what is yours scared of?

[HufflyPuffly]

This thread is making me feel better about our two loons.
They both can have a good spook at any horse-eating monsters that have been outlined above, Topaz does it generally to try and get out of flatwork schooling , but Doodle is the worst.
She used to have a fear of prams, particularly the ones with rain covers on. So much so that when we encountered one a few years back it resulted is a high speed getaway backwards (so she could keep an eye on it) down the road. The poor man seeing the deranged beast stopped so, so did Doodle, he then walked forwards que massive launch backwards again! This continued until the lovely man hid behind a van so Doodle could do her fire-breathing dragon impression as she piaffed past…
She has mostly got over the killer prams now but has moved on to the things which lurk menacingly in hedges ready to leap out and kill!
Now this I can understand after one particular incident. We were coming home from a hack round the two farms near my yard and it was just starting to get dark, when we saw a strange sight ahead. We spotted a large dark shape that quickly bundled into the hedge ahead of us …. Well as we tip-toed closer making a honking noise (yes Doodle does a good tip-toe and snort for these occasions), an eerie smothered shriek came from the hedge , that was it Doodle quickly identified it as a horse-eating monster and let out a huge snort to try and ward it off. Unfortunately the noise Doodle made seemed to aggravate the shape in the hedge and the shrieking increased! As I managed to persuade Doodle to go closer and after some impressive sideways canter moves I could see what was in the hedge, it was a man with a bird of prey, as I got in hearing distance the man explained the bird was scared of horses so he’d tried to cover it in the hedge to try and keep it calm so we could get past, but Doodle’s err ‘dragon’ impression hadn’t gone down well and it was clearly quite upset hence the shrieking noise… I did managed to convince her to go past once she could see it was only a man even if he was making an odd noise.
It still makes me laugh now , Doodle quite clearly saying there is something hiding in the hedge about to pounce and the poor bird convinced this ridiculous horse was going to get it.
To be fair she is mostly very well behaved .

 

[Polos Mum]

Oh yes - I forgot the nasty NOT tractor! My OH parked a tractor and trailer right by the school, it was there for 3/4 weeks not a single problem he didnt look at it once. The when it got moved he was spooky for a week at the NOT tractor space!

Happily jump infront of a bus to avoid a crisp packet that looked dodgy.

To be fair tho they are flight animals and millions of years of evolution has taught them to run first and think later (those that thought oh well it's just a small lion were eaten!) so it's not really their fault.

 

[HufflyPuffly]

Oh yes - I forgot the nasty NOT tractor! My OH parked a tractor and trailer right by the school, it was there for 3/4 weeks not a single problem he didnt look at it once. The when it got moved he was spooky for a week at the NOT tractor space!

Happily jump infront of a bus to avoid a crisp packet that looked dodgy.

To be fair tho they are flight animals and millions of years of evolution has taught them to run first and think later (those that thought oh well it's just a small lion were eaten!) so it's not really their fault.

Things that were there but now aren't are very scary, our two would agree.

And I agree with the flight animal evalution, he who runs gets to live and all that, but can anybody tell why Doodle honks/snorts at things? It's like a backwards sort of snort its quite loud and impressive but very odd! She is a special one
x

 

[Pippity]

We have to go past a pile of round hay bales to get to the field. These are UTTERLY TERRIFYING unless I'm standing between Basil and the bales, in which case they can be safely plodded past. Evidently, while they're busy eating me, he can make a run for it.

 

[Polos Mum]

And I agree with the flight animal evalution, he who runs gets to live and all that, but can anybody tell why Doodle honks/snorts at things? It's like a backwards sort of snort its quite loud and impressive but very odd! She is a special one
x

If it's quite a loud noise exhailing air then I don't know the official name but it's effectively to warn the rest of the herd that something might be dangerous. The rest of the herd then look over and if they agree it's bad they'll all turn and run.

The herd is usually you so if you can give her a stroke on the neck and say something calming you'll easily convince her it's not too bad.

 

[Equilibrium Ireland]

I do remember one day out riding in the field. I normally bring the dogs as they do a really good pheasant clearing system. At any rate I went past and one jumped up at us. The only one who spooked was ME! I'm sure Heidi was like, what the heck is wrong with her. It's only a pheasant!

Mine are pretty good. Don't really have fears of anything particular. They have odd days in which they feel good and everything is scary but no not real phobias.

Terri

 

[Chottsy]

My fave horse at work is terrified of the hose filling up his water bucket, but will stand and doze untied whilst you bath him with the same hose. He is a muppet! oh and the dodgy coloured grass patch in the front field. We almost half pass away from it! Numpty horse!

 

[CBS1]

A good few years ago when I had my horse now but will never forget the kid on roller skates!!

Hacking early every Sunday morning with a lady on the yard and her mare was great, no traffic on a busy road and we had a great time.... Until one morning some kid wearing roller skates came towards us on the pavement. Realised that day my girl could go equally fast sideways and backwards as she could forwards kid wouldn't stop coming closer we couldn't stop going backwards, could barely breath with a pair of ears up my nose...

Then later on same hack she wouldn't go past a skip and backed us down a ditch that was full of metal barbed wire that had been dumped. No injuries thankfully but quite an interesting hack for a usually sane headed horse lol.

 

[catdragon]

I would have have said nothing much until the day a helium balloon landed in their field.
Witnesses said that the filly picked it up and ran after my two bombproof horses. She was mightily impressed with herself when she realised that by holding the magic balloon she had supreme power and could torment her olders and betters by making them run away.

^^ Haha !!! brave little filly..

We had a helium balloon float across the fields when ours were in - We didn't know what was going on. ALL of them had eyes on stalks and snorted and cavorted in their stables... So I duly caught it and "killed" it out of their view.

 

[StormyMoments]

Rio is really scared of hissing noises whether it is a hole in the hose pipe, air being let out of the compressor or me shushing him he has a complete melt down about it he also doesnt like children i was riding the other day and there were two kids down the yard and the whole time they were there he kept trying to take off and he reared upa few times when they were quite close to the school... as soon as they were gone he went back to his normal self

Taz is scared of tractors when hes in his stable... any other time he is fine but if hes in his stable he freaks out... SLOW written on the road especially over red tarmack.. new white lines, magazines on the side of the road, bridges and trains

 

[Montyforever]

Huge lorries, double decker buses, tractors, cars of all shapes and sizes are fine, and most vans he never even looked at but white vans were pony eating monsters ..

 

[Girlracer]

Cows and other livestock!

 

[RCP Equestrian]

Everything!!

 

[kellybee]

Wheelbarrows and the vicar. If the vicar (my landlord) gets within alfies line of sight he's gone with the wind blowing and snorting like a demon (i do sometimes wonder if he's posessed which would explain it!). He's also petrified of wheelbarrows which is probably why he doesnt like the vicar - we usually only see him when he's gardening/bringing his clippings over to put on the muck heap with his wheelbarrow.

 

[Sprocket123]

Birds popping out the bush, "phillip" the pheasant who likes to suddenly flap when he gets close. Duke of Edinburgh award kids very scary! Especially when their sitting on the floor best one was when a squrriel jumped on a bin and fell in it! Noise was horrendous!

 

[ktj1891]

Water! Absolutely terrified, although he has come along way
Hes fine with having a bath and hosing, but any water underneath his legs and he turns to jelly!
He does try though, I have even gotten him to walk/swim through a flooded ford with me above his chest and on his own!

 

[laura_nash]

Ducks! Our regular hack goes past a field where the farmer keeps a big flock and he's scared of the quacking. I'm sure he thinks its a giant monster and would feel very silly if he could see over the hedge. I blame a mare we used to hack out with who was also terrified and seems to have passed it on to him.

He's generally a pretty bomb-proof cob though, tractors, cows, loose dogs, shooting, helicopters, standing water etc are all fine.

He did have a total meltdown a few months ago when we came across a man in a hole, we could only see his head and shoulders and clearly men shouldn't be missing important bits like legs!

 

[HufflyPuffly]

If it's quite a loud noise exhailing air then I don't know the official name but it's effectively to warn the rest of the herd that something might be dangerous. The rest of the herd then look over and if they agree it's bad they'll all turn and run.

The herd is usually you so if you can give her a stroke on the neck and say something calming you'll easily convince her it's not too bad.

See I'd never thought of that, she does generally go past anything as long as I say it's ok, but love the thought of her warning me .

I think as she's so convinced that most things will eat her the others don't react to her snorting now, but it use to make them all jump (in preparation to run from the horse-eating monsters). Shouldn't laugh but when you see a herd of horses jump as one because Doodle is warning them of the dangers of a escapee crisp packet it is quite funny .

x

 

[Rockchick]

1 of mine is 'scared' of drains/grates at the side of the road - but only every other day! lol
the other is scared of donkeys - i mean totally petrified

My mare is at the moment a little bit jumpy with traffic being behind her/ alongside thanks to a minor incident a few weeks ago but she's slowly getting back to how she was

of course the usual things bother them too - bags of rubbish, something that was there yesterday but isnt today or something that wasnt there yesterday but is today

All in all though theyre pretty much un-spooky

 

[budley95]

Bud's scared of push bikes, motobikes, mopeds and prams with covers on... doesn't care about anthing else, unless he's trying to find an excuse not to work - didn't even mind the dustbin truck emptying bins as he walked past, or ambulances with sirens! But if he's had enough, a rabbit moving in the grass is excuse enough to attempt to dump you....

 

[Cinnamontoast]

Oh yes - I forgot the nasty NOT tractor! My OH parked a tractor and trailer right by the school, it was there for 3/4 weeks not a single problem he didnt look at it once. The when it got moved he was spooky for a week at the NOT tractor space!

Lorries etc are parked right by the gate I brought him in at my old yard and if one was missing, we would have to stop, snort at the space and have a good think about it before coming in, with lots of looking round, the occasional inhand piaffe...equally, if a ramp was down, he'd load himself for a nose round!

 

[Starry_eyes]

Star is scared of park benches and wary of drain covers. Everything else he is fine with. Oh apart from trying to get him to go past the hunt kennels, which is unfortunate as I live in a house there so taking him home to say hello to OH is normally not an option. Couple that with the scary haunted park bench of doom just past there.....

A horse I had on loan a few years ago was only scared of 2 things. Things that moved, and things that didn't.

 

[tessybear]

Cows... in a field, in a barn etc, have to really keep your leg on or she will spin.. instead we jog past with our head in the clouds and eyes on sticks...

And sheep.... no other farm animals, goats, birds etc she is fine with but sheep and cows are evil to be avpided at all costs...

Coming from a cob who didn't bat an eyelid when a tractor infront of us one day managed to drop a cow feeder < trough ? onto the middle of the road and rolled into a ditch at the side of the road

 

[Coblover63]

Mine is only scared of two things...

- Things that move...

- Things that don't move...

 

[Elle33]

Mines scared of Shetlands! Very scary aparently and bolts in the other direction to which said Shetland is.

 

[mirage]

Knobberpony is scared of bonfires and being shut in a stable.My niece was practising the trumpet when we got back to the farm last night and Knobberpony didn't like that much either & nearly had the fence down trying to get away-yet if she hears a hunting horn,her ears are straight up.

Greenboy,who is rising 7 and not been out much,wasn't bothered by the trumpet,but doesn't like those teleporter tractors with the long arm and bucket.When we first got him he would panic and spin at cyclists,cars,pedestrians,buses,lorries and tractors,which made hacking 'interesting'.5 weeks in and he barely bothers with them now.

 

[Shysmum]

We met some new makeshift scarecrows today - shredded coloured plastic stuck on poles - really weird looking. I thought we were going to have a tantrum, but he just stood there and gazed at them all in awe.

On the way home the dog ran past him (as he does everyday), and whoooosh. At least my bareback skills are improving.

 

[FanyDuChamp]

Captain it depends on the day, sometimes he is scared of his shadow others he is a big brave lad, and is only scared of his robin, he is 21 soon and I kept hoping he'd grow out of his spookiness, it is getting late for that!

Fany is scared of nothing, except empty feed buckets but that is because she is a greedy mare. Never found anything that made her spook or shy.

 

[beh]

Daffodils.

Especially daffodils shaking in the wind.

Dread that time of year when they are in full bloom.

 

[RunToEarth]

Joseph is a complete woman and can be scared of almost anything, but rarely the same thing twice, he will quite often spook at a bush/wall/bin he has walked past happily for the past 6 years.

The others are usually fine, but last week I was in creases. Brought the other two in to have their tea, Brook strode up to his feed, and dug in...and then shot backwards so quickly and snorted in that way that just shatters the ground. There was a frog in his water bucket, next to his feed. Every time he edged a bit closer, it started flopping about and sent him flying backwards again. I could have watched him for a while but his stable mate Jerry is a bit of a brute and I wouldn't trust him not to eat the other boy's tea/the frog whilst Brookside was having a wobbly.