Inexplicable fear days - do you get these ?

Question

I took Fally out yesterday. Where we are is a semi residential area so going out means roadwork every time.

Yesterday he decided that parked cars were scary - really scary, we had the whole arched neck, snorting, butt swinging and trying to get on the opposite side of the road performance. One car with a for sale sign in the window was so terrifying that he had to stand trembling for several seconds before he'd even consider going forward.

He has never had an accident or bad experience with a parked car - just some (odd) days we get this.

I can't figure it- it's not that he sees his reflection - I already thought of that.

Any similar experiences or suggestions as to the cause ?

Answer 1

had this morning,bit like what the ancient greeks liked to refer to as panic...ie. a visitation from pan himself,these things i could live without.

Answer 2

Heck yes - I call it Arab Day. I don't think there's any reason for it (unless he had the wind up his bum?) it's just one of those things. My Highland is always embracing his sense of humour and dancing about snorting, pretending he's a pretty Arab. My Anglo Arab is actually far more sane than the Highland... so much for steady natives.

Answer 3

This is normal.  Horses are prey animals.  They take notice and are cautious of anything that is different.  It takes a lot of trail miles before they stop that.  People do not think a parked car is scary, but they usually do not realize that what the horse is seeing is something strange that moves (in the reflection from the window).   They will also get that way from large logs and rocks and boulders along side the trail.  To get them over it you RIDE, RIDE, RIDE, and RIDE some more.  After about 1000 miles they won't booger at much anymore (LOL).

Answer 4

sounds frustrating, i don't live in town and my horse seems fine with cars however she hates the look of those big bales of hay coated in the green plastic that you get for cows, if i'm riding towards them she does the same thing as yours. i have to get off her and walk her past (at her pace instead of mine) usually just comforting by rubbing her on the neck and saying wow up and it's ok and sometimes letting her investigate and have a sniff to realise that their not about to come alive and attack us! makes things a bit better, it is annoying and it would be alot more dangerous in your case... horses are flighty creatures and need you to let them know it's ok- also what your feeding might contribute, i can't feed my gray mare any grain or hot foods and i don't give her lucerne the day before or the day i'm riding her other wise she's to spirited.....

Answer 5

I told you to stop smoking that weed!

Answer 6

For YEARS my mare was convinced there was a monster in one corner of the arena where she lived. Some days she was fine, but other days, there was a monster in that corner and she would spook at it. She was really good at spinning haunch turns, which normally resulted in my landing on my butt as I was still in the same spot and she was halfway across the arena. Then she would come back and be like, what are you doing sitting on the ground human?

I had her freeze while riding on the road one day, normally there was no problem with cars passing, but one day one was coming up and she had a deer in the headlights moment.

I would say something about the cars bothers him, perhaps a smell or the shape.

On the bright side, it has now been years since my mare spooked at the corner in the arena, she has lived in the same barn for over 12 years.

Answer 7

Mine is very much like this too.

We can pass (without batting an eyelid) double decker buses with idiotic drivers who want to actually sit on the horse with you they get that close, can cope with tractors with spikes hanging off it around 20 foot in the air and even managed to walk up a main dual carriageway.  

But if Benson is having an off day he desides that there are so many 'horse-eating carrier bags' out to get him and spooky 'fire breathing black birds' flying out of bushes that you don't even get half a mile down the road without a quivver - he's such a big wuss!!

I guess its just like Jeff says - ride, ride and ride again so that they see these and get used to them, and even then I still reckon you could end up having a dance over the most unlikely thing ever.

Good luck!!

Answer 8

Happens all the time.  I've always attributed it to horsie things that they perceive and we have no clue.  I wish they could talk......well, sometimes.

Answer 9

Yes - all the time!  There are just days when the leaves are blowing the wrong way and thats it - there is no passing them and we are in mortal fear of our lives.  They do spook easily but the trick is to remain calm - then they know there is nothing to worry about.  If they think you are worried too - they will doubly panic.  Just scratch the neck above the withers, let them know you are still there and coax them through - it is no good losing your temper or using the whip - it will break down their trust in you.  My neighbour once spent 40 minutes getting her horse past the vietnam pig in the field on the corner.  But two days earlier they had walked past without batting an eyelid.  It is frustrating but so long as you remain calm and focused and are urging them forward thats the main thing.  I know someone who turned away and went back the way they came and that was it - they could never go past that scary postbox again.  We are all prone to irrational fear now and again - they just have it quite badly sometimes.

If they feel secure with you there is more chance of them going past whatever it is that is scaring them.

Answer 10

Yes, my mare was terrified of a tree that had fallen over and it's root system and trunk were sticking up in the air.  I could feel her heart just pounding between my legs...I rode her up as close as I could get to the tree and just let her look at it...let her smell it and check it out....She was really funny, when she decided it was "ok" she'd always walk up to the thing that spooked her and she'd try to bite it.  She grabbed ahold of the trunk, just once, and then she was ok.....weird.  Same horse that hated mud puddles...drove me nuts.

Something must have appeared out of place to Falco....I've got one here that is better than a watchdog....if we move a piece of equipment or bring something a little different into their visual field he knows......and he lets us know that we changed something.  Snorty, ears up...checking it out.  He knows if a stranger appears on our property of 10 acres...same reaction.  It would be great if they didn't "overreact" but I know they will if they've not been lunged prior to riding them to drain off that extra energy.

Answer 11

Yup definately.... I can hack down the main road, past lorries, tractors anything and I can go out on windy days without too much trouble....  Then occasionally we have a day when I am glad to get home in one piece!!! Once it was a motorbike which for some reason we had to try and catch lol!!!.... once it was kids playing football,  often it's prams and once it was 2 men walking down the road towards us!!!!!

I have no idea why some days are spook days and others are not... but it certainly livens things up a bit!!! lol!!

Answer 12

Stretch has a compact white car phobia.  It was not like he was ever beat with a white compact car.. so who knows.

It was first discovered at National Western Stock Show.. I had the pack saddle on him and was packed sky high with all our living accomodations to take out to the horse trailer.

Some innocent car, sitting against the fenceline and he just lost it, jumped sideways and sent everything on his back spinning.  He did it every single time I packed him by the car and continues to pull that to this day.

I have no clue what the deal is, toyota, ford, chevy, that doesn't matter, but if its white, its a mule eater!!

Answer 13

My Horse can't stand anything with two wheels. "It just skeery and wrong, everything has better balance with 4, duh"  He is getting better about bikes, he just watches them, but motorcycles and mopeds, they can be going 5 miles an hour and he will still spin, I have resorted to juming a ditch and making him watch safely from the otherside.  Its just weird that he is scared b/c I  and other people use to ride a 4 wheelr near him, going 40, 50 mph.

What makes me laugh is how Smart horses(notice I say SMART) Don't spook when they hit something and it makes a loud sound,(back on a trail we were cantering and my leg hit a piece of sheet metal, he didn't care but the horse infront of us did) but at the same time, if a horse butt moves that traschcan thats been watching you you better get away.  I swear this horse should be a cutter or could have been a cutter in past live cuz the way he moves when something spooks him....

Answer 14

I don't have a horse but I have days I have trouble like that my self.Alprazolam helps me.I wander what a dosage of this would be for a horse? Your horse is not alone!

Answer 15

I just think, horses get like that when they are feeling  really well in themselves or " full of it ". As humans, when we feel good, we feel like doing a handstand or skipping down the street. (we don't do it for obvious reasons, but it doesn't stop us feeling that way.) Could his diet be making him a little high? or perhaps it was the strong wind, that we had over the weekend?