What thing has your horse spooked at the most ridiculously, or which item have they spooked at that really didn’t deserve a spook?
Someone left a cat tree outside the barn last night. Apparently these are TERRIFYING. There was lots of scrambling and snorting. We stood there til he calmed down which took a while because the big idiot kept spooking INTO the cat tree, then freaking out that it touched him.
All parties were fine.
I had a mare that spooked at sheets of paper… Big flapping pieces of paper I get, but once I had a check in my back pocket and while I was sitting on her I grabbed the tiny non-flapping piece of paper and handed it to my trainer on the ground and she came unglued!
She also spooked at the same jump while trotting/walking past it every single day for a year… She had no problem cantering up to it and jumping, but heaven forbid I ask her to walk past it afterwards.
ETA: Oh and one more about this mare and her sister… They were homebred by a very tall family. Everyone in this family ranged from 5’11 - 6’7. I’m also tall at 5’9… One day my little sister came out and she was well under 5’ (she was 11). They didn’t necessarily spook at her but they kinda snorted and then followed her around like she was a freak of nature… Kinda like when horses see mules for the first time.
a fart. definitely a fart.
Their own fart. And mine.
My dead broke, literally bomb and gun proof gelding is still convinced, at 18 years old, that double yellow lines on the road are the devil’s work.
Dashed, fine. White, fine. Double yellow? Terrifying.
At seven, I had to get off and drag him over, and he’d jump them. At 18, he will begrudgingly walk over them, with lots of snorts.
My mare spooked violently at the same cat tree that Mr Blues did.
We walked calmly toward the cat tree. Then she noticed it and screeched to a halt. She arched her neck and furiously snorted. She touched the cat tree with her nose and then jumped into the air and scooted backward because it had clearly attacked her. We stood in front of the cat tree for a couple of minutes full of furious snorting.
It probably smelled like cat pee, I don’t know, but apparently it was pretty horrifying for several residents so I guess I’m just glad I wasn’t on her the first time she saw it.
Riding down a curvy wooded trail at a fast gait, came around a corner and all of a sudden I was facing the people who were riding behind me and I was about to barrel through them. I quickly pulled her to a stop and turned her, to see a SHOPPING CART in the trail at one of the bends. I mean, they had to push that thing about 2 miles, over logs and up and down hills to get it there. But yea, took about 15 minutes to get her past it.
A hay bale.
Very scary thing, food.
On a recent beach ride, she did NOT spook at vehicles, screaming children, kites, etc. She did spook and jump when she heard someone open a cooler…
I was not riding him, but right behind and watched him teleport a few feet sideways from a tall sunflower in the barditch waving at him, the horror.
We also had a “rear pivot bolt” spook on the trail… because of a 2-inch-long toad.
He was going to eat her.
[QUOTE=Halt Near X;8157490]
A hay bale.
Very scary thing, food.[/QUOTE]
You beat me to it!!
I was on a judged trail ride with my mare. We were doing a jousting obstacle with a dummy on a huge wooden horse, she was not afraid of the “lance” (a broomstick), the horse, dummy, or brightly colored flag flapping in the wind.
She was however terrified of the hay bale that was halfway to the dummy. One second we were cantering towards the dummy, the next we were careening sideways away from the horse eating hay bale. I really wonder about these critters sometimes! 
My horse consistently spooked at the picnic table that sat between the barn and the arena. In the same spot. For years. That got pretty old.
My horse spooks at her own shadow… pretty embarrising:lol:
My new filly is an upgrade, who hasn’t experienced a lot of “normal horse things”.
For example, yesterday we were almost murdered by a barn cat. He kept scooting around on barn yard errands, and she kept spooking at him. I ended up grabbing him, and sociable soul that he his, he hung out for a few minutes while she sniffed and snorted at him.
She doesn’t mind sheep, chickens or chainsaws. But a cat - dear lord we may die.
Sound of a mild breeze moved a few twigs on a small, lonely bush. Also, the group of 4 horse-eating attack pigeons that flapped off the ground and flew toward her.
Oh, and one day because I unhooked the crosstie from her halter. But she may have been dozing with her eyes open while I got her ready.
Sweet mare, a bit daft once in a while.
Dead logs on the trail. Something killed those trees and it’s still out there!
A pink Adirondack chair that had been turned upside down. She’d passed it hundreds of times when it was right side up.
A tractor idling with no one attending it. It could put itself into gear and run a horse down, you know…
Bicycles being pushed by humans, as opposed to ridden by them. In an orderly world, bicycles serve their purpose only when ridden.
A butterfly landing on her nose.
The door from the indoor to the barn she had passed hundreds of times, but now LINDA ZANG was giving a clinic, and there was a small audience, and the door was part of their conspiracy plan to eat horses. This is where I learned to laugh at my horse.
[QUOTE=Halt Near X;8157490]
A hay bale.
Very scary thing, food.[/QUOTE]
It cracks me up to no end when every horse I’ve ever ridden, including my bombproof labrador-of-a-horse, gets wide-eyed and nervous when riding through a field with round bales in it.
ETA: most of my horses have been selectively spooky as well. On the way out from home, god forbid a leaf move. On the way home? Chainsaws ain’t no thang.
A pile of dirt. She also spooks at mailboxes and trash cans. She could care less about anything else, including deer jumping out of the woods in front of us, or the idiot drivers that almost hit us one day (she could have kicked that car it was so close, but she just stood there.)
By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. You may also receive promotional emails from The Chronicle of the Horse. You can opt out at any time.
For Customers
Company
Terms of Use
