Most ridiculous spook?

[rascalpony]

So this happened the other day:

It was really hot here in MA a few weeks ago. My National Show Horse (mare) and I are in the process of schooling 2nd level. I get especially thirsty in the heat, and put a water bottle in the arena for myself. Thought it might be nice for the mare to have a little water available if she got thirsty as well.

This mare plays with buckets every day. She watches me refill paddock troughs and leave the buckets outside of the paddock. A bucket near the arena? OMG, why is it there?!?!?!

It took me ten minutes to get her anywhere near the bucket she sees every day, another 5 to get her by it (spook and bolt necessary, of course), and she didn’t settle for quite some time. o

I look forward to showing her for the first time in 5 years…

[piaffeprincess98]

My OTTB, who is 15 now and has never been a big spooker, has started spooking at the water that trickles towards the drain when I first get him wet and the concrete wash stall is still dry…

He’s also a cross-country machine but can’t walk by a jump unless he’s aimed at it at a gallop.

My 21-year-old retiree, who has always been a spook (no clippers, vacuums, dirt clicking against the rail, etc.), usually waits until the last minute when I have the clippers on his nose to snort, throw his head up and spook when they first touch him. We’ve downgraded to the handheld shavers instead so I don’t get hit in the face, but I still have to be cautious.

I borrowed a friend’s measuring stick to get a measurement on my 5yo baby horse who I knew had grown and he was fine with it and I knew I had no chance with the retiree, but when I tried it on the OTTB, he was the most terrified he’s ever been. Spooking, shaking, really just not letting me near him. It was bizarre! Maybe it was the slight scraping sound of the metal sliding down when I adjusted it, although it really wasn’t all that noisy.

[SmartAlex]

RE: Buckets
Lately I keep a purple water bucket in the tack room so it doesn’t get mixed in with the barn buckets and lost. Before I ride I offer my horse a sip of fresh water, which he usually takes. Then I set the purple bucket down in the cross-tie area and …

"SNOOOOORRRRTTTTTT. OMG! There’s a purple Bucket on the floor!

Yup numnuts. That’s the same one you just had your face in.

[atlatl]

[QUOTE=atlatl;8157784]
Shadow on the ground in the arena.

Small ridge of dirt in arena after it had been dragged.[/QUOTE]

He has outdone himself; he spooked at ME when I was standing at the side of the arena while my trainer rode him. I’m not feeling the love…

[KyrieNZ]

My Andalusian mare stopped dead when the barn manager’s husband created a wee drain in the all weather arena after heavy rain to help drain the arena. Honestly, it was approx 2" deep and 6" wide. I ended up around her neck, and then almost fell off from laughing so hard.

My friend’s horse dropped his head and lifted his front legs extra high over a fence that who knows what he thought about. His face was damn near on the jump with his knees up around my friends ears. I damn near fell off from laughing so hard.

Same friend, different horse - spooks at the horse truck Every Single Time he is ridden past it. Loads without a problem.

[Luseride]

I leased a horse to a lady, rock solid, quiet horse. As she was sitting on him at the end of the lesson one day he spooked because she started to unwrap a peppermint because she kept coughing. Hard enough spoke that she fell off. Ridiculous.

[sweetsalute]

My mare rarely spooks at anything. She has a few particular things she doesn’t like (motorbikes, ordinary bikes and spray bottles) but as a general rule she will just stop and have a good look at something and continue on.

One day, I was riding for the first time in a month, and my friend came around the corner. Mare didn’t even flinch, then 15 seconds later suddenly decided that she needed to spook after all. I was bareback and as such promptly fell off. I think I gave my poor mum a heart attack, especially as one arm was in a cast at the time!

[RedmondDressage]

I had an amusing one this evening. My 4 y.o. is going through a bit of a growth spurt and seems to be having occasional issues keeping track of his limbs… We were cooling out so I had him on a long rein and he was very focused on what the horses in the paddocks were doing over the wall of the arena. He ended up tripping over his own front feet, which scared him mid-trip, which caused him to go down on his knees. Fortunately that’s as far as he went but for a second I though ohhhh boy, we’re going down! He was VERY embarrassed afterward, poor guy!

[adcurtiss]

I have a 15 year old Eq horse who hardly spooks at anything. Except when I’m riding bareback. We were showing up in Estes park and went on a bareback ride and he spooked at a hanging flower box. And I promptly fell off.

[HorseShine]

Yup, and to think that we strap saddles to them thar thangs… more than once

Says me, who bought a saddle on July 3 for my in-training horse.

Sweetsalute, welcome to the crazy train!

[JLR1]

Leaves…yes you heard me leaves! My normally bombproof horse and I were on a trail ride. We live in the desert land of AZ and are accustomed to cactus, scrubby bushes, boulders etc. It was fall and to my excitement we came upon a grouping of trees with actual leaves on them. Well, my excitement turned to panic when my horse took one step on the crunchy leaves and proceeded to buck and buck more every time he stepped on the leaves! Hung on and managed to regroup but all the way home was seriously wishing I had packed a flask with something strong in it to calm my nerves :lol:

[FatCatFarm]

Last night my normally rock solid guy became a complete idiot over tent caterpillar nests of all things! :rolleyes: There we are, me on him and my ten year old daughter on her POA and we’re probably 40 feet from the darn thing and he does a major spook, spin and run. I was able to turn and stop him, but my daughter’s POA was just, GONE! He didn’t know what my big guy was upset about, but evidently, if it was enough to scare THE BIG GUY that badly, it must be something serious and he was. not. hanging. around FOR IT TO GET HIM TOO! So he went tearing back up the long hill from the lake we were riding around, for nearly a mile and almost home before the kiddo gets him back under control. Fortunately, he didn’t add insult to injury and buck. Daughter is very relieved and proud to have stayed with him. Yes, I went after them on my big idiot, just not too closely for it to become a race.

So back down the hill we went to do battle with the dreaded and deadly crafty caterpillars. And again my guy was a complete dumbass about the nest. :sigh: I guess because it had worked so well the first time he spooked at the nest, it was worth another go. And it’s not like the darn thing was waving in the wind or anything. It was just sitting there. Fortunately this time around my daughter was ready for her POA to do a sympathy spook, and just turned him around her leg. Then he was like, what’s the deal with the big idiot (my horse) anyway? and was calm thereafter.

I don’t know, but the big idiot continued to be a big idiot about every other tent caterpillar nest we passed on our ride, which was about 5 total. I guess they looked like plastic bags sitting on limbs ominously ready to leap off and flap about at him. Who knows? What I do know is that I really wanted to pat him on the head, with a rock! :mad:

[FatCatFarm]

[QUOTE=jodyjumper;8189562]
A fish coming up for ‘air’ barely breaking the surface.[/QUOTE]

I’ll raise you frogs plopping into water along lakeside. :lol: Terrifying!

[Synthesis]

This is my favorite thread in a long time. Thanks for sharing the stories everybody