What do your horses tend to spook at?

Supertrooper

Supertrooper

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Mine tends to be noisy things, although on today's hack it was a shiny polythene type greenhouse but it was also very very windy so was flapping too xx
 
Flappy plastic, alpacas, cantering cows, birds in the hedges, litter, fly tipping, things that 'glint' in the sun and any flowers that look at her funny! ;)
 
mine was spooking at drain covers today and the shadow of a tree - but she had just arrived to a new yard so all forgiven
 
Supertrooper said:
Faracat - so pretty much everything then ;-)
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LOL! :D

To give my little darling her dues...

she does not spook at traffic (including tractors, skip lorries, lorries with gas breaks etc...) or sheep (I'm in Wales so that's lucky ;) ). She'll also go over motorway bridges. :rolleyes:
 
Nothing!

I don't mean 'nothing makes him spook'. I mean that he spooks when I can't see anything to spook at! ;)

He went past a logging type tractor thing, banging and crashing about - no problem; a tractor charging down the lane - no problem; deer leaping out of the woods - no problem; alpaca - no problem; highland cattle - no problem; charging horse in field alongside - no problem; plastic bag in the wind - no problem; runners & walkers with dogs - no problem; bloke on a bike - no problem.

But then he spooked twice at 'nothing' (at least, that I could see!)
 
trains are a good one and other horses being ridden past him :S even though he hack out in company haha :) and as said above, nothing is a good one ;)
 
Ted spooks at:
People following him.... Not that they are actually following him, just walking in the same direction... Even if we've over took them.

Logs that change colour when wet or dry lol.

Weird things that I cannot see.

It's mostly people though due to his background.

High speed passenger trains, cargo trains, tractors, buses doesn't bat an eyelid lol
 
I thought my Welsh D had finally grown up and stopped spooking. Not one spook for 4 weeks, absolutely delighted. Then today... Pft!!!
Aparently an old lady walking in the forest is something to be fearful of. Would the silly sod go past her?? Nope! I ended being dragged though the thick of it with every damn low branch slapping me in the face! :rolleyes: Next spook 800m's down the track... a french favourite, fly tipping! :mad: Big piles of household rubbish on each side of our path, cue some sort of fancy dressagey moves that even I don't know what they were called!? :confused:
On way home and we met a man walking his 2 dogs, my boy likes dogs, but not today! Dummy was completely spat out! Cantering on the spot, some side ways sort of thing, spinning and leaping in the air. God I rattled him! Tomorrow = a nice lunging session :D

My other little cob never spooks, even a sonic boom didn't shift him. He's a complete honey :)
 
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Cows behind hedges! Horses behind hedges is fine and so are sheep. Cows in the distance are fine but cows behind hedges, especially when they are peering out through the leaves are terrifying!
Big stuff, flappy stuff, loud noises are all OK. However he has been known to jump if another horse suddenly snorts! He has jumped when I've sneezed as well :p.
 
Anything and everything! My personal favourite was the time he did a poo in the school then spooked violently when he saw the offending pile on the next circuit. He's a special boy. :rolleyes::D
 
Once had a horse that would be fine going past and being overtaken by large tankers lorries etc. but would happily throw himself in front of said tanker to avoid a crisp bag FFS needless to say had to be very careful out hacking!!!!! stupid horse.
 
Most things :rolleyes: If a surface changes eg gravel then a different coloured part or gravel to a muddy concrete suface she stops and snorts at the ground lol But after a bit of persuition she tippy toes across the "alien" surface :cool: Was out hacking yesterday and we had spooks at; a pair of abandoned trousers!!, an abandoned mattress (sp), horse poop, trees, wind, grass and birds. Luckily her spooks consist of a snort and a jump forward lol so i dont mind so much :D We moved yards and they have a huge colourful plastic cow in the corner of the arena, i was expecting her to have a heart atack at it but nope she loves it!! She even went to say hello to him when i was rather unexpectantly dismounted!
 
Damp patches on dry surface; dry patches on damp surface. Shadows on road (although if shadow starts barking, horse realises what it is and stops spooking!) petrol on road. Anything different at all in terms of footing, really. I can understand that as it is a sensible precaution really.

And cows. She lives on a farm with several hundred cows, which are often loose in the yard, but it is still a massive shock every time she sees one:rolleyes:.

She doesn't spook at: really big tractors; small tractors; sheep; alpacas; cyclists (even stealth cyclists); buses which helpfully slow down and then accidentally let off their air brakes; fireworks; pheasant shoots; plastic bags; trains- will wait at level crossing barrier while they go past.

So what is it about cows?
 
I took my mare out for a walk yesterday through her summer paddock and she suddenly refused to move, even backed up and reared twice. I thought something must be really wrong because she never usually spooks like that, even though that a tree had fallen after the wind we had the night before. The whole episode of convincing her to walk on whilst she acted silly lasted about 10mins- eventually I found out what she had been spooking at, and to be fair it was exceptionally scary...a purple flower that had bloomed since the last time she'd walked through the field- scary or what!?:rolleyes: welshies- gotta love em!
ETA: my gelding thinks that donkeys are all out to eat him- again a welshie lol.
 
Mine doesn't like fluorescent coloured paper.. its so fun if a show/competition has a sign near the arena.
Also doesn't like blue tarpaulin.. the green one that covers the haylage isn't a problem but blue! soo scary haha
Worst thing though is people, :rolleyes: if we meet one on a hack which it involves a lot of snorting silly horse.

Yet tractors, cars, lorries, buses letting off air brakes & big coaches passing within 2ft of her all fine :cool: :)
 
M also spools at nothing, unafraid of wedding bunting flapping on both sides of road whilst tractor and trailer approaches but leapt sideways when horse with us farted!
 
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