Nearly lost my bottle last night....

asommerville

asommerville

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Took small ginger horse out for a hack, he's not done an awful lot on his own but is generally really good. Took him the same way as we went on Sunday and he was a spooky wee monster! Kept stopping and looking at things and when he got a fright his whole body shook!once he had a look he was fine but on the way home he was soo on his toes!

Typically someone started shooting in the field as well....cue stop dead tail up and that big snorty thing they do when they get a fright...cue me nearly getting off!

Spent the whole way home alternating leg yields, episodes of trot, me taking deep breathes and talking ***** to both of us!,

Thank goodness there was no one behind me!

What do you do when your horse is having a spooky moment?
 
My normally sane and sensible boy is a spooky monster at the moment!

I actually fell off on Sunday when he spooked massively at a big pile of snow :/

I've ordered him some Mag Ox and am hoping that helps!

But it has made me lose my nerve a bit as I've not fallen off anything for 15 years!
 
hes on magox as he can be silly but is usually good out hacking! i have never ever thought id get off and walk...think that made me feel worse!

maybe theres grass growing.......though i cant see any!!
 
Sing! Really, there are two benefits as far as I am concerned. It keeps you breathing (and hence more relaxed) and I think if you are singing as you go along and don't stop when passing something 'scary' then your horse starts to wonder why he is making a fuss about it. It works for me anyway and I am terrible at singing and have a limited repertoire - Away in a Manger is my favourite!
 
I sing!! I will also trot on if mine is being on her toes as she's inclined to raise the front legs of the air if I try to hold back, so I give her something to think about. She soon shuts up as she's a bit lazy and trotting is harder work than behaving!
 
the trotting makes sense, i did last night but i think in my head i was waiting for an explosion!

i will certainly try singing...hoping there is no one nearby as sound like a cat in distress!!!!
 
Mine is like that a lot: especially today with the wind, and I hadn't been on his back for a couple of weeks because of the school holidays.

I just whitter. I ramble on enough for both of us and I think in the end I bore us into calm!

But when the wind was racing through the trees, I was spooking more than the horse - we both suffer with our nerves!
 
You see I think singing makes the horse more spooky lol... it's like horses who spook in the wind, its usually because they can't hear danger.... well when you're singing they can't hear!:D
 
I either tell my horse how handsome he is non-stop (which usually always makes him relax and lower his head :D) or I stop start, as in I make lots of halt-walk-halt-walk transitions. I've found it works amazingly well to get their focus back. I like the idea with the leg yielding though I don't think I'd be brave enough to sing aloud, I'm completely tone deaf! :D
 
casinosolo said:
My normally sane and sensible boy is a spooky monster at the moment!

I actually fell off on Sunday when he spooked massively at a big pile of snow :/

I've ordered him some Mag Ox and am hoping that helps!

But it has made me lose my nerve a bit as I've not fallen off anything for 15 years!
Click to expand...

ditto to all of that, I havnt been dumped in about 15 years, so it's now a bit of an issue, as i really dont want to fall off. and my really quiet cob has decided to be totally on his toes at the minute, I think he's practising his ballet. Bottle gone along time ago, but not able for this crazy behaviour. wish the weather would improve, I think his behaviour is down to being cold. x
 
I had another awful hack yesterday. My boy has been hacking nicely alone but the past week or so he has been a nightmare, yesterday was worse than when he was a 4yo!

1. Took 10mins to just get on as YO was loading a lorry with his JCB he was spinning around and around until I shouted in my man's voice :D
2. Walk up the road on our tiptoes with a strong backward feeling, meet a tractor (hates tractors) threatened to run home but we contained ourselves.
3. Still on tiptoes walk through the village, ahhh starting to relax... I'm feeling proud of myself for dealing with him so effectively.
4. On the lane meet a HGV. Damn.
5. Crow scarer starts going off. Damn.
6. Meet a crazed farmer driving at 100mph with a trailer on the back... ok full scale brake down coming....
7. Finally home and YO whizzes around the corner in guess what? His JCB!
I think if the boy could have fainted he would have been rolling around on the floor with his hooves in the air and a white flag!
 
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