While riding in the arena a pony in the field next door decided to be exuberant and my dear launched only the front half of his body to the side. He then realized his mistake and decided against the extra effort, but couldn’t get his balance back right away and THAT is what spooked him. Crazy pants :lol:
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It has come to the stage that I am so permanently in anticipation of a spook, that I myself have begun to spook at objects that he might not like. While in the car one day I saw a man wheeling a buggy covered in a coat down the road from about 200 metres away. The horse was in a different county. I froze and started to sweat.[/QUOTE]
I SOOOO hear you on this! I got so used to my Geym spooking, even now, almost 15 years after his passing, I still have to tell myself “This is SUNNY, not GEYM and he does NOT spook at this stuff!”
Oh dear, where to start… My gelding is… well “special”. He is not the bravest of souls, but he is getting better. In general, the worst offenders are things that he doesn’t think belong in the setting that they are in. For example, while he was living outside 24/7 in the winter, itty bitty piles of snow in the indoor were scary!
A friend trailered us to a local trail when he was a bit younger (I’m brave, really!) and I was prepared for a wildish ride yet determined to have fun. He surprised me by being really good! Metal culverts, wooden bridges, random branches, people with dogs, people on bikes, kids, etc. The one thing that was really scary? The park benches! They just didn’t belong in his world.
I can also sympathize with the hay… We used to be at a barn with a 1/4 mile track around back that we would wander about after lessons. There was ONE round bale next to the track and boy was that super scary! Never mind that they had round bales in their paddocks… We got brave enough to walk up to the bale, take a bite, then spook again while munching on the hay!
Tractors, bikes, cars, motorcycles, etc… not a problem! A bike on top of a car! OMG it was going to kill him!
And then there was the mailbox incident. We had a hunter derby at our barns schooling show and part of the course was to stop at a mailbox, open it and put your crop in, close it and continue. Of course we were the first ones out there… and I anticipated him being a little wary (it didn’t belong there after all!). He stopped close enough for me to reach it and I was very very delicately trying to open the box… but it was pretty stiff! At that point, he decided he wanted to take one step away, I had to let go and the darn thing flipped open. My coach was watching with a camera… man did we get a fantastic photo! His front end lifted off the ground and wheeled away at the same time. Trying to salvage our pride, I tried tossing the crop in the now open box (I missed) and we continued on. He put in some of the nicest jumps after those shenanigans… I can still laugh about it though!
I think the best part about most of his spookiness is the look in his eyes. The indignant affronted look that says, “why on earth would you ask me to go near that horrible horse eating (insert object name here)???”
Yesterday it was THE WEIGHT TAPE OF DEATH
My last jumper feared trains. But only ones that were 1/2 a mile away. He could handle them closer, but seeing them in the distance meant we would be standing and snorting for some time.
He was also terrified of the Sasquatch that evidently lived on the back part of the property and proved that a horse can in fact bolt backwards and simultaneously l jump 6’ to the left. It was a long, long walk home.
Oh, the weight tape of death! That one just amazes me. My pony usually doesn’t wake up from his during-grooming nap if I weight tape him when he’s tied. But if I try to do it without haltering and tying him first, he will go tearing away.
Same thing with blanketing–he is entirely ho-hum about being blanketed as long as he’s haltered, or at least if a lead rope is loosely draped around his neck. But try to do it without even imaginary restraint? Forget it.
Rebecca
Just today: someone else pooped in the indoor arena before we got there. The smallish pile in the corner of the arena was terrifying.
My old QH was scared of burdock leaves when the wind picked up and you could see the underside of them (white). We had many interesting rides on the trail with him jumping over patches of burdocks that he would normally not turn a hair at.
My horse once spooked at a very large knot in a skinny tree. He still passes it with caution, but he is the BEST spooker. All four legs just get wider, but he doesn’t move.
He is also very disturbed by other riders praising their horses. If someone says “GOOD BOY”! or “YES” or pats their horse loudly, his skin jumps! He hates it! If I do that to him, he is so pleased. No other horses may be complimented in his presence!
He sometimes spooks at shadows in the arena, but I don’t blame him as I think his eyes aren’t 100%.
He spooks at basically anything he can in the indoor arena. I think it’s because he hates it. The roof creaks, someone opens the doors etc. Outdoor arena, he’s fearless!
His biggest fear is of white shavings bags. When he was blind in his one eye, a shavings bag fell which caused him to spook and fall over. He has since been horrified of them if I’m not the one holding the bag.
Poor soul! On trail he fears nothing. Squirrels, raccoon, deer, rabbits, ducks, birds are all his friends and no matter how much noise they make, he is OK with that. All in all, he’s my kind of horse!
I bought a red, white, and blue hay net for one of my geldings. Every day for a week, I’d bring the full hay net into his stall and he’d snort and practically squish himself against the opposite stall wall trying to ‘hide’ from it. He’s also afraid of mounting blocks and many other things.
Many many years ago I walked my gelding past a small shelter in one of the paddocks after working in the arena. A mini donk burst out of the shelter heew haawing loudly. Major spook and nearly did not stay on - did I mention my guy used to live in a field with 14 mini donks?
The next SIX years we danced around this shelter, yep approached from every angle, stopped, stared, walked, trotted everything but he was still concerned every time - did I mention he is half arab? But now we can walk or trot past without too much worry.
Until today…
We were taking our usual meandering walk after working in the arena. I carefully noted that the mini was across the field and not in the shelter. I also checked the gate and there was only one lead hanging there - so all was well. We walked up to the corner of the field and OMG panic, spook dancing WTF?
Yep then two ponies burst out of the shelter to greet my horse.
Dang Now I have another six years of desensitizing to do again. Did I mention my gelding is 22 and has seen this shelter for the last 15 years?
The green bean mare spooked at advertising this year during Thermal. Not the golf carts, or the people or the scary jumps or the commotion, or the dogs or the motorcycles, but at the freaking ad banners placed everywhere. Apparently she’s literate.
The new guy is petrified of squirrels, which are everywhere at our barn. So I promptly bought him a stuffed animal squirrel off of Amazon and placed it right above his feeder. He now looooooves his stuffed squirrel. So I spend my hacks with him ‘squirrel hunting’ as in he’s not allowed to spook at a scurrying squirrel, now our mission is to gallop after it. So I’m the idiot chasing squirrels around our barn on the big bay boy. It’s working, though.
My Saddlebred constantly and consistently spooks at the viewing stand, but typically only from one direction.
Nothing can change, and everything can change. He always sees the invisible, scary monster that apparently lurks there.
My QH once lost his mind when the turkey was on a railing and not on the ground. Like seriously, he thought he was about to die.
cornfields - as soon as the corn in the field next to the arena is eye level height, I can no longer work in that end of the arena.
We work and work on desensitization, and he gets so I can RIDE there … but his mind is on the corn and it is not effective WORK. and then the wind will come up and the corn will rustle, and HOLY CRAP!
Wet footing. A snow clump in the indoor that came from his own foot. A leaf in the indoor. The letter A. His own reflection. His own tail.
(He is quite special)
My usually perfect driving pony had two major meltdowns yesterday. He really was pushed to the limit for the second one, so I’m not judging him for that one. But the first one was rather odd.
As I was harnessing, the Air Force Thunderbirds started doing loop-de-loops very close by (air show at a nearby reservoir). Pony was shifting around from foot to foot, a bit tense but still not moving out of position. I thought it was odd that he reacted at all because he lived next to Buckley Air Force Base at one time in his life, and has never showed any inclination to be bothered by military flights screaming overhead (we are on the flight path between Buckley and the Air Force Academy, so we get a lot).
Anyway, he seemed OK, so I started ground driving him out to where I get in the cart (I don’t ask him to haul me down our very steep driveways when he’s not warmed up). He got just clear of the side of the house and totally freaked, slammed into reverse, bashed into me and then backed the cart hard into the corral fence.
I unglued myself from the pine tree he’d mushed me into (it’s tight quarters there but never a problem before), and restarted him down the driveway. I told him “you ARE doing this” and he did. I think what he spooked at is the new wall my husband built recently–the wall he has seen from every other angle but never from the top of the driveway. I also think he was already tense from the air show.
But the real doozy was when we were coming back along our bridle trail (a short section that will accommodate the cart). There is a small park next to the path, and some asshat was flying a radio controlled plane (illegal to fly it there) and zooming it over the houses on our side, where there are many horses. When the plane went into a steep dive, it made a screaming noise, and the jerk was diving it right down into the path. Poor pony totally lost it, and I don’t blame him. I had no other way to get home, so we had to deal.
Somehow I got pony close enough for me to yell to the people in the park. A nice woman went over to the jerk and told him to land the plane. He did, and then I got the very nervous pony past the park. I will admit that there was some yelling on my part at the jerk.
I told my husband that the problem was that I switched harness pads yesterday. The original pads were very worn, and I had a nice set from my dearly departed Hackney that would fit, hardly used as I had to retire the Hackney shortly after I bought those pads. So I think my nice calm pony is now channeling the insane but beloved Hackney.
Rebecca
Oh, and one other thing about usually perfect pony–the Thunderbirds did another show today (second day of the air show). Where was pony? Sleeping in his favorite place (on the manure pile). Didn’t even twitch an ear.
Rebecca
Flowers! Big patches of blue wildflowers on the lawn that have just appeared, patches of buttercups, and big white clusters of hydrangeas! I know horses see color and depth differently than humans, so who knows what these looked like to my (reasonably sane)horse?
At the barn where I rode during college, a horse eating emu showed up one day at the arena and we all nearly died.
I have a terrible track record with squirrels. I don’t know if it’s that they kind of match the fence-posts and so when the fence-post appears to move it’s creepy, or if it’s just that they’re rodents with fluffy tails, or what. Most recent squirrel-related incident this morning before work on usually very steady, sensible campaigner. Shot sideways and totally took me by surprise. Time before that a few weeks ago on a green (very green) 6 yr old. I’ll let it slide since he’s 6 but basically 3. And before that on another been-there-done-that type who locked onto that stupid rodent like a fighter pilot on a target. Whee, dolphin leaps through the air across the ring! With that one I think it was less spook and more complete excuse to play. I happened to have draw reins on that day which helped to bring him back to planet earth.
Otherwise a lot of the usual stuff - it moved, it didn’t move, it looks different tracking left versus right, it’s 5 degrees cooler today than yesterday, you tried to ride me before I had my breakfast… Gotta love 'em!
