# young mare that enjoys "LOOKING"



## PaintHorseMares (Apr 19, 2008)

With our mares, as long as they don't want to stop, they can look all they want.
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## FGRanch (Feb 9, 2008)

Let her look around but make sure she is paying attention to you still, if she starts not focusing on you just collect her and back her up a few steps. It is great that she has got a curious mind but losing to much focus can cause her to trip etc.
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## bbsmfg3 (Aug 12, 2010)

I would never let them look around. They need to pay attention to the trail and where they are going. That site seeing is for the rider, not the horse. Site seeing by the horse will lead to all kinds of problems that will be difficult to fix if this is allowed to go on for very long.


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## Darrin (Jul 11, 2011)

What you do have to do is make sure what kind of looking she's doing. If she's sight seeing that is ok so long as she's still listening to you and watching where she put her feet. She starts stumbling or ignoring you then it's time to re focus her attention. There is a second type of looking and that's when they are looking around fearful, sure a bear will jump out at any second to eat them. With that type keep them focused on the trail and you 100% of the time.


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## rrock129 (Jun 27, 2012)

I once had a horse who looked a lot, especially in the springtime or when we went someplace new. He'd even weave back and forth across the trail looking at everything. I'd let him do it as long as he wasn't tripping or causing problems for me or other riders.

His interest in new places made him a good horse to take along with less-confident horses and he had no problems getting up close to things such as caves.


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## Jolly Badger (Oct 26, 2009)

I don't have a problem with "looky" horses as long as they're not so "looky" that they stop paying attention to where they are going or what I am asking them to do.

If she gets so "looky" that she stumbles and trips because she isn't watching what she does with her feet, then you need to work on getting her focus back to you. This is especially true if you are in the middle or back of a group. 

Some horses get "looky" when they get bored. . .and then they use it as an excuse to find something to spook at. I know one horse like that - when he gets bored, he starts looking around. If you don't get his attention back to you, he will do an in-place spook at absolutely NOTHING.

My Little Black Horse is very observant about his surroundings, and it's one of the things I love about him. But when the footing gets sketchy, he focuses on where he's going and "thinks" about his next move before he makes it.


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## RhondaLynn (Jan 26, 2010)

thanks everyone.. everything you said is pretty much what I thought..

She is young and very nosey.. she will go pretty much where ever I point her. In fact we were up at Big SouthFork, TN. at Timberridge campground and they had an obstacle course set up.. she was hesitant but went thru some scarey stuff! I was VERY proud of her. My hubbys horse would not even get close to some of the scarey spooky stuff!

I don't mind MOST OF THE TIME if she looks at everything, sometimes she does slow way down looking, but other than that I don't care.

Thanks for the replies!!

Rhonda


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## prairiewindlady (Sep 20, 2011)

My gelding is the same way. He is not as young as your mare but I suspect he was rarely (if ever) trail ridden prior to my owning him. I have come to the conclusion that there has to be a healthy balance. I let him look but I also require him to be aware of where he is going. We are conditioning for endurance and now that we are doing a lot more trotting it requires a little more focus on his part. We are working on that. He still gets distracted at times. I actually have a couple verbal commands that we are working on (he is very good when it comes to verbal cues). When he starts to zigzag and slow, I will tell him "geeup" (don't know why but this works) or if we are walking (or just being too "looky" in general) I'll remind him to "Pay Attention". It's a work in progress

Honestly I don't understand why someone would never let their horse look at anything. I want my horse to be having fun too, and I know mine truly does! 
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## Thunderspark (Oct 17, 2012)

My mare is 11yrs. now, I've had her for 8 yrs. now and she has always looked while out on the trails. She's not weaving/tripping but will turn her head to look at the river below us through an opening in the trees.......so long as she's listening to me she can site see along with me.......we will even stop on a ridge and she gazes all around looking.......I love my mare


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## dashygirl (Nov 21, 2006)

Sounds like you've got the start of a good little trail gal on your hands.


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## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

As long as they're not looking for things to spook at, stay focused on going forwards in the direction I'm asking for and are balanced then it doesnt worry me at all.
I dont want a dull robotic horse I might as well get a dirt bike if I want something like that.


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## Island Horselover (Apr 4, 2012)

bbsmfg3 said:


> I would never let them look around. They need to pay attention to the trail and where they are going. That site seeing is for the rider, not the horse. Site seeing by the horse will lead to all kinds of problems that will be difficult to fix if this is allowed to go on for very long.


I totally disagree with that! The horse that is curious and looking around on the trails is doing what it is suppost to do, especially when they are young, or do not have lots of experience out on the trails. There is so much more going on on a trail ride then in the arena, they need to see and get the experience of things that move and make noices and thinks that are new to them, at least in my opinion! Question, so if you ride in the arena and there is a chair in the arena that has never been there before and your horse is curious about it, do you just ignore it or do you go over and let it have a look and sniff at it??? I would rather have the horse checking it out and let it know that it is nothing bad and then move on with my riding.... I am talking about young inexperienced horses here and of course I agree that you as a rider should make sure that the horse also pays attention to you, but in my opinion it is a learning process for horses to get the chance to check out things and look at things!


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## Delfina (Feb 12, 2010)

A curious horse is fine. One that is looking for invisible monsters behind every bush... no. 

As long as my horse is paying attention to where they are walking, aware that I am on him and responsive to me, I am perfectly okay with them enjoying the scenery.


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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Letting my mare look around gave her the confidence she needed to go out alone or lead a ride. I was always in the back before I started riding her because I had a kicker..not anymore, I get tired of looking at butts all the time, haha.

She get a "Pay Attention" if she starts getting too into it (rare), but she can now lead with one other horse or 20, she can be in the middle, and she can still bring up the rear when I feel like it. I can have a loose rein on a trail now, I absolutely love it. I have no doubt she'd still be balking non stop if I hadn't have let her look around a little and take everything in, not JUST me. She's always paying attention to me, but why not everything else as well?
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## Dustbunny (Oct 22, 2012)

I also have a greenie...and she's 15 this year (amazing how many green horses that age are out there). I got her early last summer. She had some pro training but trails were new to her. She is quiet and mellow and this is a new world for her. I want her look around and be comfortable. Look at the deer, tree roots, the creeks, whatever. As long as she is paying attention to me too she can look all she wants.


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## Palomine (Oct 30, 2010)

I have found that the more intelligent horses are the ones that look around. I have one and loved to ride him since he was having as good a time as anyone else there, two or four legged.

Just made things so much better, because he would see things that I had missed that were worth seeing.

You are very lucky.


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## GracielaGata (Jan 14, 2012)

Palomine said:


> I have found that the more intelligent horses are the ones that look around. I have one and loved to ride him since he was having as good a time as anyone else there, two or four legged.
> 
> Just made things so much better, because he would see things that I had missed that were worth seeing.
> 
> You are very lucky.


Hey that makes all of us with this type of horse feel better! lol 
Seriously tho, I bet there is some truth to it, as the smarter horse is naturally going to be more observant. my husband's gelding is a steady eddy type, but not a big looker at all... And I wouldn't call him the brightest bulb on the tree.. sweetest, and kindest and biggest hearted, yes... 
But the intelligent one in our 2 is def. my young mare who thoroughly enjoys watching everything and would probably throw a fit if I told her to stop, esp. when it harms nothing.  
Yeay for happy, healthy, observant horses!


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## RhondaLynn (Jan 26, 2010)

This past weekend my silly mare who is the looker, was really in good form. We went to the Cohutta mtns. of North Georgia. It is a beautiful wilderness area. We were going down an old gravel road that is not traveled much by car but a lot of bicyclers use it.

We were turned around going back toward the trailer after lunch on this gravel road. We had been going along for some time and my mare was doing great. she started looking back, at first I thought it was at hubbys horse, but she kept looking back for about 3-5 min. I heard a "hello" behind us and low and behold a biker was yelling to let us know he was there. Well I knew something was back there because my Maci told me several times in fact!!!! 

On this same ride we saw, two different groups of 4 turkeys and a huge woodpecker. The woodpecker was the woody the woodpecker type.. black body with red head. He was the first I had seen of this kind. At our house we have lots of the others but hadn't seen one of these. 

Overall it was a fabulous day to ride.. the weather was perfect... cold but not a cloud in the sky!! Horses did great and we had a great fire to warm up at lunch.

rhonda


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## GracielaGata (Jan 14, 2012)

RhondaLynn said:


> This past weekend my silly mare who is the looker, was really in good form. We went to the Cohutta mtns. of North Georgia. It is a beautiful wilderness area. We were going down an old gravel road that is not traveled much by car but a lot of bicyclers use it.
> 
> We were turned around going back toward the trailer after lunch on this gravel road. We had been going along for some time and my mare was doing great. she started looking back, at first I thought it was at hubbys horse, but she kept looking back for about 3-5 min. I heard a "hello" behind us and low and behold a biker was yelling to let us know he was there. Well I knew something was back there because my Maci told me several times in fact!!!!
> 
> ...


That is awesome! Go Maci! She sounds like a wonderfully aware girl!


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## dashygirl (Nov 21, 2006)

Palomine said:


> I have found that the more intelligent horses are the ones that look around.


I think I'd have to agree with this. It seems that "lookers" are more in tune with taking in what's around them, they're observers much like some humans are more observant than others. And there is a difference between a "looker" and a "spooker," who tries to find monsters around every corner. 

Or if they aren't "smarter" per se, the "lookers" at least seem to be more curious in general about learning, smelling, tasting things they haven't before. I'd agree that it's fun to have a horse that wants to go out and explore as much as their rider does.


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## 3PaintMares (Feb 19, 2013)

My Mare is ten and she LOVES looking around while were exploring the trails. I do have to steer her bit from time to time to keep her on the path. Plus to keep her from running into trees and such cause she just enjoying the scenery. It don't bother me that she does it, I find it funny at times, cause we will be weaving back and forth and I jokingly tell Babe. "Babe you better hope we don't get stop by any police for all this weaving, cause you'll get a sobriety test for sure."


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## bbsmfg3 (Aug 12, 2010)

Allowing a horse to sight see, is very poor training on behave of the rider, Why, would I say that? 

Consider the facts:


Horses have amazing peripheral vision with two blind spots. One blind spot is directly in front of his nose extending around four feet in front of it. The second blind spot is behind the tail. That blind spot extends about ten feet long, beyond the horse's tail.
The field of view for horses can reach up to 200 degrees.
So why would you let a horse sight see, they can see everything they need to see with their head straight ahead. All allowing them to turn their head to sight see, does, is teach them to NOT pay attention to the rider. Eventually, the sight seeing will get the rider into trouble. An in attentive horse will eventually start taking control and sooner or later do as it wants and the rider will not have a choice in the matter. And we wonder where the outlaws come from, we, the humans, made them that way.

This might seem like such a trivial thing to a lot of folks, but it is the trivials, one step at time, that ruins good horses. We need to understand "the nature of the horse" in order to co-exist with them and keep control. Once out of control, the road back, is full of large mud holes, that sometimes can not be filled.

Haven't you ever wondered, why the dead broke, very well trained horse, becomes too much for the rider to handle. One little trivial after another, and the horse responds accordingly. We retrained them to NOT be the dead broke, do anything, go anywhere, equine, we started with.


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## Painted Horse (Dec 29, 2006)

Horses are prey animals. They have a million years of genes telling them they need to be observant to what going on around them. So it's expected that a horse should be observant of it's surroundings. Until you re-engineer their survival gene, You are not going to take that out of them.

But there is a compromise. Horses will learn that the bigger priority is watching where their feet are going, paying attention to the trail, and putting sight seeing onto the peripheral. I fully expect my horses to be looking around, Most of the time they spot deer and elk before I do.

But they need to know that is a secondary task that they do after they have done all that I've asked them. Just as you and I may read billboards along the freeway. If I get distracted and focus on something other than my driving, I am at risk of getting in an accident. But I ( and most people) can observe bill board advertising all kinds of products and not let it become distracting to my driving. Your horse just needs to put it into that back ground process.


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## toosexy4myspotz (Oct 7, 2007)

About six months ago I believe we where trail riding and we are on pretty steep and rocky ground. My mare tripped the WHOLE ride because she wasnt paying attention at all to where she was walking but everything that was around. On the way home she just so happened to be looking over the edge of steep trail and what do you know, she tripped and she face planted in the rocks and back feet went over the side. By then I was just severely irritated that she couldnt pay any attention and gave her good swift wack with my reins. I dont mind looking but where we ride they have to pay attention to their feet. If they dont its life or death for riders and their horses. I demand attention from her the whole. I pick and place her feet where I want them if I have to but they need to pay attention. I quick glance here and there is once thing but not slowing down and not paying attention to footing is just not acceptable in my book. Its dangerous.


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## Thunderspark (Oct 17, 2012)

I think it also depends on the horse, I do understand you saying that they aren't paying attention to where their feet are going but so long as my mare is not tripping/weaving along I'm ok with her turning her head to look at something.......now if she was not paying attention to her feet then she would get a whack to pay attention.....


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## dashygirl (Nov 21, 2006)

Painted Horse said:


> Horses are prey animals. They have a million years of genes telling them they need to be observant to what going on around them. So it's expected that a horse should be observant of it's surroundings. Until you re-engineer their survival gene, You are not going to take that out of them.
> 
> But there is a compromise. Horses will learn that the bigger priority is watching where their feet are going, paying attention to the trail, and putting sight seeing onto the peripheral. I fully expect my horses to be looking around, Most of the time they spot deer and elk before I do.


There is a difference between letting a horse be "observant" and "looking" while they're moving along the trail, rather than letting them gallivant sloppily along as they please. 

You'd have to agree some horses are more observant than others, it comes with different personalities. I think that's what this thread was initially about.


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## oliveoats (Jan 22, 2013)

I have a five year old gelding who's been under saddle for 8 months and LOVES looking around. I, personally, don't let him sightsee too much on the trail unless I stop him and loosen the reins. He knows that that is when he is allowed to check out the views while I rest.

If he is busy looking around while we're on the trail, I start asking him to do things to get his attention back on me. Normally, if I'm with a group and don't want to stop, I will side pass him and weave down the trail, which always gets his head back in the game. If I'm alone, and sick of side passing, I will stop and back him, let him take a step, then back him again, a few more steps, and back again. I've also used half halts and pivots to get the same result.

That's how I personally deal with this behavior. I love that my horse is very curious, and don't want to make him a boring horse that just plods down the trail with his nose in the sand. Instead, I put his head to better use until I decide he may take a break and look around. Hope this helps someone.


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## jamesqf (Oct 5, 2009)

bbsmfg3 said:


> Consider the facts:
> 
> 
> Horses have amazing peripheral vision with two blind spots. One blind spot is directly in front of his nose extending around four feet in front of it. The second blind spot is behind the tail. That blind spot extends about ten feet long, beyond the horse's tail.
> ...


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