Why do horses shy at the inappropriate moments?and impatient people..

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Lill

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Well at least mine do anyway!
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Hacked Blue down the main road to Duckhurst on Sunday (lorry was in for MOT) and he was 100% with all the busy traffic passing him both ways until we came across a road sign, a roadworks road sign....
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stopped him to wait for cars behind to pass cos i had a feeling he might swerve at this, cue car squeezing past and Blue swinging his bum round - almost sat on said car!
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He was 100% the rest of the way, and on the way back we came a different route (still down main road but no roadworks signs this way) and walked on the path (seemed a little safer than the road) but because we were on the path massive lorries and cars seemed to think it was fine to carry on driving past at 50mph! Luckily he's doesn't bat an eyelid at traffic!
 
umm, the lady i used to work for taught me that if you really think your horse is going to shy at something, either stop well back from it, before it can be a problem, and let all the traffic pass, or, if there's no chance of that, to put yourself in the middle of the road and stop the traffic, then trot past it. you might hold them up for 10 secs, but they'll be there a lot longer if you end up sitting on their bonnet (or worse). i always say copious thankyous, and haven't been sworn at yet... it's so obvious what i'm doing and why.
if my horse had swung his bum round and nearly sat on a car (and nearly got his hindlegs broken, maybe) i'd be horrified, tbh.
 
Yes I know where you're coming from, my two are always more likely to spook at something other than the traffic and unfortunately most drivers seem ingnorant to this and sometimes I just wish they would wait behind us when we are passing something 'spooky' on our inside! Happens to us quite a lot too.
 
Well i wasn't exactly happy about it! They were asked to wait while i was asking Blue to stand as i had a friend on foot with me, but they just tried to squeeze past anyway.

Would trotting past be better than walking past though? Why is that?
 
I agree - you either have to wait until the coast is clear & give yourself room to send the horse forwards properly or actually stop the traffic by riding in the middle of the road until you are past the scary monster. I did have a nasty incident a couple of years ago on my 17 hand warmblood when he was rearing impressively in the middle of the road (some german shepherds lept out from behind a hedge without warning & were trying to eat my horse through the garden fence) when some idiot (a white van man!) insisted on pushing his way past me giving Forever's tail about 3" clearance
 
i think trotting past is better, cos you can get past quicker and i find horses shy less... you can turn their head away and push on past it. maybe they don't feel as vulnerable because they're only near whatever it is for one second instead of 4, i don't know, but i've found it safer.
also, it is obvious to drivers that you're hurrying to get out of their way, not dawdling along blithely holding them up... and anything that keeps them happy and patient for the 5 seconds i need, is good with me.
 
Thats interesting, something i'll definitely keep in mind! Have always walked past potential scary things up to now.
 
Some drivers seem completely ignorant about how to behave with horses on the road. I'd say that 80% of the people that pass me out hacking don't slow down at all, despite my 'young horse, please pass wide and slow' tabard. And on the few occasions we've had real problems out hacking we've had drivers barge past hitting my leg, beeping the horn and yelling at us
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Kerilli, my horse won't trot past things, when he sees a scary horse eating monster he plants himself to the spot or turns and runs, and its a lot easier to deal with coming to a sudden halt and spin at walk then at trot.
 
Henry tends to break wind at inopportune moments. Once a VERY posh couple in a Daimler stopped to ask for directions, so putting on my very best Gloucestershire Posh voice, I proceeded to direct them from horse back. Henry proceeded to leer at them through the open window before launching into a volley of thunder crashes that echoed round the valley. Very embarassing...
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