What horses do your horses not like ?

ycbm

ycbm

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Inspired by a post on the 'what breeds' thread.


Lots of people reporting that their horses are afraid of Shetlands.

Mine have always been terrified by anything in shafts. Why? It's still a horse!
 
We have a field of haflingers on the way to the woods that we hack out in. Almost every horse in our barn has issues with them.
 
ycbm said:
Inspired by a post on the 'what breeds' thread.


Lots of people reporting that their horses are afraid of Shetlands.

Mine have always been terrified by anything in shafts. Why? It's still a horse!
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A horse in shafts is being chased by something which may decide to change which horse it is going to eat.

With mine it was sheep.
 
My oldie who is little herself dislikes anything smaller than her. She is really aggressive.

My ridden who is pretty chilled met some minis en masse the other day and even she looked twice as if thinking that is different!
 
Minis and donkeys caused real problems. However, the top prize has to go to... lamas. We used to hack past a field of them and they delighted in suddenly popping their heads up from behind a tall thick hedge. Sent my mare into meltdown every time. She never got used to them.
 
What is it with the Shetland thing? It can hardly be threat, can it? One of my big boys has to be introduced very, very carefully to any new tiny.
 
ycbm said:
Inspired by a post on the 'what breeds' thread.


Lots of people reporting that their horses are afraid of Shetlands.

Mine have always been terrified by anything in shafts. Why? It's still a horse!
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I had a JA pony as a teenager, the most bombproof and bravest thing ever, she didn't bat an eyelid at anything.. until the day we encountered a pony in shafts. She went absolutely hysterically mental and started shaking, trying to run away and just became completely possessed. I can only assume she thought it was being chased!

The Diva doesn't like our resident heron, but that's more because of the way it appears out of the Birkett as we ride past. I think on it's own she wouldn't be bothered. She's relatively fearless.
 
Wagtail said:
Minis and donkeys caused real problems. However, the top prize ha s to go to... lamas. We used to hack past a field of them and they delighted in suddenly popping their heads up from behind a tall thick hedge. Sent my mare into meltdown every time. She never got used to them.
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that I can understand, but I'd love to see it!


Henry threw a complete fit at a herd of heifers at a gate the other day. He's the third I've had who was seriously afraid of cows.
 
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Unfortunately my mare seems to have developed a hatred for cobs. She's the type that will normally try and climb all over another horse in a warm up arena or out hacking. However she has been known to try and back up and threaten to kick a cob should it be in the vicinity. The mind boggles! Especially considering our yard is 80% coloured cob out in a herd environment 😂
 
My boy is as close to bombproof as you can legitimately say, but he ruddy hates flat bed trailers esp if they have black bales on them. Only time I've really taught with him was when one of those was stopped to let us pass - I was nannying a nervous rider and mine would "not" go past. The nervous rider had to rescue us! Vet said his leg issue is most likely from a large flat surface banging into it so maybe a trailer and bale? Who knows. It's just strange that he will not flinch at a 18 wheel lorry flying past with air brakes hissing and sides flapping but a tiny flat bed trailer and one bale is NOPE.
 
Bav said:
Unfortunately my mare seems to have developed a hatred for cobs. She's the type that will normally try and climb all over another horse in a warm up arena or out hacking. However she has been known to try and back up and threaten to kick a cob should it be in the vicinity. The mind boggles! Especially considering our yard is 80% coloured cob out in a herd environment ��
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Awkward ;)
 
its a socialisation thing surely-what they've not seen before they'll be worried about. and they dont get enough time to process it they'll keep being scared of it. if they take a fright and its not addressed, it will likely escalate.

none of mine have ever had a problem with other breeds or donkeys/alpacas/cows and sheep-they're surrounded by them. Mine love cows-one in fact will go for a snog over the fence and they are used to ducks and chickens all around them. I do keep the geese seperate as both horses will chase birds and it could get messy.

A behaviourist once told me that small very hairy small ponies are also hard for other horses to read-forelock covers ears and eyes etc.
 
my friends sports horse mare really doesn't like small ponies she is so vile to them and pulls the most awful faces whilst snapping her teeth, one of my geldings is not keen on some of the geldings next door their field backs on to mine, and if he sees certain horses with their heads over the fence he runs over and chases them off and does some pretty impressive rearing to show he is the one to be scared of, but yet some of the horses he really loves and will stand licking their faces he definitely knows who he likes and who he doesn't.
 
We have a 33 Shetland on our yard and all the horses greet him when he comes in from his paddock. So no problem there. At my old yard the introduction of a Shetland caused much consternation initially but then they argued over whose Shetland it was and took turns to protect it.

My gelding has sometimes taken a massive dislike to individual horses. He thinks young bucks need putting in their place and although he gets on with some mares fabulously (too much) he has been surprisingly really mean to a couple so I have to be careful.

A previous horse I had obviously had never met a coloured horse before and had a bit of a freak out. He'd led a sheltered life :D.
 
Mine dislikes all horses..! He's a git, will try and kick anything that comes near enough, has to be turned out on his own (next to everything else, but with two fences to keep them out of striking distance).

There is a shetland turned out with a section d near us, on the route to the woods, and every time they hear us coming past the shettie bombs it over to say hi... he's black and you hear him coming before you see him, causes chaos most times we pass!
 
Jay Man was usually great in a warm-up situation, I am talking so laid back he was horizontal, but anything with feathers was a no no.

At first I thought it was small ponies, but then we met some tiny dressage ponies that were all plaited and stick-legged, and they were apparently fine. I wondered if it was heavy footed horses, which it could have been as I don't recall ever meeting a carthorse in a warm-up.

Thinking about it, it most probably is the sound of heavy footed horses, as he also could not stand warming up anywhere where there were autumn leaves. He would get over his own swooshing sound after a while, but if another horse swooshed past him on the leaves he would levitate in a series of leaps as if a nest of vipers was after him.
 
ycbm said:
What a good point. Maybe I should teach Henry to kneel down, or put the new introductions on a table :D ?
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maybe-its also sometimes why they dont make good companions for larger horses, eg the invitation for mutual grooming might not be returned because its not possible! of course it can work, but its worth bearing in mind.
 
Nothing tbh! He's actually a friend to all as he's so nosey and curious about everything thing lol. Absolutely loves his donkeys and alpaca girls, who he lives with. The baby (his best alpaca friend, whose head reaches his elbow lol) likes to explore outside the yard when he and others being fed. Yesterday baby disappeared behind a wall so was no longer visible, billy panicked and left his food (!!) to call gently for her. As soon as she popped her head over the wall he calmed down and went back to his food :p . Lived with the shetland for a while and hacks out happily with him.
He has to stop and say hello to the jennets and donkeys we meet on a hack :p
 
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only_me said:
Nothing tbh! He's actually a friend to all as he's so nosey and curious about everything thing lol. Absolutely loves his donkeys and alpaca girls, who he lives with. The baby (his best alpaca friend, whose head reaches his elbow lol) likes to explore outside the yard when he and others being fed. Yesterday baby disappeared behind a wall so was no longer visible, billy panicked and left his food (!!) to call gently for her. As soon as she popped her head over the wall he calmed down and went back to his food :p . Lived with the shetland for a while and hacks out happily with him.
He has to stop and say hello to the jennets and donkeys we meet on a hack :p
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Oh bless, he sounds gorgeous!
 
So far my mare doesn't seem to dislike anything, she even likes to put her nose through the fence for the cows to lick!! However she is a nightmare when we ride past other horses and will call out to them, plants until they come up to the wall/gate/fence to say hello and then as the herd canter around she also tries to do this whether we are on a road or bridleway. It is her new thing to do and every time we ride past an opening in a hedge or fence she has to look to make sure she isn't missing any horses. Hopefully she will grow out of it and luckily our roads are quiet enough so any approaching cars are great at waiting until we have got past the horses before they pass us
 
MotherOfChickens said:
its a socialisation thing surely-what they've not seen before they'll be worried about. and they dont get enough time to process it they'll keep being scared of it. if they take a fright and its not addressed, it will likely escalate.
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this ... up to a point. Millie was always very difficult around cows until we moved to our current yard - she shared a fenceline with them straight away and soon got over it. Pigs on the other hand, she doesn't seem to be able to learn the same lesson. I had to move yards sharpish from one place because she was giving herself a crook neck gawping at some pet pigs next to the stables, and she was also jumping out of the field to get away from them :eek3: after 6 nervewracking weeks I figured she wasn't going to settle.

She still spooks at shetlands, but views donkeys/geese etc as sport :o

Kira is pretty much livestock-proof but has a real phobia of hedges which makes lane-hacking a little tricky.
 
I once found my Ardennes quivering with fear in the back of the barn while the resident Shetland stole his hay. Man up! You can squash him with one hoof! But no - saw me and thundered past Shetland to hide behind me. Wimp.

Always fun introducing OTTBs to the big lad. Their eyes literally come out on stalks. I think they're trying to work out how THAT is going to win races.
 
Shetlands for one of mine, especially when she can only see the back half of it sticking out of a field shelter. She also dislikes small boys on scooters :| Both of mine are okay with cows, sheep, generally chickens too.
 
Mine loves ponies over about 9 hand and thing smaller she thinks are dogs in disguise and hence significant distance should be put between it/them and her as fast as possible. She also has a major problem with deer and developing an increasing suspicion of cattle especially when they move or moo.

We saw a live badger the other day which she was quite curious about but not scared of.
 
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