# Your oddest Horse Experience



## Lonestar22 (May 22, 2009)

haha. I haven't had anything that strange happen to me. I did ALMOST step on a coyote when loping through some tall grass. I looked down and it was right under my feet. Same day same area I was loping and a group of birds that was nesting flew right up in front of me and my horse and he jumped over and through all of them. Intersting sight frm the inside.


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## SmoothTrails (Oct 1, 2009)

Hmmmm...I would say my strangest experience was my old horse pony limping. He was the biggest faker on earth. The only difference between a real limp and a fake one was that when he was faking he would literally slap his nose to the ground. When he really was limping it was not very pronounced at all. He would make himself look like he was dying. 

I thought he was really hurt the first time, and then of course he realized that made me get off. If you were riding and he started it all you had to do was say his name like you were getting onto a little kid and he would pretend that he wasn't doing anything...lol. I had never seen a horse fake a limp that bad, or stop so quick when I got onto him.


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## haviris (Sep 16, 2009)

I had a pony that also fake limped. I realized what she was up to when the second to let go she took off full speed bucking and farting.

She was smart, but hard to concentrate on more then one thing at a time, she LOVE LOVE LOVED powdered donuts!!! Pull one out and she'd forget about limping and climb the fence to get to it! 

I'm sure we didn't help matters much, when we thought it was so funny and would 'try' to get her to do it!


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## kevinshorses (Aug 15, 2009)

When I was a kid I was with my dad moving some cows and we stopped for a minute to fix our saddles and give the horses a breather. I was eating a pb&j sandwich and just holding the bag that I had it in with the other hand. My horse reached over sniffed it once then yanked it out of my hand and swallowed it before I could react at all. I worried for a week that the bag would plug him up and kill him but I guess it came out alright.


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## Scoutrider (Jun 4, 2009)

My first horse would fake itch his forelegs to sneak grass. He figured out that if we were just standing around I would let him scratch his face on his legs, but not graze, so he pretended to itch, and maybe did 2 or 3 scratches, and then would slowly ease down to grass level. :lol:

Probably the other really weird thing that's happened would be the time my sister's QH taught an orphan calf how to "smile" for a treat. Rio smiles on cue for carrots, and this little calf just kind of picked it up and started lifting his upper lip just like Rio, which looked really stupid because cows have no upper teeth in front! Eventually, we moved Andy (the calf) out into the herd, but he never really mingled totally with the other cows. I swear he thought he was one of the horses. If he saw a human or a horse coming, he would come running full tilt to the fence (not so cute at 500+ pounds of steer), grinning like an idiot. :lol: Once, he stood on our side of a common fence while our neighbor was fixing his side's hot wire smiling at him the whole time.


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## RiddlesDarkAngel5 (Jun 2, 2009)

i used to jump this horse in lessons who had the oddest canter. when he picked it up, he would crank his head to the inside to the point that he was looking at me. i kid you not! he did this the entire time we cantered, but only on the flat. the minute you cantered and pointed him at the jump he'd straighten his head. haha, it was slightly unnerving to be riding him and having him look at me the whole time. they never did figure out why he did it


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## Attitude05 (Nov 11, 2009)

one day i was riding my mare down the road, she got a firght so reared and spun 180* she got to the point and started to go back down, but just before she got to the ground she was back up and around the other way... veryyyyy odd


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## Honeysuga (Sep 1, 2009)

M y Sheltie Moonie would kick out if you popped his rump with a crop. What made this funny was that he would kick out on the side you popped every time. it was really funny to tap him on each "cheek" while riding him, it felt soo weird and got so many laughs...


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## horsea (Dec 28, 2009)

I have a sort of creepy one:

My barn is on part of what used to be a Native American tribe's land. Most of their property is a state park now (We are right next to it, AWESOME trails lol). But our big arena is said to be haunted by a ghost and a lot of people have had odd experiences there. Well, it was last year on a friday night about 6:30ish and Halloween was the next day. I was giving a dressage lesson to a woman and I was standing right next to her when it happened. We heard a bang in the far end then all of the lights and the radio went off. Then the side door (which is only for people, and it had a turning knob that you can only turn to open) slammed open so hard it bounced back into place. Then the lights and radio went straight back on (These lights usually take 5 minutes to warm up, too). We were totally freaked out! 

Needless to say I don't ride by myself in there anymore lol!


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## BlueJayWay (Feb 8, 2010)

^ that sounds so awesome. I would be creeped out, but would love it haha.

hmm. Well, I remember my horse wanted to tackle this 10 year old kid for her angus burger. hah, he wouldn't dream to hurt her, he just kept blocking her from getting away. 

Also, while Cattle penning, my horse tries to make friends with the cows. We gave up on penning since he wanted to be with the cows rather then chase em.


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## horsea (Dec 28, 2009)

Lol, yeah my student thought it was really cool and says it was awesome. But I admit it, I'm a total chicken  It was a bit funny though: the student calming the teacher lol!


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## masatisan (Jan 12, 2009)

Once I was riding Caleb on a loose rein and he decided to be a goof and play with a plastic step ladder. Not a good, high quality one, just a cheap plastic one from wal-mart or somewhere, anyway, he started by picking it up and tossing it a few times. After satisfying himself on testing its durability for being thrown, he decides to try his other favorite test, the "let's-see-what-it-does-if-I-step-on-it-test."

Now, I should have stopped him, I should have not even let him touch it in the first place, but how could I ruin his fun? Of course, not having stopped him, something went wrong. 

I think his thought process was along these lines:
Step test commencing
all clear to step
proceed with caution
stepping commenced
*Critical error!
**Pull out!*
_Error!__Unable to pull out! _
_Attempting emergency disengagement!_
Disengagement failed!
Activating idle mode until human intervention
stand by for clearence
...

So...yes, it _flipped itself_ as he stepped on it and got stuck on his leg! Caleb is either extremely irrational, or rational, depending on his mood. That day, thank goodness, he was being rational. He tried to step out of it, when that didn't work he started pawing, then he went still and waited for me to help him.

It took three of us to get it off, I was worried we'd have to cut it, but in the end it came off with pressure on both sides. I was worried he might have cut his leg, but he was fine. He gave the step stool the nastiest glare from the corner of his eye when we started going again, after that he kept going as if nothing had happened.


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## horsea (Dec 28, 2009)

Lol, thats hilarious! I could totaly see my horse doing that but he would have FREAKED! Glad he was ok, though


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## masatisan (Jan 12, 2009)

Well, Caleb is a Perch and Arabian cross, so for the most part, when he's in his better mindset, he has the arabian intelligence, and the perch levelheadedness making him really easygoing and fun. When he's in a bad mindset, he gets very high strung and takes on alot of the negative behaviors usually asociated with his breeds. At the worst he gets impossibly hardheaded, flighty and like I said before, irrational.


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## Pro (Apr 23, 2009)

I have lots, but I don't have time to say them all so I'll just say my most recent one.

I just brought out a warm wet piece of paper towel to clean Pro's eyes. Afterwords I set it down and when I looked pro just bent down and before I could stop him the paper towel was in his mouth and he ate it. He was fine afterwords....It was sick because hes eyes were pretty goopy


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## thunderhooves (Aug 9, 2009)

hmmm.........i was riding my pony in our pasture a while back, and our neighbor started to shoot his gun. see, our house/ranch place thing(lol) has our neighbors pasture behind ours, and their house to the left of ours. Our dog pen is right by the entrane to the horse pasture. So, anyway, the neighbor was shooting, and i was riding around in the pasture. The brown dog we had started freaking, and wiggling out fast under the dog pen and into the horse pen(they're connected), and started running full speed to the other side, heading for the gap under the fence to ge into the neighbors pasture, and then on through that to who know where. So riht as he got almost to the middle, and kicked Belle into a gallop and cut him of. I slowed and got ready to jump off, but then he turned and ran again. So I went after again, he was running next to us(left side) and tried to turn. all of the sudden I heard/saw a brown lump go under Belle, some thunping, and a dog come out the other side. I slowed a bit and looked(Belle is fast), and saw him get up and run away, so a galloped up next to him, calling his name, slowed, did a running dismount, and grabbed his collar, and walk him and my mare back to the gate and gave him to my dad, got back up on Belle, and continued working on sidepasses and backing. lol. Quite the adventure/thrill, if I do say so myself!


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## horsea (Dec 28, 2009)

Pro: lol! He must have wanted something warm 

Masatisan: That sounds like a great mix. They both have qualities that the other lacks. If he is the horse in your profile pic, he is beautiful!!! I can really see Arabian but with some draft substance.


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## Draftgirl17 (Dec 26, 2009)

My parents had two TWH a mother and daughter. Well the mother died when she was like 32 or something and Brandy, her daughter was getting pretty lonely. So i had broken my leg and my dad was home with me and he looked out the back window and saw this woman walking in the back pasture. So he went back and she is tells him she's looking for this loose horse that looks a lot like the one in the fence (Brandy, our horse) but that one is in the fence. She tells him that there is this horse that comes up to their pasture (just through the woods, not that far) and just stands there and grazes by the other horses, doesn't try to get in the fence or cause trouble. So my dad was like...hmm.. He checked the fence and couldn't see anything that stuck out but the next day my mom was home. My dad left for work and then my mom watched out of the back window and brandy ducked the fence and was walking up the through the woods. So my mom yelled out to her and she turns around and gets back in the fence before she gets back there and just looks like "what i wasn't gone" We found out that she would listen and knew when my parents left for work and then would duck the fence behind this over grown bush and would go up and hang out with the other horses, then would sneak back in before they got home to feed. Pretty darn sneaky she was. Lol.


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## jamesqf (Oct 5, 2009)

When I first moved to my current place about a decade ago, my neighbor had two horses. The chestnut one was (and still is) full of mischief, and could do an amazing "dead horse" act. The first time I saw it, I was completely fooled. I work from home, so would be outside occasionally during the day, and of course had the neighbor's work number just in case there were problems.

So picture this: midafternoon of a hot summer day. I step outside for a break, and as I often did, I walked over to the fence to see if anybody needed ear-scratching. And out in the middle of the field, there's the chestnut lying, head back, no sign of breathing, and looking all bloated. So I think "Omigawd, how am I ever going to tell K?". But I look a little closer, and I see a barely-opened eye following me, as he's watching to see how I'd react


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## Britt (Apr 15, 2008)

Our old gelding used to fake a limp to get out of riding... or walking, or anything... After watching him a few times, we started making him work regardless whenever he faked it.

We always knew when he faked it, too... cause he would limp on one leg for a minute, then stop, then pick it back up and limp on the other leg... lol.


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## kevinshorses (Aug 15, 2009)

Horses don't fake things. They don't have the capacity for lying or cheating. If they are limping they are lame and you as an owner needs to find out why. People can fake things all the time but horses are genuine and honest.


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## Scoutrider (Jun 4, 2009)

kevinshorses said:


> Horses don't fake things. They don't have the capacity for lying or cheating. If they are limping they are lame and you as an owner needs to find out why. People can fake things all the time but horses are genuine and honest.


I do agree that horses do not set out to deceive, but I will say that they can be "trained" to do things that look to us like trickery if we start anthropomorphizing. Like my guy who learned that I would allow something that made him more comfortable _and_ put him in a position to do something "forbidden", so he learned. I can definitely see a clumsier horse with a rider who stopped to check him every stumble learning that a stumble gets him out of work. Same as a bucker who learns to throw a rider to avoid work. That kind of behavior can be a trained response, but is not a conscious deception on the part of the horse. I will definitely say that they don't think along the lines of "Puny human, I will get you for being 5 minutes late with breakfast! I shall feign lameness and make you loose a night's sleep, the cost of a vet consult, _and_ make you late for work!" I do actually know some people who's horse went off his feed, and they told me it was because he was upset and getting them back for something they did, some minor thing like a neighbor feeding instead of them that morning. :?:shock:

If one of mine started inexplicably stumbling, I'd probably have a stroke.


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## haviris (Sep 16, 2009)

I'd say you don't give horses enough credit.

But I also agree that it's generally taught. They are either lame or they are not, they can't be cripplingly lame coming in from the pasture, but fine as soon as they see a donut or the halter is removed. Now what most likely happened is she was truely lame and it got her out of work a few times, so she learned that by appearing lame she wouldn't have to work.

Either way, lameness doesn't work quite like that.


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## Britt (Apr 15, 2008)

The gelding I'm talking about, we could always tell when it was a real lameness, and he was getting older, so we were really careful with him. He learned that he could 'go lame' and get out or work, and he did, until we caught on.

Just like my mare, when I first got her, knew she could throw her rider, or otherwise intimidate me or whoever was riding her, and get out or work. Both problems were fixed. 

Ater the gelding learned that his 'fake lameness' wasn't getting him out of work, but getting him worked more, he quit. After my mare figured out that I wasn't going nowhere no matter how she tried to intimidate me, she pretty much quit bucking and trying.



I do believe it is a learned thing, but regardless of it being something learned or trained, it is still 'faking'.


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## masatisan (Jan 12, 2009)

horsea said:


> Masatisan: That sounds like a great mix. They both have qualities that the other lacks. If he is the horse in your profile pic, he is beautiful!!! I can really see Arabian but with some draft substance.


Thank you! Yep, that's him, that was his very first time out in his new pasture, the day after he became officially my horse (the full sized pic is in my barn). He was really exited to meet all the new horses and explore his new home.

I remembered another strange thing that happened. Once, when I was at camp, we went out on a trail ride instead of having a lesson. We were heading out to the road (this camp was literally in the middle of nowhere, so the road was more like a well maintained trail) and the smallest horse in our group, a pony named Chester, suddenly started acting very strange. We all stopped to make sure he and his rider were okay. The other horses saw Chester (usually a very calm pony) acting up and started getting antsy themselves, then suddenly he shook himself all over and bent down on both knees, his rider at the same moment, screamed and very gracefully resorted to an smergency dismount leap-frog style, over Chester's bowed head. After that, Chester calmed right down.

We later learned that there was a wasp nest nearby. It's possible that Chester was stung, which explained his behavior, but left us all to wonder, why only Chester?


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## Brighteyes (Mar 8, 2009)

I would say otherwise, Kevinshorses. Training is basically a horse doing something for a reward. Like turning; they want the pressure of the bit to stop, so they turn and we release. The release is their reward. Same with a mare I ride. She learned to fake trip to get people off

How? Well, she trips once for real and people falls. People off = Reward. And the horse thinks, "Huh. If I do this, I get rewarded." Therefore, she has trained herself for fake tripping.  Smart horse Moon is.


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## riccil0ve (Mar 28, 2009)

The oddest thing I've ever experienced with a horse, ever, was when I was getting ready to ride Ricci. I had her "parked" in the middle of the aisle, I was getting ready to throw her saddle on, and the neighbor starts trying to start his truck. The truck was old and groaning and rumbling and Ricci, no joke, squats down and starts winking. Old truck = hot stallion? Haha.

It was also pretty odd when I learned my girls loved their teats rubbed. I was just picking out the gunk like normal on Ricci, and she leaned into it, stuck her lip out, and soaked it all up. Gracie, my yearling, does the same thing. I don't mean just loved it, they LOOOOOVED it. =]


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