Coyotes and the freaked out horse

[Alterration]

Our property borders a very large park. The coyotes wander over semi-frequently - I can always tell when they’ve been nearby as the neighbor likes to shoot at them randomly (great fun while in the arena, even on a calm horse). One of my horses is incredibly sensitive to them, and on those days he spooks at himself spooking - at first I was wondering what happened to my normally semi-sensible gelding, but now I am starting to see the pattern.

How can I help him through this, or keep the coyotes away? I know they are coming into the ring, as I see paw prints in the morning before I drag, and the neighbor confirms that it’s not “just neighborhood dogs”. These are big guys too, fairly large paw prints.

Any ideas for desensitization to coyotes? Or am I just doomed to have a freaked out horse on those days?

[MsM]

I board my horse near a state forest, so plenty of coyotes around. None of the horses seem too concerned. About the same level of wariness as a strange dog. I wonder if your horse hasn’t come to expect the gunshots when the coyote is around and is reacting to that.

The horses do get worried when a bear has been around. Me too!

[trubandloki]

Is your horse worried about the coyotes or at the neighbor shooting at the coyotes?

I ask because my silly horses do not even look up when the coyote trot thru their pasture, spitting distance from them.

[Alterration]

He isn’t generally bothered by the gunshots, oddly enough. We also have a quarry nearby which routinely sets off explosions that shake the ground and he barely startles at that.

Before moving here we boarded at a barn where the neighbor fired guns quite often to scare away birds. Never bothered him at all.

He got quite worked up the day a skunk came by, which was what made me wonder if it was the coyotes. My guess is that he is quite sensitive to smell, and if he doesn’t know what it is, it freaks him out. He was raised in a show barn, so no exposure to such wildlife prior to coming to my home.

I suppose I could try Vicks in the nostrils to see if that’s the issue.

[Foxglove]

I shoot a bow off my horse(s). One of our 3-D targets is a coyote. He spins when hit by an arrow --total shock the first time I hit it --horse went, “Huh?” Never thought about it again (I shoot at a canter, so a spook would send me into orbit.

Might get yourself a coyote decoy or target and play with it in the pen–lots of videos and desensitizing to strange objects –

Not much bothers my boys critter-wize except the (damn) Turkey Assassins who try to ambush me and horse from the sides of the trail —feathers, noise, fluttering --awful.

[173north]

How long have you been at this barn? He might just need time to adjust. We get lots of coyotes and the horses have never seemed phased by them… my old pony was generally more concerned about strange dogs, I think because the coyotes always kept their distance but dogs were less predictable.

[Djones]

I wonder if there are pigs about. Horses hate pig scent! Maybe he just needs time to acclimate, my horses pay zero attention to coyotes but pigs…pigs are a thing!

[trubandloki]

@Djones

I wonder if there are pigs about. Horses hate pig scent! Maybe he just needs time to acclimate, my horses pay zero attention to coyotes but pigs…pigs are a thing!

This made me giggle.
I live in a part of the world that wild pigs are just not a common (if at all) thing.

I don’t blame a horse for not wanting to do pigs, but I am still giggling.

[OnAMission]

Our horses have mountain lions, black bears, moose, elk, wolves and grizzly bears in addition to coyotes, dogs, turkeys and a million deer in their pasture at any given time, though the grizzlies (all four of them) were supposed to have been relocated last fall. As far as I know they haven’t encountered pigs yet but I suspect they would not like them.

[Alterration]

Since last June? But I hadn’t seen pawprints in the arena until this year. It’s possible that they are just in closer.

All the horses seem particularly spooked by the corner of the arena where the pawprints are concentrated so clearly something (possibly a dog…who knows) is bothering them.

[Alterration]

Might be! Apparently there are ferals in this part of the state though I’ve never seen them.

Fun fact, I had a dead trustworthy trail horse 30 years ago who dumped me sooooo hard when we came across a pig farm on our travels. He was not a fan.