I will never understand my horse's spookometer!

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BWa

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So rode my boy for the first time in 3 weeks today. He is old and very sensible so didn't expect anything silly and he his turned out every day on 7 acres so has plenty of space to chill. He didn't spook at the crow bangers, the partridges which flew up under his nose or the hares which ran out under his feet. He didn't spoke at the 2 deer which jumped up onto the drain bank next to us or the 4 deer we saw later who were running ahead of us but stopping to look at us several times. He didn't even spook at the neighbour's horses who charged up to see him and proceeded to chase us up and down their fence line and he didn't even spook when one of them jumped from it's paddock into the arena to get close to us (the other two came through the open gate) I did think it was going to jump over the arena fence to join us though.
However the old pallet in the grass on the edge of the track unleashed his inner dragon, just as I had decided to let him plod on a long rain.
Whoops, I'm not sure I will ever understand quite how their minds work!
 
Haha brilliant :) sounds just like mine, I always worried about taking him in roads as he is a very spooky horse, but lorries, buses, tractors, bin bags flapping in hedges, bird scarers are fine but I pray to god every time I see that scary tree stump coming up!
 
Lol it's crazy isn't it!
I actually came close to coming off yesterday- riding my 15 yr old should know better horse past a road sign.
This particular sign was left behind after some roadworks months ago and we've passed it almost daily ever since ???
 
Im glad its not just my horse that poops himself at tree stumps and or piles of chopped wood. He also hates snow drifts and racing squirells. But crow scarers combine harvesters etc dont bother him!
 
Makes me chuckle (well sometimes!) each time we meet an empty crisp packet on the side of the road or some days the white lines and drains have ghosts in them, yet a lorry, tractor etc is acceptable!

How their minds work I'll never know!:confused:
 
I never understand mine either.....

He has been turned out every day in a foot of snow, but took him on a hack and his eyes were out on stalks at the 'white stuff' on the verges - what a wally!
 
Gawd are you lot thick? Anything and everything that a horse has seen up until now, including rocks and signs and fences etc that have been there for 10 years + (and this is where us humans don't get it) Most times are fine, but SOMETIMES THEY HAVE AN ACTUAL INVISIBLE HORSE EATING DRAGON HIDING BEHIND/UNDER!!!!

Jeeeez Call ourself horsewomen/men!
 
Yep .. All if the above is my pony too - bless him he's contributed no end to my 'sticky seat' esp. In canter when a scary moss covered log jumps out at him ... Mmm ... But if it was a moving scary log, bus, lgv, tractor, dumper truck, jcb etc then for some reason its quite acceptable ... Sigh ... Equines :-D
 
They are funny, aren't they.

I lunged my cob last night. Lunge whip with string wrapped round whip, no problem. Lunge whip with string trailing on the floor? Snort, buck, fart, tank off, don't look back.

Having brought him out the school, I took the hosepipe off the tap to take back to the tackroom. Hose on tap (switched off) - scary. Hosepipe trailing on floor? Interesting! What's that? Let's chase it and try to bite it! :rolleyes:

Strange pony.
 
Another who spooks at silly things mainly the bridleway signs on gates, normally on way home!!!! But not on the way out. I did have a cheeky back canter when bringing in, we have to cross a knee deep stream (main reason why I ride back) full canter and then noticed two massive swans in the water she didn't even look at them. In the yard newly painted wheel barrow que me full trot into stable!!!
 
Mine is 34 now, but he is quite good at going past skips, 10 foot bonfires, chain saw etc etc, if there's a twig on the path or a fern blowing a funny way then that's a different story lol
 
tiggybeans said:
One of the things my horse is always scared of is the noise it sometimes makes when his hind feet throw up any mud or gravel behind him! Weird or what?!:confused:
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My friends mare once pee'd on the road on a slope and it ran underneath her WELL she had a fit lol, scare of her on pee ha ha
 
Ha v familiar!! My horse v brave with lorrys, tractors anything... But scared of a man on his driveway... Mmm
 
I agree with Tankgirl1

There is however a very simple spookometer test that you can do with your horse.

1. If it moves it is spooky
2. If it doesn't move it is spooky
3. If the horse has seen it before it is spooky
4. If the horse hasn't seen it before it is spooky

If it in anyway shape or form fits any of the above criteria then it is definitely without a shadow of a doubt a horse eating monster that is just waiting to leap out.

If you remember all these facts then you will be fine.

PS. I in fact once had a completely non-spooky horse. It was 24 inches high - was made of wood and sat on a set of rockers. Never spooked at a single thing
 
BWa said:
Glad I'm not alone! Why is it that moving or noisy things are fine but stationary items are possible predators?!
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I have the same problem.
My horse is fab in traffic, but parked vehicles are always to be given a wide berth.
An example of the lack of logic he displays ...
Hacking with his mate down a quiet, narrow track. Ride on lawnmower with a small trailer parked on track, but room to pass by. Cue 10 mins of alternating between "gentle persuasive chat", pony club kicks, growling, and the odd spank on the bum, until finally one of them managed to squeeze by and then accelerate wildly to get to a safe distance away, swiftly followed by the other.
Fair enough, we thought. They's never seen it before, and that track's normally clear.
10 mins later, now out on the road, we were passed by a massive (Wheels about 20 feet high) crop spreader, full arms, shuddering and rattling windows as it passed us. Never seen one of those before either. Did they bat an eyelid? Did they heck!

Due to the random and nonsensical nature of his spooks, I have just ordered a t-shirt.
It says...

Horses are afraid of two things
1. Things that move.
2. Things that don't

:D
 
I thought that the main problem with horses was the fact that they DON'T have a spookometer! If I ever found where it was fitted - I'd be sending it back to the manufacturer's as I never found one that works!

Horses ( all equines ) have evolved to be a very, very efficient flee animal - all their senses are geared to running away from any perceived danger and when they do - their brain gives them a little squirt of endorphins to kept them well and truly hooked on this behavior.

However, as horse's eyes do not have focusing irises - they have to move their heads to get a picture of what they think they can hear - loud noise - head up, big snort because they think something's nearby - I leaned over to look my old mare in the eye one day, as she was looking long and far into the distance, her big ears straining - there was a hot air baloon on the horizon, maybe two miles away ( I couldn't ) but I bet she could hear the burner and was wondering what it was - she was definitely looking straight at it!

Most horses have a morbid fear of PIGS! Well, wild boar actually, whereas we know that there aren't many full grown wild boar living wild in our countryside - you try convincing your horse! He/she SAW one only yesterday and will think you are soft in the head! Boar, live naturally in holes in the ground and can come rushing out of them very suddenly - the males have big tusks on their top jaw - and aren't afraid of anything! This IMHO is what horses automatically think of when they see anything in the grass or low down.
 
I can't disagree with you 1stclass, and if a wild boar jumped out a hole in the ground I'm sure mine would disappear at full speed. However a fear of pigs is not an excuse he can use as he shares a farm with 3000 of them, he can hear and smell them and as the loading ramp is next to his stable he can often see them, at full bacon weight.
However the jumping at things in holes in the ground still doesn't explain the fact he doesn't flinch when hares run out from under his feet or partridges fly up in his face, they make me jump but not him! I may never properly understand it.
Maybe we should avoid prey animals all together and hacking a top predator would be much more relaxing, lion dressage anyone!!!
 
1stclassalan said:
I thought that the main problem with horses was the fact that they DON'T have a spookometer! If I ever found where it was fitted - I'd be sending it back to the manufacturer's as I never found one that works!
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The Moose has a fully funtioning spookometer! The degree of terror is inversely proportional to the gap between his ears. If it's a crisp packet shaped monster they damn nearly touch in the middle!
 
BWa said:
I can't disagree with you 1stclass, and if a wild boar jumped out a hole in the ground I'm sure mine would disappear at full speed. However a fear of pigs is not an excuse he can use as he shares a farm with 3000 of them, he can hear and smell them and as the loading ramp is next to his stable he can often see them, at full bacon weight.
However the jumping at things in holes in the ground still doesn't explain the fact he doesn't flinch when hares run out from under his feet or partridges fly up in his face, they make me jump but not him! I may never properly understand it.
Maybe we should avoid prey animals all together and hacking a top predator would be much more relaxing, lion dressage anyone!!!
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That's interesting, I used to ride a friend's shire cob - an immense chap about 18hh - he liveried on a large pig unit and never turned a hair - at home but spooked when we met some different pigs. He also detested air brakes!

I'm sure they have a way of sussing out what some spooky things are before they become spooky ( if that makes sense ) so you're left with crisp packets and bin liners! My mare did a very passable capriole down Beaconsfield High Street once - enough to empty a few shops - because of an attack from the purple plastic sheet form an orange box! However; there were also distractions of :- strange place ( first time we'd been there) a train was arriving in the station ( we were almost on the bridge) and an old lady was dragging one of those shopping trolley things so all in all supermare was doing well!

Do you really have Partridges or do you mean Pheasants?

One of these walked passed me - one other side of a good fence once - I don't know which of us was more surprised by the other! http://www.bing.com/images/search?q...6273836AA82B7A1B7C999716223&selectedIndex=130
 
Wow on the panther 1stclass, I am really interested in the idea of wild cats in the UK, I swear I saw one on once at the bottom of the school field from the classroom I teach in but it was dismissed by everyone else.
Re the pigs, I don't go on any routes with pigs but I agree there maybe a difference with pigs off his own turf.
We have pheasants, grey and French partridge. The pheasants tend to run or fly earlier making a racket, the partridges seem to wait til we are right on top of them and then fly out to the side, and in pairs at this time of year.
 
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