# is your horse afraid of anything on the trail?



## ColleenT (Apr 5, 2007)

so far, my guy is really only afraid of the cyclists that sneak up behind him. 

I used to have a horse that was afraid of mailboxes and garbage cans. Also Baby carriages and bikes. He was a mess...


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## Abby (Nov 26, 2007)

Mine is afraid of large white rocks. He's okay with scary white plastic bags and all that but not large white rocks. He is getting over it though.


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## PoptartShop (Jul 25, 2010)

Lexi doesn't really like deer. Even if she sees them far away in the distance, she gets spooky. She's been better at it lately, thankfully.  She used to be afraid of the bicycles but now she's fine with them.


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## mell (Sep 5, 2007)

shad doesn't like:
cattle (particularly one cow on its own)
bushes (clumps of them...could be scary animals inside :roll: )
other horses (not scared of them.. just excited)
lines on roads (paint)
dead animals e.g. road kill
windy days

i think thats it. if i think of more i will add them


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## PoptartShop (Jul 25, 2010)

Oh! She also isn't too fond of bulldozers...haha, sometimes we'll see them on the trail.


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## Kyani (Apr 30, 2007)

Oddie is afraid of nothing. Good old steady needy, he is :lol: 

We used to have a young pony that had some kind of pathological fear of wheelbarrows, which made no sense because she saw them every day and I'm sure none of them ever attacked her. We just got her over that and then she met a PUSHCHAIR, which is like a wheelbarrow WITH A ROOF. Sent her little mind in a loop, that did.


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## Sissimut-icehestar (Jan 20, 2008)

Draumsýn(horse im riding) has only been "afraid" of one thing! we once saw a cat on the road, and she just wouldn´t go forward until it was off ! she didn´t spook or anything she just stopped ! she isn´t afraid of bunies or dogs or anything like that... 
silly mare :roll: :lol:


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## PoptartShop (Jul 25, 2010)

Aww, that's funny lol! :lol: Lexi spooked at a leaf yesterday on the trail...they sure can spook at silly things!


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## Dumas'_Grrrl (Apr 2, 2008)

From my experience horses are only afraid of 2 things....


Those that move and those that don't :roll: 

My horses don't "spook" they really just stop and stare for a while. I haven't run across anything like deer popping up right in front of us either tho... Guess we are too noisy for that.


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## cloudy18 (Apr 29, 2008)

deer, ruffed grouse, chainsaws, signs (sometimes), logs (one trail we ride on has a small log pile, like firewood, we must move as far away as possible while staring at logs with big eyes), wooden benches, water last year, not so much this year, I'm sure there's more. It really depends on the day.


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## DGW1949 (Oct 24, 2007)

Charley gets spooked by Walmart bags, road kill, cats, snakes, buzzards, armadillos, hogs, and dogs that run in packs.
About the only thing that bothers Lacey, is not being able to see Charley. She gets plumb skitish if she doesn't know exactly where he is.

DGW


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## Britt (Apr 15, 2008)

My girl is BAD gunshy!... and I just found out the other day that Thunder scares ger too, if it's right overhead... Otherwise, she's the perfect trail horse.


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## Vidaloco (Sep 14, 2007)

Mine isnt afraid of much either. She does like Dumas said, stops and stares, rarely any major sideways spooks. We were in a parade last year and got behind some antique cars that were backfiring. That made her a little nervous but I was nervous too so it could have been me :lol: 
Only one time in all the miles we have gone has she refused to go through something. We were crossing a creek and she was standing on a rock ledge in the water but to cross she had to step down into deeper water we couldn't see the bottom of. She wouldn't step down and I gave up trying to make her. I guess I trusted her judgement on it. She normally has no problems with water. Who knows maybe there was a snake down there :shock: Just had to find a better place to cross.


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## Vidaloco (Sep 14, 2007)

oops thought of another I may have already posted. last week we went out by ourselves she barely spooked at a deer jumping out about 10' from us but jumped hard at a red cardinal in the tree :lol: go figure :?


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## cloudy18 (Apr 29, 2008)

Deer! The husband's horse saw a deer when we were loping and he came to a dead stop. It happened so fast that I saw a flash of deer, looked away to pay attention to my horse, and looked up to see hubby climbing off ground. He did a total flip over horse's head and landed on his back with reins still in his hands. I usually ride behind so I can see all the good stuff they pull.


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## PoptartShop (Jul 25, 2010)

Lexi used to HATE crossing over water, but now she doesn't mind.


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## HooverH (May 17, 2008)

We used to have a little rat terrier that did trails with us. Hoovey is alright with big dogs, but little ones unsettle him. He doesn't spook, but does keep a really close eye on them.

His major spooking problem is when he trips, if he has no idea what he's tripped on. He'll do it sometimes when I'm leading him, as he likes to walk somewhat behind one of my legs. His leg will sometimes knock mine, and he comes up scared, does a little head toss and hop. If I'm firm with him and tell him what he tripped on, he's alright.

He also hates the porch swing in the front yard, and pieces of cloth on the tack rail (like rugs, shirts, etc.) They're sure to be horse-eaters!


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## ColleenT (Apr 5, 2007)

oops, i already posted in this thread. Duh.


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## Dumas'_Grrrl (Apr 2, 2008)

ColleenT said:


> oops, i already posted in this thread. Duh.


 :lol: 



I found something that spooks my horses! My 4yo son fell over a garbage bag that had some empty boxes in it waiting to get put into the burn pile. ( he gets his grace form his momma) The horses were grazing in the yard about 30feet from us. They FREAKED out and took off across the yard!!! :shock: Once they got away they both turned around and stared and snorted at Eli like to say, dang it boy! stay on your feet! :lol:


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## PoptartShop (Jul 25, 2010)

LOL!! :lol: They do tend to spook @ the silliest things, it's pretty funny.


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## farmpony84 (Apr 21, 2008)

Mines afraid of an invisible monster. I cant figure out what it is, but I know where it lives... same spot every time, rain or shine... have no idea what or where it is... It has to be invisible....


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## CountryGirl498 (May 10, 2008)

*HOW ABOUTarmadillos?*

This thread is very helpful as we are learning about horses and getting ready to get more serious for our 10 year old who loves them but does not KNOW them. 

My cousin has a black mare Princess... in Alabama... who is Scared out of her mind by ARMADILLOS. It doesn't matter if they are dead or alive. So, now it has gone to white plastic bags that LOOK like armadillos to her. She stops and does the big eyes stare. 

I can't say I blame her. I don't like to be surprised by them either... the armadillos.. not the plastic bags.


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## Rikke (May 17, 2008)

The horse I owned before wasn't really afraid of anything special. The only thing she really jumped for once was when we rode along a golf-field. I just had to laugh when she started looking at them like they were something that was going to kill her. 

And the horse I leased wasn't afraid of anything either. But he used to decide to get scared by something, just to check how I would react


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## PoptartShop (Jul 25, 2010)

LOL Rikke that's funny! :lol:


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## kim_angel (Oct 16, 2007)

Back in the day when I used to ride Cocoa, we would have to cross a road to get to the other side of the trails.
She was afraid of the yellow and white lines in the roads. She would JUMP over them. haha


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## PoptartShop (Jul 25, 2010)

LOL that's silly!!


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## sempre_cantando (May 9, 2008)

YES!!!!

She gets scared of random things. Especially when we're cantering along she suddenly stops at somthing scarey and I nearly fly over her head. grrrr lol


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## PoptartShop (Jul 25, 2010)

LOL yeah, speaking of that...I took Lexi on a trail around the barn property- she spooked @ a leaf! :lol:


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## Dumas'_Grrrl (Apr 2, 2008)

LOL....Poptart! Imagine what she would have done if she saw the whole tree! :wink:


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## PoptartShop (Jul 25, 2010)

LOL I knoww! :lol: Ahh the silly things horses do.


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## Nine (May 25, 2008)

*Ming spooked at a pheasant hen that flew out of the tall weeds, right next to us. I have to tell you I spooked, too! She doesn't like mud, but will go through it - with her nose to the ground, checking out every step.*


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## sempre_cantando (May 9, 2008)

what about those dangerous monster things that only horses can see? there seems to be a lot of them around here... according to my mare anyway! it must have been a good year for them this year lol


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## barefoothooves (Sep 6, 2007)

Toby's arch nemisis is a fat momma cow. But that's completely my fault. When I was breaking him, the neighbors offered to help gather some cattle to work my colt on a little. Wellllll, they failed to mention they had just calved...
long story short, we got charged and Toby had NO QUALMS about leaving town if a big cow approached him to keep him away from her baby. :roll: He's normally quite lazy and his biggest spook will be to stop and twitch in place. He hasn't tried to run away from a cow in a couple of years, as he's in field next to a bunch of them now, but he doesn't TRUST them. :lol: 

I used to have one that would crawl inside out of his skin over a plastic bag. And he like to buck when he spooked. He would do a 180 rollback, run and buck. (back when I was a teenager) .


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## Nine (May 25, 2008)

*I think you're right about the dangerous monsters that lurk in the tall weeds and bushes. You never know when they'll attack, although I've never actually been attacked. But you can't be too carefull! :? *


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## my2geldings (Feb 18, 2008)

The last horse I took regularly on trails was my big TB gelding. We would go for gallops in a big pasture next to my house. The one thing that was quite a bit issue for him was birds. As we would go on our trail every other ride we would end up running into these huge flocks of tiny little birds that would be on the ground then suddenly all fly away. You could not see them and it would really scare him.

Always fun trying to handle him while he spooked.


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## horsejumper123 (Jul 9, 2008)

ive never been on a trail. i just ride around my yard, and in open feilds around us. and i cant wait to do it again after practice in the round pen. other wise my mare isnt afraid of anything. she is fine with cars coming by (live next to a road) tractors, motorcylcles, bikes, other people, dogs, and all that. she loves fireworks. yep im pretty lucky lol! the only thing she dont like is ropes. well when they are waved in her face on accident, she just keeps moving her head around till it is gone. she is an very good girl!


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## Harlee rides horses (Jan 13, 2008)

My three year old isn't scared of anything except big rocks, like boulders... :lol: :roll:


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## PoptartShop (Jul 25, 2010)

Haha my horse is scared of bulldozers! :lol:


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## Nine (May 25, 2008)

*I found out yesterday, that she doesn't like mail boxes. We'll work on that. It was really windy, though. That's probably part of the trouble. 3 dogs ran out at us, and she didn't even bat an eye. Good girl!  *


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