Scarry monsters!

[djp48]

Hi, would be interested in finding out how others would go about dealing with this problem. I have with a young Arab. She is not afraid of cars, stationary horse boxes, stationary tractors, loading onto a box with or without the engine running but meeting anything bigger than she is on the road, coming up behind or facing and she goes into panic mode, if it's behind she spins to face it, if in front she tries to climb the hedge to get away from it....nightmare!!!!
She is stabled in a large yard on a working, her stable is on a front block where she sees tractors, trailers and horse boxes going past everyday. Not a problem. She will walk right up to them while stationary but not when moving..........any ideas how I might help her overcome these monsters?

 

[Katie__Connie]

My old pony was exactly the same! Had him for 2 years and never solved it... but just by seeing as many of the scary monsters as possible he became a little less scared...

 

[sallyellis]

not sure but my boy hadnt seen any traffic before we had him, he was kept in the middle of nowhere, I had to walk him up the lane to his field and he was a nightmare, that said the field actually runs alongside a very busy main road and now most things go past him and he doesnt worry, but he still doesnt like tractors or JCB's but that may have something to do with the contractor who the field owner employed to cut the hedges he just turned up and did it with the horses in the field and scared them whitless...Do you have anybody that has a bombproof horse that you can hack out with to show her that their isnt anything to worry about ?

 

[djp48]

Glad to hear that others have similar problems. Hacked out with bomb proof mare until she left yard and as long as she was between us and the monster we coped.
Just found another bomb proof who us prepared to try, I guess like many others, we have a considerable distance to cover on narrow roads used as" rat runs" by all and sundry, including bin lorries, buses and removal lorries ....( Arab horse eating monsters!) before we get to anything near acceptable hacking.
Fingers crossed for me next week that things go well.............. so that we can continue with improvement, my greatest wish is to get her traffic proof then she will be truly 100%.

 

[djp48]

Fields are fine because she has the ability to run away from monsters. Stables are OK because she can hide round the corner!!
Will be, for the second time, although not for the last 6 months, hacking out iwth a older bomb proof companion so fingers crossed.

 

[somethingorother]

Sounds like my share Arab. But he's 14 and should know better. He's 100% better with his older, more sensible half sister, but still has a bit of a spook and jump. On his own, and when in for the winter (obviously monsters are scarier when you've been in a stable all night) he's a nightmare. I've not found anything to stop it yet, just have to sit through it. He's on a small private yard so i have no access to tractors and big industrial skip/waggon/rattly monsters to get him used to it. Just have to sit tight.

I don't understand how when a scary monster is approaching, he feels the need to have a tantrum in the middle of the road in front of it, rather than just jumping to the side out of the way... but hey, i'm not a daft arab...

All i can offer is my sympathies and empathy! And will be watching this thread in the hope of many useful tips!

 

[djp48]

Perhaps it's an Arab thing! She's only 5 and I was hoping she'd grow out of it ............... but maybe not! She's inclined to have a tantrum in the middle of the road as well, especially if it' a monster that rattles as well as growles and has a head above hers. Perhaps she thinks it's a tiger about to jump on her, certainly might explain why she sometimes goes into a position that all I can explain is one ready to leap. She shrinks about 3 inches, her head goes straight up and like a small child looking at a large monster she shakes all over and her eyes nearly pop out of her head. Believe me it's not naughtiness, she is the most genuine mare in every respect but appears to be genuinely scared so staying on is quite a challenge!!