Spooking - what would you do?

blitznbobs

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Interesting experience today I was out hacking with a largish group off road. There was a mixed bag of eventer and dressage riders . We arrived at an ‘obstacle ‘ (big tractor with trailer load of flappy haylage bales) which we had to pass ... (driver was great cut engine and waited for us) I was at the back of the group and it was really interesting to observe. Almost to a man (or woman) the eventers rode past without any modification to their riding and they all spooked and the riders effectively dealt with the result. The dressage riders used some form of antispook tactic (leg yield/ shoulder in) none of which spooked .. everyone was fine, nothing bad happened to anyone but it left me wondering what was better for the horses training and I’m in 2 minds ... discuss
 

joosie

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I don't think there's a blanket "better". You do what suits the horse and the situation.
Personally I don't mind if horses spook as it's natural for a flight animal to be alert / wary / see the potential danger in things, so I'm most likely to ride as normal and just deal with what happens (or what I can feel is about to happen), rather than employing "anti-spook tactics (love that!) before the horse has actually done anything. However if I'm on a horse that has a habit of reacting excessively to things, I will employ those tactics because it makes life easier, and safer, for everyone involved.

My mare wouldn't have reacted at all - maybe just given it a casual look as she walked past. My gelding would have gone up to see if he could get into the haylage.
 

PapaverFollis

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I tend towards an anti-spook tactic with The Beast ( with big vehicles moving past us, that anti-spook tactic is to feed her a treat! But if we're on the move then a shoulder in)... because her spooks can be quite, erm, flamboyant? Not genuinely dangerous at all but scary enough for me. So I want to avoid them. And 99% of the time she is rock solid if I just pop a shoulder in to make her concentrate. With Granny horse I never even thought about it. Just rode past shit and if she spooked it was funny.
 

milliepops

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Yeah for me it depends on the horse. I have one that is best with antispook measures taken, and one that needs to eyeball whatever she's concerned by in order to be able to move on.
 

Pearlsasinger

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It does depend on the horse but in a group, I would not want my horse's messing about to wind up another one, so would take steps to avoid spooking.
I tend to choose my horses based on their non-spooky temperament, so would probably just march past.
 

Fluffypiglet

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If I take any anti spook measures he knows somethings up and reacts. If I spot something (a recycling bin usually) I firmly look the other way and change nothing. Works most of the time! If I look at it, it confirms that it might be a horse-eating bin apparently... amazes me that he can tell where I’m looking that clearly but he definitely can.
 

Leo Walker

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It definitely depends on the horse and the context. My young driving pony is learning about life and its a judgement call. Sometimes I acively prevent it, usually in the case of tired, silly spooks, other times I let her look as see and work it out for herself.
 

Goldenstar

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I am a leg yielder /shoulder iner my horse start to take the position when they see something they don’t like the look of .
Mostly my horses ignore stuff they quickly learn it’s not good to spook
 

DabDab

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Generally I let them look and process and then move on - I find that in general youngsters who are routinely ridden like that become more able to deal with unexpected situations quicker. However, if there is a moving vehicle/other hazard then I'll, um, 'hold them together', just for safety sake. In the situation you describe I would probably have gone for the hold together approach.

But generally just a supportive leg to keep them vaguely straight and moving forwards (and me secure 😜), and if they scoot a bit then so be it.

Being able to 'manage' a horse past something using lateral work/flexion, also depends a bit on their conformation. A very short, little horse or native pony type it can be almost impossible to achieve because they just concertina up underneath you
 

milliepops

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Being able to 'manage' a horse past something using lateral work/flexion, also depends a bit on their conformation. A very short, little horse or native pony type it can be almost impossible to achieve because they just concertina up underneath you

lol! oh yes. A long bendy neck definitely aids the ability to "manage" ;)
 

ponies4ever

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I am a stop and investigate type. I normally have youngsters and so try to encourage them to be curious about unknown things. Middle of a busy road is a bit different but on quiet lanes I'm perfectly happy to let my mare stop and sniff a few bins if she wants to (as long as she doesn't feel like she's going to try and knock them over!). Mine so far have all turned out to be very bold hackers so Im happy to continue as I am.
 

dogatemysalad

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I generally do nothing except carry on when meeting a potential hazard. If I'm apprehensive, then my horse has every right to be too. Can't remember if the quote is from Tom Dorrance, but when asked what he did to avoid scary obstacles, he replied, ' Me ? I just light a cigarette.'
The other day, my new horse and I met a tractor hedge cutting on a narrow lane. The farmer couldn't see us behind, so I expected my horse to wait patiently and follow its slow progress down the track. My horse rewarded my faith in him.
 

tristar

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cut out all bucket feed, always lunge before riding, make sure it does plenty of canter work, loose jumping, ride 5 times a week,take out in hand and let it stop and look at everything and touch things, but try to ride past when mounted.

if too `well`looking put on diet to remove excess energy, ie 4 small feeds of hay per day burn off excess fat and energy and balance remaining energy with work

never smack a horse for showing fear ,it needs to get its confidence from the rider

always ride a spooky horse with a standing martingale on the road
 

scats

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It depends on the horse and the situation for me. If Millie goes rigid and starts mincing around something and eyeballing it with intent, then I usually take a bit of action to remind her whos in the driving seat. This is mostly because she was prone to a spin and run when she arrived. If she just looks at something a little cautiously, but her body doesn’t react too much, I leave her to get on with it.

She is more bothered by things in the distance so it’s quite difficult as her focus is on something so far away. She has a major fear of tractors in the distance, but will walk past one on the yard, albeit a bit quickly. I first realised it last summer when a neighbouring farmer was out in his fields with a few tractors. It must have been a mile away, if not more, but Millie absolutely lost the plot. The same happened the other day, it was like sitting on a rigid, trembling giraffe who has lost the capacity for any sort of rationale thought and feels like it might blow at any moment. Thankfully this is a very rare occurrence with her, but it’s absolutely horrid to sit on and doesn’t leave me much room for negotiation.

Polly is much more straightforward.
 

tallyho!

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There is only one technique I would employ with my mare.

Actually, no, sorry.... silly me!

There is only one technique my mare would employ with me faced with that obstacle - and that is "sod the rider... turn around and go the other way as fast as one can".

(Gelding - "ooh yummy! How much can I grab as I walk past??!")
 

JFTDWS

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To be honest, mine probably wouldn't register something like that as spooky, so we'd go past one handed on a loose rein... I generally don't pick up a "contact" unless the horse is backing off or reacting from something - and I will add the caveat that mine all neck rein and respond on a loose rein (because they've all spent so much time doing odd sports!).

If I have to pick up a contact, it's then a judgement - sometimes I will let them stop and think, then walk past. That's my preferred option for meeting something really spooky - look, process, go past, learn it's all fine. If they're being an idiot - it's something they're very used to or they have too much energy to think straight, then I would employ distraction tactics like SI / LY.
 

Meredith

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If I take any anti spook measures he knows somethings up and reacts. If I spot something (a recycling bin usually) I firmly look the other way and change nothing. Works most of the time! If I look at it, it confirms that it might be a horse-eating bin apparently... amazes me that he can tell where I’m looking that clearly but he definitely can.

If I look at, say, a wheelie bin my horse will look too even if I thought I had only turned my head. I think horses are aware of every movement so if you move your head you may also move your shoulders, hips etc even if you think you are still.

When I can see a reason for a possible spook e.g. tractors, flapping plastic bags on the fence, double trailer log lorries etc I treat according to the conditions. My road riding is only on narrow country lanes sometimes we have to retrace our steps, sometimes there is a passing place, sometimes we ride forward, sometimes I do distraction riding, sometimes I need to dismount or sometimes we wait.

Sometimes we do none of the above and either cavort about before the obstacle or rush past it at great speed!
 

Cowpony

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Mine once spooked at a haynet tied to a fence where there normally wasn't one. We walked up so she could have a sniff and work out what it was. The next thing I knew she was having a crafty munch! Made me wonder if she was only pretending to be scared, because she knew I'd take her over to look.......
 

blitznbobs

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cut out all bucket feed, always lunge before riding, make sure it does plenty of canter work, loose jumping, ride 5 times a week,take out in hand and let it stop and look at everything and touch things, but try to ride past when mounted.

if too `well`looking put on diet to remove excess energy, ie 4 small feeds of hay per day burn off excess fat and energy and balance remaining energy with work

never smack a horse for showing fear ,it needs to get its confidence from the rider

always ride a spooky horse with a standing martingale on the road

But these are all competition horses they need energy and sparkle - none of them did anything dangerous, none of the riders even commented... this seems a little OTT. Two of the horses are doing odes this weekend so I’m not sure your suggestions are all that realistic...
 

ihatework

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Depends entirely on the horse and the situation.

I generally use SI a lot, especially if on slippy concrete/road - whereas on a track I might just kick on or even just ignore.
 

HEM

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I would use a distraction technique in this situation. The risks of it all kicking off and someone getting hurt would rule out the option to do a desensitizing lesson here for me.

Although the horse I am riding at the moment response very well to my voice so just talking to him brings his concentration back to me without needing to give a wide berth or any lateral movements.
 

Lois Lame

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If I was concerned, I'd use my outside leg a little to encourage forward and my outside rein to flex their head a little away from the obstacle.

If I was confident with the horse --- say if it was one of those rare horses who trust me absolutely --- I'd just continue on, probably enjoying it. Sadly, I don't have one of those, though I've known at least two.
 

ycbm

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never smack a horse for showing fear ,it needs to get its confidence from the rider


There are occasions when one quick smack can tell the horse that the rider is completely confident in a very effective way..


PS I'm definitely with the blushing sailors!
 

Pearlsasinger

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I taught myself to restrain my language after an embarassing episode years ago when a friend of my parent’s heard me!


A friend used to have an OTTB, which could be a bit of a prat (under-statement). One day she was preparing to take the horse out to escort a ride from the RS that her parents owned. Her Mum was teasing one of the (adult) riders about putting her up on the TB, who immediately shot back 'I can't, I don't know the words!'
 
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