# What is the stupidest thing your horse has spooked from?



## yadlim (Feb 2, 2012)

This is a classic joke at my house now... It is a bit of a stroy, but it goes like this.

I was riding my National Show Horse down 2 miles of side of the road to get to the main trail to ride. He is natually a bit hot, but the monotony of walking the side of the road has both of us just sort of blah. The roads are steep and most of them are sparcely driven. As we are coming to where we have to to onto the main road with almost no shoulder, and across a huge bridge with absolutely no shoulder, I start to get a bit, um, uneasy. 

Shaman, the dork, picks up on this and looks about to see what is making me worry. As we top a hill, he looks across the busy main road with cars zooming past to the pasture on the other side. At that point, he freezes. Through my heavy western saddle, I can feel him holding his breath. He snorts once, turns and looks back at me (why woudl I have been so silly as to have been actually holing my reins?) and clear as day says "OMG, do you see the pack of bears????"

I looked across and note that there are four black COWS in the pasture about 80 yards away. I pat him on the neck, tell him he's fine, pick up my reins and cue for him to walk on. 

Shaman, the brave brave soul he is, starts to hyperventalite. His feet are glued to the spot. He starts to snort again, gives me THE EYE and goes "MOM, those area BEARS!!! We can't go forward!!!!" By this time the whole horse is startign to shake in fear. I can feel his hearbeat though the saddle. 

I spent about two minutes talking calmly to him, letting him know that they are not bears, just cows. It is safe, I will protect him. The whole time his shaking is getting worse, his heart beat feels like a race car engine and I know at at somepoint he is going to lose it. However, I am two miles from home. I have a crushed spine and cannot mount from the ground and really can't walk two miles home uphills. I am going to have to sit out his explosion. 

Well, one of the reasons that I can ride this horse out on trail is that it takes him so long between something scary and reaction. We stood there for just over ten minutes with his feet glued in place until one of those darn cows turned and looked at us. 

Pow, Shaman spun and was out of there in half a stride he was at a collected canter... remember I had ten minutes of warning, more then enough time to sit deep in the saddle and have my reins short. Shaman was not amused with the collected canter for long as it just was not fast enough. So, being a 5 gaited part saddlebred, he shifted into his rack at the canter which he can do in full collection and is much faster. 

That sucker did his fast rack the entire two miles home, not breaking stride until we passed the front gate. I spent the whole time swearing and cusing at him. In fact, when we got home I was so disgusted with him that I left him saddled and went into the house and had my daughter go put him up. I looked at my husband and flat told him I was selling that #@$#@$#$##%$$ horse. 

So the next day hubby forces me back on the horse and sends us down the road. GRRRRRRR. I am not amused and just waiting for a repeat. We get to the same spot and Shaman is anticipating the bears... but this time the cows were in thier shelter eating hay. My horse suddenly goes from shaking and nervous to looking over his shoulder at me, and I swear, clear as day he says. "Hey... Mom! Mom! Those arn't bears!! Those are cows!!! See, there was nothing for you to be worred about!" At which time we continue past all the scary cars and bridge like they are nothign and have a great four hour ride...

I don't understand...

So what's the joke at my house? "Look mom, it's a bear!!" every friggen time we pass a cow... sigh.


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## busysmurf (Feb 16, 2012)

Sometimes I would love to peek at what goes on btwn their ears, LOL. Then again I have a hard time figuring out what's btwn mine
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## yadlim (Feb 2, 2012)

The problem is that I know what goes on between his ears... most of the time it is cricket noises. Sometimes it is "CARROTS" and sometimes it is "terror omg I am going to die" sigh. I love that stupid horse so much, and he is so single minded that many times I simply can't believe there is nothign else going on in there...

The whole boarding stable calls him the dork fish.


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## justjump (Jan 18, 2011)

The wind... Literally the wind spooked him. Absolutely no reason for him to spook, and he freaked out. Ugh...
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## attackships (Jan 12, 2012)

aww hhaa. My horses have never seen cows! They would probably react the same way. One of my mares saw a heard of goats and was incredibly suspicious. Her head was moving back and forth, trying to look at each one, and her eyes were Huge just trying to figure out what they are.

I have a really great Arab/QH trail horse, but she does occasionally spook and it's always at the same thing.... In the mornings I'm guaranteed a perfect ride but in the afternoons her nemesis comes out... HER SHADOW. She's a good girl, won't stop or bolt or anything, but she drops about 3 feet when she gets a look at her shadow. Then she's over it and moving on so quickly that i never knew it happened until it's over. I just have to pay attention to my seat a little better while shadows are afoot. 

She's a really strange horse though. She has little behaviors that always leave people saying "she's kinda weird isn't she?" but overall shes a fantastic trail horse.


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## Courtney (May 20, 2011)

My mare spooked at a chair the other day. We've been walking past this chair every day for 2 months, but I guess the snow had melted just enough to make the chair look like it could possibly eat a horse. The path was icy, and I slipped as my mare was spooking. I fell right in front of her, nearly between her front legs. 

As soon as I hit the ground, my mare stopped spooking. She planted her feet, and lowered her head so I could grab her mane for a 'leg up'. Then, she walked calmy beside me, stopping whenever she felt my footing slip a bit.


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## WSArabians (Apr 14, 2008)

A chalk line in the sand. Took me almost ten minutes to get her across. 
Good Arabian rep. LOL


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## HanginH (Mar 2, 2012)

I had a really nice heel horse that I had used on cattle a lot but seemed like evertime you would ride out to move cattle or check cows he would see them in the distance and be a little spooky until you got right up to them. I always thought it was wierd because he had seen them so much and wasn't at all afraid of them when we were actually working them but from a distance I guess they were pretty frightening.


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## PaintHorseMares (Apr 19, 2008)

I can ride our youngest mare, Cinnamon, all day in the woods through foot deep dried leaves making all sorts of noise...but if I ride her on the asphalt road and a few of those same leaves blow on the road making a scraping sound, she's got to dance around them like stepping on one would kill her.


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## Rascaholic (Oct 4, 2010)

Rascal spooked yesterday at a bumble bee. I took flight about 5 feet from us. He almost mowed me down shying sideways. Did I mention he did this on 3 legs LOL I had his hind foot in my hand scrubbing his hooves.

(waiting for the farrier that never showed!)


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## .Delete. (Jan 7, 2008)

I had a pony who used to spook on purpose. Back when i was very young and just learning how to ride everytime he spooked i would get off and put him back because i was scared. He learned very quickly that he could get me off that way. To this day he will randomly shy and jump at things that make no sense. It all depends on the rider too, he will spook, buck, and rear with me riding. But i put a beginner on him and he is a bomb proof well behaved pony -_-. 

Anyways, his spooking ended up breaking my leg when i was about 14. We were cantering through some mud he spooked and slipped an fell ontop of me. Looking back i have no idea if he did it on purpose or he actually spooked. Guess i will never really know.


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## BarrelRacer3 (Mar 11, 2012)

My gelding is scared to death of white feed bags lol he freaks out


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## MHFoundation Quarters (Feb 23, 2011)

We've since sold him but when we brought home "Squirt" you should have seen my gang. They were certain that fuzzy little thing was going to eat them. My calm, laid back nothing bothers them mares ran around their pasture like absolute idiots! Snorting, tails up like Arabs, it was pretty darn funny. He was on dry lot that didn't share a fence line but got to go in one of the small stud lots for a bit each day that did, it took those darn mares months to decide he wasn't going to get them. 

This was the horse eating monster (we still have the monster that's on him, though for the right price...:lol


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## neonpony (Dec 9, 2010)

His own poop.

Seriously, every time I take my horse out, he poops in the cross ties. If he doesn't, I know he's going to poop in the ring and then the next time we ride past it...."OMG WTF IS THAT!??" and he will sidestep/canter piaffe as far away as possible in complete terror until I can get him to walk over and sniff it. That's when he figures out it's not a monster, just something that fell out of his butt


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## AndreaSctlnd (Jan 17, 2012)

Neonpony...my dog is terrified of his own farts.

My mare Dee doesn't seem too skittish around anything. She was curious about the goats but other than just giving them the stink eye...she is pretty solid. But she is also the laziest beast I have ever met. It would be too much effort to shy away from something.

Now the new mare I might be bringing home...she is skittish of EVERYthing. When she wants to be. Last night she must have passed this white barrel 15 to 20 times. Nothing. No reaction. Zip. Then wham! All of a sudden it was the biggest baddest thing in the arena and she wouldn't go anywhere near it. Darn kids.


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## With Grace (Oct 20, 2011)

Many of you know I ride a spooky TB. It's also a joke in our house...plastic bags, dogs on leashes, and...snow. Yep, if it's snowing I know it's going to be a thrilling ride! Now, mind you, I don't even take her outside the INDOOR arena in the snow, so she spooks at it from the safety of the indoor!


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## muumi (Oct 17, 2011)

Argh!! Them horses!!

My anglo arab literally does not shy at anything - EXCEPT other horses being ridden crossing our paths.
Especially if she cannot see them quite yet; they are obscured by trees or something.

She once nearly threatened to have a heart attack, while skittering on the driveway, dangerously close to falling with me on top at my trainer's, when all it was, was someone innocently riding past. They were hidden from view by a wall. Afterwards, I was literally fuming, that she would nearly kill us both over another HORSE?!?!

Another one: my neighbour always very haughtily (is that a word, haha!) complains that her fancy show cobs suffer from trauma when they see or hear my mule.
Please take into account, this occurs only while my mule is on MY property, turned out, and her precious cobs are on HER property, turned out. And the CLOSEST point that our properties are to each other is the 50m that the horse trail seperates us from each other..
They. Are. Dorks. (Apparently, they never get over it either!)
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## TimberRidgeRanch (Mar 6, 2012)

I had a percheron stud that was afraid of himself not his shadow but himself. One day I took him into the indoor and worked him we were doing fine for like 45 minutes then when I asked for a trot we passed the mirror the same mirror that has been there from the start and he decided OMFG! MONSTER! spun buck and ran from himself went around the arena and there he still was he ran faster . Dumb *** got more of a work out then intended lol.


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## MHFoundation Quarters (Feb 23, 2011)

That's funny TimberRidge! My old stud is the opposite and is head over heels in love with himself. Give him a mirror and he'll flirt with himself all day :lol:


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## Susan Crumrine (Oct 5, 2009)

We used to say Diamond saw dead people.
He has outgrown it but he used to look at nothing, he would spook in place, but over nothing, must be ghosts in them there woods...LOL


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## SageBush (Sep 14, 2010)

Our TW farted and scared the crap (no pun intended, lol) out of herself and ran into a tree! What a tool - gotta love her!


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## busysmurf (Feb 16, 2012)

One of my horses used to flip out any time someone opened a chip bag. Really funny part was, the chips IN the bag were her favorite treat (and yes she was an Arab, wink,wink:clap::rofl

Odie was afraid of white cats and chickens for awhile when he was younger:lol:

Dally is just scared of herself:?


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## SunnyDraco (Dec 8, 2011)

MHFoundation Quarters said:


> That's funny TimberRidge! My old stud is the opposite and is head over heels in love with himself. Give him a mirror and he'll flirt with himself all day :lol:


Kinda like this? :lol:









Shiny trailer with his reflection to talk to. And yes, he was talking loudly to his other self :rofl:


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## MHFoundation Quarters (Feb 23, 2011)

Lol, exactly like that! What a gorgeous boy Sunny!


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## Delfina (Feb 12, 2010)

I have a "special" gelding, would be much more difficult to find something he wasn't terrified of.

Yesterday, it was his new water trough.... yup, a big ol' scary, horse-eating water trough. Spent a good half hour, blowing, snorting and running in circles, then stood as far back as possible and giraffe necked to see what exactly was in it and slowly progressed to tasting the water and finally just decided to start chewing it up. 

I had a trail horse that spooked at absolutely nothing. You just couldn't spook this horse until one day she decided the yellow concrete post marking the end of the irrigation ditch was SCARY! The same yellow post we rode past every.single.day!


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## Drifting (Oct 26, 2011)

My horse spooked at the tulips today in his pasture. Even though he's walked by them every day as they've grown the last week or two.


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## Northernstar (Jul 23, 2011)

Courtney said:


> My mare spooked at a chair the other day. We've been walking past this chair every day for 2 months, but I guess the snow had melted just enough to make the chair look like it could possibly eat a horse. The path was icy, and I slipped as my mare was spooking. I fell right in front of her, nearly between her front legs.
> 
> As soon as I hit the ground, my mare stopped spooking. She planted her feet, and lowered her head so I could grab her mane for a 'leg up'. Then, she walked calmy beside me, stopping whenever she felt my footing slip a bit.


That's a good horse


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## Northernstar (Jul 23, 2011)

Delfina said:


> I have a "special" gelding, would be much more difficult to find something he wasn't terrified of.
> 
> Yesterday, it was his new water trough.... yup, a big ol' scary, horse-eating water trough. Spent a good half hour, blowing, snorting and running in circles, then stood as far back as possible and giraffe necked to see what exactly was in it and slowly progressed to tasting the water and finally just decided to start chewing it up.
> 
> I had a trail horse that spooked at absolutely nothing. You just couldn't spook this horse until one day she decided the yellow concrete post marking the end of the irrigation ditch was SCARY! The same yellow post we rode past every.single.day!


My mare can be unpredictable like that on occasion, "bless her heart"!


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## Arksly (Mar 13, 2010)

Blue doors. 

I have no idea why, but anytime I ride past a blue door, Kitty has to spook. It may not be big but she'll do it. It's particularly difficult considering two of the three doors in the arena are blue....


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## TimberRidgeRanch (Mar 6, 2012)

SUNNYDRACO OMG he is gorgeous!! lol He is like Mirror mirror on the wall whos the sexiest stud of all? lol


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## SunnyDraco (Dec 8, 2011)

TimberRidgeRanch said:


> *SUNNYDRACO OMG he is gorgeous!! lol He is like Mirror mirror on the wall whos the sexiest stud of all? lol*


Oh definitely! Which is why my sisters took a picture of him talking to himself :lol:

I am sure he was checking himself out here too :wink:


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## tlkng1 (Dec 14, 2011)

Similar to the line in the sand...a sunbeam line coming in from the arena doors. He turned to face it and sidepassed (beautifully I might add) along it snorting the whole way. Took 10 minutes before he would actually go THROUGH it and anotehr 10 before he was doing so without breaking into a canter to get away faster.

Now, this same horse got hit in the nose by one of the small birds that likes to come sailing through the doors and the horse just sneezed; never took a wrong step.


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## tlkng1 (Dec 14, 2011)

SunnyDraco said:


> Oh definitely! Which is why my sisters took a picture of him talking to himself :lol:
> 
> I am sure he was checking himself out here too :wink:


That is the cleanest arena mirror I have ever seen


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## Stir crazy (Jan 23, 2011)

I had one spook at a ghost one time.....stop laughing , it's true honest. I live in a small rural town, so on halloween we rode or horses to let the kids trick or treat. I had the bright idea to ride a young colt with about 6 rides. As we rode down the road a car came around a corner and shined its lights just as the wind blew a 4 foot paper ghost hanging in a tree out at us,needless to say before I knew what happened i was on the ground ,the colt was 5o yards down the road and everyone was laughing.


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## Missy May (Feb 18, 2012)

Icewater.
My buckskin, now retired, would spook at_ anything_ when he was younger, unless he was working cattle. One day we came up on a golden eagle sitting on a huge bolder that put it about the height of my saddle horn and no more than 10 feet from us. If you have ever seen one take off, its rather dramatic and slow going - heck it would frighten me if I weren't expecting it. I was glued to the saddle thinking, "oh please pretty birdy don't move!" The rocks below started to look mighty hard. I didn't want to move so much as a finger to "frighten" it into flight. It took off and... the buckskin did nothing - nada. shwew! I couldn't help but laugh out loud to myself that "relieved" nervous laugh. Hours later, at headquarters, I spotted my thermal mug that I had left on my truck bumper w ice and water in it . The buckskin had worked all morning, so he was far from "fresh". I asked a friend on the ground to hand me the mug, and as they did so, the then moslty melted ice in the water caused this faint "chhhh" sound ... and BAM! Rodeo! And the buck could buck. So, I didn't escape the spookaroma, after all....it was just delayed!


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## Missy May (Feb 18, 2012)

SunnyDraco said:


> Kinda like this? :lol:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Wow, well I can see why he enjoys looking at his handsome self!


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## karliejaye (Nov 19, 2011)

Anything plastic will get Cruiser suspicious. Luckily his spooks are short, and he's lazy so his bucks are half-hearted. 

My mom shipped me a Jolly Ball for him to play with last Christmas, and when I introduced it to him, I think he had a heart attack. When I figured he'd had enough "torture" (desensitization) with it, I put it at the other end of his big dry lot, and fed him his evening grain. Poor guy was so traumatized by it, he would't eat. He kept getting a bite, then wheeling around to snort at the ball.

Otherwise he is a great, well trained, steady trail horse. But plastic gives him the eeby jeebies. (I don't blame him, plastic is nasty)


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## Missy May (Feb 18, 2012)

karliejaye said:


> Anything plastic will get Cruiser suspicious. Luckily his spooks are short, and he's lazy so his bucks are half-hearted.
> 
> My mom shipped me a Jolly Ball for him to play with last Christmas, and when I introduced it to him, I think he had a heart attack. When I figured he'd had enough "torture" (desensitization) with it, I put it at the other end of his big dry lot, and fed him his evening grain. Poor guy was so traumatized by it, he would't eat. He kept getting a bite, then wheeling around to snort at the ball.
> 
> Otherwise he is a great, well trained, steady trail horse. But plastic gives him the eeby jeebies. (I don't blame him, plastic is nasty)


haha, poor guy.
I was _sucker_ enough to buy my mare a jolly ball. She_ loves_ to play, give her anything else, and she will summarily play w it until it is destroyed....with one exception, the jolly ball!!! She wouldn't even push it around! But, not a total waste, my dog is huge...and he had eyed it from moment one. I gave it to him and he carries it around like a trophy and is very protective of it.


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## rbarlo32 (Aug 9, 2010)

I have a huge list of what my guys are scared of.

The funniest was the day we got Molly all of the fillies had never seen anything bigger than themselves, when we first put her in the field they came half way up to see what thing we put into their field then they saw how big she was and the whole bunch of them turned tail and gallop as far away from her as they could.

No for the list of over things they have spooked at.
Cars, sheep, cows, starlings, sparrows, gease, chickens, the peahen, plastic bags, paper bags, wire on the ground, rope, net, gates, sand, each other, a wind terbine and anything blowing in the wind.


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## myappyboy (Mar 18, 2012)

I was out riding my horse with a friend and a tree had fallen across the track and there were little bits of wood every where so we couldn't jump it so we had to ride along the highway with trucks and cars flashing past! My horse wasn't fussed at all but when we got back onto the track via someone s driveway he saw a mailbox and did a massive spook and wouldn't walk past it! I still don't know how I stayed on!


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## VT Trail Trotters (Jul 21, 2011)

Well i guess he had a good reason but i had my first fall cause a squirrel on the fence next to the our door ring when and scared Jack and we go opposite directions and i fall, things crack im in a daze covered in dust and i was fun but oh man that wasn't fun!


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## Patriot (Jan 28, 2012)

Well my answers aren't related to a "official" spook event, the horse just tucked in his butt and took a few quick steps. 

Earlier this week we had been on the trail for about 45 minutes, I rotated in the saddle a bit and that caused my back to crack - felt good to me and it was obvious that that he felt it because he reacted to it. The other event, well, I'll just say that it rhymes "bart" and caused the same....what's going on up there reaction. :lol: I had to laugh.


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## Saddlebag (Jan 17, 2011)

I have one that often hid inside his brain. I think his left side joined his right side and they'd go somewhere. Every time he came back to reality he scared himself. It took me a long time to realize this is what was going on. There are many external things he wasn't afraid of. It was when I started studying his eye and how it changed. He was such a fearful horse that this was his safe place. Once I'd figured this out I was able to help him get over his need to escape. He hasn't retreated in almost a year and I see a soft eye now.


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## Hedgie (Mar 18, 2012)

Enzo can't handle the swing set that the little kids play on. And, even though he's an OTTB, he can't handle birds. We joke that his success on the track came from him bolting from the birds.


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## Laures (Aug 8, 2011)

Hay.
Seriously.


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## xJumperx (Feb 19, 2012)

We rescued and rehomed a pony - Pumpernickle - recently. A 21 yr old gelding and 13 yr. old mare were t e r r i f i e d xD He was on the other side of the fence! Dragon snorts, bug eyes, prancing around ... wow 

And then there was that tree... It fell down in a storm at night, while the horses (just Diamond and Oats then) were in the barn snoozing. The next day they go out to check out the field... Diamond sees this evil tree, spider legs, bolts backwards, trips, and falls on her butt XD It was thee funniest thing EVER!! Of course she got right back up ... to bolt again  Arabs will be Arabs...


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## CattanWolf (Dec 28, 2010)

My favorite was the first time I rode a particular horse at my new stables, he was a lovely polish-bred sports horse, quite small, but an absolute jumping machine. We were in the indoor arena and it was full of jump stands, now normally this would not be a problem, yes they were those fancy highly decorated ones that are used in big competitions, but I was on a ******** jumping horse. So we walked in... and he went mental, my instructor swears he's never seen Wiersz freak quite so much, but he went vertical _and_ sideways, at the same time, over an object he's seen for the last year of his life. To add insult to injury he continued to spook and snort every time he saw a jump stand (that would be every 5-10 seconds), I was left hanging on for dear life and looking like a complete beginner. This lasted well over an hour and was only my 4th lesson there (second on one of their horses).


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## mfed58 (Sep 15, 2010)

Sonny is an OTTB and ha sn't spooked real hard at anything yet. He jumps a bit at the littlest things, and we've danced sideways past a gaggle of goats, but nothing real serious. We were out on a trail ride a couple years ago and my ife's horse, Joe, started to spook from some rustling in the brush along side the dirt road we were on. Sonny and I just stood there and watched the dance. All of the sudden this huge jack rabbit came flying out, heading straight at Sonny and I, gaining altitude the whole way. He hit Sonny's butt, bounced off of him, and launched straight off of my left shoulder. Oddly enough, I was apparently the only one affected by this whole thing at all. Sonny stood like a champ. I was fully prepared to launch, and had taken more rein to pull him around so he wouldn't bolt. Silly me!!!! I think he spooks a bit at the wind more than anything else.


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## Cat (Jul 26, 2008)

A chalk drawing some kids did on the black top.


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## AQHSam (Nov 23, 2011)

Sam gets worried when we ride to the end of the 10 acre pasture by the trees. Odd thing though is I had to catch him from under the trees where he was eating. Walk back to the barn, saddle him up, ride back to the tree line and he was skitterish.


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## CaliB (Feb 21, 2012)

I was on a gentle giant Tennessee Walker (who is the biggest wimp when it comes to trails) spook at a sleeping cat. The cat literally did not move, we just turned around a corner and it came into sight. He froze then spoon a couple circles. Dork.


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## mildot (Oct 18, 2011)

a saddle lying on the ground (pommel down/cantle up) :?


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## arrowsaway (Aug 31, 2011)

A roundbale. A marshmallow. 
Plastics bags on the trail are nothing to fret over. Plastic bags in the pasture are a different story.


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## 2SCHorses (Jun 18, 2011)

A small turtle in the middle of the trail!


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## Lexiie (Nov 14, 2011)

My horse got scared when she saw her shadow next to her!


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## Twoheartsonepassion (Mar 17, 2012)

A shadow


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## xJumperx (Feb 19, 2012)

The yellow speed bumps are a BIG problem, white road lines, white road arrows... If it's a different color on blacktop, it's gunna eat Diamond


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## freia (Nov 3, 2011)

A pee-puddle. His own pee-puddle.


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## DraftyAiresMum (Jun 1, 2011)

.Delete. said:


> I had a pony who used to spook on purpose. Back when i was very young and just learning how to ride everytime he spooked i would get off and put him back because i was scared. He learned very quickly that he could get me off that way.


My old gelding did exactly the same thing for exactly the same reason! His previous owners were all about "If he doesn't want to do something, he doesn't have to." When I first started working with him, I was leading him up to the wash rack (took me a week to get him to go onto the wash rack...he was 7-years-old and was terrified of the OPEN wash rack [all it was really was a concrete slab with a hitching rail]) and a leaf blew by us. You would have thought he was going to be eaten by a tiger. Climbed up my shoulder, started half rearing and bucking all over the place. Let me tell you...he got his butt backed all the way down the aisle between the stalls (open ranch-style stalls...the aisle was probably a good 100 feet long). After that, he learned that if he was going to spook, he sure as heck better do it in place! lol

Anyway, Aires doesn't spook much. Barking dogs, strange ravines, cows, deer, runners/hikers, other horses. None of those bother him. However, the goat across the street from the barn is a completely different matter. He is absolutely and irrevocably convinced that the pygmy goat across the street is going to eat him. Usually he'll go investigate something if I ask him to. Yeah, not the goat. He plants his feet, throws his head in the air, starts snorting, and tries to convince me that he's an arab.


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## Missy May (Feb 18, 2012)

Just for perspective and fairness to our 4 footed equals, ya have to ask yourself what _you_ have spooked at. I mean, yourself in a mirror, maybe? Those canned biscuits that "pop" when you wrap them on the counter? Balls of thread that looked like a bug? Ha! You should be ridden closer to these things - several times until you are desensitized! :lol:


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## tlkng1 (Dec 14, 2011)

New spooks...just dancing sideways or backing up...

Pansies...especially yellow or purple ones.

Dark colored splotches in the dirt. At the time I ride one corner of the arena is in shadows. The tree nearby is starting to leaf up so the shadow of the branches hits the arena and in a breeze the leave shadows are moving. A second part of that is that the large arena lights make these round splotches on the ground..we dance around it sideways for a while. Also, after the guys have watered the arena with the big firehose, of course you get some small areas where the dirt got hit too hard and it makes a little wall..about an inch or so high. We won't walk through those either and we stop two walk strides in front of them, drop the head to snort at them and then back up.

Trucks, backhoes, trailers, kids running around and screaming, no problem...but that dark dirt is gonna swallow us whole.


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## CLaPorte432 (Jan 3, 2012)

When my Curly was a 2-1/2 year old. My mom was riding him and he kicked up a butterfly that decided to land on his nose. He flipped out and my mom ended up getting crow-hopped off. Funniest thing I've seen.


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## boldstart (Oct 11, 2009)

CLaPorte432 said:


> When my Curly was a 2-1/2 year old. My mom was riding him and he kicked up a butterfly that decided to land on his nose. He flipped out and my mom ended up getting crow-hopped off. Funniest thing I've seen.


 
Oh, those scary butterflies! :lol:

Was riding my fav boy one morning and as we were trotting down the hill a butterfly flew in front of him and the next thing he did a massive leap over it. :shock: but I think we may have ended up squishing the poor butterfly instead.

Had another three year old that tried to run away from butterflies. :neutral: There must be something about butterflies that evoke fear into horses. :lol:


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## Cinder (Feb 20, 2011)

I don't have my own horse but I have been on plenty of horses that decided to spook at some stupid things (to me as a human, haha).

The most common one: wind when we were in the indoor.

This is my cousin and not me, but she had horses she was on spook at hay. Once she was leading a horse to his stall and he spooked at a halter. :shock:


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