Do Nervous People Just Have A Different Perception?

newforest

newforest

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Mar 15, 2008
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Soon we will have two new horses with us for a while. One livery is already worried how they will lead theirs past the paddock. You have to go past it to get in and again to ride out.
Another isn't sure how they will get past going out, because the horses could run around.

All I know is if they are boys-25% chance they both are, 50% chance one is, its a 100% dead cert mine will be in season! I havent given it a thought about leading in or riding past.

The herd will notice two arrivals but generally its no big deal.
 
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It can be a worry if you have a horse that reacts badly in that situation, Bo used to be terrible, once a very lame little pony hobbled over to a fence to see us, he could barely trot but was doing a little more than a walk, Bo freaked out, stood vertical, spun, and bolted crashing straight into my hacking friend on her mare. This wasn't just a one off from him, every time he saw horses loose in a field he would blow up, until we started doing it everyday, eventually he got used to it. But if you know it's coming, nervous or not that can make you wary.
 
I have never really given it that much thought as I have always had to walk my boys past various paddocks with a mixture of 1 or 5 horses in. The first time at then new yard yes they were very on their toes dragon snorty but after a day or so of constant in and out they didn't even look.

To me it is like any new thing just kep doing it until they get use to it.
 
I have a friend who is wary about going past fields with horses running around because her horse used to have an extreme reaction like Jessey's. He also used to panic and rear and went over backwards with her once - not over horses in a field, but a dog in a drive - but it made her very nervous of how he might react in stressful situations.

Nowadays the horse appears for the most part to be very well behaved and it would be easy for someone to think that my friend was just a nervous nelly and making a fuss about nothing, but in reality she's a good rider who used to be very confident - it's just past experience that has knocked her back.
 
Maybe they do, I know when I first moved to the old yard I was on with Oscar and went for a hack with another livery, she went into panic mode about going down to the ford 'there's horses in the field' and I was like - ok why is that a problem, I think sometimes a lot of it is more about if we perceive a problem it may very well quickly become one purely because we get tense and worried about certain things we subconsciously tell the horse there is going to be a problem so the horse worries and we have created the very situation we were worrying about.
I'm not saying this applies to all horses and all situations but I think it's a big contributing factor.
 
I think those who suffer from nerves will probably have a greater ability to seek out things that might worry/scare their horse. From my experience, nervous owners look in detail at situations and anticipate how their horse will react. They then make such a big deal that their horse reacts!! I can get nervy, but having backed and educated kezzie I've learned to be more reactive - I tackle a situation if it comes up. It's pointless riding/handling him thinking about what might happen. If he reacts I deal with it, if he ignores a situation we toddle on.

When on livery we used to have great fun and games with an owner who claimed the clicking of the electric fencing scared her horses. She wouldn't use the non-electrified wooden gate unless the fence was off. So fence would go off, she'd dither and prat about and the other horses in the field soon learned the fence was off and charged the gate!! She escalated the issue to huge proportions and caused issues for the rest of us.
 
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So do they have to actually go through this field NF? Or just past it?
On a yard we were on once it was a very interesting journey to madam's field. First we went past two rampant stallions - who believe me had NO manners and were only fenced with rubbishy looking electric. Then once past those we headed in to the shetty from HELL's field - they were dreadful blighters in there, used to come cheeking us every morning. Then if you hadn't been stung on the leccy at this point you might actually arrive at your turnout. Then there was the slight problem of another mare who constantly challenged madam and vied for top place - she would cavort in an aggressive manner at the gate. Still, I think it did me good - steep learning curve and I managed. (Just!!!)
I can see why folk would be nervous amidst new challenges. End of the day you want to be able to stay safe and in control. Steel toe caps at the ready!!
As for riding past if I were worried I'd prob get off and lead past first few times.
 
Its a corner paddock you have lead past to come in from the field we are in, being on the corner its also by how you leave the yard.
Mine has three responses, leave it, look or leg it! We did the spin and leg it over the 1.4 and 1.6 painted numbers in the middle of the lane. My response while stopping her was to say very loudly "I beg your pardon young lady" I am trying to discourage this ott for the more sedate stop and snort.
So while I am not going to be any different, it will be interesting if she feels she needs to be.
 
As a nervous person myself I could say that I waste a great deal of my time worrying about the "whatifs", but on the other hand this does mean that I plan ahead to minimise any risks I can and evaluate what we are able to deal with.
Of course nervousness level will always be highest in a new place.
 
Agree with EB. Nervous folk think like a nervous horse. Everything is potentially scary and thus transmit it to the horse that they should be scared, the horse then gets more nervous and the vicious circle perpetuates.
I only broke the cycle when I started thinking like a human. Yes there was a tent where there'd never been one before. My horse brain says Flipo could spook at that. Human brain says 'maybe, but there's nothing to be scared of as a tent isn't going to bite.' And I now nurse him past it.
I guess on having written that, it's about having a horse and human conversation in our brains and always making sure the human side wins out. When my horse side took over, I just ended up being a scared horse on an already scared horse. Not a good combination!
 
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I don't think that some people are generally just nervous because they have different thought processes, I think that some people are nervous of being is specific situations due to a bad experience. This bad experience imprints on the brain and evokes an emotional response which is very hard to control. That is why telling a nervous person to stop being nervous has no effect whatsoever. The only way to stop being nervous is to replace the negative emotional response with a positive one. This can be done through repetition of positive experiences, or through 'therapy' such as NLP.

Most horsey people have something that makes them nervous. This could be anything from hacking, jumping, leading through fields, picking out feet, passing tractors etc. I think that it is rare to find a horsey person who is nervous of absolutely everything - most people who were scared of horses would not own one. For example, I am nervous of hacking out, but I am not nervous of traveling my horse to shows or doing anything on the ground.

When you are doing the activity which makes you nervous, you will always be on 'high alert' because that is how your body protects you from danger. When leading past/through a field this will mean that you will be acutely aware of what the horses are doing and you will be quick to react to keep yourself safe. I think that if more people were understanding about nerves and realise how debilitating they can be, then support would be more readily available from fellow liveries/instructors to help them to be overcome.
 
As mine takes her confidence from me out hacking, I have to be the oh its just a white cat, its fine. Tractors and lorries to me=potential eye candy so she has always been fine with large vehicles :)
 
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I have my nervous quirks, but reading some of your responses is really good, like the thing about thinking like a human not a horse. I feel I put too much human emotion on Moët.

Though even though I am nervous in some aspects, that situation wouldn't even slightly concern me. I suppose it's because I have always felt confident on the ground and never had a bad experience on the ground?

I wonder if you can say that nervous people are only nervous through a bad experience?
 
I don't believe so, some people are nervous per se. I think we would be surprised how many own horses they can't cope with. The one on our yard who has made the comments is worried what the new owners will think of them, they haven't met yet.

Everyone gets nervous, even the top show jumpers, there isn't anything wrong with feeling it, saying you feel it. In fact to me it takes confidence to say you haven't got any.
What would make me nervous wouldn't someone else, what makes my cob nervous wouldn't another horse.
My friend doesn't like our herd, to her the horses are "too big" they are pretty much all 16hh plus. But to me they are just horses in a settled group.
 
I'm not nervous on the ground. My attitude is a kind of just get on with it - no-one is going to die and perhaps they pick up on that. The boys have both been zingy this week because of moving yards but I just accept that it will pass so I'm making allowances for a few weeks. However, when they start to be integrated with their mini-herd(s), I will be wary of other horses in the field because (a) it's been a while since mine were in with horses I don't own and (b) I've been knocked over a couple of times by horses I don't know. But I'm not nervous about it, I'll just be a bit more wary.

Reminds me of when I had Roo, the TB at a yard where there were some individual paddocks. Sometimes a few of us would be at various stages of wandering out to bring them in and something would have set them off so they'd all be hooning up and down. The nervous ones said "Hmmmm... think I'll wait a minute until they've calmed down" Whereas I walked in to Roo's, called him and said "Enough of that now.... time to come in...." whereupon he'd meekly come over to me as if to say "Spoilsport!" I do very much appreciate that Roo had learned to control his adrenaline a lot of the time and I knew that he was safe once he was on the end of a line.
 
I think with the fetching in thing its something you learn; I went through different phases. At first I simply did as I was told and if YO said (she gave me the odd lesson) go and get your horse, then I did, and didn't bother if they were are hoolying - I had blind faith and just got on with it! Like if YO asked me to bring her unbroken youngsters in then I obliged. I figured if she thought I was capable then I was!
Then when we left and brought ours home I floundered a bit and seemed to get a bit wary - and would wait ages for them to settle instead of bringing in.
Now I'm much better and won't stand any nonsense - if I want to ride then I go catch her and am very business like about it. Even if they are both pretending to be circus performers up on the hilliest paddock!
 
Well the additions have arrived and settled. Maybe being competition horses they just get used to the this week we are here.
Mine had to rubber neck the gelding, no change there and she hacked out fine, very proud of her, she is so easily distracted by sex :rolleyes:
I brought in YO horse as he asked me, never handled it before, couldnt even tell you her name but she was lame so I was just workmanlike. The others were a bit interested probably because she was lame, told one with ears back to get lost. I cant be doing with horses interferring!
 
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Well, I think if your horse can easily pass horses cavorting around, why would you be nervous of leading her past galloping horses in fields? If your horse gets over excited and rears and boxes, fly bucks and generally is out of control doing exactly the same thing, why would you not be nervous? If you can gallop in a group of 4 and your horse responds exactly as you would like it to - why would you be nervous - if however it shoves its head down and broncs - why wouldn't you be nervous?

I think it is easy to be smug about things that don't upset your own horse and pretend that it is your own brevado that gets that horse over everything difficult.

In my experience, having owned lots of horses, they are all different. My friends horse is a cob who can be self opioniated about things, but never dangerous. Frind now has a very different outlook on what horses can do having dealt with Tobes, and he has actually had her curled up in a ball in the field when I was away for the weekend. She was just as confident dealing with him as her own opinionated but safe cob.

So maybe lack of confidence it is a perception, but almost certainly based on reality - IMO.
 
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Some people are nervous of horses as an animal, Some want to stroke the Von others look at her and think no I will look from here. I guess that's no different to liking or not liking dogs.

I must be an odd person in the experience category though, I had a very bad fall on a country lane but its the main roads I have a problem with. In theory you would think I would have issues hacking out, or at least on narrow lanes. We have more chance of being seen on a bigger road but my brain says but I stand more chance of hitting one.
Some people don't like hacking and they haven't had an accident. But they haven't experienced hacking and so are worried by the unknown?
 
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