How do you ride a spook?

kyanya

kyanya

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My share horse's owner was talking the other day about someone else riding her horse, saying she wasn't keen on it because this person just acts like nothing's happened when the horse spooks.

This made me think about how I deal with a spook, because it's something I was never really taught to deal with (RS horses didn't spook!), but it feels like a bit of a numpty thing to be questioning when I'm not a novice. I suppose my main aim is to still get the horse to do what I'm asking, but if I'm cantering along and the horse jumps to the side and keeps going, I suppose I do act like nothings happened, because I wouldn't know what else there is I could do.

So, how do you deal with spooking?
 
No emotional response from you at all. Calmly correct the horse's behaviour and ask again for what you wanted originally. E.g. horse spins and goes to run away from scary noise. Spin horse round on spot so can't take off, realign in direction and on path you were going, and calmly ask once more for 'nice' trot - head down, impulsion etc. Keep horse on aids as going past scary object.
 
Completely ignore it. Sideways leaps are grand, all for just ignoring them! Don't mind them either if it's in reaction to, e.g., a bird flying up, as they normally make me jump too... and if they make me jump, why should my horse have magical pyschic abilities to see it coming?! :D

Just keep riding forwards... even if horse takes off try not to panic and start sawing it back as then I find the rest of the ride is a knife-edge and horse will be prone to more fireworks. Just gently and very calmly bring the horse back and once it's back to trot just keep trotting until it's starting to calm down.

Spooks are much easier to ride than naps... naps for me are a very different thing. And I hate them, having had a napper in the past, which got so bad it utterly destroyed my confidence :(
 
Yep, do nothing.

My horse used to spook and at everything, no exaggeration :o. If I had reacted, I'd have been a very 'busy' rider indeed.

We had a horse walker outside our barn and every day for 2 years, he spooked at it on the way to the field. It was very hard to ignore him at times but I did :).
 
totally ignore it, unless you're on the ground - if so, pick yourself up, shake your booty, and get back on, and pretend nothing happened - does that count ;)
 
You have to train yourself not to react - it's natural to tense up, snatch the reins, grip up -all of which reinforce to the horse that there is danger.
Each time the horse spooks, push your hands and heels down, sit quiet and let him deal with it, chances are he will get over it and will be less likely to run off if you are NOT trying to stop him.
And because you have trained yourself not to go into flight mode, your brain will be better able to deal with any danger safely and calmly.
Easy? No, but it can be done.
 
Sit still, relax, and ignore. Maybe give the horse a pat/stroke on the neck as reassurance if they're a bit "EEK!" afterwards. Ride forward, no drama.
 
Sometimes my mare will 'spook' if her brain isn't sufficiently engaged in what we are working on, in which case I know her well enough to know that she is being a bit of a minx! In that circumstance then she gets a kick on and reminded of her job! I would also take it as a hint that we might get some more so I would then perhaps change direction on our hack, change pace, do some leg yield/shoulder in etc to get her using her head on something useful! To be fair to her she only does this on a hack, and only then if I am out with someone else who is slopping along. On our march on hacks then she is working enough that she doesn't spend too much time keeping her eyes out for pretend spooks!

For a true spook (for us it is usually a bird flying up from nowhere are we both jump!) then I first of all peel my self off the ceiling and remind myself to breath, then I just give my mare a little pat and on we go as if nothing has happened. It normally worries her so I make sure I stay calm as if nothing has happened but just give her a little pat or talk to her so that she knows there is nothing to worry about.
 
I used to ride a horse who's owner used to beat for spooking:eek: so when he spooked at whatever (obviously beating him did not stop the spooking) he would then turn himself inside out trying to avoid the beating:mad: poor sweet boy he was too:(
 
I have a really bad habit of tensing and getting mad at C when she spooks, but last week I had a ride and I told myself to ignore the spook and keep calm. She was still an idiot but I have to 'hold her hand' so to speak and not get angry at her, or it makes it worse! In the end we had a lovely ride even when she decided to turn and run away from a wedding horse and carriage *rolls eyes*

I've learnt that there is no place for a rider on a horse if she is angry and/or tense :D It never works!
 
One of my horses spooks so much I hardly notice it! Just sit there and carry on once silliness is over! If spook is at something genuinely scary, ie tractor, someone or something leaping out of hedge that I'll give her neck a little scratch. If its just silliness tend to ignore or if refusing to go past something will growl 'get on with it' and horse goes 'ok' and scuttles past :D

Was on a friends horse the other day when he had a pretty violent spook at a dog that was trying to chase him, didn't bother me at all, however on same horse a few days later we ended up reversing at high speed through a field of cows. That worried me, but my friend though the dog spook incident was worse!!
 
As above posters have said, ignore it. Only addition being that if it is a spook at a fixed object (e.g. a squeaky gate rather than a bird flying up) then I may go back to it for a little look and get horse to go by calmly. (Sometimes this might take a few approach/retreats, with polos...) so there is one less thing to spook at the next time we hack out on that route.
 
I'm another one who tries to ignore it, although I'm only human so sometimes I do get annoyed but I try to keep any reaction that I make to a minimum.
It only makes it worse if you make an issue out of it.
There was a piece in the BHS magazine this month which says the same - a study was done in America which showed that horses with riders who kept calm, also stayed clamer but horses with riders who punished them had higher adrenalin levels for longer.
For some horses a telling off might be the way to go but I've never met one!
 
Depends on where I am and what they are spooking at.

Usuallly ingore or laugh it off but if I'm in a position to let them look or ride past it again I will, the TB mare will cope much better with things if you talk her past things, plenty of praise as well, sometimes with my lad if you talk or sing loudly and call him a big wuss (or what you like:D), he'll listen to you rather than concentrate too much on what he's spooking at, so I kinda just talk them through it, leg on and ride with confidence and call them a big fat wimp afterwards :D
 
jessikaGinger said:
I usually fall off ;):D
Click to expand...

:D This really made me giggle!

Thanks all for the advice, I too thought that ignoring it was the way to handle it, but my share horse's owner seems to think something else, perhaps?!

I've also just remembered that a friend studying something equine at uni told me there's research into horses spooking which says the best thing to do is slow down and let the horse look at the scary thing, rather than putting the leg on and riding positively past the offending object
 
jessikaGinger said:
I usually fall off ;):D
Click to expand...

LOL! Very good:D

Sit quiet, leave reins alone and ignore it.

I do though have my on mantra which I shout out to my riding mate on her spooky horse, DON'T LOOK and heels down!!

If there is something ahead that you think they'll spook at, the very worst thing you can do is look at it. The horse knows your looking, so therefore you must have serious concerns too. Eeeeeeeek?!

I'm sur my mare gets a little miffed, that I don't seem to care what happens to us anymore;)
 
You're all wrong! You have to tense your knees so your heels come up and lean forward then emit a sharp scream like a nancy. I've been doing it like this for years so it MUST be right
 
There are 2 things I do:

SITUATION A

We are cantering along and he shoots sideways, let's say he unbalances me. --- I get back to how we were and keep going or I would try to slow him up a bit and then keep going. Situation resolved!


SITUATION B

We are wandering along and he jumps sideways at a wheelie bin. --- This time I make him turn back and walk right up to the bin (obviously if where it is situated allows it). If I can I would like him to sniff it and then he will realise it won't eat him.

SIT. B has now become so normal to him if he spooks that he will make a fuss about walking over to the horse-eating item and then stand there all innocently like he doesn't even know why we went over there!`
 
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