Show jumper falls off, (minor blip) then horse turns on him

[Fools Motto]

I've got a video, describing the title roughly, on my FB. Have no idea where it has come from. I doubt it is English, and it isn't on Youtube (don't think).

Has anyone else seen it? It is shocking. The horse behaviour is something I don't think I've seen before. I sort of want to show it, to ask about horse behaviour, but can't/don't know how to 'share' it from FB to here.

I've contacted another HHO member, who may or may not be able to help show this video to anyone who does want to see it.

 

[weebarney]

would be interesting to see if you can get it

 

[Shantara]

I saw it, it was horrid!
A horse on my old yard (apparently!) did the same thing to her owner. He fell off into a ditch and she proceeded to turn around and boot him several times. Thankfully he was pretty much unhurt.

I can't really explain what would make the horse do that, apart from maybe if it was panicked and wanted to attack the predator? However the horse in the video looked quite cool about it, as if it was really saying "Scr** you!"

This might work https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151863568323680&set=o.154738424641234&type=2&theater

 

[twiggy2]

I don't think the horse really turns on him, it looks more like it kicks out at what is spooking it. we had one years ago that was difficult to groom and could not be turned out with others, his behaviour was very riggy. under saddle he was good, would buck if he felt he was smacked once to often but only as an objection. during a lesson (it was a riding school) a girl fell off and he turned around at went at her with his front legs and teeth-we were always taught to have a lunging whip and be dressed to ride if teaching so the instructor (our boss) was able to get him away sharpish, wouldhave been a bad ending if she was not prepared

 

[Tnavas]

Think this may work.

https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10151863568323680

 

[JVB]

Agree with above, horse looks bit spooked and freaked when kicked out and hit something, causing it to kick out again. Looks painful though

 

[Spring Feather]

The horse doesn't turn on him. It's just kicking out at whatever is behind it. Not exactly odd behaviour for a horse tbh.

 

[Fools Motto]

Think this may work.

https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10151863568323680

Thats the one. The horse had every opportunity to canter away and buck in high jinx, but it meant to kick the rider there. Really not nice.

Well done for getting the link onto here!

 

[AmyMay]

Oo that meant business. Nasty.

 

[lula]

Thanks for the link Chan

crikey, hope that rider's ok. he really took one hard on the back of the head. Even with a helmet, that amount of power on the end of a metal horse shoe's gotta hurt. Thank god he didnt get the rider's spine and he only connected the once.

 

[_GG_]

Horse is peeved and kicking out. It's not attacking him. I have witnessed a horse attack a human. Quite a few humans actually and over a year. A horse that attacks will not turn its back...it will come at you mouth open and get you with its forelegs. If they do that, you are in serious trouble. A horse behaving like this is kicking out in confusion, basically saying, "get the f away from me" as opposed to, "I'm gonna kill you".

That's my tuppence anyway.

 

[ladyt25]

Well, I don't see a horse turning on the rider at all. I was expecting something totally different when I opened that link. There was clearlysomething not right with the horse in it's back before it even got to the fence. I'll put my money on the exit being where the horse ran to hence why it reversed and then turned and ran. It was clearly not happy about something on it's back and the rider just happened to be in the line of fire.

 

[Tiffany]

Doesn't look like horse turned on him, I think rider was unfortunately in the way and the poor horse was spooked hence the kicking out.

Hope rider was OK because he certainly got a nasty kick to back of neck/head.

 

[Fools Motto]

I still can't see a spooked horse.
One that wanted rid of rider maybe.. perhaps when he baulked at the jump, rider lost balance, horse wanted rid. Horse still had every chance to go forward and buck/high jinx and piss off to the entrance, but he backed up and kicked out.
I thought horses in 'spooky' situations, do flight then fight... yay or nay?

 

[_GG_]

I still can't see a spooked horse.
One that wanted rid of rider maybe.. perhaps when he baulked at the jump, rider lost balance, horse wanted rid. Horse still had every chance to go forward and buck/high jinx and piss off to the entrance, but he backed up and kicked out.
I thought horses in 'spooky' situations, do flight then fight... yay or nay?

I don't think he was spooked. I think he was in pain or discomfort and associated that with the rider to told the rider to get lost in the best way it knew how. There was no attacking though. You don't have to be attacking someone to kill them. Not as serious as it could have been in terms of the horses intentions, but a bad kick in a bad place can be curtains, so definitely not good.

 

[Tnavas]

To me it looked like a horse that is probably a bit of a nervy type, reacting to something falling behind it - I've seen many a young horse do that - its a fear reaction. Once they get used to the rider falling off they tend to be blase about it.

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

I've seen a mare do something similar to others in the field; she was basically saying "take a hike...... second word is ---- off!". She was kicking out, completely randomly, for some reason best known to herself. Perhaps she was in season, who knows, but it looked very similar to this incident (dunno whether the horse was a mare??? Difficult to see).

Have also seen a horse in "attack" mode. Not a pleasant thing; it had decided to attack into a herd of sheep, and had a sheep on the floor and was basically biting it and striking out with its forelegs, rolling it over and trampling it. A different thing entirely. Luckily/miraculously, the sheep was OK (long storey, a long long time ago).

Think there was a pain issue with the horse in the vid and agree with others that it was responding to that.

 

[Brightbay]

Looked to me the same behaviour you'd see if a zebra managed to shake off the lion that had jumped on its back. Get the predator on the ground, and then make sure it can't come after you again.

 

[Girlracer]

Ouch, nasty.

Glad my horse doesn't aim his legs at me when i hit the deck!

 

[Arizahn]

Looks like pain to me too.

 

[Moomin1]

It's typical nature. What does a wild horse do if it dislodges a predator from it's back? Kicks out in defence immediately. The horse has freaked out at the rider coming off and reacted in the same way.

 

[babymare]

I would like to have seen more of round before because to me that wasnt "attacking" but more a reaction to the situation be it pain or fear.

 

[Kokopelli]

When I was 14/15 we bought a pont off a dealer (whose thankfully out of business now) who was a complete psycho to ride and on the ground. He got me off once and came at me with teeth and front legs.

He meant business, not like this horse which looked like fear. We had him put down after that as it was the final straw.

 

[SKY]

I agree horse scared kicked out and owner was unfortunately was kicked.

 

[Prince33Sp4rkle]

had a horse years and years ago, came from a dealer, was meant to SJ. long story short it wasnt going to make the grade so went back and went on to Holland to a dealer there.

had always been a bit quirky and unpredictable but apparently in Holland she got the dealer off while jumping then turned round and ran over the top of him twice, breaking both his legs.

will have to watch vid at home but i always thought that (unless cornered) horses *fight* with their front legs and teeth?

 

[*hic*]

Horses run, that horse lashed out at the scary object that had materialised behind him, then pissed off. If he'd gone for the attack, he'd have gone in with teeth and front legs.

 

[MiniMilton]

Either way that rider is lucky to be alive! A blow like that to the back of the head/neck could easily kill. Thankfully when I fall off my little horsey turns around to see if I'm ok!

 

[nix123]

Looked to me the same behaviour you'd see if a zebra managed to shake off the lion that had jumped on its back. Get the predator on the ground, and then make sure it can't come after you again.

Yep thats what it looks like to me too.

 

[fatpiggy]

Yep thats what it looks like to me too.

Me too. Get the attacker off then immobilize it. I also think it was a pain reaction, not an out and out attack. Whatever the cause though, that was seriously nasty and it shows how important a proper hard hat i. He will have had a headache afterwards though, that's for sure. I did hear of one showjumper that was being given a good whipping by its rider, so it dumped the guy, came back round and jumped on him. I've known a few jumpers over the years which seemed to dislike people. One was always fine with me but took a large and permanent chunk out of the cleavage of another woman, so fast she didn't see it coming at all. Another one, a young gelding was so sharp with his hooves (deadly accurate - took that bandage out of the grooms hand as she squatted down to apply it) that he had to be put on the ground to get his feet done. Not nice in either case but I don't believe either horse was born nasty, just fed up with humans.

 

[putasocinit]

As a child we had an ex racehorse big 17hh chestnut gelding, put it this way you made sure you didnt fall off, my brother once did and crawled into an empty 44 gallon drum where the horse proceeded to kick it until he was chased off by the grooms and caught. When he was dying from african horse sickness he tried to squash the vet against the wall