What's the 'scariest' thing your horse has dealt with quietly?

A balloon being tied to your head
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A llama
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My previous horse, an ex racer was honestly not bothered by anything, probably the scariest thing was the day a hot air balloon landed in a field next to the road just as we were walking past, frightened the life out of me but he didnt bat an eyelid. I honestly think that racehorses see so much of life they are generally pretty bombproof to hack. My current horse and I met a group of alpacas out on a walk in the local woods (I had no idea but apparently there is a little farm in the village and they organise alpaca treks!) I honestly thought he would flip but he didnt look twice as they filed past us in single file.
 
My girl is not too bad at dealing with things but like them all she does have her moments, but she was really good when two cars crashed into each other, could not believe it as it was only a few yards away from us. Thank god was not closer she just looked as if to say what was that bless her
 
What about the big 5. Having worked here for a while I'm a true believer you can train them to cope with anything

Lots of viewing of lions from horseback - only my scardiness to take my hands off the reins to take the pickys

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Scariest thing was with my old horse and his best friend, and both acted like angels. My friend and I were riding on the beach and we always have to cross a burn as part of the ride. On our way back we thought the tide was still out so it was safe to cross. We did see seaweed lying about but in all honest thought it was sitting on the sand, it wasn't!!!! And the burn was much much deeper than we have ever encountered! Both horses started trying to swim across but there legs were getting caught up in the seaweed. My friend fell off into the water and for a bit I managed to hold on but my horses head came up whacked me in the mouth (hundreds of pounds of dental work required)! My poor horse Marcus then fell onto his side and was stuck, tangled in seaweed and knackered. He literally couldn't get up, and only thing above the water was his head. My friend's horse was on his feet so she abandoned him to help me with Marcus, and bless him he stood by his friend like an angel cause he knew he was distressed. We really thought we were going to have to phone emergency services (why is there no one around when you need help) but Marcus Kay calmly on his side in the water till he got his breath back, finally managed to get up on to his knees, rested, then struggled to his feet :). Could have cried when he finally got up. It was a terrible situation, both horses could have made it so much worse but both were soooo calm that we managed to get out of it safe and well.
 
My just turned 6 year old is too laid back for his own good! Today we met a steam train and trailer on a single track lane... Walked past like a saint unlike his older friends! And if that wasn't scary enough, walking back down the drive he stopped to itch his ear with his back foot, got his foot caught in the reins and instead of throwing himself inside out he hopped around quietly on three legs... Silly me should never have let it happen but am shocked at how sane he was!!
 
The first Clydie mare came face to basket with a hot air balloon as it appeared up the valley and we got to the end of the track on the escarpment, without turning a hair. That didn't really surprise us because she was pretty much bombproof but the Appaloosa ignored it as well! We were amazed!

Then the was the time the 2nd Clydie mare and the 2nd Appy found themselves in the middle of a charity bed-push. They were fascinated and trotted quickly along the road after the bed. They were very disappointed when the bed turned right at the end of the road and we turned left. They could hear all the applause and wanted to have some of that for themselves!
 
I volunteered at Heathrow Special Needs farm located at the very end of one of Heathrow's runways. The horses used in riding lessons didnt bat an eyelid at the massive jumbo jets flying low over them and just got on with doing their job!
 
Our mounted games pony is ridiculously bomb proof, i.e a bomb could probably go off and she'd carry on as normal! She's been to pony rides at school charity event right next to inflatable slides, fair ground rides (making lots of noise!) and bouncy castles. Shes popped balloons from a smoking cow at HOYS. Regularly hacks past the race course, on race day and then follows the bridle path over a motorway bridge and along side the motorway without a care in the world.
 
I once had to explain to the saddle fitter that my mare wasn't fidgeting because an Apache helicopter was flying so low overhead you to make out the colour of the pilot's eyes but rather she is a bit funny about being touched by people she doesn't know. To prove the point the saddle fitter moved away and the horse stood perfectly still whilst the aircraft continued to circle.
 
We were riding on a local common where the military also train. One minute it was a gorgeous summer's day, breeze across the mane, all peace and quiet, we were riding down through some lovely trees in the sunlight, lovely. The next minute we were in the middle of WWIII: military helicopter looming overhead, just above our heads, soldiers running around the undergrowth, the mortar gun just over the brook going like merry B@ggery........... then it got worse, the helicopter started decanting men very near to us, all the time the most awful racket just over our heads. Horrible thoughts went through my head very quickly: what will he do - will he leg it back to the yard? If so, will there be any dog walkers (god forbid) in the way?? What's the best thing to do? Dismount or not?? Stay on and stick with it??? All of which thoughts passed at the speed of light in my head.

My boy was fine, didn't even flick his tail about it: just plodded on like the great dope he can be when it suits him, just wasn't fazed on jot. Bless him. Then on the way home, nearly at the yard, a butterfly flew up under his legs - that was just too terrifying!! The great loon.

On another occasion we were riding along a road near our home, and a removal van was parked by the side of the road unloading stuff, the blokes were obviously taking a tea/fag break. It was a very minor road, and they'd left a sheet in the middle of the road, there wasn't anywhere else we could go to get past; and were in fact rather a surly-looking lot and I could see they weren't going to move it, were just waiting to see what the posh cow on the horse would do about it. We were on the way home, had a good head of steam, and I somehow just KNEW that he'd be perfectly OK if I asked him to walk straight over it - and he did!! Such a good boy; and perfect practice for the TREC comp we were doing that weekend! We managed a cursory "good morning, nice one isn't it" on the way through as well....... leaving a whole load of open mouths in our wake. Serve the surly blighters right!

My trad-lad is SUCH a good boy when the situation demands, other times he can be such a Prima Donna over the tiniest of things, like a kid in a pushchair, a guy pushing a bicycle, really stoopid stuff that so often just isn't predictable; talk about quirky. But that's horses for you:)
 
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