Horses wanted - must not be spooky!

My previous mare was about as non spooky as you could get, for a 17hh big blood horse. It was as though she understood the world, and knew what to be concerned about and what not. If we saw something very unusual she would carefully walk around it looking at it, but very rarely actually hop sideways / proper spook.
The only thing in the whole world which made her suspicious was a pile of rugs on the ground.
Current lad is a bit of a drama king- could go the whole hack without looking at anything, or could take exception to something irrational and try and spin and head for home. If he's out with another idiot, it turns into a very annoying way to pass an hour, but if hes with something sensible he's fine. I still wouldn't call him spooky as in familiar surroundings (yard, arena, etc) he doesn't have a significant reaction to every day things
I would define proper spooky as a horse who has an over the top reaction to very little in familiar surroundings. I think we should expect all horses to react to e.g. a pheasant flying up beside them, but should not expect them to spook at the same mounting block in their own arena that they are ridden in regularly.
 
One of my Arabs has decided his scared of bluebells the woods across the road are full of them at the moment! It's interesting to say the least, another thing he hates is the water trough in the field we have to walk past at the back of my house, he snorts and jogs past that every time we hack out, and there are now some blue flowers that have just appeared opposite it so it's extra scary now.
 
Kira is outrageously spooky. She has several modes of spook, and can get them all out in one ridden session. She's not very spooky to hack, but we only hack in company because she's just too nappy to bother with on her own. In company she's quite bold.
But in the school... we have the "accelerate out from underneath rider" spook, the "handbrake and whip round" spook, it's companion "handbrake and speed reverse", the "Drop shoulder and teleport 3m sideways" spook, you name it.
She's only little but jeez you need a secure seat.

She's a nervy horse. With her it definitely comes from a place of anxiety, she is spooky about other routine things (hedges are a big issue for her!) and her native sense of self preservation runs strong ;) I don't think she will ever change. She is an inherently spooky horse.

Millie was a humerous spooker, she would make a huge fuss over something when she knew she could get away with it but she is generally a bold nosy horse who wouldn't ever spook if given a proper job to do. Safe as houses but interesting to ride. That's my favourite kind of horse.

Salty spooks so hard and so fast that she falls over on occasion :rolleyes: dizzy warmblood brain with unreliable communication to legs ;) I think it happens because she doesn't concentrate and then get surprised by things, which ought to have made that easier to train out of her, if we had been able to keep going with her ridden work.
 
Almost everything can spook. One of mine is scared of nothing but will spook for entertainment if I am being boring! Worst I ever had was borderline dangerous - would throw herself in front of a HGV while spooking at a shadow on the floor... But I would have described her as highly strung and a little nuts!
 
I swear mine, being Welsh, scares himself.

Things you'd expect him to spook at like fly tipping he will just give a wide berth to. However stuff, usually stuff on the floor in front of him, such as flattened poo, mud or different coloured sand in the school is going to kill him. He will slam on the brakes and has been known to sideways or 180 degree teleport, he has very quick reactions. No bucking or rearing just emergency stops or teleportation. In the school you need to make him think and mix up what you're doing. Hes quite backwards and lazy in the school but I wouldn't let someone inexperienced on him as theres that 10% of the time the sand could attack him.

He's not allowed to be tied on the yard as hes kept at an rs so there are often people around as he will be stand there, start staring at the floor and snort until eventually he leans/jerks back and snaps the tie as he's convinced himself there is something scary there and hes almost fulfilled his belief as he's wound himself up through snorting. Leg trimming is fun he can often be standing there beautifully then decide it's very scary and snatch his leg up and scuttle sideways, again scaring himself. His hair that is now on the floor is also clearly planted there to attack him.

Yet the other day he and his hacking companion both walked past a bouncy castle with people jumping on it and the air hissing with barely a glance! Yet it would have been completely understandable for him to be scared at it I was expecting it. But flattened poo on the road, now that is dangerous!!!
 
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Mine is a nervous wreck at times, but usually for no apparent reason. He does the "drop and scurry" form and I know when it is likely to happen because he is so tense that it feels like riding a pneumatic drill. Because my confidence isn't the great and I hate been taken off with, I have now developed a few techniques for keeping his attention when he's in pneumatic drill mode. In addition, we do lots of scary things like weaving through roadworks, posting letters, collecting vegetables from a box on the wall etc, all of which he copes well with (eventually). His sideways spooks are rare, not massive and not un-seating but his scurries can be quite un-seating when he takes off.

His fieldmate, on the other hand, has a keen sense of humour and is great at, thankfully rare, four-feet sideways leaps! We call it having a Tom Jones moment when everything is going nicely and he thinks it's a bit dull - "think I'd better spook now!"
 
Picture the seen... pc road safety day

We lent the oldie exmoor for kids who couldn't bring their own.. his age really didn't know could have been about 30ish in age. he was one of those ponies that has been in the area for ever...loades had learnt to ride on him to many too count

2 ponies failed the field test .......a spooky 6yr who wasn't allowed out on the road test and the shame of it ....the ancient one......all he had to do was walk past a dad with a wheelbarrow in the field stop at the fake junction and turn left. not p**s off up the field with the kid trying to stop the tank!
 
Mine spooks, my friend always says that she squats her backside down and hurries past things when she does, her favourite party trick is to slam the brakes on momentarily then carry on when cantering/galloping which means you go over the top if you haven't got your wits about you - but I'm ready for it most of the time and she often does it in the same places (pile of logs next to track, sticky out branch etc) - yet today a pheasant flew out right under her nose when we were galloping across a field and she didn't even blink at it. She is super safe the rest of the time and doesn't ever leap or spin, I couldn't cope with that.
 
Chestnut mare does a good spook with teleportation. Good thing too on the day that a lorry came around a blind bend on the wrong side of the road. I blinked and we were suddenly on the verge watching said lorry going over the patch of tarmac that we had been on.
 
The joy of living on the edge of suburbia is that from being backed they see everything. Kids on skate boards, car being washed, hedge cutters, the double decker bus,and we chat a lot to people on the trip to the shops, and they learn to stand. I do not mind them backing off, but a turn and bog off and I am grumpy. The only thing one seriously spooked at was a field of rape in flower at a show, but is just really an excuse for disobedience. I do not think most of them are as bad as they make out, some of the racehorses in Newmarket are literally backed in a yard, with perhaps a round pen and go straight out into the High Street traffic.
My favorite pony, from three if something suprised him, he goes WTF and then advanced to investigate, and I think that divides them, they are either, that's strange I want to run away or that's strange is it something to eat?
 
honetpot said:
My favorite pony, from three if something suprised him, he goes WTF and then advanced to investigate, and I think that divides them, they are either, that's strange I want to run away or that's strange is it something to eat?
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I rode my friend's Sec C from when he was young and he was like this. Loved hacking him because anything new and he'd march over to investigate.

Current mare is hard work because she's unpredictable. I'm sort of hoping it's related to the many issues we're uncovering so if she's ever properly sound again then it'll get easier. She's even a nightmare to lead out in hand. I'm definitely after a straight forward, non-spooky hacking horse next time!
 
I hate the jumping/spinning worse and try to avoid those types at all costs. I don't mind the looky/blowing types but the ones that throw themselves violently just detract too much from my confidence.

Like PP, I spook a lot myself! Sometimes more than the horses!
 
I have a sensitive Irish cob who genuinely thinks life is out there to get him - he has been the nappiest, spookiest, rearing, teleporting horse I've ever sat on. And now, after 12 years, I trust him implicitly. He will still spook but he's toned down his reactions and is more of a stop and stare type, with a leap and 360 spin if he is particularly worried, than the multiple rearing episodes that nearly made me give up when he was a newly broken 5 year old. I think he trusts me now (I spent a LOT of time walking him out - mainly because he was a nightmare to ride!) but he still has to let me know how he's feeling. He has however a wonderful sense of self preservation and even when he was rearing 30+times on a circular 45 min hack (not an exaggeration I promise), including pretty big ones, he never once was in danger of going over with me (obviously all physical things checked, he's just very sensitive and found it hard to trust someone, so took measures into his own hands).

I also have a large ID mare who has a totally different approach. She's definitely using spooking as evasion now she's older (rising 7) and a test to see who has the upper hand. She does a particularly nice line in trying to scrape me off into nearby hedges if she's challenged and in season. But she's not looky and will jump anything - just if she's in THAT mood, she will find things to make a point about. I don't feel she has the same sense of awareness and self preservation my cob has (unfortunately).

I have learned to love my neckstrap with both of them :)
 
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none of mine have been spooky really. If there's something new in the hedge they'll look and maybe have a huff dependant on the day but on the whole when they've seen it once they don't care. I have been known on many occasion to spook more than the horse has! I don't mind jumpy horses though I have a fairly sticky seat and it makes hacking more interesting if nothing else. But horses that spook at home at the same things everyday drive me up the wall as in my eyes it shows they are either very evasive and unwilling or just a bit stupid, neither of which traits are very appealing to me!
 
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