when you have a bad day with them. And added to that, I’d taken the morning off work, paid for an extra day with our groom to join us, bought my extra hi viz so we could both ride on the road…

Thanks Mim ?

Honestly it's just one of those things Louis had a meltdown over a bloke standing next to his bike the other day, he was quite far away but I think he just couldn't understand why he was there and I think the silhouette was just odd, it was very sunny that day which I don't think helped with vision and I really don't know how I hung onto him.

 

[Caol Ila]

With my current two horses, I over-analyze every glitch. Did I ask for too much? Did I ask in the wrong way? What could I have done better? Will this affect their training going forward? Horses are pretty forgiving, so unless you are having consistent cock ups, they will probably be fine.

I panicked more than Hermosa today because of how Gypsum trained me. We were leading them back up the road to their field, when we ran into the YO's husband moving his sheep down the road. I bricked it, because Gypsum used to panic at sheep bunched and running down the road, and you could pretty much kiss your a*rse goodbye. I pulled her to the side and put the rope around her nose, but she stood perfectly still. Gave them the hairy eyeball, but she didn't feel like she was even thinking about exploding. Good girl (little Caso was also fine, but he's easier to hang onto!). I shouldn't have been so reactive, but c'est la vie.

Quite unlike the ride a few weeks ago, where Foinavon and I were out with OH on foot. To get him used to being by himself, we split up where the trail turns into two parallel forks that meet up again about 300m down the track. He was a bit tense, but doing well. A deer was bouncing around in the woods, so that wasn't helping. The trail I was on curved towards the main track, where OH was, dropped into a dip, then climbed out. And there, on the top of the hill, was OH. The same man that Foinavon sees almost as much as he sees me and who he had been happily following ten minutes before. But it was like OH had been beamed down by the Enterprise. Or replaced by an alien. The pony froze, then spun around and took off in the opposite direction. I pulled him up after a few strides. Mortified OH said he'd gone off the trail for a pee. But honestly, I didn't think the horse would react like that!

 

[LadyGascoyne]

With my current two horses, I over-analyze every glitch. Did I ask for too much? Did I ask in the wrong way? What could I have done better? Will this affect their training going forward? Horses are pretty forgiving, so unless you are having consistent cock ups, they will probably be fine.

I panicked more than Hermosa today because of how Gypsum trained me. We were leading them back up the road to their field, when we ran into the YO's husband moving his sheep down the road. I bricked it, because Gypsum used to panic at sheep bunched and running down the road, and you could pretty much kiss your a*rse goodbye. I pulled her to the side and put the rope around her nose, but she stood perfectly still. Gave them the hairy eyeball, but she didn't feel like she was even thinking about exploding. Good girl (little Caso was also fine, but he's easier to hang onto!). I shouldn't have been so reactive, but c'est la vie.

Quite unlike the ride a few weeks ago, where Foinavon and I were out with OH on foot. To get him used to being by himself, we split up where the trail turns into two parallel forks that meet up again about 300m down the track. He was a bit tense, but doing well. A deer was bouncing around in the woods, so that wasn't helping. The trail I was on curved towards the main track, where OH was, dropped into a dip, then climbed out. And there, on the top of the hill, was OH. The same man that Foinavon sees almost as much as he sees me and who he had been happily following ten minutes before. But it was like OH had been beamed down by the Enterprise. Or replaced by an alien. The pony froze, then spun around and took off in the opposite direction. I pulled him up after a few strides. Mortified OH said he'd gone off the trail for a pee. But honestly, I didn't think the horse would react like that!

I think Lady Gascoyne trained me like Gypsum trained you - any anomalies and it’s best to pray for a swift death ?

Sounds like Hermosa was really good! And a good example for Caso.

I think my disappointment is more because Mimosa is usually so reliable and it’s so unlike her to go to pieces. I didn’t feel like she was going to go up or bolt - if anything, I was worried she was going to collapse in a heap with her shaky Bambi legs. Just hope it’s a one off and she goes back to being my confident, laid back little Mim.

 

[Caol Ila]

Sometimes, there are weird things that you will never see. Years ago, I was riding Gypsum on the same ride we'd done a million times. There were only about three hacks one could do from that yard. She looked down at the road, dragon snorting, prancing, trying out for the Spanish Riding School. I'd learned the hard way after an incident with cows to never get off, so I hung on for grim death while she had a snorty leapy meltdown. A few days later, she gave the road in question a suspicious stare and a few snorts, but she wasn't quite as dramatic. A week later, all was copacetic. I wonder if the water pipes or powerlines under the road had been playing up. It was pretty weird.

If she'd been a young horse, or a new horse with whom I'd been establishing a relationship, I would have questioned myself and my life choices a lot more. But I'd had her for circa 18 years at that point, and she must have been about 25, so while I thought it was bizarre, I could easily shrug it off and not take it as an indictment of my horsemanship.

 

[Cutgrass]

Maybe you could try hopping off and leading her for a while if this happens again? I've been hacking a very spooky welsh d recently and did that with her once when she had a total meltdown. As soon as she was being led she relaxed and then stood happily so I could hop back on. I prefer this as she's got a spin in her so I never ever turn back.

 

[LadyGascoyne]

Maybe you could try hopping off and leading her for a while if this happens again? I've been hacking a very spooky welsh d recently and did that with her once when she had a total meltdown. As soon as she was being led she relaxed and then stood happily so I could hop back on. I prefer this as she's got a spin in her so I never ever turn back.

I did hop off but she was shaking and planted so wouldn’t lead. I led back to the yard and hopped back on when we got there, no problems at all and she schooled a bit afterwards and was perfectly relaxed.

I’ve led her extensively since she was two and hacked a fair deal since she has been backed - and she’s never ever behaved like this. I have no idea what upset her but goodness she was unhappy.

I haven’t been out again because I actually ended up coming down with a bad cold that evening but I will take her out again when I’m feeling better, and will report back.

 

[JGC]

Mine occasionally does this but it's always hormone related , i.e., something spooks her and, because she's in season, she'll start absolutely knocking at the knees. Agnus castus has ironed a lot of it out, but I still get off when the shaking starts (only about four or five times this year).

 

[JGC]

Actually, saying about hormones - remind how old Mimosa is?

 

[Cutgrass]

Hopefully it will be a one off and next time you take her out she'll be back to normal. How do you feel about taking her out again?

 

[LadyGascoyne]

Actually, saying about hormones - remind how old Mimosa is?

Five, and on a chaste berry supplement already. She used to get quite uncomfortable around her seasons as a youngster but seems to be much better at 4 and 5.

Hopefully it will be a one off and next time you take her out she'll be back to normal. How do you feel about taking her out again?

I’m not too worried about taking her out from a personal safety perspective. She’s not dangerous - she basically just wobbles on her shaky legs and buries her head into your jacket when she’s scared ? not terribly scary. Her snorts are impressive though. She can trumpet like a baby elephant.