Yep, it’s adrenaline. He loves to jump and canter and can’t wait to do that. I don’t take it as a bad thing in his case, he’s a happy guy. He just loves to jump. I don’t read it so much as (negative) anxiety… he’s more like a kid excited to go play. It’s hard to contain the energy. It’s like trying to get a kid to do math homework when they can hear their friends outside riding bikes.
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Try some full cup blinkers. They allow the horse to see it’s line of travel, but shield everything to the side and back of that. The horse then must rely on your guidance, and simply doesn’t see options to spook at anything to the side of the line of travel. If the horse is concerned about a certain corner or structure, just turn his head slightly away from that, and it disappears from his sight, like magic. The horse relaxes, because he doesn’t see anything that concerns him. The rider relaxes, because he is not sitting on a horse who is diving and spinning with spooks. Everyone relaxes, which is a good thing. The horse learns to listen and trust the rider’s guidance, and that the rider will keep him safe. When both are relaxed and listening to each other, learning happens. When the blinkers are removed, horse and rider have a new relationship going. No more spooks. Because the rider has gained the trust of the horse, to keep him safe.
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With Tabula’s horse, I think sometimes they just feel good and those bounces are them feeling it. Ours do that in pasture when they are running and playing, they’re just in woohoo mode and practicing their levitating. I certainly trust tabula to know the difference but others might not.
I really love WS these days for his observation and reach for what’s really going on with the horse, and then the human in the situation.
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With both my mares, they are much more likely to spook at something they can’t see than something they can.
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I guess for me, it comes down to the semantics of a “fake spook” definition. I think a lot of the times people will call something a “fake” spook because trying to articulate what it actually is (perhaps some momentary disobedience) is more difficult on the tongue (or more difficult to understand) than just “fake spook”.
I ride a horse who 100% “fake spooks” when the work gets difficult, but it’s not really fair to call it any kind of a spook - she’ll try to prop her front legs and then spin, or duck out over her shoulder. It is a learned response (among others the mare has, including rooting the reins) to try to get out of work when it is hard. However, with the “fake spook” it is also an indication to me that I am not riding as tactfully as I could because it’s more a manifestation of her sense of claustrophobia. Especially when you are working on collection, asking her to sit and drive behind and then lift in front, she seems to feel stuck and then will “spook” as a result (protesting the difficult of the work? feeling trapped? bit of both?) however if you come back and ride the same way but make it more obvious that there is a door “open” for her to go through, the behaviour is minimized (or negated entirely).
I do think that there are horses who learn tips and tricks to try to bluff their way out of hard work, and I think the “fake spook” is one of them - but I also quibble over legitimately trying to categorize it as a spook, since so many of these aren’t actually rooted in what we’d conventionally understand a spook to be: they’re not startled, they’re not alarmed, but I think it got named this way for lack of better alternatives… something to mull over.
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I wouldn’t even call this spooking. It’s acting up or resisting and you have articulated why: it’s when you ride her too forcefully. It’s not that the work is hard. It’s that your riding in these moments causes some level of pain and discomfort. Good for you for realizing this horse needs to be ridden more tactfully and lighter, and then she will really try for you.
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Thanks!
And yes, I think there is definitely an element of play in it for some horses.
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My horse has always been “spooky” and it’s been a long process of figuring out what works for him. He is a very nervous horse in general, always the lowest in the pecking order, and very much takes his cues from others- horses, people, whoever- if someone else is nervous, he’s terrified, if someone else is calm it soothes him. My trainers in the past have always defaulted to “pushing him through it”- a spook leads to more work and a more micro-managing riding style. Much more contact, more pushing and drive from behind, bending in every corner and where the spook happened so they can’t see it. I never found this worked for me and my horse and usually made him more nervous from the different riding style.
We have done a ton of work on building his confidence in himself, having safe reactions to emotions and fear, and being able to calm down a bit and move on. I really started in earnest after I had a bad fall- couldn’t sit a spook and ended up with a concussion, didn’t ride for almost a year and after that was very nervous myself. I started with just working on the ground, then continued in saddle once I felt comfortable. Starting each session letting him choose where to go, get warmed up and relaxed and swinging along nicely, then purposely putting him in situations or places I knew he would be nervous, and working on developing more appropriate reactions to escalating emotions. Letting him work in the “safe” end of the arena to get warmed up, then pushing closer to the “spooky” end or corner, rewarding patience and calmer looking and moving on without losing his head. He’s definitely a trigger stacking horse and the difference between “let me look at this and think a minute and then get a little closer and think some more” and “I can’t handle this, I need to get out now” can be very small, but it makes all the difference. We’ve done months and months of building his confidence in himself to think about situations and then react appropriately, to manage increasing stress levels, and recognizing when we need an easy day when we’re starting off with a higher threshold already. He’s made amazing progress and other boarders and the barn owner are all commenting about how he seems much less nervous and much happier lately. I’m so proud of him!
Also for what it’s worth, a lot of it can also be caused by how the horse is managed. Mine is a million times better when he has been getting regular turnout, getting to interact with other horses and just be a horse, getting to move around for the day rather than be in a stall. I know it’s hard depending on your boarding situation, but when they’re in a stall all day, it can be really easy for stress and fear and energy to all build up with no real outlet, and then the spooking is just a way for them to release all that nervous energy. My barn is very reluctant to turn them out with any hint of less than ideal footing/weather/etc and I wish he could get out more, but it’s not always possible, so on days where he’s been stalled all day, I like to start work sessions with either free lunging him and just letting him exercise himself until he burns off some of that energy and feels more comfortable with himself, or riding in the “safe” end until he has a chance to release that tension and get back to a calmer baseline.
Also, not saying this is your issue but just putting it out there- for me, it was also me that was partly causing it. I have a very similar personality to my horse, tending toward anxiety, so it was hard for me to step up and be the leader he needed when I was also nervous. After getting on antidepressants for my depression, which also helped with my anxiety, I also became more able to lower my thresholds, and it was easier to manage my issues so that I could support my horse. It was so much easier to build confidence for us both in our relationship and build us both up to be leaders when I am medicated.
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IMO for a new trainer. That mindset reflects throughout all of her training, and Horses just don’t think like that. I suggest that you enroll yourself in a course with TRT/Tristan Tucker. Or Warwick Schiller. Learn an out trigger stacking. And start Trainer shopping.
Yes, the horse is most likely behind your leg and all the things. But framing it in your head that she’s just looking for an excuse is a terrible standpoint from which to take action. It’s adversarial, and it blames the horse. All bad places to be in your head while riding
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Lots of good anecdotes and suggestions here. What stuck out to me (and was repeated a few times) is that the trainer is also accusing the horse of being behind the leg, and I’m not sure that’s getting enough attention. It’s quite possible that if the horse was actually in front of your leg then the spook would not be happening, and that’s what she’s trying to get you to see.
Plenty of horses ride spook-free for trainers but not for owners that let their bodies get crooked and their brains wander about. If she’s truly in front of the leg then you should feel the slightest change in shape that suggests we’re moving off our intended path, so you get to work diverting those brain waves to something more productive, like shoulder-in, or expanding circles that slowly bring you closer to the Bad Place, and the spook never actually happens. So it’s not so much a “fake” spook you experience, but possibly a spook that really didn’t need to happen and is kind of becoming an issue, and you’re trainer’s just (predictably) not that great with words.
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I think this is important to keep in mind.
We’ve been at 5 barns total. Barns 1,2, and 5 (current barn) had the right balance of indoor and outdoor year round riding opportunities, good turnout, good turnout pals, were moderately busy, and have a great vibe. Barn 3 was only for a month to get out of some unsafe things at barn 2, but it was bad vibes and less turnout and he was clearly unhappy. That was when his spooking surfaced and it was wretched.
Barn 4 was pretty good, not as much turnout as I’d like, some but not great outdoor riding options, and it was really quiet for most of the day. I think he likes the stimulation. Less spooking there than barn 3, but still more than I was used to before leaving barn 2. Now that we are at barn 5, it feels like I’ve got my horse back and spooking has been reduced back down to “normal” Pre-Barn 3 levels for us.
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Yes, my situation was very similar to yours. First barn was a quiet family place with only a few boarders, but huge barn, huge property, and in a climate that didn’t get much rain, cold, or snow, so they were out 12 hours a day (or at night when it was hot), very quiet place. He was “normal spooky” here for him- it happened when there was a clear reason ie. machinery, drastic change to arena changes, etc, but he was otherwise pretty level headed. Second barn had huge pastures, they were out 24/7 unless it was a bad thunderstorm or other unsafe weather. That was the calmest I had ever seen him until then, he was able to look and then move on from all but the craziest stuff. Then I moved north and to third barn. Much less turnout available, but better than anywhere else in my area. They spend more time inside, especially in winter when they’re in for what seems like months on end. During summer when he’s getting out daily with his friends, he’s still very low level spooky, but again, it’s stuff that I can understand spooking at. During winter, when we’re stuck only riding in the fully enclosed indoor, there’s a spooky end, he doesn’t like the doors and the unpredictability of when they’ll suddenly open, and he’s nervous and tense the whole ride. I usually spend most winters just walking, working on confidence rather than getting any real physical work done. Often just hopping on bareback and letting him have loose rein to walk wherever he wants and relax.
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There was a pole grid set up in the indoor today which forced us to go through the “spooky corner.”
Both of us focused on the poles. No spooks. I guess we will do that again tomorrow!
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Ah, this is along my train of thought.
I’m not much of a leader and was a bit fearful and my very observant Arab knew that.
And I’ve always wondered what type of horse would work best with my traits. Maybe a mare whose had a foal and has both patience and herd leader qualities?
I’ve been riding the same horse for 17 years. He very much indeed has what you are calling a “fake spook” I think of it as more displaced energy and lack of concentration than spooking. It always comes early in the ride before his mind is otherwise engaged with work. I can tell it from his “real spook” simply because there’s no pounding heart, snort, spin, etc. If I can get off and hand walk him in that same spot without him batting an eyelash, I know it’s BS.
My logic is, is he has energy to spook he has energy to work, so I put him to work. Say he’s spooking in the same corner every time because that jump standard wasn’t there yesterday. I put him to work initially as far from that corner as possible. We’ll do frequent transitions, circles, half halts, lateral work, anything to keep him concentrating on me instead of the corner. I usually use wandering circles to work my way down the the spooky corner. I initially let him off the hook if he starts to bulge away with his body and not quite go there. We lather-rinse-repeat until he’s no longer interested in the corner. By the end of the ride (99% of the time) he’s completely lost interest in what he was spooking at to begin with. Fire breathing dragon days are an entirely different story, but the above is how I handle fake spooking, or whatever you want to call it.
It sounds like the chestnut mare in the OP is testing her rider. Simple test. If another rider can get her moving forward without resistance, there’s your answer.
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I ride a hot mare. And where we train there is a questionable gate…with all KINDS of activity outside and around the corner. So barely seen movement. I absolutely am OK with any of my hayseed farm horses looking askance. My mare doesn’t exactly spook, but occasionally she won’t pass by well. What i do is have her face the problem and ask her to Touch It. When she backs up, i (thanks to my coach’s comments) now consider those backUps as good muscle building! And i find it humorous too. She is so good at backing up now. And i do things with it…like having her back up in a serpentine, or on a 10m circle R or L. Or back up in a perfectly straight line…etc. Once she’s gotten tired of backing up she’ll go forward, Touch It, get a treat and never balks at that corner for a while (a couple of lessons)
At other gates or windows… i always allow lookie-loos. I guess i just assume that a horse needs to see what it needs to see. I’m waaaay more about having a good partner than an obedient servant.
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I really liked your observations. It rings very true to what I think when my horse gets highly stressed! I like the idea of puttinghim in stressful situations and helping him work through it. Warwick Schiller believes in doing “bending” exercises to get the horse to relax and focus. I think I will try that on the trail (I’ve been “bending” in the areana so he knows well how to do that). Thank you for your comments-so appreciated!
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I have often thought my spooking overly sensitive AQHA gelding is on the spectrum! He seems to love it when I use ear plugs on him, but that feels like cheating to me, and depriving him of one of his senses. Still, if there was “autism” in horses such as people, and putting headphones on a person helps their nervous system, why wouldn’t it work also with horses? My horse doesn’t stop and spook. He will be walking along and then jump out from under me. It’s very scary, very unsettling to suddenly have a horse who can go from clip-clop to Eh gads! in a split second! That’s the kind of spook I’m talking about, not scary things in the corner and pausing to look at it before spooking. I can handle that!
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I found the comments on spooky horses in the forum to be very interesting. But no one had addressed yet what my horse does. He can “act” calm, go forward on the trail, ears forward, walking and just like that, he’s jumping out from under me with no warning because of a “spook.” Either he had ultra sensitive hearing and eyesight or he is fake spooking. You cannot possibly prepare for something explosive like this because there’s no warning. I ride now with a safety vest and one hand on my saddle horn when on the trail and I hate that. I am a life-long rider and this is the first horse out of many I’ve owned that jump like this with no warning. Even if you’re the best rider in the world, on a quick quarter horse, you will get thrown off balance with this quick, explosive move. I don’t even want to sell this horse because I don’t want a rider hurt by his big spooks. When he is with his “girlfriend” a mare that he shares his pasture with, he is fine. He seems to need a companion horse to make everything safe. It does bum me out that he can’t seem to feel that way about me! But I feel the same about him-no trust that at any moment he’s going to jump. Would a calming supplement help? Would ear plugs help? I hate to give up on him, we get along fine and have fun in the arena doing dressage and he’s a good guy on the trail with his mare pal along. Any one else have a horse like this??
My riding teacher’s personal horse calmed down a good bit on the trails when we put D’yon blinkers on him. That horse got scared from what he glimpsed to the rear out of the corner of his eye, and he was never very calm about odd noises either. It took the Fenwick Facemask with Ears in addition to the blinkers to keep him calm enough to be safer to ride, in the ring or on the trail.
