Need some advice on spooking

[LMayhewtx]

There is a corner of our ring that terrifies all the horses. Nobody knows why - there are woods there, and sometimes rabbits or birds pop out. There is also a trail back there, so sometimes a horse pops out. My lease horse, who is generally a very calm, slightly ploddy, and very stubborn, has refused to go in this corner many times, or she will shy away, and a few times she has bolted across the ring even before we went into the corner. She will shake her head back and forth, as if to say oh god no, please don't make me, and then take off. Now, when her head starts shaking like that, we do small circles, and I ask her to do something else, and then we return to the corner later.
Over the past few weeks, we have made good progress. I did ride her in that ring only when other people were also riding in the ring, so she and I could both feel more confident. I have learned to feel her slowing down before she bolts and push her on - there has been less shying away. We have also followed other horses through the spooky corner, and I often handwalk her into the spooky corner, on both sides, before riding her in there. I was beginning to feel pretty darn good about myself about handling this situation.
I am not feeling so good since my lesson the other night. Our lesson was going great. It was our turn to go through the course, and I decided to circle before going over the jump. As we went towards the spooky corner, my horse bgan shaking her head, and I tried to just push her on, the next thing I knew, I was flat on my back in the middle of the ring. I think she bolted and threw in a giant buck along the way. Other riders say it was not the spooky corner but the barking dogs, who began to chase the horses towards the ring that caused my horse to bolt. I know why I fell - I was looking at the horse's shaking head instead of straight ahead. I got back on and went over the course a few more times, and cantered through the evil corner.

I am feeling really discouraged today. I feel like I should be more confident, so my lease horse would trust me more, or that I should have been more alert, so I wouldn't have been caught off guard and been able to sit through her buck. I am not a very experienced rider - any suggestions, or stories - about how you handled these things?

[teabiscuit]

i think you did a great job of getting her used ot the corner

there is always something to set the horses off, you can't account for every little thing.
just chalk it down to experience and be very proud of the way you got back on and carried on so bravely.
you did good!

[cazrider]

Sounds to me like you did pretty good too, so don't be discouraged.:D I may be way off beam here, but do you think some of the issue is because you expect there to be a problem in that corner? You said yourself that you though it may have been "Spooky corner" that caused your issue, but in fact there had been barking dogs at the time which caused the issue.

I remember doing a mini pairs w and t dressage on the yard on the mother of all windy days. My horse just isn't bothered by wind, but the horse I was partnering is. He went into our "spooky corner" (there always is one!) and spooked. Then my horse followed him in and spooked as well.:rolleyes: I had to get after him and tell him not to be so daft. Next time round he went through it fine, as he normally does. So, you could try concentrating on the work you're doing, and ask the horse for something you know he has to really think about in that corner. With any luck he and you'll be concentrating so hard he won't think about spooking.:)

[k8_doran]

The horse I ride used to be really scared of the bottom end of the school. There are jumps the other side, and when the owner was riding, someone oved the jumps, he did a massive 'spook' and she fell off, anyway he remembers that. I have had trouble getting him down there, but a found a way!

Luckily, we have him quite well schooled. So what I did, as ri said! was to flex him away from at as going past. I am not sure if you know the term. We were practicing flexing anyway, but it works a treat! :D