Term "Bombproof"

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tessybear

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Anyone else think it's incorrect and overly used ? I know what it's trying to represent but i would never put it in an add if i was selling. Horses are not machines there WILL be a day when any horse spooks, it's in their system mainly to flight :) My friend had a noivce ring up about a cob and didn't want to come see him because she described him as " safe and sane " rather than totally bombproof which she asked if he was.

Please don't kill me :D
 
I had this discussion yesterday with a friend. When I ride her horse I get a calm happy plod. If I was assessing him on how he behaves when I ride him then I would confidently be able to state that whilst still young and maybe not a novice ride, does not have a bad bone in his body.
However he's been a very naughty boy with her and a couple of others who've ridden him and has shown he can deliberately dump his rider and scarper. So if she were selling him then her description would have to be quite different to mine. He was described as bombproof by the person she got him from.

Point I'm trying to make is, horses react in different ways to different riders and one man's meat may be another man's poison.

I'd agree that there are better ways of describing horses than being bombproof. Besides I'm a bit exact about word meanings :rolleyes:
 
There is no such thing as a 'Bomb proof' horse. Any of the Police & Army horse trainers will say that although they can condidtion a horse to remain calm in numerous situations there will always be something that can unsettle a horse. It's all part of the 'Fright & Flight' reflex in them that has kept them safe over thousands of years.
 
TrasaM said:
I had this discussion yesterday with a friend. When I ride her horse I get a calm happy plod. If I was assessing him on how he behaves when I ride him then I would confidently be able to state that whilst still young and maybe not a novice ride, does not have a bad bone in his body.
However he's been a very naughty boy with her and a couple of others who've ridden him and has shown he can deliberately dump his rider and scarper. So if she were selling him then her description would have to be quite different to mine. He was described as bombproof by the person she got him from.

Point I'm trying to make is, horses react in different ways to different riders and one man's meat may be another man's poison.

I'd agree that there are better ways of describing horses than being bombproof. Besides I'm a bit exact about word meanings :rolleyes:
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Yes our mare is like this, great for most people but if you get on her and are quite brutal she will throw a paddy. Fantastic with almost everything but has spun once or twice at evil things out hacking. Friends cob is slightly better just swings his bum out but still not "bombproof"... saying that if you dropped a bomb near any horse i doubt they would be pleased :D
 
TrasaM said:
I had this discussion yesterday with a friend. When I ride her horse I get a calm happy plod. If I was assessing him on how he behaves when I ride him then I would confidently be able to state that whilst still young and maybe not a novice ride, does not have a bad bone in his body.
However he's been a very naughty boy with her and a couple of others who've ridden him and has shown he can deliberately dump his rider and scarper. So if she were selling him then her description would have to be quite different to mine. He was described as bombproof by the person she got him from.

Point I'm trying to make is, horses react in different ways to different riders and one man's meat may be another man's poison.

I'd agree that there are better ways of describing horses than being bombproof. Besides I'm a bit exact about word meanings :rolleyes:
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Completely agree with this post. I think rather than bombproof I would describe things horse doesnt panic about eg happy going past farm machinery, plastic bags, lawnmowers etc
 
My appy is safe and same but there are still certain things he will sometimes spook at....holes in grounds or hedges, and sometimes not stop when he is having fun on cantering.
But that is few and far between......I think done people don't realise that we are sitting on love animals that have a mind of there own and can and do have off days.
 
webble said:
Completely agree with this post. I think rather than bombproof I would describe things horse doesnt panic about eg happy going past farm machinery, plastic bags, lawnmowers etc
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Thats what she put, listed what he is good with etc and put safe and sane at the end. Would be suitable for novices but sadly people are after something that doesn't react to anything.... my advice was get a bike :D
 
Its an over used term though. My mare will walk over/past anything. She is not bombproof, she is really honest - does as she is asked - and trusts me. I wouldn't call her bombproof, but she is the one that people would choose to tuck in behind when going past scary things.

I judged a handy pony class, lots of the horses and ponies were ridden round the course faultlessly, but you could see they were being "ridden" round. The best one of the day was a little shetland with a tot on a leadrein, that bobbled round on a loose rein, half asleep. You could have set it on fire while it went round and it wouldn't have woken up! That was the only equine of the day that I would have called bombproof.
 
We have two pretty much traffic proof horses, one is safe for a novice to ride, provided they do as the mare tells them, although they can expect to go at a very slow walk. The other is way too sharp for a novice and will spook at all sorts of random things. I would not describe either of them as bombproof. We also have a retired Ride and Drive cob mare, who during her working life never reacted to a vehicle and you would have been happy to let novice ride her on the road, but having said that I once had the experience of her reversing at speed up a road, as a dried hydranger head chased her feet :eek:
People really do need to understand that they are sitting on a living being.
We had a wonderful Clydie mare, who again never reacted to traffic, once babysat three others past a double decker bus (two of the horses were strangers to her), however she nearly walked over a mini metro when she spotted a bull a field away, over a wall :D.
She probably was bombproof, but wasn't cattle proof!
 
It's a difficult one. I have an ISH who would just freeze and stay calm if a bomb exploded near him, nothing unexpected phases him. He is what I would consider bombproof to me.

But at the same time i wouldn't put a novice up on him in a field as he is mad keen to gallop in wide spaces and would probably take to p*ss if he thought he could.

So he probably wouldn't count as bombproof!?
 
My mare is quite 'bombproof'. But as she IS an animal she has her off days. We met a tractor the other day and I'm sure he thought he was at the royal ballet. We were going up, spinning, jogging on the spot etc. She doesn't usually even notice tractors.
The other day she decided that the red pillar box that she passes every time we leave the house was scary and again, we were dancing.

Even the most traffic safe horses have their moments!
 
i think if you see an ad with bombproof in it people expect the horse wont react in ANY situation ,which is extremely unrealistic to expect any horse to do!
when i went to try my boy we had a very low flying jet scream overhead ,and he didnt blink -to me thats bombproof ,( i have to confess it frightened me so much i peed my pants a little bit) :o :eek:
but hes not a plod and will jump like hell if a bike or jogger creeps up on us-hes not a machine!!
 
I'd say bombproof means that as a general rule, the horse doesn't react to normal everyday stimuli, traffic, dogs, flapping bags, even slightly unusual things. Some may only be bombproof though if the rider/handler is confident, & react badly if the rider becomes nervous or tense. I wouldn't describe the latter as truly bombproof though. Neither do I associate bombproof with being a plod or novice ride. I've ridden lots of comp horses who were bombproof under the normal definition but would have murdered a novice & certainly weren't plods. Even my saintly 14.2 who reacts to virtually nothing, can be ridden by novices & tiny kids, is about as predictable as a horse can be, is very forward going & responsive, rather than behaving through being a ploddy type.
We do have a 5yr old who is extremely bombproof by nature. She's all fight & no flight, so even with things she is initially unsure of, her response wouldn't be noticed by anyone who didn't know her. I'd call her safe & sane because she is great with any stimuli & very responsive. But is super lively, she wouldn't become spooky with a novice, but she would be way too whizzy for one who couldn't find useful outlets for that energy the whole time.
I think its a good point re people expecting 100% predictability though, I think the best you can guarantee is it being highly unlikely they'll react, & if they do it will be most likely to be in a mild, non dangerous way, from which they soon calm down from. Rather than say galloping off at anything making a noise & remaining stressed for hours after.
 
Toby_Zaphod - just what i wanted to write only you worded it better than i would :D
(Sorry cant quote on phone!)

My mare i would consider "bombproof" with cars,lorries,farm life however a crisp packet rolling down the road in the wind is a different matter ;)
 
my horses are all bombproof;) although i live a fair distance from salisbury plains we can often feel and hear the blasts when the army are blowing things up and none of the horses react:p Of course the fact that one of them will turn himself inside out at the sight or sound of a plastic bag and the big girl turns into a giraffe made of jelly at the sight of sheep or llamas does prove that even being bombproof doesn't mean totally safe:D
 
It probably is pretty overused, and obviously not to be taken literally. I would describe my mare as bombproof (probably not in advert as it would attract the wrong people) but she is brave, very sensible under saddle and even if something does surprise her then her reaction is very proportionate and not silly.

She is traffic proof (cars, lorries, trailers, tractors, buses, motorbikes the lot), firework proof, isn't afraid of cows, sheep, pigs, llamas, dogs, hens, ducks, peacocks donkeys etc, has met helicopters and hot air balloons, both low flying and on the ground and whilst the helicopter taking off worried her a bit she passed it sensibly. She is bloody good really, we've found ourselves in the middle of fun runs, classic motorbike rallies, motocross events, escaped sheep etc and she remains sensible. She may scoot forwards if something makes her jump but she always comes back quickly and remains sensible.

She will give anything a lead past anything, even if she hasn't met it before. The first time we met llamas the other 4 horses we were out with had passed them before but were going into meltdown, madam ignored them while they backed into her and messed about then she went past and waited next to the llamas as a sheild for the scaredy cats.

The only times we've needed a lead have been the first few times we went through a ford (she was rising 4 and it was her first hack from our yard and only her third ever hack) and once to cross some horrible deep mud.

She isn't switched off or ploddy in fact he is very interested and alert but she is sensible and I think she likes to look after her rider (she is good even when DH is struggling with nerves).

Even now coming back into work after box rest and having had no turnout since october she is good, we've had a few scooting forwards incidents and joggy moments but she's very sensible really.
 
I think if i used the term it would be loosely and would apply for many of the horses listed on here. We were sold our mare as bombproof but didn't come as a shock when she span a few weeks ago after spooking at a mini version of herself:D Again i class her as safe and will walk past almost anything i think she enjoys keeping us on our toes. She is definatly the type you could teach a novice to learn to ride on.

But it seems these people really were looking for a horse to never spook, honestly that's impossible in my books. They were labelling this non existant horse bombproof and everything else not suitable for a novice, friend kindly told them that perhaps they are not ready for a horse .
 
I had a completely bombproof cob who was ridden through central London by itself and remained calm and sane in all situations. Only time he reacted was when we were waiting at traffic lights and a large flock of pidgeons took off in Trafalgar Square which he took exception to and he took off down Pall mall at a gallop only stopping just before we reached Buckingham Palace. This was the only time he did it. (Must have been a bad day).
 
My horse will hack past buses and lorries doing 40-60mph with minimal distance between her and vehicle, will hack past a shooting range, and will happily have an air ambulance land and take off within a 10m proximity, however she's dumb enough to spook at grates, leaves, logs, you name it that's a normal hacking encounter, she'll spook at! She's by far no means bombproof, but I'd class her as safe and sane, but a 'normal' horse, not some super hero.
 
Our first horse had pulled a landau along Blackpool's Golden mile in the season and worked in a RS in the winter months before we got him. He wasn't fazed by any kind of traffic, never spooked at plastic bags etc and certainly never got worried on Bonfire Night but let him hear a brass band..............:eek::eek:
 
If you stuck a bomb under a horse it will blow up, therefore i think the term is utter b***ks! I hate it when i see it in adverts really pee's me off! Safe and sane is a better way of putting it.
 
tessybear said:
Anyone else think it's incorrect and overly used ? I know what it's trying to represent but i would never put it in an add if i was selling. Horses are not machines there WILL be a day when any horse spooks, it's in their system mainly to flight :) My friend had a noivce ring up about a cob and didn't want to come see him because she described him as " safe and sane " rather than totally bombproof which she asked if he was.

Please don't kill me :D
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To me it means that you could put any kid or adult regardless of ability on them and they will behave. It could be lead and ridden (within reason, if you sock a horse in the mouth and whip on I know 'bombproof' cobs that would react to this as you've totally confused them and asked them to pull a move they don't know) by anyone sensibly.

Every animal is unpredictable but to me bombproof is that they have seen everything (traffic/animals/plastic flapping things/birds launching out/deer running past etc etc) and not one event has triggered more than a look.

However I know a lot of cobs (one I was asked to ride to tick over for loan viewings) who have been called bombproof and I totally disagree with. One I rode was very lazy and would plant. Not bombproof, just lazy and poorly schooled so couldn't be bothered to do anything more.
 
I don't see a problem with describing a safe and sensible horse as bombproof TBH.Surely anyone with half a brain cell will understand that horses are living creatures and therefore even the most reliable *could* react under certain circumstances??

Bombproof to me means that generally speaking and most of the time the horse is reliable,sensible and knows it's job and will do it without fuss or dramatics.
I would expect a bombproof horse to be unphased by normal and everyday activities and environments,and to accept rider instruction and reassurance if and when meeting new or unusual things.
I don't think it's reasonable to expect a horse 'not' to react at all to anything,but I would expect a 'bombproof' horse to have a sensible and lesser reaction that can be easily controlled and managed.

I have a welsh cob that I would have no qualms as referring to as bombproof when ridden.
He's safe and reliable,even when out of his comfort zone.If he does react to anything (hardly ever but occasionally when asked to take the lead as more a follower than a leader),it's very low key and easily dealt with.
He's ridden out in company and alone by novice and nervous riders (friends,sharer and my OH),and they all say he makes them feel very safe and they never have to worry about what they come up against etc.

He's middle aged,been there,done it and all previous owners agree on his reliability and steadiness.With such a proven and excellent track record I don't think it's unreasonable to refer to him as bombproof.

I do agree though that the term is over used especially on adverts for young horses.I know young horses can be sensible and potentially bombproof,but I think they need to have proved themselves for a few years and got a lot of life experience under their belts to be able to be honestly described as that.
 
I class mine as 'bombproof' to hack as he will even walk past a crow banging going off without a blink. However I only took him hunting once and he scared me half to death. Horses have spirit somewhere, or at least they should.
 
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