Horse spooking...............?

Question

I went to ride a friends horse the other day and I had to stop mid-ride because I needed to fix my half chaps. I had my mom come over to help me (while I was still on the horse) and as I was fixing them a branch fell behind us and the horse spooked. He sped around to face to tree and I let him stand there for a few minutes to study it. Was it wrong to let him stand there and continue looking at it or should I have immediately started walking and just ignored what happened.

After the incident he would not pay attention for the entire ride (always trying to turn around so he wouldn't have to tree behind him and his ears perked toward the woods). I was doing walk, trot, halt exercises yet he would still not pay attention. I don't know how he would react to a crop but should I have tried to use one??

What should I have done and what can I do if this should happen again?

He is a very sensitive TB that I have bonded with so much. It's not like him to completely disobey me.

Thanks!

Answer 1

Technically, you should have redirected his attention away from that. You should have comforted him and said, "Whoa." or his name or something. Now it will take a while for him to return normal when you ride. Next time change the direction he is in and comfort him immediately afterwards. Hope he gets better!

Jackie

Answer 2

some say ignore the branch,some say change his attention to something else.I see for the rest of that ride hes looking around..To me that's ok but what happens the next time out.I think the more a horse is expose to the better they will be.I had a horse walk by a storm drain for a years or so but one day the horse in front of him spooked by the drain.Like monkey see monkey do he spooked .with a nice slap on the neck and telling to quit .the next time out he was better but he was also in front to.Most of this is a judgment call at the time it happens.Your attention was on your chaps not your horse or your surroundings.I know its hard to do both at the same time

Answer 3

Funny, I had a very similar thing happen to me a couple of months ago, riding a sensitive appendix, who acts mostly TB.  I've ridden him many times, and had just gotten on, was standing talking to the owner, while I got ready to tighten the girth and shorten my irons.  I hadn't picked up my stirrups, and was holding the reins on the buckle when a large branch fell directly behind us.  He shot off as if he'd been shot out of a cannon, toward the fence, as I scrambled to stay on and shorten my reins and turn him before he either jumped the fence (4'??)or made a 90 degree turn.  He did the latter and I somehow stayed on.  I could feel his heart pounding, poor guy, and he could probably hear mine!

Anyway, I was laughing pretty hard when we pulled up, and so was the owner.  We just continued on as if nothing had happened.  I think this is gererall the best procedure, as when you turn and face the scary object, the horse tends to think that it IS something he ought to pay attention to.  Your horse probably picked up on your little bit of nervousness after this happened, so if I were you, I'd just plan to deliberately forget that it ever happened and expect him to go back to his old self, on your next trail ride.  You definitely ought not to have used a crop in this case.  There's a big difference between genuine fear and obstinacy, and you never ever punish for fear.

Answer 4

I think that I would have let him look at the tree. If he kept spooking, or being looky, you could have wiggled the bit around or done something to take his attention. He can only think of one thing at a time. Hope it helps!

Answer 5

Actually, you aren't supposed to try to calm him OR just ignore it.  Patting him and using soft words is just like telling him he's a good boy in his language.  He can't distinguish between if you are saying "good boy" or "easy" or whatever.  He listens to that tone of voice and that tells him he was a good boy for spooking.

If you ignore it and turn his back, he will think you are running away from it.  The best thing to do is to make him face what scared him (in this case the tree or the branch lying on the ground), and make him work while he faces it.  Put him in his comfort zone whether that's 10 feet away from the object or 50 feet away.  Then work him back and forth, making him move his feet, but always face the object.  When you turn him, turn toward the object, never away, and slowly get closer and closer with each movement.  Soon you'll be right up next to it.  He will learn that when he spooks he has to work harder, but also you will have taken his mind of the object, shown him it's not scary, but even more importantly, made him feel brave about it.

Works like a charm, I swear!

Answer 6

You should have just turned him back around and went on but it is okay. Remember that if you feel worried or scared so will your horse. You yourself need to be calm. When something like that happens you just need to say "Whoa boy" or "Easy boy" in a soothing voice. Then, you need to turn him back around and go on like nothing happened. If he keeps shying at the same place you may want to bring him back to it a few times or lead him up to it on foot to show him there is nothing to be scared about. I hope I helped!

Answer 7

I would totally ignore the behavior, ignore the tree branch. Then he will understand that its nothing to pay attention to. I've heard that saying "Its ok, good boy" makes a horse spook more often to get attention, so I wouldn't suggest that. Your horse, since you have a bond with him, is also paying attention to your nerves. Maybe it made your heart jump, just the noise? Maybe he was having a bad day?

Answer 8

Yeah, you just ignore the issue. If you let him stare at the issue and study it, horses have this weird ability to create an issue, or a bigger issue out of something small and it will stick in their brain. By letting him study it, he is just thinking of a thousand more things scary about the tree. You turn him the opposite way he wants to go and face him away from the tree and get him where you want his attention to be. If throughout your ride you find his attention is wandering, and all other options to get his attention are failing, you can always hop off, pop him in the lunge past the scary object, or hop off after lunging and hand walk him up to the object and let him sniff and touch it. Sometimes from a distance things are scarier to a horse than up close and personal because keep in mind they also do not have peripheral vision, so the reason he turns around is because he cannot see behind him or straight in front of him unless it is up very close.

A crop is not necessarily the answer to get a horse's attention. A crop is usually used for discipline, to move a horse forward when they're behind your leg, or for reassurance, even so, it is a last resort. So I wouldn't use the crop to get his attention, it may just startle him more, or even cause him to disobey the crop when it is used properly in the future.

So just don't make a big deal of the spook, the horse will eventually forget about it as long as you aren't nervous about the spook either, because they can feel your anxiety as well. Take care, and good luck :)