Let's Spook At EVERYTHING! Anyone else?

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Cheshire Chestnut

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Took my 14:1hh Welsh D in the school last night and despite been ridden the previous 3 days as well, he just decided that last night he wasn't going to be his usual laid back self but instead decided to spook at everything.

Spook Item No 1) Mounting block that has been in the school for 3 years and never batted an eyelid at
Spook Iten No 2) Jump wings in the corner that have been in the same position for the last 4 months
Spook Item No 3) His own tail swishing

Oh and last night he decided we go into canter by sticking his head down, yanking wet reins out my hands, bucking and scurrying off. Little b*gger!

He was having one of his stupid 'I have my ears forward and just being naughty for the sake of it' nights. Give me strength! Being mad with him gets me no where so I just my own back by trotting him in an outline in loads of different sized circles (he hates it hehe!)

Please share you latest spook-tastic sessions - what was your horse 'scared' of?
 
hehe silly boy, just in one of those moods lol :)

My boy once spooked at the sound of his own poo hitting the floor once... i was laughing so much i nearly fell off when he spooked at the gap in the hedge a bit further down!!
 
they are crazy hehe.

my welshie mare when she was 3 1/2 i took her on her 1st hack with a schoolmaster so she would feel safe etc. a plane came so low i could actually touch the undercarriage (im not joking it was a training exercise for the army, it was crazy). my welshie just stood there and watched whilst the schoolmaster flipped. it was hilarious. they are crazy at times :)
 
I rode my lad out on bonfire night around the housing estate on our own. The fireworks he didn't bat an eyelid at of course. However he decided to snort and spook at every metal grid on the road even though he's walked over them hundreds of times before. Silly boy.
 
My mare when we start riding at nights in the floodlit outdoor school, tends to spook at her own shadow but she gets over it after seeing it 2 or 3 times lol
 
If it was an Olympic Event my lad would be a Gold Medalist.

Fire engines, trucks and trailers etc no problem - but everything else is out to eat him and every puddle is hiding a crocodile or shark :D

The silliest spooks had to be at seeing his own shadow on a sunny day and at one single flower in the woods :).

Somedays are better than others but he does keep me on my toes x
 
RainbowDash said:
every puddle is hiding a crocodile or shark :D

The silliest spooks had to be at seeing his own shadow on a sunny day and at one single flower in the woods :).
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Hahahaha this just made me laugh! This is the type of thing mine would spook at. He's only 6 and perfect on the road with tractors, lorries etc and the other day we saw loads of scary traffic and he didn't put a hoof wrong until we were 100 yards from home and there was something awful on someone's driveway... a PLANTPOT. Arrrghhh!! Everyone has heard of killer plantpots, right?! ;)
 
This thread makes me feel so much better!

We've had a new welfare case enter our cosy herd, a one eyed haflinger named Stelvio. He and my mare clapped three eyes on each other and it was love - it's been a week and a half and separating them means foghorn strength screaming from both. Usually with my mare we do Long Slow Distance training so she gets 20km one day and 10km the other. For months she's been rambling for 3-4 hours through forests, villages and lakesides with zero issues. But since the new lad arrived she shies and spooks at everything, stuff she has seen 1000x before, and gets herself in a lather 20 minutes out of the door. We were scrambling down a steep hill when she spooked at a tussock of grass and wrenched my back. Both of my knees are agony right now from hours of constantly driving her onward past deadly wheelie bins and tree stumps. I know it's early days since we're still in the first weeks, but I hope to god this doesn't become a permanent thing! Yesterday after she spooked at nothing I felt like hopping off and just walking home on my own.
 
Cheshire Chestnut said:
Took my 14:1hh Welsh D in the school last night and despite been ridden the previous 3 days as well, he just decided that last night he wasn't going to be his usual laid back self but instead decided to spook at everything.

Spook Item No 1) Mounting block that has been in the school for 3 years and never batted an eyelid at
Spook Iten No 2) Jump wings in the corner that have been in the same position for the last 4 months
Spook Item No 3) His own tail swishing

Oh and last night he decided we go into canter by sticking his head down, yanking wet reins out my hands, bucking and scurrying off. Little b*gger!

He was having one of his stupid 'I have my ears forward and just being naughty for the sake of it' nights. Give me strength! Being mad with him gets me no where so I just my own back by trotting him in an outline in loads of different sized circles (he hates it hehe!)

Please share you latest spook-tastic sessions - what was your horse 'scared' of?
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Ha, well you have my sympathy, you have a GINGER section D - just like me and they are a bit special! Mine though is now calm itself, she has been a spooky eejit for months through the summer but now the winter is here she is practically horizonal on hacks, most odd! I have (thanks to HHO advisers) had her on magic but she is calmer without this now, I guess it's the quick growing summer grass that's is potentially magnesium deficient as now she's on a different paddock she has lost the silly edge so much that I have laid off the magic for the last while as I dont think she needs it.

Yours will settle once the weather changes are beeded in no doubt, mine well, she seems opposite to everyone else but Im grateful for a lazy hack now and then!
 
Cheshire Chestnut said:
Hahahaha this just made me laugh! This is the type of thing mine would spook at. He's only 6 and perfect on the road with tractors, lorries etc and the other day we saw loads of scary traffic and he didn't put a hoof wrong until we were 100 yards from home and there was something awful on someone's driveway... a PLANTPOT. Arrrghhh!! Everyone has heard of killer plantpots, right?! ;)
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Mine is the same, other than the parked cars all moving traffic, buses, lorries,tractors etc .. no prob... Pile of bricks on the side of the road.. i mean...OMG.... who knew bricks were so dangerous haha! ;)
 
fattylumpkin said:
This thread makes me feel so much better!

We've had a new welfare case enter our cosy herd, a one eyed haflinger named Stelvio. He and my mare clapped three eyes on each other and it was love - it's been a week and a half and separating them means foghorn strength screaming from both. Usually with my mare we do Long Slow Distance training so she gets 20km one day and 10km the other. For months she's been rambling for 3-4 hours through forests, villages and lakesides with zero issues. But since the new lad arrived she shies and spooks at everything, stuff she has seen 1000x before, and gets herself in a lather 20 minutes out of the door. We were scrambling down a steep hill when she spooked at a tussock of grass and wrenched my back. Both of my knees are agony right now from hours of constantly driving her onward past deadly wheelie bins and tree stumps. I know it's early days since we're still in the first weeks, but I hope to god this doesn't become a permanent thing! Yesterday after she spooked at nothing I felt like hopping off and just walking home on my own.
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Sometimes it can feel so frustrating and you can feel yourself getting more and more wound up so jumping off and leaving them feels like a tempting option. Hacking is no fun with a horse that appears to be doing everything they can to make it hard work for you. Hopefully I think mine is just a phase because it was a fresh night and I've upped his feed a little due to him dropping weight, however if your mare is continuing to be annoying and highly strung I would put an additive in her feed (as stated below by PollyP99), they really do help. It sounds like she has a bit of an attitude because of this new love interest and it might calm down in a few weeks/months but in the meantime try a calming supplement to stamp out the excess nuttiness.

I used to have a mare and she was a star one day and then a complete pain in the behind the next, that had a LOT to do with which boys had been in the field next to her that day. One more thing to blame the men of this world for eh?! ;)
 
Cheshire Chestnut said:
I used to have a mare and she was a star one day and then a complete pain in the behind the next, that had a LOT to do with which boys had been in the field next to her that day. One more thing to blame the men of this world for eh?! ;)
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LOL :D good philosophy. I don't know why I hadn't considered an additive already! Now on the hunt for a magnesium supplement and lets hope it does the trick whilst her little romance is in full bloom. Thanks Cheshire Chestnut and PollyP99!

Edit: Or should it be a generic calmer??? Any suggestions on good brands folks?
 
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Mine is so spooky at the moment, went out for a ride yesterday morning and he did a spook and spin at absolutely nothing in the hedge! Very nearly unseated me, a passing dog walker said 'oh that was close' I wouldn't mind if he was a youngster but he's 15!
 
jess_ said:
I rode my lad out on bonfire night around the housing estate on our own. The fireworks he didn't bat an eyelid at of course. However he decided to snort and spook at every metal grid on the road even though he's walked over them hundreds of times before. Silly boy.
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Oh yes the famous horse eating metal grids! Mine is not scared of them 98% of the time and then we go out one day and he won't even walk near them, does a silly crab walk round them. Annoying!
 
Funniest spook I had from a friends horse who also avoided drain covers. He kept shaking his head and snatching the reins just as we were getting back to the yard so I let them go loose and his head shot down. Unfortunately there was a metal grille just under his nose which he didn't see until his nose virtually touched it. I think all four feet left the ground and I almost fell off laughing at him. :D

same horse spooked at just about anything different from the previous day/ ride.
 
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My chap is very Looky & does half harted spooks - never in a dangerous way - they can be at things he has ridden past for half an hour & suddenly he decides they are going to eat him...

Here is his list.

White Blocks, Drains, Yellow road markings,concrete block,Ray of sunshine coming into indoor,Coat on block,Lucozade bottles,Water Tray,plastic bag,a Bush, a vending machine ( which was packed with Lucozade lol ) The funniest was at hunter trials he was absoloutly terrified of two big cut outs of deers and despite the fact we didn't have to jump the fence he wouldnt jump the one we had to as it was beside the cutouts!

To be honest the busier I keep his mind the less he spooks & went out couple wks back & did a lovely double clear and some of the fences were a bit spooky for a scardy pants but he didnt look at ANYTHING...

He craics me up though as when I ride with someone they end up saying what the heck is he spooking at now lol.... as it can be at such normal things.
 
Mine TB spooks at silly things when out hacking - mainly small birds flying out of the hedgerow and chickens. He often 'expects' monsters and will spook at nothing just because he thought there should have been something to spook at.

My favourite spook (if there is such a thing) is when he shied quite violently at a little squirrel that was sitting on top of a 5 bar gate. The poor quireel also got a fright and fell off the gate, hitting the gate several times on the way down - I could hear his little head bang against the gate but then had to hang on as my boy had fled for dear life down the road....
 
Even RDA ponies aren't immue. The one I was leading yesterday stopped dead because he was afraid of the noises coming from the wood next to the school (which I think was a quad bike taking hay out to the fields so he should be used to it) and then did a proper (though thankfully small) spook at some kids playing by the gate. He's previously raised major objections to a branch lying on the ground in the woods. Silly pony.
 
Bit looky but not too bad considering we passed a dredger, someone let a firework off whilst we were on top of the hill! Bonfire smoke coming across, dog (not mine) chasing horses in field alongside bridleway and to finish a power washer being used round blind corner across the path (nice lady stopped when I yelled hello as didn't want to die or get soaked),. Never dull !
 
that oh so evil postbox that we've been riding past for the last 4 years is obviously waiting it out for when we let our guard down for it to launch an attack...i'm clearly not as in tune to these evil monsters as kitty is
 
My girl is being a bit silly at the moment, she's fine in the school but on hacks she's a nightmare! Today we hacked out for the first time since Saturday (schooled Sunday and Monday then two days off) and I knew it would be a spooky one as when I got her in she spooked at nothing, nearly jumped on top of me and then threatened to rear up until I glared at her. She was so spooky and fresh that I gave in and cantered around the common for 10 minutes straight, very steady canter thinking it would tire her out and she'd be great on the way home ... We jogged all the way home and spooked at her own fart, I give up!!
 
Cheshire Chestnut said:
Took my 14:1hh Welsh D in the school last night and despite been ridden the previous 3 days as well, he just decided that last night he wasn't going to be his usual laid back self but instead decided to spook at everything.

Spook Item No 1) Mounting block that has been in the school for 3 years and never batted an eyelid at
Spook Iten No 2) Jump wings in the corner that have been in the same position for the last 4 months
Spook Item No 3) His own tail swishing

Oh and last night he decided we go into canter by sticking his head down, yanking wet reins out my hands, bucking and scurrying off. Little b*gger!

He was having one of his stupid 'I have my ears forward and just being naughty for the sake of it' nights. Give me strength! Being mad with him gets me no where so I just my own back by trotting him in an outline in loads of different sized circles (he hates it hehe!)

Please share you latest spook-tastic sessions - what was your horse 'scared' of?
Click to expand...


Dear of him! Nope, Ben is being a saint at the mo, but went through this during the spring big time!!!
 
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