Spooking suddenly!

[Cornish on the Cob]

Hi I know horses spook all the time but my nerves are in shreds at the moment. My lovely Gypsy Vanner is a really good girl. Ive only had her 8 weeks and she is lovely but she has problems with things suddenly appearing round corners on the bridle path. If she sees things coming she is fine but when something appears out the blue she jumps out her skin and I came off last week. Now when we go out I am waiting for something to appear so I am tensing up. Do you think she will get better or is there anything I can do to help?

 

[LouS]

I would suggest she's picking up on your nerves so when something does happen she's already very tense and ready to "go".

I know its not easy but try to relax, do some de-spooking with her. Start with her on the lunge or however you feel safe and get a friend to maybe wave a bag or pop out from somewhere until she stops over-reacting. Its normal for horses to spook but obviously she's going a bit overboard and unseating you.

I would also keep schooling her while you are hacking out, ask for some leg yield, shoulder in etc, so she's listening to you rather than looking for things to spook at, then when something does spook her I think you'll find its a lot less dramatic. If I see something mine might have a look at or they start to look/spook, I put them straight into shoulder in so I have control and their brains hopefully kick in.