What does your horse spook out when hacking? How do you handle it?

Anything new, fallen branches, gateways, tracotors, trailers, windscreen wipers moving, flowers particularly purple ones, bins esp those little food ones or ones that have been decorated, dogs that run up to her, any patch of grass or mud that I'd diff from the rest of the field we are galloping through, fallen down walls...the list goes on....

How I get het past depends on her mood for the day...sometimes I can just let her look and walk past, others we have a full blown fit over it but then goes past, sometimes I have to get off and lead her past if I can't be bothered with a battle or I'm holding traffic up!

At least she gives things a chance now she used to just turn and bolt or run backwards.
 
current horse doesn't spook much but does look at stuff and occasionally I will have to kick him on past stuff but he's pretty good and my attitude is "do what you like - you are going past it. If you turn round and run the other way, I will turn you back round and we will still go past it!". Previous horse totally insane - the only thing that didn't faze him was traffic of any kind - everything - leaves, dappled light through leaves, anything new, crisp packets, cats, road signs, saddles left on the fence - everything. Had him PTS due to cancer last year and miss him very much, but he made me very brave!! Oh yes, he bucked like mad when he got excited as well....

I used to have to ride with very short reins and long arms when we were on the main road incase he spooked at things and went into the middle of the road!
 
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Mine has spooked at her own shadow!!!
There was a shadow of the hedge with her going along it, what can you do but laugh?
 
mine has a long list of things:

mud being flicked up from his feet and hitting the bush
white writing on the road (or yellow for that matter)
driveways
gateways
brown sheep
pigs
people hiding in bushes (and dogs)
anything random

he stops dead, snorts, then tries to turn around, if i wont let him turn around he starts walking backwards, if i kick him on he leaps foreward, does a rear/spin combo and i have to practically canter him past whatever it is, he is 14 by the way!!!
 
Very pertinent question for me today, after having my first solo proper hack (having had 2 horses that were nightmares to hack alone!!) Mr Arnie and I after 2 weeks of ownership went on an hours hack on our own.....
Tractors -no spooking
Buses - no spooking
Lawnmower - no spooking
Bonfire - no spooking

Joggers - aaaaaaargh!!!! OMG OMG they are going to kill me!!!

they didn't kill him...

:D
 
Ned seems to have mood swings. He was spooking at every leaf and every sound on friday, but today we were swimming and cantering about like lunatics and he didn't flinch at a single thing.

When he does spook, he usually has a wobble and carries on. At worst, he'll do a proper nasty spin and plant or rear up, I usually give him a tap or pony kick past :P However, I've never not got him past something.
 
Nothing. There's a spot she is cautious of for no reason but that just involves snorting. I usually just ignore it on other horses. If I can tell they need a quick look at something to see what it is that's fine. Otherwise I just pretend nothings happened. If its over something silly I would just say something along the lines of 'walk on you tit'.
 
Current horse occasionally puts his ears back at joggers which I find quite amusing! Previous horse was still spooking at his own shadow aged 21. He used to freak out every single time I got a rug on or off if I was anything less than super slow doing it!
 
Drains, big things - like the Knights Garden Centre signs, cars towing trailers.

However he is getting much better with the windsocks, para-gliders etc.

His default is the spin-and-bugger-off method, for a tank of a cob he's very agile!!
 
Blaze, my cob mare, is 1 million percent bombproof with EVERYTHING...........except donkeys :D
I have had ambulances scream past with the blues and twos on, not a flicker! She loves fireworks. I would happily ride her round the M25 in rush hour in a headcollar, but she does NOT do donkeys at all! The sight of one sends her into panic mode - shakes from head to foot, heart hammering, loud cracking snorts. If I persist in making her pass them, she locks her neck and pees off.
I have to spell out 'donkey' to friends if we are out, even the word evokes loud snorts and seeing invisible killer donkeys behind every tree/building/parked car. :D
 
Absolutely everything, thats when I can actually get out the gate. The same things each time even though I used to do the same ride everytime to get his confidence.

Ive got to the stage now that I cant be bothered to ride him as every hack is a struggle, there is no enjoyment. I salute you lot that are still persevering !
 
Bagpipers, bouncy castle [with or without kids], shooting parties dogs, barbecues roasting meat, ceramic golf clubs, buses discharging kids en mass.......... I used to keep him on a "country park" Highland cows charging downhill, and cows popping heads over a hedge as he walks past, chainsaws.
Anything new on his hacks except: deer, pheasant, foxes or dogs.
 
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Cob had a problem going past a field with a nasty squealing stallion for a while but he's now got over that but then someone put some pigs near the footpath and those he is terrified of. I keep meaning to go and get some pig poo to put in the field so they can get used to the smell if not the sight. Or maybe I can nick a plastic piggie from the local butchers ..yum
 
Um, everything?

Haha my youngster is really nervous and when we go out hacking he spooks at pretty much everything, nothing too dramatic. It's more just a "AH! What's that?"
I just ignore his spooks, if I don't pay attention to it then he usually doesn't bother too much. So yeah, I play it down :)
 
Alpacas.

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I walked her past them the other day and she huffed and puffed, scuttled away from them over a stony area (was quite pleased she coped with this as she's unshod/barefoot and she normally avoids stones). I just tell her to 'walk on'. ;) :D

Oh wow -my pony would freak out big time at those!!

My baby cob (5) spooks hardly ever. When she does she just scuttles forward a few steps then can't be bothered to do anything else. sometimes she stops dead and won't move, so I just give her a scratch on the neck, let her have a look and squeeze her on.

My welsh x Arab can be a horror Spooking. He either jumps all four feet in the air and plants or tries to spin amd run the other way. I can stop him spinning now, but when I first got him I fell out of the side door many times as a result. A big growl and pony club kicks gets him moving.

My tb doesn't really spook but if he gets in a tizz over something scary he likes to run backward ! With him I just keep my legs on and sort of sing his name to him. It sort of works but we usually have to prance all th way home then (and he's 18!) ::)
 
Pigeons flying out of trees, people wearing backpacks, drains, scrambler bikes and people biking uphill (especially if they stand up - very scary!) Wherever possible, I just ignore him and ride him forwards through it but he has a habit of deciding to spook and swing his bottom into the road as a car goes past us and we have had a few near misses so I carry a schooling whip when out hacking now to help to keep him straight.
 
On a good day things moving in the woods he can't see, cows bikes coming up behind him. On a bad day grass lying down the wrong way large leaves (trolls live under these!) patches of dead grass, basically you name it he'll shy at it. If it's a small spook I generally ignore it and pat him as he moves on, but he can spin on a sixpence, always to the left, I can keep circleing him to the left till he calms a bit, or scarey thing has gone, again when calmer will pat him and move him on.
 
Absolutely NOTHING when we are out with others, even if they are spooking and having a hissy fit he'll just plod along. However when we go out on our own it's a different story all together.

We spook at drain covers, double yellow lines on the road, a Golf Trolley (it wasn't moving, just parked outside someone's house), puddles definitely puddles....hates them! huffs and puffs and snorts if I make him go through them. And he most definitely spooks when some stupid woman puts her umbrella up just as we were walking past her!!!
 
Chloe will have a look at things and maybe snort a bit but shes not a spooky horse, touch wood the most she's done is shied a bit, usually at the horse eating pigeons that frequent our way :p
 
My horse spooks at everything and anything! he is actually so bad, literally drpos to his knees at the slightest thing or rears up spins and bolts, makes hacking not so enjoyable and quite dangerous but doing some bombproofing with him at home and try getting out once a week, just make sure i talk to him and be firm, he gets a smack if he does his rearing and spinning but thats it! My old pony however was 100% with everything but butterflies:D
 
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