Spooky Horse

[ddgpony]

My horse spooks a lot. He will find monsters hidden everywhere waiting to eat him!! Can anyone with similar horses give me any adivce how to cope with this. Will calming supplements help?

[shandy84]

Best advice is to ride out with a confident horse :) calming supplements are rarely likely to work :)

[teabiscuit]

my lad responds well to NAF herbal calmer, easy going it's called. it helps reduce his spooks by about half, if i can put it in such terms :D

the magnesium based stuff has no effect on his spooks at all

[shandy84]

my lad responds well to NAF herbal calmer, easy going it's called. it helps reduce his spooks by about half, if i can put it in such terms :D



Ohh that's interesting as have never tried that one, but ones I did try were useless

[Joyscarer]

My girl was very spooky when I first got her. She hadn't been hacked out very much so I had to get her into that and then get her into solo hacking.

A combination of doing more with her and her trusting me a lot more has led to a heavy breathing horse but one that doesn't spook much :D

[Bay Mare]

I can be worth trying something with magnesium in it just in case the spookiness is partly due to a magnesium deficiency. It's not a calmer as such but a deficiency of magnesium can lead to the horse (or humans!) overreacting to what would be a normal occurence for other horses.

I use calmag or magox (both available from Barefoot Basics on ebay).

Other than that exposure to a whole host of different things as others have said, preferably with a 'nanny' horse initially.

[ddgpony]

Thanks very much for your replies. I'll give the supplements a go, trying the NAF easy going first, along with a lot of patience and consistency. I'll let you know if we get any improvement.

[martini55]

The first thing I would question, before going down the supplements route, is what is he fed in the first place?

[JOJOBA]

NAF Magic worked well on my spooky horse! It's a magnesium one too.

xxx

[wonkeywoody]

You could try giving 4-6 drops of Rescue Remedy in his bottom lip about half an hour before you go out (take some yourself too). It is more 'instant' than calmers...........

[Joyscarer]

Should have added to my post that my attitude to her spooks changed as well from fear and disappointment to 'you daft cow' and ammusement!

The more relaxed I am, the more relaxed she is :)

[titch_]

keep calm yourself and after a while she ill learn to trust you

[Big Ears]

if the horse is spooky what is your reaction to it? do you tense or do you give it a gentle slap and tell it not to be such a silly moo? some spooky horses it is very much down to the rider ie they are spooky with some riders and not with others, as some ride the horse in a much more confident manner and aren't bothered by its spooks? Molly was very spooky but i just talked to her and legged her on past whatever it was that she felt was going to eat her alive. She was a bit like riding an eel, she could disappear from under you in a flash and you and the saddle seemed to be in thin air.

is he only spooky on his own or is he fine if with other horses? is it just a lack of experience at hacking out as if horses do it rarely they will be more spooky than those who do it all the time.

[skyejaye]

hi
i know what you mean big ears my tb mare was the same she used to spook out into the road and then spin round to see what she actually spooked at...ddgpony my advice is to just relax and i know this sounds silly but if you think your pony is goin to spook try takin his/her mind of it...i sing to my mare lol and keep my leg on and the more you do with him the better he will get...i used to feel sick about the thought of even ridin mine but now i love it...her spooks are not as bad now we have got to just a flinch now and again

[Pink's lady]

Firstly I'd take a step back and look at his lifesytle in general. A stressed or unhappy horse can be a lot more spooky. In fact, the spookyness can sometimes be the only sign of stress.

Have a look at his diet (high concentrate ratio, lots of mollases makes a fizzy horse), is he kept on his own (often makes horses spooky), is he stabled a lot (can make a stressy horse) and his saddle fit (often over-looked - a poorly fitted saddle can make a horse spooky - they spook, the saddle nips them, confirming that whateveritwas is scary, they spook more next time etc).

Once you've ruled all that out then you could start looking at supplements.

The other major thing is training - we need to train them not to be spooly. Riding out with other confident horses would be ideal then just lots and lots of practice until he realises that things aren't scary.