how bombproof is your horse?

Kelly1982 said:
I think it's def a combination of the two. Some are just laid back in general and aren't really that fussed about anything, others get better with training and experience as they gain confidence.
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^^ exactly this!

I knew my boy was bombproof when I went to view him for the first time.
After riding him - his owner showed me where the wash bay was and had me hose him down, in the middle of doing this a chicken, being closely followed by the yard dog burst out of the bush behind him ran through his back legs, under his belly and out through his front legs and he didn't even bat an eyelid. Let's just say I was sold ;)
 
In 5 years of ownership mine has gone from a nervous, nappy, quivering wreck to solid and bombproof for me. He is 100% reliable in the heaviest of traffic and has been used to help my friends' spookier horses on the roads. He didn't bat an eyelid at planes, building sites, all manner of nautical equipment on the beaches. He's 14 now and so i did believe it was just a maturity thing (he's iberian). So I had no qualms about loaning him to a 15 year old novice during my pregnancy. HOWEVER he has regressed severely with her to the point that she won't hack him out alone at all. His nappiness has returned and he has spooked and spun and thrown her off a couple of times out on the beach. I am now itching to get back on him and sort out his confidence issues! He's started being spooky coming in from the field which he hasn't done for years so I know it's something in his head that's been lurking, he just must have gained confidence from my riding (and I have battled with my nerves since owning him). But I am confident I can get him back on track, he just needs a bit of time and patience and lots of praise! So I think 'bombproof' must be a combination of horse and rider! Incidentally I bought him as a bombproof hack but then it took me a year to get him hacking out alone with me!
 
I have one of those quirky idiotic types. Used to be stabled alongside a light aircraft landing strip and a main train line (We're talking 10 ft away from both). So is unphased by Helicopters, Lorries, Trains travelling over a hundred miles an hour, noisy golf carts, canal boats. However, a blade of grass wafting in the wind can turn him into a jibbering wreck.
 
Auslander said:
I think we need to make sure that Alf, Fergs and lhotse's mare never meet! I think they are related! Alf will ignore the massive juggernaut polo lorries, which fly around here with mad argentinians at the wheel, and skip lorries, and tractors - but show him a line of tree stumps along a verge, and he will have a meltdown!
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Oh god, we do not need them comparing notes :eek:
 
My older boy is pretty sane - he is only frightened by genuinely frightening things i.e. big tractors (only moving ones), violently flapping materials etc. He'd never spook at a different colour leaf, or crisp packet per say. My youngster is pretty decent for a baby too - he walks past tarpaulin and banging etc and ladders on the floor and doesn't mind. They both just had to deal with a huge fire on the property next door that included gas canisters exploding and neither of them even stopped grazing for a minute.
 
mine is bombproof .
No hes not.
yes he is.
My horse is really really sane (most of the time)
He is the type of horse that can walk past a tree eating monster machine without batting an eyelid then take off because he has seen a cat.
He can walk past hundreds of sheep then take off because he has seen another sheep.
I think he is brilliant but he just has to keep that last little bit of himself to make me look a total idiot when he feels the need!
 
My boy was great until he had eight months box rest due to lami, he is fine with traffic but petrified of drains, bags, large leaf plants, his own shadow etc, so we are having some spook busting lessons and trying to build his confidence. He's better hacking in company but naps and goes sideways down the road if on his own.
 
Somebody really, really important and wise (can't remember who, but it was somebody we've all heard of) said "The horse takes confidence from the rider" and my experience backs this up. Lots of horses are spooky with some people and rock solid with others. My traumatised, unrideable PRE took 2 years to stop shaking, spinning and generally melting down when ridden and now is an absolute STAR (just back from BAPSH show in UK where he was solid as a rock).
 
My haffie is absolutely rock solid in traffic, knows the rules of the road and insists on following them including traffic lights and not moving out of a junction if a car is coming, unfortunately he doesn't recognise indicators :) (but he was driven as a pair at 3 and singly for many years ) and doesn't spook or look at much else where. He's not fond of wheely bins or shetlands but just gives them the hairy eyeball. I think he was born confident plus had a good, varied education. I bought him to restore my confidence after it was shattered by the horse below and he never wavered even if I was shaking with nerves.

The idiot welsh is great in heavy traffic no matter what size, in fact used to be a bit obsessed about trying to remove wipers or ariels but would quite happily put himself - and rider - under a 10 ton lorry because a pebble dropped 5 miles away. What is not worthy of a glance one day can cause a meltdown another... He is not and never will be a confident type of horse, I've owned him since weaning and he's always been a worrywart usually about the silliest of things that would only be a problem some days! For instance he's always been fine with pigs but could have a panic attack when you passed the cows that he LIVED with 24/7 FGS. He is better with a confident rider but still prone to spectacular over reactions out of the blue.

I really think that while rider confidence and time can help you still have to take into account the animals basic personality.
 
He will stand while a bus uses air brakes next to him, not fussed by the biggest rattliest tractor or a squadron of trial-bikers, but a scary leaf or bit of mud on the road sends him into hysterics... :redface3:
 
Nugz is thankfully nosey so his curiousity normally takes over his urge to freak out. I do think that getting a horse to a decent level of saneness comes from basic character, training and from it's handler/rider. I made a point of putting nugz in the paddock next to the main farm gate so he had no choice but to learn to chill around large farm vehicles. I also took him for little potters around them, let him sniff and touch (there are still teeth marks on one of the tractors mud guards *oops* ). We also have huge dump trucks for the quarry that pass within 20 feet of us on hacks and hes again just had to get used to it. He know is about 90% okay with farm machinery, cars and general road traffic. Cyclists he's been caught out with as when we've met them they've all come speeding up behind and caught him by surprise.

We will even go past irrigators in full flow :D

We will however freak at the farmhand standing on the field corner.

And the other haflinger on the other yard.

And the small show pony he is 3 fields away from day in, day out :D
 
Haha bless them!

I definitely agree that rider confidence plays a big part! I have had a big confidence knock recently but I think I do an ok job of staying calm despite my inner worries. What would be even better than that is if the worries would just flippin go back from whence they came, but hey we're progressing slowly together!
 
My mares a strange one!!
On one walk out we met a lorry down a tiny lane which we had to literally squeeze past and she didnt even flinch. We then had a overdramatic spook at the purple flower on someones drive :rolleyes: then we had prancing and snorting at a bike. I just do not understand her!
 
My two are pretty bombproof, but they've always been pretty laid back anyway. They're also pretty experienced so that helps, although they both have their little quirks, Wellie is utterly terrified of the water trough when it's filling up, and there's no way in hell you'd get Charlie near the red hoof oil brush (the purple one however, is fine...as is the rest of the red grooming box and everything that else that belongs to Well, which is rugs, headcollars, numnahs etc..!)
 
combo of nature and nurture.....


Bruce has always been laid back, since he arrived as a 4yo he has always been mr chilled.

he's 17 now and has literally done a *proper* spook (ie jumped to the side) twice in that time! he has NEVER spun round/run backwards etc and normally just stops and huffs, but always go straight on when asked, never naps etc.

We have had 30/40 cyclists surround us, a fully laden combine and huge trailer go past flat out about 6inches away, hot air balloon land in next doot filed,, bird scarer go off less than a foot away etc and he just stops and huff, never even flinched.

he's one in a million :wub:

CS is a funny one, because he's quirky to the exteme and clearly not a novice ride due to his napping/rearing. But he too doesnt really spook, in 4 years he has spooked twice in a test situation and maybe 3 times at home.
this morning i ws pruning the trees next to the menage, by standing up in my stirrups and snapping the branches off, over his head, covering us both in water droplets, without holding the reins. He was resting a leg. so in some ways i trust him 100%, in others.......not so much lol!

is is rather more react then think, but theres not a malicious bone in his body, but he's def the spookiest of the 3. and i think thats just him, a real live wire, always buzzing, always thinking, always on the look out, sort.
 
Cortez said:
Somebody really, really important and wise (can't remember who, but it was somebody we've all heard of) said "The horse takes confidence from the rider"
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I agree.

I trust my big boy 100% and he's really not phased by anything but previously, like when I was pregnant and started worrying over silly things that *could* happen (stopped riding at 20 weeks because of my own fears of 'what if') - he absolutely picked up on it.

I have been asked to consider the police as a career for him, on more than 1 occasion, 'if he didn't work out for me'! No chance, you don't give horses like him up unless you have no other options!
 
Traffic 100% but she is now 3 and have been walking her out and about to meet EVERYTHING for 2 years, building stuff like mixers etc- no probs, shes kept at mum and dads and dad is a builder, cows etc 100%,bags, plastic wrappers, paper etc not fazed butttttt if the gate touches her side on the way out the field i do nearly die from being run over.... ive concluded this is after the stallion rapped her she doesnt like unexpected touches on her bum etc. I have put plastic sheets on her head from day one, walked over drains etc, over fencing. She is a dope on a rope appy cross moorland thing, and is a week younger than my old bosses wb who will kill me coming in from the field given half a chance lol
 
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