Stupid things horses are scared of...

Clothes pegs!
Westphalian Draft mare isn't frighten of any traffic whatsoever, or pigs/cattle/sheep/
goats/dogs, never jumps at flapping plastic etc, ignores wheelie-bins and her companion when she is jumping around at white flowers which weren't there last week. She didn't even bat an eye-lid on our 3rd solo hack when we came upon the team unloading a wind-turbine from a huge low-loader onto a tractor to take it round the corner and erect it.
BUT one day we were hacking past a hedge one day when she suddenly stopped dead and told her companion to stay back (companion ignored her). She needed a lead to move on, after much research I realised that she must have heard the pegs clicking on an empty washing-line behind the hedge.
 
My old man Teddy was literally as bombproof as they came....but go within ten feet of him with fly spray and he was off! Had to use wipes LOL
 
shannonandtay said:
At our old yard we used to have to hack past a house on the way to the forest and one nice sunny day the owners had decided to hang their bird cage with their parrot inside it on the front porch. A very worried pony was giving it the eye, but boy did he get a shock when it actually said hello to him. He was never able to walk past that house again without dramatics regardless of whether that parrot was there or not :D
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Now this made me and the OH giggle :D
 
We had a few issues early on with the changing seasons - After a bit of work on trust and getting know eachother he is much better but newly wrapped hay bales in fields and fly spray are pony eating monsters - Fire Engines in blues and twos not a problem - maybe he's picking up on my reaction there :D
 
shannonandtay said:
I know, of all the things it had to be a parrot, he was a friendly chap always said hello and my boy was like 'why does that bird talk!!' I used to dread the thing being outside :D
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It's imagining the thought process of the horse. Would be like going to do the girls in the morning and one of them lifting a head from the grass and saying, "mornin'". Lol
 
Loki is pretty good in general, he's a "look"er rather than a spooker ;)

So yeah dogs even barking dogs are fine, screaming kids on trampolines, big noisey generators, big trucks, tractors, buses, cars, motorbikes, cyclists even the dreaded pram monster are all a-ok by him.

He does give the evil "die die!" stare to massive boulders (lions live behind them don't you know), flapping small plastic bags - and yet you can flap a big plastic tarp at him no bother, he'll happily walk over it and if you put it on him especially over his face he will fall asleep! - our one and only spook was because of a spray of sawdust across the path after the forestry commission had felled some trees, we did a nice shoulder in past some big red road barriers as he stared at them and to my very acute embarrassment he refused to walk past a little old lady with crutches one day till he had decided she wasn't some scary horse eating cyborg :rolleyes:
 
Dried up puddles are terrifying for Zak. He would probably get on a tractor if he could. He tends to be great with actually scary things, I could wave flags at him blowing a trumpet whilst on fire and he wouldn't bat an eye lid but walk past a hedge with a little bit of a gap showing the wall underneath and you'd think I was trying to murder him!!!
 
Oh and donkeys, that's actually the first time I have had to make use of the neck strap, he couldn't decide whether backwards or forwards was safest so we just rocked on the spot instead!!
 
Ahh these have made me giggle! Mine has taken over a week to get used to her neighbour in his new Bucas Zebra print fly rug. Initially trembled on approach to the field, cautiously teetered near before snorting and flying off in the opposite direction!

Oh, and a lone bale of hay left out after the fields were cut, won't pass it without a spook and a snort!
 
Usual stuff like people in the distance, things that wernt there yesterday, dressage boards, especially shiny ones! Worst spook lately was when she got her eye on the little Shetland in the next field, the Shetland that has been there forever and she's took no notice of it.... Until a rider was on its back lol.... This induced trembling, snorting, trying to run away, the sight of it been ridden was clearly too much for my horse to cope with!
 
Not sure if these have already been said but...

- different coloured leaves
- different sized leaves
- people wearing backpacks
- people wearing hats
- drains
- coats hanging on jump wings
- bag on a stick (bird scarers)

;)
 
Old mare is hates the colour yellow....daffodils will kill her and at an old yard when we hacked through the village she would sort and jump over to the other side of the road to get past a yellow lotus!



Tho the look on her face when it appeared at the yard one day was priceless!:o
 
The last patch of snow when all the rest has thawed.

Oh, and we have one who had a patch of grass opened up for him with no water supply, so we took out his huge water trug that he had lived with for 2 years.. and he totally freaked at it in the field!
 
EVERYTHING .... on alfa A

Most things ... if ridden every other day or two

Not much apart from something he goes past all the time like a sign post if ridden everyday!! :confused:

Guaranteed at all times ..... Damn Wood Pigeons!!! :mad:
 
One of the horses at our yard is really old and cannot be clipped and so has continuously moulting hair throughout the year.... My horse is scared of the hair blowing towards her whilst they are tied up next to each other... its hilarious!
 
There was a guy up a ladder fixing the outdoor school lights. My horse didn't bother with this because he was too busy oggling the really scary paw prints in the snow.
 
Dead brown leaves hanging from a tree on the edge of the menage

Really long grass blowing in the wind

Flowers mainly bluebells and patches of the white clover we often have to skip around that on a ride.

Forgot this one the soapy water running off his body that then ends up on the floor running along the floor to the drain, that is really scary.
 
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Flesh-eating hosepipes
The Appaloosa next door
Anything motorised
Fire hydrants
Miniature horses
Ostriches (we live in South Africa)
Bee hives
Reflections/shadows
People in hats
Rosettes- especially in the unlikely event that she wins one and the judge tries to put it near her face

The first time I took her to the beach was wonderful too. As soon as she touched sand, she bent low on all four legs so my feet were nearly touching the ground and crab walked to the nearest rock. Had a hard time convincing her to come down off it!
 
My old mare Dolly is generally bombproof but had a few "moments" as a youngster.
On one occasion I was riding along the river and found myself going in reverse at top speed. Managed to stop her, calm her down a bit (she was seriously stressing) and then eventually persuaded her to sneak along one step at a time. Eventually realised she didnt like the rhododendron bush! She has been past it loads of times before but this time the flowers had grown on it! She wasn't impressed!

Another time we were on a part of the river when the bank was built up to shelter a golf course. We were trotting along merrily when she ground to a stop, snorting her head off. A golfer was on the other side if the bank and all you could see was his head!!! The rest of him was hidden behind the banking. I think she thought whatever beheaded him was going to do the same to her! Lol

Another time we were Riding through some meadows on a little meandering track through some trees. My friend was in front when suddenly her horse span and galloped past us, clearly petrified. This is a usually bombproof horse... Seriously, if a bomb exploded besides her she wouldn't have batted an eyelid. Once back under control, we proceeded with great caution round the bend (friend hadn't known what spook was about) to find..... A dead rabbit on the floor! :)
 
My old horse would go past anything tractors, combines, quad bikes, motorbikes, buses... but the post mans van was petrifying. Poor posties must have wondered what they did as we went snorting and skipping past.
New girlie is 99.9% bomb proof but throws in random scaries to wake you up, a tiny trickle of water running down the road from someone washing their car was terrifying. One day anything white was scary, road markings, painted boulders etc.
Recently she is scared of drinks bottles although she has been know to take one from you and kind of drink from it, she now moves well away from them even though nothing bad has happened.
 
Mine had a proper nervous breakdown in the yard last year. Snorting, spinning, rearing, running backwards, sweating.

Someone had changed one of the worn out yardbrushes for a brand new one without checking with her first.
 
My usually pretty laid back highland hates scary, pony eating snake monsters .... Aka anything which moves round his feet.

Hence fine to be hosed down but hates the hose moving round him; ok to have his tail washed but can't stand streams of foamy water running across the yard; never bats an eyelid being clipped but can't cope with clipper wire round his feet or (biggest monster of all) clumps of his own hair blowing about on the floor.

On a recent ride in the woods,me met a guy driving a small tractor (no issues with the tractor) but he was dragging a log on a long chain behind him so it trailed through the longish grass .... Cue one serious hissy fit!
 
Any leaf that deviates from standard leaf colour.

People who are not moving (sitting down/standing up).

Writing on the road (that he's walked over many times before).

Items in the arena that weren't there before/have moved locations in said arena.

Items that were there but aren't now, or rather the empty space they leave behind.

Soap suds on the floor when he's having a bath.

The most recent one is cow pats, not all cow pats but some are suspect.

Horse is unflappable with cars/lorries/tractors and their various machinery/motorbikes/push bikes, but a suspect leaf or cow pat will cause palpitations.. ;)
 
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