I have a cow problem

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LadyRascasse

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and i don't mean the horse
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my mare is absolutely petrified of cows i don't know why but she just can stand them and panics when she sees them. we hack through a forest which has a field of cows running along side it. which is fine but today one had managed to escape it was still standing by the fence but it was the wrong side. cue mad horse, running side way, spinning, eyes on stalks, totally ignoring anything i am telling her. anyway once she had got far enough away she started listening to me again and we made it home in one piece.

has anyone had similar problems or has any ideas of what i can cure her phobia?

p.s. she is genuinely scared of them and isn't taking the pee (i can tell the difference very well now
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is there anyway you could temporarily move her so that she is in a field next to cows? I had to do this with a horse of mine that became scared of traffic (he was in a field about 1/2 mile from the nearest road so I moved him to a field right by the main road and within a few days he was unfazed by the largest lorries rumbling past him out hacking).
 
Have sympathy. I live on a farm and we have lots of cows. I had a horse that was petrified of them too. She was OK if there was a fence between her and the cows, but if they were in the same field, however large, she would be looking at them in terror. In fact it was a factor in selling her.

Familiarity will improve her, but some just don't get over it.
 
Pity you can't turn her out with some for a few days, mine was scared of sheep til he got turned out with them and know he takes no notice.
 
gypsycob...mine was the same scared stiff of sheep due to a peculiar run in with them one day (long story) now she lives out with sheep...


However...she likes the sheep she lives with but jumps at sheep she dosen't know..I ask you how can she tell...they all look the flipin same!!!
 
Deep set cow fears are hard to break

I got mine 6 cows to live with (Hereford x Belgian blues), he was evil to them and I used him to herd them from field to field. They left us with a horse phobia

However out hacking he is still a pain in the behind, as white cows and diary cows are still evil (apparently). Despite my best efforts I still wouldn't consider him anywhere near safe for a nervous rider.
 
Hi - i have this problem - my fave place to take horses to hack has cows living in some of the fields you have to go through and my mare is absolutely petrified - my boy on the other hands strolls past like they are old friends. Every time i take her there she even gets ready to be scared of them - she is getting better (slightly) but its still a drama every time - once i even had to walk down a path where they were stood on and had to shoo them away - my mare was going crazy - i think the only answer is to persist and eventually they will know there is nothing to be scared of. I will let you know when i manage to achieve this - could be some time!
 
My sisters horse had the exact same problem, he would do ANYTHING to avoid them. Unfortunetly all our hacking has cows on! To solve it we got Pickle and my friends horse, and rode along with Sisters horse shoved right between them, with Pickle on the side with most the cows as he is so big he limits the view
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After a few times like this, and general hacking with horses who didn't mind them he was fine. He has absulutely no problem with them now, although does sometimes stare at them, which just causes them to come over more
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Find a Scooby to turn her out with!
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A horse that looks like a cow will totally confuse her!
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Actually, I have nothing helpful to add to what the other posters have already said. I hope you get it sorted soon though!
 
charmaine, she is slightly less scared of cowponys but they are still scary none the less. we don't actually have a coloured horse on the yard they are all solid colours (boring yard aren't we
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i don't know anywhere i could turn her out with cows, i don't think goodwood would let me turn her out with them and plus it is quite a trek to and from the field they are in. i think its something i will have to look into come spring. thanks for all you advice
 
Do any of you carry a whip?
I never sit on anything without one in my hand - just in case.
One of my hunters had an aversion to sheep - not out hunting ever but just when exercising.
We used to come round one corner and there were always sheep gathered round the gate.
Cue, "I cannot possibly go past these scary white people and I am going to behave like a total loon" scenario.
One or two cracks round the butt and a fair amount of growling and it became "ok - I can behave like an adult at all times".
Then lots of pats and "good girl" - but it never differed.
I just used to sit a bit "tighter" going towards that particular gateway, knowing what was going to happen.
Horses - c'est la vie.
 
You need to use horse psychology. Horses think that anything which runs away when they approach is less of a threat. Our local Intelligent Horsemanship instuctor gets the horse to quietly follow whatever it is that the horse is scared of, and the object becomes less scary. It works with tractors and donkeys, so I expect it'll work with cows too. Maybe you could contact your local IH instructor to arrange a cow-proofing session?
 
Mine is exactly the same.....cant get him anywhere near the damn things! Have tried all sorts to no avail.....he wasn't even this bad with sheep and they were terrifying!
 
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