My nervy horse!!

[Clsire122]

I have a 6 year old fab little middle weight cob! Hes a dream so sweet totally bombproof hacking , taken me a good year to get him used to buses though, however he is an absoloute wooss, if i move a bucket with my foot he jumps a few feet away, he always spooks at poles leaps over them after a few gos hes fab, same with a jump cat leaps over it then after that he goes over like a dream! He is petrified of clippers however he does let me and my friend clip him if we spend a while just de-sensitising him. He is not at all head shy i can give his ears a good scrub hose him all over when its summer. I just cant understand his nerves sometimes as to what triggers them.

I am just wandering if anyone has any tips to de-sensitise him or if he is just going to be like this all his life! Hes a prefect horse despite these silly nervy things the most annoying is the poles, buckets etc.I have all the patience in the world im just curious as to weather he will grow out of it.Hes fab at shows so well behaved!Hes been very independant since he was 4 so i am so lucky hes so safe and will go out and hunt and be great!!!

 

[tallyho!]

I don't know why but I keep wondering if he can see properly? If not a problem then just carry on desensitising, making noises around him and he'll get used to it eventually. He sounds like a cob on our yard. Great to hack, a baby on the ground. Why? I just don't know - probably needs more confidence but I sometimes wonder if he can see things properly.

 

[Clsire122]

I had him vetted and hes all fine!Hes alot better than he was as from a baby he was scared of the mountain block things like that!but hes asbold as anything out hunting and is far bolder at rustic fences and xc! I have a one eyed connemara who is a bloshy bold little thing however he is 14 and had one eye since he was 4 so hes adjusted over time!!
My little cob is rather bizzare and maybe he is just a baby on the ground!time will tell i suppose!!

 

[tallyho!]

Yes, well you will find some are just more nervous than others. You can do anything around mine, even sweep underneath him as he stands there asleep... you can't do that to every horse. I can talk to farmers on tractors towing cattle on a trailer and he wouldn't bat an eyelid even on a loose rein, but he's the only one I can do that on!

So I would just keep persevering and show him what you're doing i.e. let him sniff buckets,hoses, ropes etc and move it around on purpose around him.