kids pony scared of evil alpaca..what to do

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hopppydi

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Wont bore you all with the full story but basically we have a Haflinger for the kids and a ex racer for me..both pretty much bomb proof. Went for a hack on sat everything ok until pony saw a evil alpaca for the first time and decided to freak out. Ex racer being ridden by my son was his normal calm self which was a good job as the stupid pony decided the alpaca were clearly about to devour him and the only way out was to drag me with my daughter on top through a very thick and high hawthorne hedge dump my daughter in the ditch and immediatly start eating the grass on the otherside of said hedge...which by the way had a load of very giddy cows in it which are apparently perfectly ok...according to pony. Luckily daughter and pony are fine, just a little scratch on her hand..i on the other hand am covered in scratches and was still pulling thorns out of my arms today.
My question is this...does it matter that he is petrified of alpacas? Should i try and get him used to them or just avoid that hack in future, he is fine with everything else and his reaction was very extreme. Are there things you know to avoid with your horses?
 
I guess if you can avoid them that is an option, not an option round here as they do lama treking I kid you not people pay to go on walks with these creatures!:rolleyes:

Might be worth approaching the owners of the alpaca to see if you can take the pony to visit. :) My mare used to bolt at the sight of shetland ponies, so she was stabled next to one for a few nights with her hay place on the gate between them so to eat she had to go near it.;)
 
I have had a chat with the lady who owns the alpacas and she says quite alot of horses spook at them. This pony was very bargy when we first got him and it has taken a while for him to really trust us and improve his ground manners. I think what worries me is in the past he was known for running through fences etc and im not really sure i could keep hold of him if he wanted to go again. As i said he is fine with everything else...
 
hopppydi said:
I have had a chat with the lady who owns the alpacas and she says quite alot of horses spook at them. This pony was very bargy when we first got him and it has taken a while for him to really trust us and improve his ground manners. I think what worries me is in the past he was known for running through fences etc and im not really sure i could keep hold of him if he wanted to go again. As i said he is fine with everything else...
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They will get used to them eventually, but it requires regular exposure, so as rider is not strong enough, I would avoid going past them, but if you have to, have the horse rider lead the pony, and keep its head turned away.
 
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hopppydi said:
I have had a chat with the lady who owns the alpacas and she says quite alot of horses spook at them. This pony was very bargy when we first got him and it has taken a while for him to really trust us and improve his ground manners. I think what worries me is in the past he was known for running through fences etc and im not really sure i could keep hold of him if he wanted to go again. As i said he is fine with everything else...
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They will get used to them eventually, but it requires regular exposure, so as rider is not strong enough, I would avoid going past them, but if you have to have the horse rider lead the pony, and keep its head turned away.
 
hopppydi said:
I have had a chat with the lady who owns the alpacas and she says quite alot of horses spook at them. This pony was very bargy when we first got him and it has taken a while for him to really trust us and improve his ground manners. I think what worries me is in the past he was known for running through fences etc and im not really sure i could keep hold of him if he wanted to go again. As i said he is fine with everything else...
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Sounds to me like he just had a "pony" moment and decided to revert to the naughty side! Can you get on the pony and ride it past the alpacas? Perhaps the lady would take pony for a couple of days and put pony in the same field as them. Kill or cure!
 
I'm not much help but my sedate bombproof ID is terrified of them too. She threw her head up and span round on me the 1st time and just wouldn't budge! Then more came across to see what was goin on which set her off again! They aren't in that field now but she still starts trotting with her tail in the air snorting when we go by. I just thought it was my horse with this odd phobia
 
A wise old lady once told me, "Nothing can remain frightened for ever". So I didn't worry too much when one of my youngsters spooked when he encountered his first 4x4 bale of hay!

It certainly wouldn't do any harm, and could do a lot of good, to teach your horse that apparently scary things aren't so bad after all. When another youngster showed nervousness to traffic, I asked a neighbour if I could put him in their 40 acre field next to a busy road. The first week he spent his time at the far end of the field. But within a short time he was reaching through the fence to get grass as huge lorries thundering past a few inches away!
 
Your poor arms!
My daughters horse hates water, even though hes happy to play with the hose when we fill the water up. We even tried keeping him in a field with a pond for a while.
 
We also have what we call "the lama ride" though it's actually an alpaca in the field adjacent to the bridleway. My horse really didn't like it at first, planting his feet, snorting and threatening to spin. However, he has got used to it through repeated visits although he still keeps a close eye on it as we go past.

Is it possible to take both horses past without the children, maybe leading the pony in a control headcollar or something. Or riding it if you think you would have more control.
 
We used to have alpacas in our road, first time past = terrified, by 10th time past we just went past with a snort.

Sadly the lady has moved, and the new owners just keep their garden rubbish in the paddock - they've done a lot of cutting down hedges etc. so the piles of branches are now as scary as the alpacas were!
 
We used to have alpacas in our road, first time past = terrified, by 10th time past we just went past with a snort.
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Only 10 times- it took my mare SIX MONTHS to be able to walk past our local Alpacas without, napping, rearing, whipping round, backing up or charging past. :(

They are cute though. ;)

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My cob cross is terrified of them. Involves spinning at a rate of knots and then charging in the direction we have just come from.
Attempted the gently gently approach - ended up 1 step forward and 10 back at pace. Even tried getting off and leading past them. Did not help! In the end had to give up as was on my own and decided best not to push the issue. Then took the whole of the rest of the ride to calm her down. Our problem was that she hadn't seen them before and we came across a family of 3 - they decided we were interesting and came trotting over for a closer look - well that was it!
We did get past them on the way home with a companion, and then going away from home on own a few days later. Then they disappeared.
However on seeing another a couple of years ago ended up spinning and charging again. So now try to avoid if at all possible. Have had my mare for many years and feel that she is generally terrified as spinning at that speed is not normal behaviour and takes ages to calm her back down.
 
MrsD123 said:
They will get used to them eventually, but it requires regular exposure, so as rider is not strong enough, I would avoid going past them, but if you have to, have the horse rider lead the pony, and keep its head turned away.
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Mine never got used to them, despite being surrounded by them in a field. I could barely lead her, let alone ride her, when she was stabled at that yard for a spell.
 
BonneMaman said:
Sounds to me like he just had a "pony" moment and decided to revert to the naughty side! Can you get on the pony and ride it past the alpacas? Perhaps the lady would take pony for a couple of days and put pony in the same field as them. Kill or cure!
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I think a holiday with the alcapas is a great idea!
 
There are some llamas near where I keep my horses. My gelding is fine with them. When I first got the mare, she went past with other horses, and then she got worse to the point where she was refusing to go past. So I decided to take her out in hand and led her up and down the road where the killer llama runs up and down the fence when it sees horses, and spits and grunts at them. The following night, I went to do the same again, but when a friend said to me that she would come and walk with me, I decided to try and ride her past. There was no way on this earth that that mare was going past without coming over on me. She was rearing, spinning, and the more I asked her to go past, the higher she reared. I got off and led her past time and time again, then got back on on the other side of the llamas and asked her to go past them in the direction of home. She tried to go backwards over a wall and would not go forwards under any circumstances. I wish I had never tried to persevere. As a result of this, I have ended up with a nappy horse. She naps wherever and whenever she can now, and nothing anyone does will make her go forwards. She would happily go over backwards before she goes forwards. So sometimes it doesn't help to try and persevere. Before this incident, this horse was virtually bombproof - now she has lost all her confidence and is losing mine in the process. And the annoying thing is that it is only the one llama - it runs up and down spitting at the horses. The alpacas are fine - she wasn't bothered with those....I wonder what llama meat tastes like?
 
Perhaps you could borrow an experienced rider (wearing body protector) to ride your pony past the monsters? If the pony won't go forwards you could always make it reverse past them, that can work when they are refusing to go forwards. Luckily I only have cows and pigs to contend with (although mine thinks cows are more scary than pigs even when the pigs charge up and snort lots and the cows remain eating at the other side of the field :S )
 
Thanks for all the replies and advice..sorry i didnt post back but my internet keeps crashing! At the moment i have decided to just avoid the alpaca field as i feel he may hurt himself or someone else and i dont think anyone could control him. He has come so far since we had him but his previous owners did a very good job teaching him to barge pull and basically use his considerable muscle to drag people about...a habit i dont want to get him back into. We were adviced to put him in a chiffney (we didnt) when we first got him but after a lot of work can now happily lead him in a normal halter.
 
Make sure you have control with a chifney and lunge line and take the pony back to stay near the alpaca. If necessary be prepared to take a haynet or feed and just stay there until it ignores it.
We grazed horses with alpacas and they soon get used to them, in your case try asking the owner if you can go nearer than the other side of the hedge, lungeing in the alpaca field would be ideal..
 
Many years ago, I had a CBxTB who would happily trundle along the bridleway that bordered Robin Hill Country Park with ostriches racing at the fence for the first part, then goats and llamas at the second part. However, the remotest sniff of a donkey and it was uncontrollable panic! For a while, I kept him at work where there was a herd of donkeys but he never, ever got used to them. I couldn't even get him in the indoor school if the donkeys were in the paddock at the back!
My current cob is terrified of cows. He can spot them way before me and I can feel his heart start to thud. He's okay if they don't move, and he can just keep an eye on them, but, if they move towards him, he's off! Backwards, sideways and upwards (sometimes all 3!), no thought for his own safety, just pure panic............not great being in the middle of the farming community! I avoid going along certain roads when the cattle are out, as I don't think a car in the way would bother a panicky Markie, but have to pass them 'off road' quite often. I tend to grab a chunk of mane and encourage him to go forward, whilst closing my eyes!
I'm rather hoping YO's son is going to get some young Dexters to winter in one of the barns again, in previous years it's cured other cattle phobic equines!
 
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