At the one barn I boarded at we had an old old tom turkey that patrolled the road we had to ride down. He decided that no horse shall pass and would stand in the middle of the road and not let you go by. He was most impressive (I had forgotten how tall they actually are) and had a nasty evil little eye. We had to trot past him at a pretty good clip if you wanted to get past him. They sure aren’t bright but are very determined once they get a thought in their tiny little heads.
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Change fishermen to runners who will not stop running. If they have to wait to cross a road they run on the spot. Horses do not like people running at them.
Plus rollerskaters, they are not understood by horses and they can’t take them off easily.
Change scouts to a line of nuns on a path in the bush. Dressed like the flying nun. Pep jumped off the path into the trees. They were very nice and stepped to the side and invited us to go past. I politely declined and asked them to keep walking while I kept him in the trees.
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Change fishermen and runners to mushroom pickers who are widespread around here, as mushroom harvesting is kind of a national sport. 
Imagine you are cantering down a forest path when suddenly three to five figures SUDDENLY emerge from a crouching position and stare at you silently. By that moment you are already cantering sideways, if in the saddle at all, the horse is snorting, all white eyed - good fun in general. Then the mushroom people, without a word, just crouch down again and start crawling along the forest floor… Delightful.
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Also here we have hares, who wait until you are beside them before they explode out of the grass, same with ducks who put on a display that they are honourably injured to lure you away from their nest.
I shy myself with the hares and think how lucky I am that it was not a snake I didn’t see.
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Pheasants exploding out of the underbrush right under horsey’s nose has always been my Waterloo.
Deer crashing across the trail? NBD. Turkey bullies? Same (maybe because I had domestic turkeys pastured with the horses at one point). But pheasants? Clearly the world was ending, and it was surprising how often it happened!
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Grouse are busy during the spring trail rides, trying to lure you away from nests. Most make a noise before running ahead of you, which is good. But they EXPLODE upward like a big firecracker in front of you when they think you are far enough to be safe. Horse tends to be shocked at the noise for a moment, THEN jumps sideways!
A good horse on a long ride WILL get used to this. Cheep, cheep, flappy bird, then BOOM!! Still it always makes me jump! How such a small bird can make such a BIG noise is one of Mother Nature’s surprises.
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HAHAHAAa!!! I love that one.
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Nothing beats a group of horses rearing in terror with their riders laughing hysterically upon meeting (and scaring off) a bunch of naked people who were having an orgy in the forest. 
As their naked asses ran off in a wheat field and glared at us from it, we used our whips to pick up their scattered panties and bras, and hung them up in a tree…
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One place I boarded had chickens. Lots of chickens, including several Evil Roosters.
Path to the trails crossed right by the freeranging flock & roosters would come at riders With Intent 
M.O. was to break off a branch from the bushes & use it to beat off attacking poultry.
I launched several of the bastids, then hurryup trotted past before they could regroup.
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Yes it is I that shies at the hares exploding when walking. The horses don’t seem to care when being ridden.
I had to laugh at Stars one day. A blowing gale, the 1 foot grass moving constantly like an ocean. He didn’t bat an eyelid, however, the stationary abandoned termite nests, which we pass on every ride were what he shied at.
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Winner winner chicken dinner! And ew.
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My horse and I got chased by a grouse. I had gotten off on a trail to adjust her saddle and here comes mama grouse, just poking through the brush towards us. I figured we were close to the nest so mounted up and prepared to leave. Here she comes running at us now. I told my horse we got to go and run away from the killer grouse. Run away Zephyr, run away! Mama grouse followed us up the trail until she was sure we were gone then huffily went back to her nest. It was hilarious.
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Ugh, this has happened to me too! With those big white and orange 5 gal buckets from home depot. I also love the people who let their dogs run loose with cow bells attached. Been in a few hairy situations with group screaming for their dog on one side of the trail and dog dong-dong-donging through the woods on the other side, completely oblivious. Train your animals, people.
All my riding friends complain about deer. No problem here, my mare will stalk them down and chase them off!
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What a darling trio!
I love how their ears go from (viewers’) left to right. Chestnut gelding has both ears forward, mare has one ear forward and one back, bay/brown gelding has both ears back (something going on in the tack room?).
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Love the chestnut’s face, such a kind eye. Of course they’re all darling.
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Ya’ll are hysterical 
My young horse hasn’t really been trail ridden yet but she has a habit of spooking at birds…and all our local trails are forestry so that’s going to be fun haha. She has the sort of spook that eave you hanging mid air too.
At least the old girl mostly just gets indignant at anything she thinks shouldn’t be there, will snort and act like its terrifying but rarely spooks, and if she does, it’s a tiny jump. Except for that one occasion we came across a goat. She was not going past that. Nope. That was over 10 years ago and still, goats and sheep are the only things that will actually have her attempting to nope right outta there.
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Whooo boy do I have a couple crackers today
1.New to horses family friend who I think I’ve mentioned before goes “I’ve never trailered a horse but have you thought about trying carrots” in reference to my young horse’s trailering issues…yeahhhh if you’ve never done it maybe don’t offer advice and no I don’t think carrots are gonna fix it!
- At a family event on the weekend, on my mum’s side of the family (for context, my mum passed away suddenly 5 years ago). Mum’s cousin’s wife comes up to me and asks “how is your mum doing?”
Cue me standing and staring at a total and utter loss of wtf I was supposed to say. It’s easy if the person may legit not have known she passed but you assume family do! Turns out she meant to say dad not mum but boy was that awkward!
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You can see the bay gelding’s (far right) lead rope going into the tack room … someone was in there holding him because he is the most unpredictable and untrustworthy animal I’ve ever met.
I still luff him because he is who he is, but god himself could not convince me to ride him ever again. Combine a not-so-smart animal with eye issues, and you end up with him.
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He does have the biggest, bestest, doe eyes. And he is the kindest, most reliable animal on the planet. He put up with me in my teenage invincible years, so he has seen a LOT of crazy stuff. Nowadays, there is literally nothing that can spook him. I once wore one of those gigantic blow up dinosaur costumes - his response was to get a pissy look on his face. If a horse could roll their eyes, that’s what he was doing.
“really mom?”
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