So embarrassed - had awful morning

Achinghips

Achinghips

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Went for a hack and there was a plastic bag in the road. She just started napping and refused to go on. There were cars coming in both directions and it was on a bend. They were both good enough to stop and one car had to reverse. She was sideways in the road and rearing, and I couldn't kick her on. I managed to get her into a driveway of a nearby house so I could call the traffic on. The man in the car stopped as he got level with the bag, got out of his car and removed it from the road and waved. I shouted my thanks. I AM so embarrassed, I felt like a fool - it could all have gone so bad. I don't want to go out on her again.
 
What a lovely guy :D that's made me really happy!

Don't worry these things happen! Please don't let that stop you - straight back on and in the meantime, placcy bags EVERYWHERE! In the school, in her stable, all over her body as a rub ... :D
 
Heh don't be embarrassed - I had to put up with the Destroyer spinning round, shaking and snorting in the middle of the drive the other day whilst the YOs husband sat sighing and waiting on HIS property trying to come back home for his tea. I had to ask him to turn his engine off before we could get past.
We then had similar hissy fit over a haybale and a forklift going to the other farm.
In fairness it was only the second time I've taken Hovis out on his own and I was shaking like a leaf when i got back, BUT I survived and so did you. No one got hurt, you and your horse are ok - onward and upwards.
You say you don't want to go out on her again - is this because she scared you or more what could have happened?
 
But it didn't go bad, you coped & was lucky you had some very understanding drivers about (what a nice man!!) :)
chalk it up to having a bad day & don't let it put you off - there's no need to be embarrassed at all!! xxxx
 
Dont be embarrassed at all! Even the most bombproof of bombproof horses can think plastic bags are the work of the devil sometimes! You should be incredibly proud that you were able to stop the traffic, stay on her and get enough control to get her off the road. And also be very grateful you had nice car drivers near you! If mine reared in the middle of the road I would be in tears on the floor after sliding down his back I'm sure, most likely in a puddle, while he stared at me baffled...while a very nice looking man laughed. Now that would be embarrassing...
 
It's more what could have happened - what if she'd spun and ended up on a bonnet of a car? What if that happens next time? I don't want to risk it again - she's a Tb and she'd have legged it back to the Yard on her own and got in an accident if I'd have come off. I sound like a young novice, but I'm in my late 40's and afraid. This has never happened before and I've had her 2 years.
 
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Is this a new horse?

I think the "what ifs" are sometimes worse than anything for fear - and I know I'm the queen "what if-er". She DIDN'T land on the bonnet of the car and you kept control enough to a) stay on and b) get her off the road.

That said if you're now feeling nervous then its going to transmit to her so maybe can you go out with someone else for the next few times til you and she get your confidence back? Can you go for hacks avoiding roads?
 
BoolavogueDC said:
What a lovely guy :D that's made me really happy!

Don't worry these things happen! Please don't let that stop you - straight back on and in the meantime, placcy bags EVERYWHERE! In the school, in her stable, all over her body as a rub ... :D
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I shall definately do this. I hope she can transfer the context of a moving bag in the road to one in her field with a brick in it too. Thanks, good action plan - this'll take my mind off worrying now. Thankyou.
 
Hovis_and_SidsMum said:
Is this a new horse?

I think the "what ifs" are sometimes worse than anything for fear - and I know I'm the queen "what if-er". She DIDN'T land on the bonnet of the car and you kept control enough to a) stay on and b) get her off the road.

That said if you're now feeling nervous then its going to transmit to her so maybe can you go out with someone else for the next few times til you and she get your confidence back? Can you go for hacks avoiding roads?
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I've had her 2 years. Have to do road work to get to the nature reserve, but I can go in the school and ride the perimeter of the land. Yes, I will also get friends to go out with me and hubby on his bike, she likes him on the ground beside her. People on my Yard don't tend to hack and I've left a notice asking them to come out with me but had no takers, but I can get a friend from a neighbouring Yard to come out with me :)
 
Achinghips said:
I shall definately do this. I hope she can transfer the context of a moving bag in the road to one in her field with a brick in it too. Thanks, good action plan - this'll take my mind off worrying now. Thankyou.
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It's no problem, think I stole the idea off here yonks ago anyway! Maybe shils...

But anyway, if you think of all the things she's learnt she doesn't need to be scared of - they have all been achieved by exposure and repetition. If there's a plastic bag under her bucket when she eats her tea, or tied by her haynet then shortly she'll realise there aren't gremlins inside!

My old horse used to chase them down the road practically - after receiving carrots and peelings out of them for so many years! :D
 
Right sorry you'd edited your last post whilst i was writing - so you've had her 2 years and this has never happened. So it might be another 2 years before it happens again, if ever?

Has she changed at all recently? Been more sharp? Have you changed feeds or anything?

If not this may well be a one off you'll never explain. Hovis turned, spun and bobbed off with me a month or so ago when we came face to face with his nemesis the crop sprayer. We were in company but he turned tail and fled up the road and nothing i did made him listen to me for about 50m then i got him back. Two weeks later we met said crop sprayer again. He stood still, shook a tiny bit but didn't move and the sprayer went past without incident. Whatever freaked him that day I'll never know.

Like another poster said maybe try to desensitise her to bags as much as you can but for all you know it might have been the way the light fell on it or anything and she may never turn a hair at bags again.
 
Don't be embarrassed :) You survived and you did the best you could not to hold the traffic up. What is embarrassing is when a little 13.1 pony deposits you on someones car bonnet... :o :rolleyes:
 
You sound like you had a real fright, but take a deep breath and think this calmly through. You horse did NOT dump you, she did NOT run off to the yard by herself, she did NOT crash into a car. She got scared by a plastic bag which is very common and something you can very easily work on! If this is the only thing she has done wrong in two years, she is a saint!

Very kind driver btw!
 
Cop-Pop said:
Don't be embarrassed :) You survived and you did the best you could not to hold the traffic up. What is embarrassing is when a little 13.1 pony deposits you on someones car bonnet... :o :rolleyes:
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or when you split your jods and show half the parents in the crowd your black very lacy knickers all the way round a kids SJ course (when you are over 30 on a 16.2HH tank)!!
 
Glad you are back safely!:)

As the others have said none of the 'what ifs' happened - the worst that happened was a couple of drivers got held up for a minute or two - and one kindly recognised the problem and sorted it for you:)

Embarrassing is hacking through your village with the back seam of your jods gone flashing your knickers to all and sundry whilst yiu are completley unawares......:o:o:o:D:D:D
 
Nadia has held traffic up a few times but we used to walk through a ford and there was a plastic bag in there one day, a very kind man offered to go in and remove it for me.
 
Agree with placcy bags everywhere - but I would now also gradually introduce balloons, cycles in the field, strimmers in the field, load music, make it walk under washing lines, everything and anything!! I have even jumped on a small trampet handing out carrots after a particularly bad trampoline episode!

Not only does it make the horse more confident but it makes you more confident knowing that the horse has been educated to deal with almost anything.

Also, work on a back up plan with your instructor and practice it, so if it happens again you don't freeze and lastly, don't be ashamed at getting off - in fact that's another thing to practice, getting on and off the horse in random places so that's not a scary thing for your horse.

Don't give up. This missive is from the woosiest rider in the world and believe me it really does help!
 
canteron said:
I have even jumped on a small trampet handing out carrots after a particularly bad trampoline episode!

!
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Brilliant mental image, wot a state!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:D

Thanks everyone, I feel a bit calmer now, esp as I have an action plan to displace the worry - will set to it immediately.
 
What lovely drivers you have round your way, as others have said you handled the situation very well & try not to do the what if thing (that's my thing & can't have you stealing it).. You should be proud of yourself for doing a grand job in a difficult situation :)
 
OK, my turn at telling all of you about being Woosy!
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I have a BIG Cob Normande cross mare. She is a gentle giant and I love her. It's taken me 3 years to be able to say that and REALLY mean it because I fell off her 2 years ago this month and it's taken me all that time to get back to being happy cantering her.
All she did was spook when her best friend cantered off too fast. She bucked and bucked until I fell off then galloped off to catch him up. I landed VERY hard on a stony track and thought I'd broken my back. It took all my courage to get back on her but I am so glad I didn't give up.
I keep thinking now of all the fun I' d have missed out on if I had!
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I'm just over 40 and I have 2 children who rely on me for everything. What if I was paralysed? What if I was in hospital? I fully understand your worries as a 'mature' rider Achinghips (btw, love your name!) but we have to 'get back on' and keep going.
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We put plastic bags all over the place for my daughters horse but, unfortunately, we can't pin tiny birds to the fence in the same fashion for my big girl! Apparently the smaller the bird, the bigger the scare!
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I don't have any embarrassing stories about knickers but yours made me laugh - thanks!
 
maybe she's a bit fresh with grass coming on after the rain.

get a plastic sheet at a good distance make a noise with it then let her look at it and sniff it, after a week or so of this try putting it all over her, do it all gently and eventually let her walk on it, and put the plastic bage allover like someone said.
 
Don't be embarrassed - it all worked out fine. Also don't think of the 'what if's' - if we did that as riders, we'd never get back in the saddle again. I have had so many near misses over the years - but just don't dwell on them.

Putting plastic bags around is a great idea. Stick them on fences in the field so they blow around in the wind etc. TB's can have funny moments, but don't worry too much about it. She ppobably was just having a daft 5 minutes - and what a lovely guy to stop and help. Hope you can find someone to go out with or a friend / partner to come on a bike / walk next to you, as that will help with your confidence. :)
 
Eeh lass, don't fret, certainly not about embarrassment anyways :D

In her bad old days, the Dizz has stopped traffic whilst she's shot down the road backwards, backwards down a ditch, reared in front of a van (poor chap), put a bum shaped dent in a van (whilst the poor owner watched helplessly and I was yelling "Not the van!!!"), Friend has blocked gateways with Big Cob, and generally life was always interesting :rolleyes::cool:
 
Achinghips, I've had a worse day, to the point where I am seriously thinking that I can't carry on with my mare. I've done nothing but cry intermittently since I got home.

She has been a little bit nappy recently, but nothing major. She is a TB too, like yours.
I went out with two friends. Mine was up front leading the way, happy as anything. Then for no reason, she reared up, spun round, bashed the other two horses out of the way and carried on rocking sideways back up the road. She took no comfort in the other horses carrying on. She wouldn't even be lead off one of the other horses. Traffic was reversing and when I managed to get her to stop, I had to get off to lead her where I wanted to go. I did get back on, but she started again, and the whole process began again. She is in season, so I'm hoping that might be a reason, but to be honest, I really really know how you feel and you have my sympathies.
I've had teeth done by vet and dentist, she's had physio, and two saddlers check her saddle. I know there is nothing wrong with her. It was bad behaviour and I'm not sure I can carry on with mine much longer. So you can console yourself that I've had a worse day than you!!

Good luck with yours and I hope you get the matter sorted.
 
Hey we all have days like that, what a lovely man to do that for you,my best one was a few years ago we had to corss a main road to get to the cliffs there were three of us and one stopped so they all did right in the middle of the road and refused to walk on, we held all the traffic and in the end one person got off and walked and the rest all calmly followed on, when ever we have to go across I do have a little chuckle to my self lol. Do not get down hearted see if someone can come with you even on foot for a bit of support, you take care :)
 
lol you muppet dont be embarressed lol its happened to us all and will again time and time again - we love the horse - pure and simple - try and look through your horses eyes - dont think its a bag think what they see - michael peace is brilliant for this and help so much with how i see what horse sees - join up from monty - get the trust on the ground trust me simple hand on neck and a voice brilliant even though mare was going to spin rear and bolt - lol galloped my unrideable dangerous mare with daughter on big lad - memory i will hold - see the world from the horse - it really is amazing how it changes you :)
 
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