Happy October! What equine related paranormal/unexplainable stories does everyone have?

[jvanrens]

@SuzieQNutter

It is probably a known glitch. Edit unapproved post. Copy and go down and paste. If okay post and go up and delete the unapproved post.

I know about the glitch. :winkgrin: I also can’t edit it. I tried the copy and paste method and it’s unapproved too. Must be the topic. 🎃👀👻

[Rallycairn]

@Caol Ila

Not as weird as some of these, but at my previous barn, the only trail riding available was through plantation forestry. Rows of sitka spruce (very not native to Scotland) packed in like corn rows, and eventually the trees are knocked down and harvested for wood products. It’s a big industry and plantations are everywhere. It does not do anything good for native flora and fauna, but that’s a digression.

Anyway, this particular bit of forestry was near towns and farms, and people used it to fly-tip everything from old sofas to burnt-out cars. Teens would drink there. Drunk adults would wander around shooting rabbits with air rifles. It had an odd vibe to it. And my horse, an old hat trail horse who’s seen trails in Colorado, Massachusetts, and assorted places in the UK, hated it. She was never comfortable, not in the eight years we were at this barn. She was on her toes, spooky, would hesitate and require a lot of leg to go in, and require a lot of rein and seat to stop her from flying out. When I finally got out of there and moved to a new barn with better trails, she resumed being a chilled, relaxed trail horse. I will always wonder why she took such offense at that forestry, but on the other hand, it always seemed like the perfect place to hide a body.

After all the uproar about the Plantation Fields horse trials name, your casual use of the term is the scariest part of the story! Not because of your use of it, in my mind, but because of the reactions the use of the word may get. I just can’t help pointing this out; this term really does get used right now, today, in many ways, without intending any racist implications, but that didn’t prevent the poorly handled Plantation Fields situation from happening.

[Hunter_Mom]

I moved to a new barn a couple of months ago. A few days after I arrived, I let mare out into the indoor to check it out & stretch her legs. I pulled the mounting block a bit into the middle of the ring and sat on it. While watching her happily investigate, I felt a hand rest on my left shoulder. It was definitely a comforting feeling - like I’d done the right thing to move after 14 years at my old barn. There wasn’t any other person or horse anywhere around.

[DunByMistake]

About 4 years ago now, I took my horse cross country schooling. We stayed overnight and horses were stabled in a shedrow style barn. I was camped maybe 30 yards from the stable.

I had a huge grey horse at the time who managed to free himself from the stable at about midnight. Managed to catch him and lock him back in but I was lying awake after listening to him bang around trying to open the door again. Banging got louder And I propped myself up on elbow and unzipped the camper window to look out at horse. I saw a silvery thing by the end of barn. Thought it was my horse’s tail and I was about to run and catch him again. But I stopped because I realized that what I saw was a man walking. Thought maybe it was the other guy who had come down to school with us. But I kept watching and it definitely wasn’t him.

The silvery man kept walking down shedrow getting closer to my horse’s stall. Part of my brain was saying, it’s a ghost and the other was saying, you’re being crazy. But when he was about 2 stalls away from my horse, my gelding and the mare beside him went absolutely still. Stopped banging, stopped eating, I’m sure I could hear their breathing from 30 yards away. And I knew they could see or sense whatever I saw too. The man walked past them to end of barn and out of my view.

Weirdly, I laid down and fell asleep. I had the feeling this man was keeping an eye on horses and there wouldn’t be anymore breakouts.

[Jackie_Cochran]

This isn’t a ghost story, but Hat Tricks just got to urging me to pass it on (I had thought of it before and decided not to since it isn’t a ghost story.)

Hat Tricks was my first horse, a true angel from heaven. I say that because I got him when he was a just gelded 5 yr. old Anglo-Arab gelding with three weeks of training beyond the first mounting. He was green, I had some trail riding but no lessons, and I knew just about nothing. He took care of me, taught me how to ride, how to train a horse, and how to be a good parent for my kids.

I was in a depressive state around two years ago, musing about what might happen after death. I don’t really believe in “life after death” but I was exploring what might happen afterwards. I kept on getting this picture of my horrible mother’s spirit descending upon me and trying to trap me again (she never gave up on trying to destroy me, she had Borderline Personality Disorder).

Then Hat Tricks “popped up” in my mind, and he “told” me not to worry. He said that I had EARNED to right to enter horsie heaven, and that he and all my other horses would defend me against my mother and not let her carry my soul or whatever off. He also told me that my husband and my two boys had also earned the right to go to horsie heaven (by feeding them reliably) so not to worry about that either.

In the book “The Tale of Two Horses” by A. F. Tschiffely, his story of riding two Argentine Criollo geldings up from Argentina to the USA, he said that the Argentine Gauchos told him that horses have a special heaven, Trapalanda, where they can run free after death.

So if there is an afterlife that is where I will be, Trapalanda, with Hat Tricks and all the other horses I used to own, far, far away from my mother, with my former horse’s spirits keeping that truly awful woman away from me.

It has been a few years since this happened, but I never got into that dark place again because Hat Tricks came to show me the way out of my probably unreasonable fear.

[ecileh]

Here’s another older thread:

https://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/forum/discussion-forums/off-course/327629-haunted-barns

[DaddysJoy]

@Sunflower

This happened some years ago. It was a cold winter evening, in the middle of the week, and I had driven after work to ride my horse in the covered, enclosed indoor arena. It attached to the main aisle of the barn via sliding doors. The barn aisle was poured concrete. I was alone, riding, when I heard the sound of a stall door open, the distinct sound of shod hooves on cement, and then the water tap turn on in the wash stall at the end of the barn. All normal enough sounds so at first I did not react, until I was like, hang on, its the middle of winter! No one would be washing their horse in the middle of winter! And I had not heard anyone come into the barn, no car drive up into the gravel parking lot, nothing. So then I started to feel very freaked out. There was no way out of the indoor except through the barn, and that is where the sounds were coming from. So I just kept riding. I heard the water turn off, hooves back down the aisle, stall door shut.

And then… silence. No one leaving, no car in the parking lot, no foot steps. Nothing. So I finally got brave enough to look into the aisle and there was nothing there. So I got off, untacked, put my horse away as fast as I could and left. And, oh, there was no soaking wet washed horse in the first stall, just its usual occupant in a few layers of winter blankets.

I said something to the BO a day or so later and they got a strange look on their face. It turns out this was not the first time someone had told them something like this (although I had never heard any stories). The sad story went that a few years before (before I was at the barn) a teen age girl had died when driving home from the barn when killed by a drunk driver. She had kept her horse in the front stall where I had heard the door open and shut.

So, you tell me! I definitely heard those sounds when I was riding. I did not imagine them. No one was actually there washing their horse. I felt it was tragic and sad but if there was something there, it was benevolent.

Edited to add

I have more stories not equine related. With a lot of spooky stories, there is no one else there to confirm what happened, so I am going to relate a story where there was-- not equine related–but hope you don’t mind. A friend and I had gone skiing near Gettysburg, and our drive home (friend was driving) took us on a road that cut through or bordered (I don’t remember which) the battlefield. All of a sudden, the car was filled with the most ghastly awful feeling–just-- horrible. I don’t know how to describe it. Just something very awful. I looked over at my friend who was driving, and he had the car floored, to like over a hundred miles an hour. I started to say something, and he just shook his head at me to be silent, and pointed to his arm, where all of the hairs were stood up right. So whatever it was in the car, he felt it too. He drove really fast for a few minutes and we just sat in the most rigid silence. And then the awful feeling was gone, and he slowed down to a normal speed, and we were both like, “what in the world was that?” We had both felt the same horrible presence. I have no idea what it was, and to be honest, I really do not want to know-- in my mind, it is some kind of something bad related to the horrors of Gettysburg and the battlefield. Another time, I was driving home in the evening after visiting a friend who lived out in the countryside, and I took an old country road home that cut through a Civil War battlefield. As I was driving, something came straight at my windshield, like a softball sized ball of light. Like straight towards it, at speed. So much so that I ducked as I was driving. Tnen it was gone. I have no idea what it was. It was something. Again, I thought it might be something spooky related to the battlefield and really did not want to know any more about it. I do not discount the possibility of the paranormal, but its not something I seek out, and the experiences I have are unsettling.

That first story was just heart warming. Thank you for sharing. <3

[no.stirrups]

A close friend bred her mare when we were both still in high school. She raised the foal, trained him, competed him, and loved him thoroughly. They were truly partners. She moved him from farm to farm periodically as she moved, to college, and to follow jobs. At one point, I think he was about 10 years old, he started becoming unruly. It progressed to where he was becoming dangerously unpredictable and violent. It was so bad that she was on the verge of putting him down. It just so happened that she needed to move him again. When he stepped off the trailer at the new farm, she told me he looked around and breathed a huge sigh. He was back to his normal self from that moment on. She later learned that there had been a barn fire on that property some years before and many horses had died in the fire. The horse recently passed away at nearly 30 years of age having never again displayed any dangerous or unpredictable behavior.

[Pennywell_Bay]

Mine isn’t horse related by occurred at my old horse farm.

I had a Halloween party one year and let an “overindulged” guest stay in the spare room. My house was 1780 farm house. They used to make fake coins in the basement, and hid them down a well by the side of the house that had a false bottom. (All verified by the local German society). When it was discovered, people were hanged outside the house.

so the next morning, my hung over guest was talking about my grey cat jumping up in bed with him. Yeah, I didn’t have a cat but alcohol does funny things.

years later, my house sitter (who in no way knew my guests and i had never told the story) Told me my grey cat jumped in bed with her every night. She wanted to known where the food and litter was, and how the cat came and went out of the house (I had 2 GSDs and one was a know cat killer).

I never saw the ghost cat- but 2 unrelated people With no connections told me the same story.

[sascha]

@no.stirrups

A close friend bred her mare when we were both still in high school. She raised the foal, trained him, competed him, and loved him thoroughly. They were truly partners. She moved him from farm to farm periodically as she moved, to college, and to follow jobs. At one point, I think he was about 10 years old, he started becoming unruly. It progressed to where he was becoming dangerously unpredictable and violent. It was so bad that she was on the verge of putting him down. It just so happened that she needed to move him again. When he stepped off the trailer at the new farm, she told me he looked around and breathed a huge sigh. He was back to his normal self from that moment on. She later learned that there had been a barn fire on that property some years before and many horses had died in the fire. The horse recently passed away at nearly 30 years of age having never again displayed any dangerous or unpredictable behavior.

That is heartbreaking. My current horse gravitates towards the infirm, the suffering and the dying. It’s 100% weird and I try not to mention it to too many people in case theirs should be a horse mine targets. Once they are relieved of their suffering, she will quite happily hack across their graves. It’s like she spends time giving last rites and then knows they are at peace once they are gone. She is a weird horse and does some very weird things, but this is one of her weirder quirks for sure.

[DaddysJoy]

Thank you for those who posted the extra links! I’ve read a few and they were fun! I’ll work on reading the ones I haven’t gotten too yet!

[Red_Barn]

Wow . . . these are GREAT. :eek:

[DaddysJoy]

@Red Barn

Wow . . . these are GREAT. :eek:

I definitely got more responses than I thought I’d get!

[jvanrens]

@DaddysJoy

I definitely got more responses than I thought I’d get!

I was hoping you got more, but I’ve enjoyed reading some of the old threads I found. Surely some new members have some spooky stores to share? I sadly do not.

[DawgLady]

My daughter leased a pony from another girl in the barn. She had moved up to a horse. Her father would always stand at one end of the ring and watch her ride. He loved to watch her ride. That summer, he died of cancer.

Shortly thereafter, I was schooling said pony in the arena. The man’s daughter was also there riding. I’ll be damned if that pony didn’t spook like holy hell at the end where the father used to watch. I’m convinced his spirit was there watching her still, and the pony could see it.

[Scribbler]

@Sunflower

This happened some years ago. It was a cold winter evening, in the middle of the week, and I had driven after work to ride my horse in the covered, enclosed indoor arena. It attached to the main aisle of the barn via sliding doors. The barn aisle was poured concrete. I was alone, riding, when I heard the sound of a stall door open, the distinct sound of shod hooves on cement, and then the water tap turn on in the wash stall at the end of the barn. All normal enough sounds so at first I did not react, until I was like, hang on, its the middle of winter! No one would be washing their horse in the middle of winter! And I had not heard anyone come into the barn, no car drive up into the gravel parking lot, nothing. So then I started to feel very freaked out. There was no way out of the indoor except through the barn, and that is where the sounds were coming from. So I just kept riding. I heard the water turn off, hooves back down the aisle, stall door shut.

And then… silence. No one leaving, no car in the parking lot, no foot steps. Nothing. So I finally got brave enough to look into the aisle and there was nothing there. So I got off, untacked, put my horse away as fast as I could and left. And, oh, there was no soaking wet washed horse in the first stall, just its usual occupant in a few layers of winter blankets.

I said something to the BO a day or so later and they got a strange look on their face. It turns out this was not the first time someone had told them something like this (although I had never heard any stories). The sad story went that a few years before (before I was at the barn) a teen age girl had died when driving home from the barn when killed by a drunk driver. She had kept her horse in the front stall where I had heard the door open and shut.

So, you tell me! I definitely heard those sounds when I was riding. I did not imagine them. No one was actually there washing their horse. I felt it was tragic and sad but if there was something there, it was benevolent.

Edited to add

I have more stories not equine related. With a lot of spooky stories, there is no one else there to confirm what happened, so I am going to relate a story where there was-- not equine related–but hope you don’t mind. A friend and I had gone skiing near Gettysburg, and our drive home (friend was driving) took us on a road that cut through or bordered (I don’t remember which) the battlefield. All of a sudden, the car was filled with the most ghastly awful feeling–just-- horrible. I don’t know how to describe it. Just something very awful. I looked over at my friend who was driving, and he had the car floored, to like over a hundred miles an hour. I started to say something, and he just shook his head at me to be silent, and pointed to his arm, where all of the hairs were stood up right. So whatever it was in the car, he felt it too. He drove really fast for a few minutes and we just sat in the most rigid silence. And then the awful feeling was gone, and he slowed down to a normal speed, and we were both like, “what in the world was that?” We had both felt the same horrible presence. I have no idea what it was, and to be honest, I really do not want to know-- in my mind, it is some kind of something bad related to the horrors of Gettysburg and the battlefield. Another time, I was driving home in the evening after visiting a friend who lived out in the countryside, and I took an old country road home that cut through a Civil War battlefield. As I was driving, something came straight at my windshield, like a softball sized ball of light. Like straight towards it, at speed. So much so that I ducked as I was driving. Tnen it was gone. I have no idea what it was. It was something. Again, I thought it might be something spooky related to the battlefield and really did not want to know any more about it. I do not discount the possibility of the paranormal, but its not something I seek out, and the experiences I have are unsettling.

I had some unpleasant feelings around the civil war battlefield on Lookout Mountain in Tennessee. Likewise I’ve been in places, mostly in Britain for whatever reason, that just exhale a sense of peace.

[Scribbler]

I was riding my mare in the arena with a horse who was started late and was always looking angry under saddle. I liked his owner as a person and was comfortable with her, but recognized that she was a rather harsh rider.

My mare was going through a ring sour phase. I warned her up on the trails and brought her into the arena. She got balky around the other horse and I was suddenly overwhelmed with a feeling of despair and rage. Way out of line with the rather ordinary disobedience she was giving me.

I rode out of the arena, the feeling lifted, and my mare went trotting away happy.

After, I realized that I had somehow been feeling the feelings of the angry horse, or else my mare had felt them and I had felt her feeling them.

[DawgLady]

@Scribbler

I was riding my mare in the arena with a horse who was started late and was always looking angry under saddle. I liked his owner as a person and was comfortable with her, but recognized that she was a rather harsh rider.

My mare was going through a ring sour phase. I warned her up on the trails and brought her into the arena. She got balky around the other horse and I was suddenly overwhelmed with a feeling of despair and rage. Way out of line with the rather ordinary disobedience she was giving me.

I rode out of the arena, the feeling lifted, and my mare went trotting away happy.

After, I realized that I had somehow been feeling the feelings of the angry horse, or else my mare had felt them and I had felt her feeling them.

Gosh, that’s so sad.

[Willesdon]

Not really horsey, but I was driving home in the early evening after a day fence judging at Barbary Castle HT in Wiltshire. My route home was along a pleasant country road that rolls gradually upwards then suddenly drops down into the vale through a series of really tight bends. Right at the top of the hill, beside the road, is an Iron Age fort - known as Barbary Castle - now just grass covered mounds and a fantastic view. As I drove past, from out of nowhere, the hairs on my arms and the back of my neck stood up and I had a feeling/impression/emotion of something/someone deeply unpleasant very close by. I am not a nervous person but I took off down that hill and round those bends like the devil himself was after me! It was back to a lovely, still summer evening at the bottom. A unique experience.

[DaddysJoy]

@jvanrens

I was hoping you got more, but I’ve enjoyed reading some of the old threads I found. Surely some new members have some spooky stores to share? I sadly do not.

I’m always hoping for more stories! They’re always so fun to read! Plus barn stories (in my opinion) are more interesting because from what I’ve noticed - it’s not your usual oh things in the house go missing with strange noises at 3 am (the generic stories).