how bombproof is your horse/what is your horse scared of?

I would not describe H as bombproof, he's too young and a bit too forward going for that, but he is safe. New things scare him, like a map case a passing walker moved, or the wind turning grass and leaves over, he's not that keen on his own shadow either.

But the one thing that really worries him is my OH, but then she can put the willies up most people, so he's in good company
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Pepsi's fantastic in traffic/on the roads both in comany and on his own. If there something he doesnt like, he'll take a little look, but carry on walking, have a quiet snort and forget about it. The only thing he doesnt really like are tree trunks, but again he's never dangerous, just snorts and forgets
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Murphy's really good, nothing really bothers him. He'll sometimes flinch slightly at birds flying out of hedges but it is literally just a momentary flinch, he doesn't spook. he recently pretended to be scared of a gateway but he just stopped and walked at it - that was because he was feeling lazy. If he is suspicious of something he'll sometimes go backwards but if you kick him on he goes!! I can hack him right next to the motorway, have been under a railway bridge when a good train went over...he's a good boy. He does shift himself quickly if he's next to a horse that spooks, but that's to get out of the way.

He did actually spook last week though!! At the farmer who was spraying weedkiller with one of those back pack things conatining the liquid on!! Once he'd got over the initial shock (and I'd stopped laughing) he was fascinated by it
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Hmmm where shall I start!!! He doesn't like squirrels, rabbits, tree stumps, logs (that resemble snakes apparently), his own shadow (no really!). Surprisingly though, he's quite good on the road, doesn't mind cars, buses, noisy trailers etc!
 
I would say that charlie is pretty darned bombproof. We live right next to a very busy main road. One of his favourite places to doze off is right next to it so nothing really bothers him.

He is in fact insatiably curious about machinery and big trucks. Dad had a large shipping container delivered a few years ago, and the truck and crane had to park in the field and drop it over the fence. Instead of running away from the scary monster, Charlie calmly walked up to it, had a good nose around the controls (scaring the life out of the operator) and generaly got in the way until dad (finally) had the sense to catch him and shut him in his stable!
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Mine is just scared of being left alone in her field or stable
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Otherwise she's very, very brave. If something fazes her she will turn to face it and then stomp to the offending thing, lots of snorting LOL, for a thorough nose whether loose or being ridden!

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My other horse was unflappable by anything, GNER high speed trains, combines, highsided lorries passing at 60 mph, birds flying out of bushes, bags, road markings, bird scarers, road works, brollies, kids on skates you name it he's never batter an eye lid, because I put a a lot of work into him when he was a youngster not to mention his laid back character, to carefully get him used to things but without scaring him.

Unfortunately I've now got to do the same with my 3 year old warm blood....except he's bigger and stronger and of course its difficult because its more dangerous but its got to be done. I can't for life of me imagine owning a horse that you couldn't ride out or have to duck into the nearest driveway as soon as you heard a tractor coming...there's no escaping farm traffic, wagons and rubbish blowing about when the wind gets up specially I live, only problem is the ignorant people in vans, tractors and lorries that don't bother to slow down and actually make it twice as hard and dangerous to get them used to traffic, they'll never get used to it unless they go on the roads but sometimes it just too risky....and a lot of drivers will argue and say you shouldn't be on the roads unless they are quiet....what are you expected to do?
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Anyway...don't get started !
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Totally agree ..

I used to walk my mare, in hand, (17hh W/B) for miles before she was backed. At first with our little perfect pony
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and then alone. I have no doubt that this is why she is brilliant at being out and about.
 
Penny completely freaks out when she first sees something, then second time around its like 'Yeah, so, I've seen that... its not scary anymore'! Sometimes she'll also be like 'OMG, what the hell is that' (new haylage bales at the yard) then decide they are not scary and go and shove her nose in it just to be sure!!
 
George is seriously brilliant in traffic, but he is scared of things that have changed i.e. grass verges that have been trimmed, the jumps in the jump pile being rearranged, and rustling bags!
 
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I can't for life of me imagine owning a horse that you couldn't ride out or have to duck into the nearest driveway as soon as you heard a tractor coming...there's no escaping farm traffic, wagons and rubbish blowing about when the wind gets up specially I live, :

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My pony was 13yo when I got him and he was scared of tractors then but don't know if he has ever had a bad experience with one before I had him??

However, I decided on the spot to buy him when I first rode him as he never batted an eyelid at the steam train that passed within feet of us - he was too busy eating the hedge to notice while I flapped
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Until recently I kept him on the same lane as a agricultural contractors and it can be very busy when they are making the hay but I never had any real problems hacking - the lanes are so narrow that they would have had to wait for a cyclist to get out of the way nevermind a pony.

Same yard was at the top of a very windy ridge and I think this really helps the youngsters - things are always blowing about so they soon get used to it
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My mare pretends she is scared of everything, particularly the B & W cat that sometimes watches our schooling sessions.

In reality though, she is scared of nothing
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horse is fantastic on roads, no traffic annoys him. we were going around a bad corner and met a pack of cyclists - the cyclists were more frightened than us!
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however he has developed a fear of all things white and fluffy... lol he dosent really understand what "sheep" are
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My horse is pretty much as bombproof as they get! Ive hacked he around east mids airport perimeter fence and american adventune (there are bridlepaths
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), no traffic bothers him, occasionally he jumps if something startles him, but no more than i do! Hes such a brave pony that other ponies dont spook when they're with him! Noises used to bother him but not too much any more, plus if he does find anything unusual his response is to go investigate!
He missed his calling of being a police horse!
Although... Sheep and squirrels are fuzzy assassins and the noise chickens make sends him loopy! Plus today we went for a hack and he was bouncing all over the shop, i blame the mctimoney practioner that did his back at the weekend, shes made him feel far too comfortable!!
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My guy is bombproof with- kids dogs cows traffic of all forms- he is really a good lad until he hears something rustling in the hedge and then he has a major breakdown- jumps upwards and outwards and then try and spin and if he cant manage that he runs forward past that leaf and continues to look for trouble in the hedges all the way home- he should know better at 21 years old x
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Lady has never refused to go past anything, or bolted ( runs and touchs the table ) a fisherman taking a shortcut through a hedge and throwing his tackle over first without warning made her jump but that was all!
She will banana bend around things she's unsure of, like roadworks and big iron fences!!!!

And little billy is good also, he will huff and puff at a tractor going past, and will not walk through a puddle or over a grate.
 
He's pretty much 100% although he will jump at things that startle him (can't blame him really!) The one time that he's thrown a major wobbley is when a animal transporter carrying cows came round a blind bend on a little country road far too fast and then didn't have enough time to slow down, so as far as he was concerened this big, clattering thing was going to run him over, so he span round and legged it!
 
My horsey is a SPOOK MONSTER if she's fresh and bombproof when she's being ridden daily. She might take a look, or at worst flinch if there's a bang, but she tried her heart out so if you squeeze when she starts hesitating then she'll get on.

Having said that, I though she was going to go up on me when I tried to get her to lead into the sea straight from the rocks when there was no beach... I blame it on the spooky spinny nappy horse who was with her as she was FINE the next day.
 
Umm lets see............ Sheep, cows, squirrels and large openings ie when going down a bridle way by us it gets quite narrow then all of a sudden opens up to quite a large space she always slams her brakes on, on things like this lol..
Oh and the chinese shop on the corner by her yard she always goes past it sideways with her eyes out on stalks (she obvioulsy prefers Indian lol) x
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She's not too bad with traffic though does not like rattling trailers coming up behind her. Her biggest fears are sheep, joggers and anything that flaps and makes a noise. She is good with tractors bikes and cows.
 
Don't think my boy is actually scared of anything. He will jump at things but usually things that anyone would jump at like a deer jumping out of a hedge or a car backfiring but he literally jumps and then stands still to work out what made him jump and then we carry on again
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He's such a good boy
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in the school he is fearless, on the yard he is fearless providing that no plastic bags are flapping. Hacking he is scared of life!
 
My mare is not frightened of any traffic at all, no matter how big, will ride over the motorway bridge, under the motorway tunnel, without a problem. However she spooks at mirrors, Herwick sheep (we have Ryelands and she is fine with them:) ) and new markings on the road, oh and her own shadow. She is seriously frightened of donkeys and also of horses being driven in carts if they are coming towards her, OK if they are going away from her, or if they cross at a t junction. No idea why that is.
 
My boy is pretty good with most things, he's only ever properly spooked with me twice, last week a car with flat bed trailer zoomed past us at ridiculous speed making a racket and that was worth a spin. And going past a local dairy farm when they had big HGV delivering feed, the tractor removing feed bags was fine but the man who appeared from behind the feed was terrifying!

The funniest thing was the next time we went past same farm, there was the tractor, cows that had just been turned out leaping about, a man with a lawnmower, a kid wheeling out the dustbin and the dog running up and down the fence barking! Everytime the dog barked Shadow snorted at it, we piaffed, half-pass and snorted up the hill! I was in fits of laughter!
 
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