Scared of traffic

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nicky_jess

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Hiya my mare is scared of things such as lorries, busses, tractors, trailors, anything like that that shes going to encounter on the road. Iv had her away for a weeks training and she is a lot better I can get her out now on her own to actually see these scary things without relying on another horse to keep her safe. So anyway even though shes improving I was just curious as to what techniques other people have used in order to help their horses overcome their fear.
During her weeks training we did a lot of rope halter work, moving away from pressure, making her into a more foreward thinking horse so that she actually wanted to go out instead of refusing. We did work with flappy black plastic and got her walking over it to build her confidence. We also walked her out on the road every day. Weve chased tractors with bales of hay on the front, road sweepers and lorries so that she thinks shes seeing them off. She happily bends her head round to my leg if indicated to to stop her bolting down the road and to give her chance to relax. All is working really well, the fact that shes willing to go out on her own is a miracle lol.
Just wondering what you guys have done with your horses as I may be able to incorporate it into what im already doing :)
 
I would continue as you are but also going out with another confident horse occsionally will do her the world of good.

You wouldn't have experienced scary new things on your own as a child (you'd have had friends / parents / siblings with you) so why should you expect any different of your horse who is so obviously lacking confidence?

Confidence is built over time... keep at it! Good luck!
 
I use earplugs on mine, hes ok with normal traffic cars etc, but buses lorries trailers he freaks, put earplugs in and now he will happily walk down a busy road without any probs, had him 10 years and we have tried pretty much everything, even changing turn out to field next to road nothing worked but the plugs !!
 
Mine was afraid of traffic. We put her in a field that ran alongside a busy road and railway and within a few hours she was grazing happily and ignoring the lorries etc that were dashing past her. Next time out she was heaps better.
 
Ive never expected her to just go out on her own im fully aware she is only young and have taken her out with confident horses many a time over the last two years, in fact more often than not because she physically wouldnt go on her own or we wouldnt get very far, but now is the time she needs to learn that as long as I am there and telling her to go then everything is ok because I am her 'heard leader'.
As i found yesterday I think its more a stubborness than a fear, I think it used to be a fear and now she just thinks well, i dont do that, i dont go down the road. I was half an hour last night in the same place fighting with her to go down the road, i dont use whips or spurs, and wont either, ive got my wafty little bit of rope that usually works a treat but she was adimant she wasnt going. 3 buses came past with her being about a metre away and she didnt bat an eyelid soooo I think shes past the fear and she kind of puts a barrier up, its almost like she had forgotton what she was refusing to go past and just carried on refusing for the sake of it lol. Needless to say we were both shattered by the end of it but in the end she gave, no exaggeration on the half hour, we held up all the traffic, were all over the road and churned up a load of grass soooo thats probably made us unpopular, they'll start to recognise us in future lol. For the rest of the ride she was good as gold, even went through the middle of the village were its loads busier, bus came past and she didnt refuse once. I think I just have myself one very stubborn little mare lol. She sort of gave me that 'haha' look when we got back lol, ohhh I do love her despite all of it she likes to keep me on my toes.
 
I agree with putting the horse into a field next to a road. My horse was scared of headlights, and would freak out if a car came towards him with its lights on (even just the side lights).
Hes been in a field next to a pretty busy road for a month or so now, and last time I took him out he didn't bat an eyelid when a car had its lights on!

I know this isn't always possible, you may not have a field next to a road, but another tip is to go out with another experienced horse.
Or get someone to walk along with you (this really helped when training my ex-racer to go out hacking on his own).

Few more tips here

Good luck! x
 
She is very sound sensitive, unfortunatly we arnt near a main road but the field shes in is next to some greenhouses and there are constantly tractors and trailers going up and down near it, and loads of lorries come down by the school, shes fine with em if shes in there. Also when i had her at training she was in the stable closest to the road with all the passing busses and lorries to hear. It has helped as even when the bus was doing that load hissing noise that they do yesterday, she didnt try to bolt of anything just tensed a bit.
Thanks guys i do try to take her out with other horses as much as poss, theres two in particular that i hack with that are spot on on th road. It doesnt seem to make a difference as she hides behind them so she doesnt have to think about anything and now im trying to get her past that point x
 
horseandshoes77, that's very interesting what you say about your horse wearing earplugs. My horse is noise sensitive, he's not visually spooky at all but the sound of a large noisy engine coming down the road scares him. Think I'll give the earplugs a try, which ones do you use? (I think there are different types).
 
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