WDYD - Spooky but Not Scared?

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Cheshire Chestnut

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What do you do when your horse/pony is spooky but not actually scared? Like they're playing on being scared when they're not really?

For example, my Welsh D is sometimes scared of fillers, planks and bright jumps. He's only 6 but a green 6 due to being a stallion for the first 4 years of his life. He's safe and sensible on the road and I'm not scared of him but sometimes he acts so silly. We had a small painted plank on the floor in the school last night and before I got on I lead him over it in hand and although he was wary, he stepped over it no problem a few times. Then when I got on he was acting all stupid and snorting at it, walking backwards but with his ears pricked & forward. Smacking him and shouting just results in a mad gallop away from my voice, however positive encouragement gets me there in the end. He went over it fine and then the next time we went at it (this time in trot) he slammed the breaks on and I fell off - landing on my feet and then we start it all over again.

Positive riding and encouragement gets me there in the end and I never let him get away with it but I just feel so annoyed at him for acting such a tool when he's clearly not scared despite him 'trembling'! Is this a Welsh D thing? I have heard they're quirky but never known a pony quite like him!
 
Just takes time..... my now 12 year old WBx still can be silly sometimes I even don't know what at! He must see ghosts at times. I just laugh and give him a pat once we are past whatever it is and tbh just part of his character.

There are times when it is just nonsense, some fun, some genuine horsey eating monsters over the hedge but he has got better over the years.

Find when anything has moved or changed to be worse for this especially in an environment he know well. Last year I dared to move a jump stand in the field and lay it down on it's longer edge whilst I was messing about with stuff and you should have seen the antics!

On the up side, we get plenty of shoulder-in practice on our rides
 
I'd just put it down to too much bottled up energy and take him for a good long ride to get some of it out of him.
 
Jnhuk said:
Just takes time..... my now 12 year old WBx still can be silly sometimes I even don't know what at! He must see ghosts at times. I just laugh and give him a pat once we are past whatever it is and tbh just part of his character.
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I hope that's the case for me, I've had him 7 months and it's not getting any better. I think limited turnout and the crisp days have made it worse too. Thought we'd made progress the other week because he was great but then last night made me feel as though we were back to square one :( It just makes me feel a little bit let down by him as I look after him well, treat him nice and then he's all dishonest with me by slamming breaks on at the last minute with something he's just been over 5 times :(
 
Ignore it - don't react at all. They don't need reassurance they're not scared and if you ignore it like it doesn't effect you at all they give it up...
 
Sounds like he is actually scared. He obviously trusts you on the ground, hence he will follow you up to and over scary objects but this trust hasn't followed on into ridden work. Now this is no reflection on you and may well be due to something in his past. With my young horse who is like this, I have done lots and lots of ground work to get that really strong, then our ridden work has been done with an older horse for company. So in the situation with the plank, I would have had an older horse stand next to it and follow them over. This way nothing becomes an issue and they learn to trust you when ridden. If no older horse available that day I would remove the plank from the arena, otherwise you've have just taught him to worry with you again. Same out hacking, she's a nightmare alone so we always go in company with a sensible horse, push on infront when she's feeling brave and test the waters but if its going to be an issue the older horse takes over. In two months she's a lot better, she flies unknown fillers without looking and without a lead. Out hacking she's asking more and more to go infront and marches out the yard now. I thought she was being silly until someone pointed out to me she was genuinely scared.
 
I think you're over thinking it...

You walk him in and show him a plank and I imagine talk him through it calmly in a slightly high pitched voice? He then clocks onto this behaviour and picks up on your vibes about the pole..

Instead of that, get on and walk him round ignoring the poles, and see how he reacts. You need to completely relax though, sing a song or something to get your mind off the 'scary' things.

Stop making such a big deal of the supposedly spooky things, ignore it and your horse will take confidence from you. If you anticipate his behaviour, he will most likely produce it. If he does act up, keep your hands soft but with a good contact, leg on, and firmly but calmly tell him to walk on or whatever commands you use. No smacking or shouting. Just ignore what he does. If he gets a reaction out of spooking, it reinforces it.

This is coming from experience of spooking over stupid things, and the ignoring method does work!!
 
I know it can be so frustrating but try not to make such a big thing out of it. Just ask him to work on something else and if you happen to go near the plank so what. If you happen to go over the plank so what. Don't give him time to be silly. Concentrate on getting his attention on what you are doing rather than on the plank as getting him to think about other things so he doesn't have time to spook useful.

With my guy, if I got annoyed and over reacted to whatever he was doing, it wound him up worse.

It will get better but sometimes not as quickly as we like.
 
Ella19 said:
Sounds like he is actually scared. He obviously trusts you on the ground, hence he will follow you up to and over scary objects but this trust hasn't followed on into ridden work. Now this is no reflection on you and may well be due to something in his past. With my young horse who is like this, I have done lots and lots of ground work to get that really strong, then our ridden work has been done with an older horse for company. So in the situation with the plank, I would have had an older horse stand next to it and follow them over. This way nothing becomes an issue and they learn to trust you when ridden. If no older horse available that day I would remove the plank from the arena, otherwise you've have just taught him to worry with you again. Same out hacking, she's a nightmare alone so we always go in company with a sensible horse, push on infront when she's feeling brave and test the waters but if its going to be an issue the older horse takes over. In two months she's a lot better, she flies unknown fillers without looking and without a lead. Out hacking she's asking more and more to go infront and marches out the yard now. I thought she was being silly until someone pointed out to me she was genuinely scared.
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We actually did end up following an older horse over the plank and he was really good, just then when he had to do it himself he was scared. He was still a bit twitchy when following but then stepped over it and didn't jump it 4ft in the air or anything (much to my relief). I've been riding 20 years but recently had a 7 year break and then got him so I'm not the most confident rider at the moment, still finding my feet. That's probably making everything that little bit harder. He is a trier though if you tell him to do something, I just need to find my 14 year old self again and treat him like I did with my pony then - just get on with it! Glad to know I'm not alone though and other people have problems in different areas, makes me feel as though I'm not the only one finding things hard at times.
 
Jnhuk said:
With my guy, if I got annoyed and over reacted to whatever he was doing, it wound him up worse.
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Same here. I do ignore a lot when he's in the school and shys at the jump wings in the corner etc and ignoring him works - he stops with within 10 mins. It's only when the jumps and poles come out I have trouble ignoring him as he stops and spooks at EVERYTHING (even stuff he's not been scared of before the jumps came out). Punishment and shouting gets me nowhere though. Just hope it's a baby thing and it will get better :)
 
I know where you're coming from, I broke in ponies worked with horses for a living, worked with competition horses riding them with thier quirks but wobbled on my own.

Doing everything in company is not a failure, it gives me and my horse confidence and slowly we are both getting there. Yes she should hack alone but until she's confident in me there is no point in me pushing it. If she were a dealer horse I would probably have kicked on by now but I've bought her to keep and event so if she doesn't trust me now god help me when I'm coming down to a large tricky combination!
 
About 8 months with my spooky guy but it got better every week bear in mind my chap was bad and it was a serious problem... We couldn't go in the school without a major strop - we once went round the arena backwards twice spooking when at his worst .
 
Cheshire Chestnut said:
How long did it take?? Just so I know I'm not a 'no hoper' :(
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Two months to train myself to relax and settle and then probably another two for the spooking to settle. It will always be a work in progress though, and time depends on the horse and rider combo, so may take lots more time, so don't give up.

One corner of the arena was where the spooking took place, every time for five laps, no doubt. So I stuck to a 20m circle at the opposite end for a while. Before I was scared to put my leg on or do anything other than sit there. Now I know the signals for when she may try something, so I do a little wiggle of the reins to get her head down, leg on and tell her "get on with you, mare!!". She rarely spooks now. Except if the cats jump out of the hedge...

Although I do plan my rides. If it is really windy, we do ground / in hand work, there are some battles you shouldn't even bother to enter.. :D
 
Thanks JustKickOn and blitznbobs - I feel better now, just know I have a long road ahead of me in terms of jumping and stuff. I really do wish I had more confidence in my riding - I can ride but lacking in confidence is crushing it :( Spooking during flat work I don't mind and it doesn't scare me but refusing poles and tiny jumps is making me scared. Do you think it would help getting this confident rider on him and putting some jumps up and me just watch? Might get his confidence back if I've ruined it a bit with my nerves?
 
My mare is like this too (also sec D). I take her to objects she finds scary and let her have a look and and a sniff. She will eventually touch them with her nose and after that she is fine with them.
 
dreamcometrue said:
My mare is like this too (also sec D). I take her to objects she finds scary and let her have a look and and a sniff. She will eventually touch them with her nose and after that she is fine with them.
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See that's where he's annoying - he will have a sniff and be fine with it the next 3 times past it, then on the 4th time round he will act like he's never seen it before and be back to square one. All with ears forward of course!
 
Cheshire Chestnut said:
See that's where he's annoying - he will have a sniff and be fine with it the next 3 times past it, then on the 4th time round he will act like he's never seen it before and be back to square one. All with ears forward of course!
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Are you sure that it doesn't look different on the fourth time from his point of view?, perhaps a shadow on it or sun glinting off (my own Welshie's 'piece de resistance'). Welshies are very very intelligent and very observant - many a time it's us not seeing what they can see - and being the clever little souls they are they want to 'tell' us somethings changed in the only way they know how.
 
ignore the behaviour-shouting at him and hitting him just confirm he was right to be scared as some thing hit him when he was near the scary thing.

he needs you to consistent to help him see that things are ok, if you are nervous/cross he will pick up on that and at the moment when you get scared you shout and hit him so he won't trust you when you give those vibes.

get an instructor, sing when you ride (yes out loud especially when worried-it helps to regulated your breathing and gives you a focus), ignore him completely when he spooks and just push on through or past the scary object.

good luck with him
 
How about getting some lessons?? You could tell the instructor of your choice your problems and that you would like to work through them slowly, with your main objective being to increase and maintain your confidence? You will probably have to have some lessons with different people to see who best suits your style, but give it a go. You will get there!
 
Sometimes it can be an evasion, or the horse being bored and looking for something to keep himself occupied. My old horse used to be great for 20 mins sometimes, then if I didn't think of enough new things for him to do he would start spooking to keep himself entertained. Can be really annoying but taught me to plan rides a bit better! :)
 
Thank you for all your advice - I took it all on board and rode last night on our own in the school in the dark with the flood lights on. The person who rode before me had the jumps out and had put them back by just slotting them through the fences around the border of the school so at first he was spooking and snorting at them all. I just patted him and we walked past them but I could feel his heart thumping - 'mum, they aren't usually there!!'.

After 5 mins or so he settled down after we had been past them a few times in each direction. Then something amazing happened... He worked really hard and in one of the best and softest outlines to date! All my hard work with him that I thought I'd been wasting my time with was there, he did it all :D I think it was partly because I had been doing shoulder-in's with him past the 'scary things' and reassuring him, so he was really listening to me.

We still had a few spooks after but that was partly because the horses in the field next to the school behind some trees where running about, but on the next lap he was back to being fine again. I kept the schooling session short (only 25 mins) so that we ended on a good note and it was all positive.

It's made me feel a lot better and pleased that some of the schooling I've done with him is obviously sinking in, even if sometimes he tries to make me think it doesn't. It's a step in the right direction and hopefully I can start introducing poles etc again in a few weeks after continuing the flatwork. Thank you everyone again :)
 
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