what 10 things..........................

She used to be scared of a lot of things but, I've been doing a lot of spook busting with her and she is much improved nowadays. She still fears motorbikes - I'd probably get away with just one but a group of them... I'm in trouble.

Her other dislikes are high winds, heavy rain and thunder and lightening. If I got them all together... I'm dead :D
 
Nothing, he is afraid of nothing to the point of being a menace. He will waddle upto fly tipping/plastic bags/dogs/the ninja squirrel, decide its not edible and then sigh loudly in the most worldly way a seven year old can... case in point below... he had never seen a brolly this close, but he kept trying to grab the handle so he could have a go at eating it :D

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1) Drains
2) Road markings (only the white ones!)
3) Bridges, perfectly fine with motorway bridges but water bridges nope!
4) Damp patches on the road
5) Teenagers on bikes (for good reason this one unfortunately)
6) Ears being touched (again unfortunately for good reason)
7) The farrier who turns into a big scary monster when he walks from her right side to her left.
8) Sky vans and only Sky vans.

Strangely enough she couldn't careless about plastic bags, tarpaulin, monsters in hedges, gunshots, pheasants, heavy traffic. She absolutely loves a bath (especially her face being washed!) and I'm sure she'd go live with the vet tomorrow if she could!
 
My girl isn't scared of much; but tractors we after 5years living on a working farm can tolerate without bombing past them. Road wise; solo- probably trot past/tractor had to stop. With friends- has to be babysat but ok.

Birds jumping in front of her.

Otherwise it's take each hack by its self but she's usually too busy being excited to be scared!
 
rowan666 said:
my mare is scared of:
1. Big rocks
2.Piles of weeds (theyre fine if they are still in the ground)
3. Rugs!
Click to expand...

I'll join you with big rocks. My mare is pretty bombproof and not at all spooky but had a total freak out last week at a boulder in a gateway. I have never seen her so spooked so she can't have been taking the mick.
Didn't know she could go backwards so quickly!
 
1. cameras
2. shutter clicking noise
3. binoculars and anything else that humans hold up to their eyes
4. things in the wrong place - anything static that gets relocated is highly suspicious
5. old abandoned bales in field and hedges
6. water - she has to send in the sacrificial cob first to makes sure all is OK
7. the wrong colour grass
8. the wrong colours soil
9. cats lurking in bushes
10. rifle gunfire

She is not however remotely concerned about helicopters, tanks, heavy gunfire, explosions, trains, road traffic, pigs or any other livestock.

I think she has a faulty risk assessment gene.
 
haha these are great and some definite patterns emerging!

My boy is a total saint and normally if he shies it is quite a sedate affair (touch wood) but he does have his moments -

1. An upended tree
2. Large bunch of dock leaves
3. Anything his hacking companion thinks is spooky
4. The 25 signs round our normal hacking route, in random sequence on random days - but always the same sign in both directions
5. Ditto the above approach with puddles. Shies at them in some kind of fibonacci sequence
6. fly spray
7. My daughter's horse (VERY sensible to be scared of him)
8. Cut logs. (not whole ones, just the cut sides)
9. Pushchairs
10. invisible horse-scaring gases in the air

but he always does it VERY politely :) bless him
 
Auslander said:
If I could predict what the bg idiot would spook at, I'd have far less hysteria to deal with out hacking. The only thing he spoooks at consistently is Berkshire Hedge Dragons - and I can't see or hear them.
Click to expand...

We have hedge dragons in my bit of Berkshire too - the little devils, they're obviously breeding. I hope they never cross with the Sabre Toothed Plastic Bag that also hang around in hedges, up trees and the really special black ones that hang out on pavements on bin days!!!!
 
My OAP lad.... nothing. He'd rather tractors not come too close but he doesn't actually shy.

My mare we lost last year was a nightmare:
1 - Gates
2 - Trees
3 - Birds
4 - bales in field (any sort of bales)
5 - sheep
6 - noises made by sheep she couldn't see
7 - sheep that were there last time but ARE NO LONGER THERE!!! (This was the longest I ever had to sit it out with her, she would not go past a small pen that had 2 sheep in it last time we past, but was now very clearly empty!!!
8 - Cows
9 - Chevron road signs that look like black and white killer cows.
10 - Anything random not covered by the above!
 
One reacted once to a golf bag as it was clonked with every step, very strange for that horse to react to anything. Had one who disliked white lines on the road. That, I think, is it,
 
Daffodils - but only some years. If it was a horse eating daffodil year, you could zig zag down many roads in spring.
Drains that were set into the kerb. Ordinary drains and manhole covers were fine.
Sabre toothed squirrels. Didn't you know that that they eat horses leaving only the hooves and a tail? And only silly horses know which one of fifty squirrels is the killer...
Balloons
Automatic gates - needed to back away from at speed.
Dogs wearing diamante, in fairness I can't really blame him for that but it is rather funny to see a 600kg backing away from a 1kg fluffy chi :)
Driven horses and he is broken to harness!
Legs sticking out from under a car. Full on meltdown
Zebra crossings, they have to be jumped and newly painted lines on the road meant that we took refuge on the pavement.
Some gateways. Not all the time but there are certain gateways that are terrifying and can't have a hoof put in them.

He's absolutely fine with all traffic including bikes despite having a cyclist actually park himself between his back legs as a youngster. Cattle, sheep, pigs, donkeys and emus don't get a glance. Geese are watched warily but that's ok I watch them too. One of our hacks was past a skate park with the noisiest metal ramp ever, never caused a problem.
 
My mare is pretty much bombproof. The only things she doesn't like are anything resembling a snake, so hosepipes, roadmarkings and string or ribbon on the ground. Although I can forgive her that as it's instinct. Also water is scary whether it's a puddle or a stream. This makes hosepipes extra scary! She's perfect otherwise.

My gelding is such a wuss so anything could eat him. Any car that comes too close, caravans, especially caravans with bicycles, and lorries. Anythin g in the hedge and people in the distance. When he spooks he will boing off all four hooves into space or spin around and leg it. Everything is suspicious.
 
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Ffin.......

1. Walkers that hide
2. People that are sat or crouched down
3. People
4. Sprinklers
5.kids
6. Bouncing kids
7. Loud kids
8. Kids with back packs
9. Pigeons taking off
10. Parked cars with people in. ( or even worst terriers)

Moses

EVERYTHING he thinks he can get away with.....little sod!
 
10 things?! One doesn't like broken water pipes that fountain over the road, but I've only ever come across that once so I think he can be excused. The other pony has never found anything spooky in the 10 years I've had him to be honest... He's not the best trained jumping (jack of all trades) so can get confused by optical illusions jumping, but as a driving pony Ill let him off that too. The welsh cob is scared of angry or over dominant people, and anything you're scared of, and if he's not on side just about everything, if he's with you nothing can phase him. He's certainly no bothered by traffic, livestock, heavy horses working, road markings etc.
Dunno how people put up with horses that are super spooky, I find the cob annoying enough and he visibly changes between when he's trusting you and fearless to when he loses faith.
 
I can't list 10 things. My boy is pretty much bombproof. However, two things I can guarantee he'll spook at - people on foot (walkers) where he doesn't think people on foot should be i.e on the tracks where we hack regularly. People on foot at hunter trails, sponsored rides etc. no problem, but on our tracks they are the most scary beings in existence. The other thing he'll spook at is purple things, for example, black bin bags at the side of the lane - fine. Purple bin bags - terrifying. Even purple flowers are flowers of evil as far as he's concerned but any other colour flowers, no problem at all LOL
 
1. People. Which is bizarre, as generally he totally loves all people. When he's being ridden he is very suspicious of them.
2. My riding instructor. He once dumped me in the middle of a lesson because she had been standing in the same place for 10 minutes speaking and he apparently hadn't noticed she was there.
3. Tractors. In his life that I know of, he has lived on at least 3 farms.
4. His own shadow ... but not all the time.
5. Being patted unexpectedly (yes, really).
6. Rocks painted white at the end of people's driveways.
7. Strimmers and lawnmowers if he can't see them.
8. Cars coming up behind him. Sometimes.
9. His own reflection in van/house/shop windows.
10. Me falling off.

:D
 
1. Drains
2. Freshly painted road markings
3. Cyclists pedalling uphill
4. People on foot leading horses
5. Trains
6. Train tracks
7. Birds suddenly flying off
8. Tyre tracks in grass verges
9. Lighter coloured leaves
10. Donkeys

:D

ETA:

11. Backpackers
12. Shiny cars
13. Puddles
14. People with hosepipes
15. People behind hedges
 
Some fantastic ones so far!
Another one whose horse is scared of parked cars! Not fast whizzy ones but ones which have parked presumably waiting to eat him!!
2. Squirrels in trees, on the ground or anywhere else.
3. One random plant in a hedge row which we always have to spook at when we go past!
4. Llamas (or if they aren't in the field the drain in front of the fence which contains said llamas)
5. Tree stumps, incredibly frightening and much snorting needed before we can pass them. Cut logs also suspicious unless they are set up for jumping in which case they are super fun.
6. Tyres made into a jump (tyres in any other format are acceptable but not when lined up as a jump!)
7. A new section of post and rail fencing (slightly lighter than the rest therefore highly dangerous!)
8. A water stain on the road...very suspicious we cautiously walked around and luckily survived and we were able to finish our ride.
9. The sign for food at the local pub, it was ok but now...it's not.
10. The white sign we carefully go past everytime we ride down a certain bridle way. Everytime!

Wouldnt have it any other way though!
 
My boy is rather fond of cows when out hacking so much so he even nickers at them- but dare they appear anywhere near the hedge across the road from our arena and cue the snorting stallion trot and sliding stops!
 
The neighbours ever shifting plant pots we hack past.

The rogue garden flowers escaped from gardens and blooming where they should not be.

the wheeliebins at the end of the road .

far away cyclists. (these are uninteresting close up)

Fishermen - they are using killer horsewhips,obviously.

crows - deserve a stare even if they are 100yds away.

big butterflies ( these are fun, unlike crows)

pop up cows - they weren't in that field yesterday.

own hay in field during winter - ever day it should be approached with caution, while snorting.

children on space hoppers -the horror......
 
Bottom right hand corner of the outdoor school (this was the same at our last yard!)

Fillers stored in the corners or sides of the school - sometimes. The first 10 times going past them is fine.

The stack of shavings bales outside the indoor school. You can see them as you go by on the left rein. Scary as hell.

Spots of sunlight shining through a couple of holes on the roof of the indoor.

The sound of jump cups being moved (the kind that are clipped around a pole and slide up and down).

His own shadow - sometimes catches him unawares!

Magpies. At the old yard, they used to gather in the fields in the mornings, right at turnout time. He would fidget and squirm and snort as I led him past! But he will happily let them SIT ON HIM in the field now.
 
Vehicles need to be moving at all times. Clearly when they stop they are preparing to pounce.

Respectable couples out for a stroll are VERY dangerous and need to be seen off the premises. Doesn't matter if the premises are someone else's. On the other hand dodgy blokes in camo gear with rifles are fine. They're obviously just an ASU out sniping.

Joggers in hi-vis are really just looking for a horse to murder.

Tractors out on their own are his best friends. Convoys of them, especially little vintage ones, are the work of Satan.
 
Lots of the ones above, but the really scary thing is two straw bales together. One is fine, and she walks past the whole stack every day, but two together are clearly conspiring to eat her! It's not too much of a problem when they are piled on a barrow, but it does get annoying when there are two beneath a x-country fence and she won't go near it. I've taken her over such a fence in-hand to try to get over this, but of course the next time it's a different fence and these are new bales which clearly haven't got the memo about not eating horses......
 
Crazydancer said:
My OAP lad.... nothing. He'd rather tractors not come too close but he doesn't actually shy.

My mare we lost last year was a nightmare:
1 - Gates
2 - Trees
3 - Birds
4 - bales in field (any sort of bales)
5 - sheep
6 - noises made by sheep she couldn't see
7 - sheep that were there last time but ARE NO LONGER THERE!!! (This was the longest I ever had to sit it out with her, she would not go past a small pen that had 2 sheep in it last time we past, but was now very clearly empty!!!
8 - Cows
9 - Chevron road signs that look like black and white killer cows.
10 - Anything random not covered by the above!
Click to expand...

Clearly the missing sheep are a sign that the sheep pen is a teleport module to the dark side.
It's not the missing sheep that are scary, it's the fact the sheep pen made them disappear that's scary.
 
1. The bins that are at the end of the lane.
2. The rock salt bin at the other end of the lane.
3. The red buggy that we see quite often, the lady now tries to hide to save him spooking!
4. The area where the pigs used to be. They've been gone for months and it's still scary (guess it's the smell...). But I've been reliably informed there are now more.
5. The yellow DIVERSION sign.
6. The blue paint on the road marking parallel to the gas point.
7. The lollypop lady
8. The flags by the newsagents.
9. His reflection in the windows of one of the houses (huge windows).
10. The flowerpot outside a garage that he must think is going to devour him!
 
1. White arrows painted on the road
2. People sitting down.
3. People standing up.
4. People in general (they're suspicious if seen off the yard)
5. Doc leaves.
6. Different shades of grass.
7. Anything and everything that may be around the outside of the ménage/ring
8. Magpies
9. Man hole covers.
10. Lorries. But only sometimes and it always seems to be foreign lorries...

Things he isn't scared of - plastic bags, fishing tents, huge plastic signs, cones etc and generally the main things you'd think he'd find scary...but heaven forbid you should come across doc leaves.
 
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