Would Your Horse Spook? - Pony of the Year Show

FlyingCircus

FlyingCircus

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Seeing all the life size giraffes, lions, tigers...even a gorilla!! In the main ring...do you think your horse/pony would be cool with them?
Some of even the best ponies are finding these things terrifying!
 
My section d .. Struggles with .. Grass blowing in the wind .. Or a purple flower in a hedge.. Or a piece of straw blowing across the yard!! :p so I think I can safely say I would end up on the floor!! But if I had a month or two to school round maybe I could get him round ( small x poles ) :p :p
 
I actually dont know. Hes an uber cool customer! We had a vintage car pass us yesterday and the noise and whirring was horrific! When it was directly level with us and the noise could literally be felt, he scuttled forward, I told him to steady and he did, he then scuttled again as when it went by his companion it tried to chuck itself in a ditch. He lives on a working farm and is obsessed with the cows and sheep, not in a spooky way, just nosey! I reckon I'd have ears up my nose and him trying to drag me over, but I dont think he'd have a melt down. Hes awesome :)
 
Mine spooked at someone coming out of the tack room: she catches him in every day, he is an idiot. His spooks are mostly the most minuscule jumps straight up, maybe half an inch or so, but he's a big lad, so no fun.

He spooked at an ordinary cat coming in one time, clearly he thought it was lion size and miles away :rolleyes3:

I hate to think what he'd do faced with a gorilla. He'd probably not register it, tho, it's a weird thing, he would have no idea what it was, so might ignore it. Tree surgeons up a height are nothing, but Shetlands cause rearing, spinning...
 
We could cope with one or maybe two gorillas, but several would be too far, I'd be on the floor I imagine.
I got a big sideways jump the other day at a door that is usually closed being ajar. 🙄
 
Mine would be terrified of the Lion! He has a massive fear of cows (DESPITE living on a dairy farm where he sees them every day!) so he would have a complete paddy :D:D:D
 
Pigeon said:
I don't know why but this cracked me up!!
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Me too! As though its the quantity of gorillas that would be a problem, one or two is fine, but three gorillas (gorillii??)would be just unacceptable! Ha ha ha.
I think my horse would be fine incidentally, with the right amount of sedative in his system.
 
I think the only one out of my lot that wouldn't bat an eyelid would be my rising 3yr old, she is remarkably brave and intelligent for her age although she would probobly insist on getting up close and personal to them on the off chance they offer a good bum scratch
 
Mine would be absolutely fine! Our local chairty show has wing siZed dinosaurs as decorations and he didnt bat an eye at any of them
 
We have wooden grizzly bears at a local centre we jump at.....first time was interesting but then he was fine.
 
Mine doesn't spook!

He freezes. Grows about 5 hands. Snorts. If you try and get him to move, he rears.. so you just sit there and wait for him to get over whatever it is ;) if you just sit, he will recover within about 30 secs, then behave as though nothing has happened :)
 
I'd love it, a bit of a spook would give mine the rocket up his bum that he needs.

I did get to watch Pippa Funnell's horse throw a wobbler at some plastic cows at Bramham a few years ago, she retired in the end as he wasn't going near them. Felt a bit sorry for her, but it was pretty funny.
 
I think most horses would spook at things like that. Not because they recognise a lion as a predator, as they wouldn't necessarily know that, but just because it is a shape that they do not recognise.

My horse can tell if a filler has been moved a couple of foot in the school, or if the filler has been used and put back on the fence differently due to the pattern of the filler that is facing out. He will pick up on that in a millisecond, whereas I wouldn't even notice!
 
The Irish Daft would be fine with them unless he had to jump them. The other would be spooking right left and centre if he had to go past them but if they were part of the fillers for the jumps (or even the wings) would jump them no problem.
 
We used to regularly hack past London Zoo (Outer Circle Regents Park) with the Giraffes on the left and the wolves on the right. My horse never reacted. The problem with today's horses is that they are not exposed to enough things while they are young!
 
My piebald cob wouldn't even notice them. Except to see if they were edible. My son's welsh sec A would be too terrified to enter the ring!
 
OWLIE185 said:
The problem with today's horses is that they are not exposed to enough things while they are young!
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Before i had one of mine, i would have totally agreed with you!

But one of mine has seen everything from a yearling - all the load spooky stuff at County shows, loud sirens and fast cars from living next to a fast road when younger, being wrapped in tarpaulin etc. Literally everything. Is he desentised? is he hell. He is the spookiest i've ever owned! if the road changes colour god help me, and that drain? WAHHH!

At one of his first shows, he spooked at a trade stand at the NPS champs at 3 Counties Show Ground whilst i was walking him around under saddle for him to get a feel of it all. During the spook, he crossed from the road over a kerb onto the grass. Do you think i could get him back over the kerb on to the road? Nope. The kerb was going to kill him. 10 minutes. 10 blooming minutes to get him back on the road!!! :D
I couldn't have exposed him to more if i tried haha
 
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