You know you have a spooky horse when.........

I have just remembered another incident.

Young gelding stopped for a pee on a steep downhill lane. spread himself out and all was fine - until the urine ran forward and through his front legs. He launched and I came off.
 
We have one who is totally unspooky except for the day he walked into the barn and a fly crawled over the shelf by the door. I mean.. a fly?? For goodness sake!
 
When I started to read this thread yesterday, it made me laugh but I had nothing to add as my girl usually just spooks at things that are fair enough...

But this afternoon in the school, we had a massive tractor and trailer go up the lane next to us, no problem, but when the horse in the field next to the school did a snort, she lept several feet in the air!
 
One of the Arabs would spook at his own shadow. He's gotten over it now but he was really weird about it to start with and would be eyeing it constantly. If he swished his tail or anything sudden, he'd spook at it...

Then there have been multiple times when I've had a cold and my sniffling nose scared the horse... Hasn't even been just one horse. Many of them seem terrified by the sound. And don't get me started on coughing... Or heaven forbid you need to sneeze.

I also find it hilarious when out hacking with another person when the other horse snorting causes a spook...

Saw one Welsh cob properly spook at a butterfly a couple of weeks ago. That was 'special'.

And then there was the Welsh cob (different one) that was TERRIFIED of tractor tire tracks. I remember the day I discovered this as we were going for a little gallop on a stretch of grass on the edge of a crop when she suddenly caught sight of one and flung herself into the air. She continued to fear tractor tracks for a few months and then magically got over it.

Last one, was riding with a friend and saw a dog (on lead) heading our way. Now normally those two are fine with dogs so we just stopped and waited (was a narrow bridleway) for the dog and owner to go past. Dog wasn't doing anything unusual... Then suddenly both horses decided that this dog's unusually fluffy tail, which was wagging gently behind it as it trotted past must be some kind of deadly horse-killer. Both of them took flight - the one my friend was on straight into a farmer's lovely-looking wheat. Both horses stopped easily so it obviously wasn't THAT big a deal but it made me realise that "dog" is not a generaliseable concept to a horse.
 
My last mare didnt bat an eye lid while trotting along a bridle track next to my mates horse when a duck took off flew under her neck and slap bang into the other horses nose! Neither of them broke stride, friend and I fully expected to be launched into the lake next to us. But the same mare would have a melt down every year at daffodils at the side of the road. Iwill never understand what goes through their heads
 
If I take mine out in the rain, he steps onto the road incredibly suspiciously, 'paddling' as if he's expecting to have to swim.
 
Haha plastic bags are excellent- unfortunately mine chooses to mug people...hedges- anything that has a plastic bag! He is very "unspooky" very greedy!
 
My last two horses have been super spooky and expert teleporters, and I have developed an inbuilt ability to spot potential hazards from 100 metres away. Now that I'm riding a horse that isn't spooky, it's so hard to lose the habit!
 
You enter at A, and are on the ground at G watching your horse tank off full pelt, apparently the rustly trees where horse eaters. I must be the only person who has fallen off more often in the dressage than anything else!
 
Sgathach said:
I once walked up the field with all the horses grazing. The wee highland in the middle suddenly farted, spooking himself, with a sort of 'whoaaa whatwasthat?' kinda face, which in turn spooked the whole herd and by the time they looked over to the highland for what the matter was he was happily grazing again.
Guess you had to be there...
Click to expand...

We had 6 horses in the riding school. One farted and all of them spooked including the fartee.

Moomin1 said:
She takes fifteen minutes to be persuaded to go to one end of the arena because there's a terrifying looking horse lying down in the next field at the other end...
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My old mare, the first time I took her to the riding school a horse was lying down just on the other side of the fence. My mare bounced sideways, backwards and tried to spin getting away from the "monster". Once it stood up, she was fine. Next time I took her, same thing again!


Lintel said:
Haha plastic bags are excellent- unfortunately mine chooses to mug people...hedges- anything that has a plastic bag! He is very "unspooky" very greedy!
Click to expand...
Oh yes. Many things are scary but bags = food so they're not scary.


Old mare:
-brought her in, went for a lovely hack, put her out. While we were out cows had been put in the field across the road. Cows put head down eating and mare crept forward. Cows looked up, she ran back to gate. Once they put their heads down, she crept forward again but as soon as they looked at her, she ran back to the gate. 20 minutes of this before she got away from the gate although still couldn't graze.
-tractors/lorries etc all on roads are no problem BUT any machinery/tractors at the side of a road are so scary that she ditched me one day.
-dogs loose are fine but dogs on leads were scary the first few times we met them.
-Out hacking and a car coming towards us stopped and switched its engine off. My pony spooked and landed on her knees. I came off so now standing in front of her with her reins through my legs.

Young mare: you know you have a spooky horse when it is easier to ask what DOESN'T spook her!!
-Velcro - spooks her stupid when she hears it. Wonderful! Boots/Rugs/Fly mask/bandaging -what doesn't have velcro in the horse world?
-one strand of hay stuck in her tail caused a meltdown as it kept touching her legs. I had to save her by removing it (dodging the hooves).
-old mare spooked then stood and watched as young mare tied herself in knots at nothing. (old mare used to do this with her hacking buddy too).
-a jacket on the fence keeps her away from her much anticipated dinner.
-someone opens your gate, lets your horses escape on the roads, a kind passer herds your horses into a farm down the road and when you get there, silly pony sees you, comes running over and hides her head in your arms.
 
A friend was riding B at an ODE and he was a superstar - until he was in the XC warm up.

It was really hot and he had been wearing a fly veil all day and we thought he'd appreciate it off for the last phase. All was going well, until he walked past a speaker and the announcer starting announcing... instant meltdown.

Put fly veil back on, announcer no longer a problem! We now call them the 'Ears of Power' and we never leave home without them!

We have also had issues with Velcro once or twice. And fillers that aren't 'filling'. And magpies.
 
She almost spooks at the van unloading on her left, keeps a determinded eye on it as we walk past...THEN remembers the sofa the big house put out on her right yesterday and looks right while trying to spook only to find the sofa is waaay back behind us, she was too busy watching the van.
 
I feel mean now for calling my lad captain wimpy britches seems hes not the only scardy cat out there! he is has always spooked at the most ridiculous things all though all bombproof training done I can throw straw sacks on his back shake carry bags in his face he barely looks at me but wandering around the paddock or out hacking he is a total lemon he has been known to drop 6feet into the floor and violently swerve sideways at many an invisible monster never discovered on the quietest of country lanes. We've never made friends with the iron grate monsters but writing on the roads or changes in colour texture are terror inducing having a horse who reads SLOW on the road stops and swerves round it and going from the tarmac lane to the concrete drive are a no no under saddle but we walk across this on the way to the field everyday!
 
Your horse has produced more than 10 poos in the last 24 hrs! Too much food= too much attitude........ Hence spooky horse, who would much rather be quiet calm horse. Give them too much grub then you can guarantee nutty ned
... Sit tight and congratulate yourself on how well fed your horse is! , mines a fat pig by the way :-)
 
My pony was having a graze along a track, I had hold of the reins by the buckle in one hand and my safety strap in the other. Two ducks took off from the water along side the track. He took off, I could feel his back under mine, my feet were by his ears, the rein hand was behind my ear. Other hand tight on the safety strap. Pony stopped after about three strides and kinetic energy put my position right again, and pony started eating again. Thank goodness for my safety strap or I would have gone over his rump. He never goes more than a few strides.
 
Ah that's brilliant, my sister's gelding is 17, and anyone that doesn't know my sisters horse, thinks she's riding out a very young horse. he spooks from everything. her 4 yr old mare hacks like a 17 yr old, sometimes you'd just wonder. x
 
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