Spooking what do you do

[dcp]

Hello everyone. I would just like to know how everyone deals with spooking? I rode Charlie out on tuesday with 3 other horses and he had a brilliant time. Last night I took him out in the same field on his own and he was spooking. I can understand him spooking at the goats and lamas in the next field but fresh air!! When he spooked at the goats I made him stand and clapped him telling him it was ok and I made him ride past about 3 times. But when he was just playing up or spooking at really silly things I was starting to get a bit annoyed I don't want to be harsh with him because I feel he still needs to trust me a lot more than he does now. So what do you do? ;)

[eventerbabe]

if he's spooking at nothing, then i just ignore it and ride on. the bigger the deal you make of it, the worse he is likely to get coz he knows he has you worried. if my horse is spooking at an actual thing, like a bush or something, i ask for neck flexion in the opposite direction to the scary object, to take his attention off it.

[angelfben]

If he's just spooking as an excuse to do something more entertaining than work (one of my boy's favourite tricks!) the best thing you can do is ignore it and carry on with what you are doing, they soon get bored. Alpi will buck and bolt sideways at absolutely nothing in the field because he finds schooling so boring but if you just completely ignore him and carry on doing whatever you were doing he soon decides its less effort to do as he's told!

[kedwards]

If a horse is spooking, I do one or some combination of the following

1) "shoulder in" past the scary object
2) ride past the scary object several times, getting closer each time.
3) ride up to investigate the scary object, at whatever speed the horse is comfortable approaching (curiousity normally gets the better of them, if you let them take their time
4) In the case of a horse that is just generally looking around at everything, I try to keep the horse busy and his mind on me. If he's really anxious, I stick with figures and multiple changes of directions at the same speed, rather than asking for too many transitions.

[swerve]

I have a little talk with Skye when he gets the spooks. It basically goes:
'You're scared, I get it. Now listen to my leg and walk straight past without bending. Yeah, you can roll your eyes and tense up, but we aren't going to speed up, and we aren't going to flip out. That was nice. Let's go a little further. Now stop, turn on your hindquarters and have a look at where you've just been. You're very brave, I'm impressed. So you noticed nothing hurt you too? Let's go closer (until he touches/acknowledges the scary object as something that won't hurt him)' :D
Only I say all this using my seat, legs and hands. I hack on miles and miles of farm tracks, so all this is possible. It does sound funny now I read it all written out, but it works for me. He'll walk past fences with that black plastic balage wrap all over it flapping and snapping in the wind :eek: now, so it works for him too! The most important thing is for the rider to understand the horse's fears and not be afraid, as well as remembering horses' bravery and confidence can take while to build up, and can be lost if the rider makes a bad decision.

[Eli_Jay]

cheque gets like that sometimes. He's very chilled out by nature, but he can be quite hot when he feels like it. Most days you can ride him out in the wind, rain, past trailers, cars, dogs, tractors etc.
Somedays however, he'll shy and start bucking because someone cleared their throat :rolleyes: (he did this at an eventing club meeting two weeks ago, he shied and started bucking because someone in the stands zipped up their jacket!!)
If cheque is genuinely spooked by something, I'll walk him up to it (if possible) and let him have a good look, but i don't make a fuss over him - i think this strengthens their belief that there is something around to be worried about.
However, if he's just being silly (say if he shies at a horse that has moved at a walk from one side of the paddock to the other) I'll take no notice or growl at him and that usually stops him acting up.
Some people on here say that horses are never just naughty, but i honestly disagree. I think horses have moods just like people and somedays they just feel like being pains.

[Bay Mare]

But when he was just playing up or spooking at really silly things I was starting to get a bit annoyed I don't want to be harsh with him because I feel he still needs to trust me a lot more than he does now. So what do you do? ;)

As your confidence, your confidence in him and his confidence in you builds up you'll probably find that he gets better. Some horses will always spook to some degree if it's in their nature, you just learn to cope with it.

Although I do believe that horses have moods (mine can get very, very stroppy and is very clear when she doesn't like something) I think that, in general, spooks are for a reason. We may not be able to see what's spooking them and it may not be logical but if you take a good look around you may see a dog in the distance, a leaf in the hedge that wasn't there yesterday, a crane on the skyline - yes, I've had that one, I looked EVERYWHERE and couldn't see what he was scared of until I followed his line of sight .... It may not always be logical to us (Saff is fine with pheasants flying out in front of her making a godawful noise but can get a bit antsy about rustles in the hedge) but it makes sense in the horsey world of a prey animal.

I find that the best way to deal with it is to be aware of things around you and try not to panic yourself. By the time the horse has spooked and started to calm, you are starting to 'spook' at them spooking so you reinforce to them that there's something to spook about and on it goes. If I feel madam going (thankfully her 'spook' is usually a side step or a 'tap dance' step where she slams all four feet into the floor) I put my leg on to keep her going and talk to her.

It does depend on the horse but Saff likes to see what's scaring her. She's much better if I can turn her to it and let her investigate, if I try turning her away she gets worse though I've ridden horses who it's better that they don't get to look at what's scaring them.

[ANN H]

I can empathise. It took me about 18 months with my mare before I felt confident with her. I had a bad fall off another horse who had spooked, and so I was really wary. She used to spook at EVERYTHING. She's much better now. Agree with Eventerbabe, flexion away from the object and try to act as if nothing's happened. I always think if you make a big thing of it, like edging towards the object and riding up and down past it, they're automatically going to think its something scary.

Good luck.