Trust: It can go way too far!
Nov 13 2009
Just another typical low-end breeder sale ad, although I will say that this is a nicer filly than I usually see with small children hanging off of it like a set of monkey bars.
http://seattle.craigslist.org/oly/grd/1462265705.html
“We have a BEAUTIFUL Kind and sweet 2yr olf Filly. Full American Paint Horse Assoc Registered. She is currently riden around bareback by my 5yr & 7yr old girls. They have played around all over her. She’s even great with kids walking her around just the 2 of them. She’s been valued over $1000 filly due to her bloodlines and potential. On a scale of 1-10 shes a gentle 1. She’s the type of filly when she turns 3yrs you can just throw a saddle on her and teach directional turns and GO. Imprinted from Birth. Sire has Passed away this last March but Mare is still on the property.
Great Christmas Surprise Gift!!! We will hold for Christmas and take payments until then too. $600″
You’ve heard me rant about this kind of thing a million times:
1. Your children should not be used as marketing materials to sell your green horse. I mean, look at the logic here – “Damn, she’s SO quiet she’s NOT killing my kids!” Uh, no one is comfortable with that. No one thinks “wow, what a nice filly.” We just skip right to “Wow, what a bad parent!” It actually distracts significantly from your filly that small children are underneath her. Anyone with a modicum of good judgment is way too focused on the risk to the child to look at the horse.
2. There is no such thing as bomb proof. Much like “asymptomatic HYPP positive horse,” there is just a horse who has not blown up YET. Now, that horse may not encounter the set of conditions/outside stimuli that cause him to blow up – perhaps not ever. But, intrinsically, they’re ALL prey animals and their response to true fear is to get the Hell out of Dodge at a fast clip, sometimes with airs above the ground involved.
So today, let’s hear your stories about the time Old Faithful lost it. Some experiences from my own life:
- I was riding a twenty-something polo pony that I routinely rode in a halter, bareback. This old girl had been there and done that and was actually older than I was at the time. One day, I was wearing a windbreaker and got the bright idea to drop my reins and zip it up. She blew three feet in the air at the zipping/crackly windbreaker noise that came from her back and I nearly went off. Of course the no-reins thing just contributed to the potential wreck that was averted only by the luck of the young and velcro-butted. (Now, I’d wind up in traction!)Â
- My friend, a police officer, was patrolling our state fair on his twenty-something been there, done that horse. This horse had patrolled many such public events and had no problem with parades, fireworks, drunken yahoos and everything else that you’d encounter there.  They were standing there watching things proceed, totally relaxed, when someone used a helium tank to inflate a balloon. Old Faithful heard the hissing noise, reared straight up and went over backwards on the asphalt. Holy crap. Miraculously, no one was hurt. The horse had never done anything remotely like that. He was only on his second owner and had always been praised for his amazingly calm nature. The hissing tank was the first thing he’d encountered in 25 years of life that scared him badly enough to react like that.
My own four year old, who does not blink at things like a loose bull, huge inflatable holiday decorations (he tried to eat those), fireworks, etc. absolutely and totally lost it when he encountered a donkey that had been left in a stock trailer and was braying up a storm and pawing. Suddenly, my normally semi-catatonic horse was literally bolting in circles around me. I don’t know to this day if it was the smell of the donkey or the fact that it could be heard but not seen, so that it appeared the stock trailer itself was possessed, but it’s another good example of that one thing that scares an ordinarily calm horse into a flight response.
So that’s what I want to talk about today. Tell me your stories of the calm horse who totally lost his mind about something – what was it? What happened?  Hopefully it will educate parents who still think certain horses are as safe as merry-go-round horses and no caution or common sense needs to be exercised around them. And remember, if you’re the parent who trusted too much and learned his/her lesson because an accident happened, sharing your story has the most impact of all. You can always make a new login/screen name if you want to stay anonymous – I’m cool with that and you will stay anonymous. I just want people to be a little more sensible than this before one of these very cute little girls is in the hospital with a concussion or worse.
188 comments to “Trust: It can go way too far!”
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Here is another add from craigslist from the same person:
http://seattle.craigslist.org/oly/grd/1462243929.html
someone already mentioned it… but sometimes horses will look “calm” when really they are internalizing everything and are about to explode… You see it all the time. Unfortunately, people with not that much horse experience DON’T. “oh yeah, he looks alright” when the horse is really tense as a rock. babies in particular.
If you’ve been around them enough you can tell the difference between dead broke quiet, doesn’t care, and the horse that’s just trying reaaally hard to be good and not make much movement…
@mybaymare – :O
My daughter would d i e if that happenned to me/us!
Oh, I feel for you mama.
The owner of the mare I was working with this past summer harped on me for months to go on a trail ride with her and her insane appy (three years earlier she tried to get me to buy him…). I was under the impression that she had taken both on the trail and they’d be fine. Walking down the road to the trail went fine, the mare eyed the bus stop shelter a bit but I did too. She could have cared less about the rednecks sitting out smoking on the their porch but we were in for a fun time when we go to the entrance to the trail.
Some joker decided that the trail needed BOULDERS framing it. I don’t know why, they’re rather ugly, too far apart to discourage motor vehicles but they’re there. The little mare will follow anything the “lead” horse (in this case the appy) does… the horse started snorting and fussing and backing into trees to get away from the killer rocks. Once his owner got off (she sang to him to calm him down, Lord help me) both started wigging out at the goats with the 3 foot horns. That ride was plagued by freakouts with bikes (mare just stood there, appy danced into a creek), slow creeks (both), cattle (mare), Alpacas (appy), Belgians (mare- but later that summer we rode against a draft and she couldn’t care), and dogs (*supposedly* the appy was attacked by a terrier years ago)
I was very cautious after that when the owner said the mare was all business at shows as long as you don’t let her eat grass(?). Pleasantly, she was a perfect lady at the show- until she got tired but even then she bucked once and was done. She could have cared less about the crazy jumpers, she just motored around the ring.
I will tell you about my 2yo TB/Appy colt. This horse is the most calm thing in the world. He really is just a very VERY large dog. I have moved him and my two others home where there are lots or trees (meaning lots of fallen leaves at this time of the year, and crunchy leaves mind you) and a stream. I didnt have a water source at my old place so I decided this one day I would try to walk him in the shallow stream. Of course he just walked right in and walked up stream with me. However, when I turned him back out with the other two, I was in the paddock just loving them and my grandfather walked up to the fence. Well, to get to the fence he had to walk through the crunchy leaves and oh boy! My little one did NOT like that. He took off like a bat out of hell and almost ran me over. Again we are talking about the horse that just walked through a stream after never being around water before, the horse the doesn’t even need a halter and lead rope – just the command “follow,” the horse that will stand square without movement while I walk away from him. That is the horse that is scared of some rustling leaves. The things that aren’t even NEW! There were leaves up at the old place that he lived in for the past 2 years. Rustling leaves meant nothing there but now, apparently they mean the big horse eating monster has arrived and is very hungry!
I also have a TB mare. At the old place, I used to ride in a large field (still do at my new place but not the point.) She had been in this field before, and I had ridden at dusk before as well. Well there were deer in this field. Let me just state, the deer were constantly grazing less than 2 ft away from her in her pasture. Well she wouldn’t have it. The deer were just big scary horse eating monsters that were never hungry before. This normally stubborn but not jumpy horse, jumped 3 ft in the air and sideways EVERY TIME we passed the deer. Luckily, the one thing I remembered from when I was 7 and on a breakaway bucking pony was to keep my heels down AT ALL TIMES. I am pretty sure that is how I stayed on my mare each time she jumped because each time I wasn’t expecting it. BTW that time when I was 7 I fell off. I had only been riding for 3 weeks. I am 18 now.
Reading all the comments brought to mind when my husband and I were just dating, I was helping to condition an elderly friends 5 year old race gelding in exchange for free pasture. And when my friend met my husband to be, he said why don’t we get him to ride Tuff. Well Tuff was a horse that had been around the track for a while and was very laid back and calm about handling, saddling and I felt comfortable asking other half if he would he said yes(my husband is 5′ 5″ and 125 lbs perfect size for an exercise rider I hate him for having the no weight gain genetics lol jk). So I tack up Tuff with an racing exercise saddle no problems, leg up my other half, they make a nice slow lope until about halfway around the training track when the neighbor decides to fire up his tractor, and it back fires.Tuff spooks my poor husband who has only ridden western as a younger man (late 30′s at the time) can’t find his seat( I screwed up and didn’t even think to drop the stirrup length) loses his seat gets dumped. well now we have a loose racehorse in among my two loose horses and a my daughters shetland, so what does my husband do grabs up my 18 year old gelding Buck with nothing but a lead rope and halter while I’m trying to catch Tuff rides up to Tuff and catches him no problem. The only thing was when my husband climbed off i my gelding I informed him that he hadn’t been ridden in 4 months due to an injury from a yearling bull that got a hold of Buck and I while we were loading him. There are so many things that could have gone wrong, but luckily didn’t . Buck was as bombproof as you could get but a fearful rider had set him off before( he ran away with an inexperienced rider, who said she was experienced), my 7 year old daughter rode him with no problems, but he didn’t like to cross standing water or 18 wheeler lights at night( he spent some time working the local cattle sale) 18 wheelers were fine in the day, but not at night. But luck be praised that day both the rider and horses were safe. But my husband did inform that day he was never getting in a saddle that small again., he said he’d rather be bareback. Sorry slightly off topic but had to share ya’ll brought back some memories.
Was riding my many times Nationals and Regionals Trail class competitor – he was an Arabian, 21 years old and won all those classes in the 70s and 80s when trail classes had live snakes and gosh knows what. NOTHING fazed this horse. You could put husbands, kids, old crippled ladies (me), anyone on him and he would just pack them on the toughest trails, in a class, or in a parade. I would have bet a thousand bucks you couldn’t frighten this horse with anything. Decided to retire him and compete in his very last show, the Regionals in our area. Ho-hum, he says, until the third obstacle. It was nothing but a rope drag of a palm frond. I picked up the rope, reversed direction, and started to drag the frond. It made this weird scritch-scritch sound as it moved. Poor old horse completely freaked. He scooted backwards so fast I almost ended up sitting on his neck. I had no idea he could move that fast – he had never shown that much initiative. It was so unexpected that I broke out laughing and couldn’t stop. Dropped the rope. I was howling, couldn’t even see the obstacles through the tears. Just walked out of the arena, giggling. That was his last show, ever, and the most memorable! If that horse could blow, ANY horse could blow. Keep the kiddies away from underneath the horses.
Ooh ooh I have to share mine! I was riding my mare and my sister was riding her very been-there, done-that old gelding in a hayfield. The gelding was probably 20 at the time. We came around a bend and there was a hay bale across the trail. My mare broke into an eager trot, “OMG FOOD!”
The gelding? He slammed on the brakes, stood splay-legged and panting for a moment, and then screamed at the top of his lungs. He whirled and ran faster than he’d moved in years, every few strides letting out another scream of terror. Now how many hay bales has that horse seen in his lifetime? Of all the things to be terrified of, your food?! I threw down hay bales from the loft right in front of his stall every day, and he was always waiting eagerly to steal bites. But a hay bale out in the middle of nowhere, that was terrifiying. So imagine thundering hoofbeats and every few seconds EEEeeee! Eeee! Eeeee! LOL
The whole time the gelding was screaming, the mare never batted an ear his way. Cause, hay bale, all for her, and she was determined to stuff as much of it as she could down her throat. So I’m trying to pull her away to make sure my sister made it back to the barn still attached to the horse, and my mare is like, “Oh we can’t leave this here, it could get lost, or eaten, by someone other than me…”
I tried to pull the bale away from her, since I couldn’t move her, and she picked it up in her teeth and tried to run off with it. I could hear my sister swearing distantly so I knew she was breathing, so I carried the hay bale of doom to the barn with the mare whickering and trying to sneak bites the whole way. Right as my sister finally coaxed the gelding out of the barn, I came around the corner and dropped the bale in front of him, which sent him into another shrieking panic back to his stall. She’s still mad.
From the flip side of it… the completely unsafe behavior of an out-of-control little kid running around ducking through the legs of the horse I was trying out – was the final piece that sold me on her.
After this kid yelled and threw rocks at her and did everything he could to get her to kill him, they took the saddle off and I realized that she was beyond hungry.
And if she didn’t kick the snot out of that kid (I,/i> wanted to at that point), then she’d be as close to safe for me as I could find.
And I was right.
That is the only time I’ve been grateful for someone letting their kid do that – definitely after the fact.
From the flip side of it… the completely unsafe behavior of an out-of-control little kid running around ducking through the legs of the horse I was trying out – was the final piece that sold me on her.
After this kid yelled and threw rocks at her and did everything he could to get her to kill him, they took the saddle off and I realized that she was beyond hungry.
And if she didn’t kick the snot out of that kid (I, wanted to at that point), then she’d be as close to safe for me as I could find.
And I was right.
That is the only time I’ve been grateful for someone letting their kid do that – definitely after the fact.
I was boarding my Shetland at the time in Benecia California, Travis airforce base was near by. One quiet morning while driving him in his pleasure cart a plane went by and must have broken the sound barrier for a brief moment . Blackie took off in the cart with me in it ,head up , eyes rolled back like a shark, and hanging on the bit, and me being a new driver, i hadnt learned the sissor -check release movement with the reins to bring his head down and to a stop. Fortunatly the maneur pile did the trick . Another time we were driving and had a little earthquake. Every horse in the barn took off at one moment including Blackie, again in the cart…this time I was able to get him under control within 20 yards. Earthquakes are not cool with some horses.
Donkeys! Definitely responsible for the biggest unexpected freakout I’ve ever seen, from a young but really laid-back mare who never seemed bothered by anything else. Traffic, trains, loud noises, none of it scared her at all – and we got so used to thinking of her as unshakeable, it came as a big surprise the first time she saw a donkey and panicked, in a big way. She tried to run, reared, flipped right over, and basically went from perfectly calm horse to terrified, shaking, sweat-covered horse lying on her side in the middle of a gravel path in the space of about 5 seconds. She was fine, btw, but wow. It all happened so fast.
We have a boarder with a 21 year old TB who has been there done everything. Horse shows, including on at a state fair with carnival rides flying over his head, fox hunting, ponying young horses- and he’s been level headed and quiet through it all. He’s the horse anyone can ride. We rescued a mini donk from the kp of our local auction a few weeks ago.. Most the horses took to him quickly after examining the big ears- all except this one horse! He shakes like a leaf, tries to run you over to get away, hates this donk to the point where his owner couldn’t handle him once he caught the scent of the donk. Luckily- donk lives outside and I’ve been making scaredy horse eat breakfast with the donk in view- and he’s getting better- slowly. I had no idea that any of the horses would react this badly to a little guy that’s barely 32″ tall!!
OT, but there is a horrible story out of Victoria, B.C. this week. Couple of louts starved a 27 year old appy gelding then decided to dispatch the creature by executing him – tying him to a bucket loader then raising the bucket until the horse hung and died.
http://www.timescolonist.com/news/Brentwood+residents+charged+after+horse+starved+hanged/2220397/story.html
My TWH is 27; he’s fat and sassy, thinks he’s entire, and will never, ever, suffer needlessly or experience cruelty. This story broke yesterday – wonder how many horses are involved and who witnessed this crime. I guess Canadians are humans, too – some of them nasty and heartless to boot.
Sometime in June of 2007 my husband brought home a horse without consulting me. Our first horse ever. No prior horse experience for me, and just childhood memories of getting scraped off the bare back of a horse for my husband. After I got over being mad, I told him that since he got us into a hobby, we had to be on a look out for at least one, possibly two horses. We found my first horse Bo and a little 14 h 5 y.o. mare Snowflake at the auction in July 2007. My wonderful Bo tought me to ride, that’s for sure, he never once got me hurt or in danger, not to mention on a few rides he halled me and my 2 kids (Bo was almost 17 h, my kids were 4 and 6, and our total weight was about 230 lbs). My husband rode the little mare Snowflake around the pasture a couple of times, and his assessment was that she was safe enough. Until then our 6 y.o. refused to try to ride a horse by himself. I think we ponied him on Snowflake off my husband’s QH twice in the pasture before he said “I want the reins”. He’s ridden her ever since. Not that she always listens to him, but she always takes care of him. She stands with her head down and her eyes all sleepy when he is climbing into the saddle. On the trail she tought him how to sit a trot and I can tell that he loves when he gets to canter. He’s ridden her in 4H shows and on his second one he got nearly all 1st and a couple 2nd places, so he won the PeeWee speed division trophy. Amazingly enough, while in the arena, Snowflake alway strutted her stuff for the audience, something she doesn’t do on the trail: she’d move with her tail picked up, with her nose down, her neck curved – she made them look like pro’s.
Then we had a bright idea of 1st time horseowners to breed two of our mares. At least we found a very nice gaited stud in the area and our babies have a wonderful attitude, get handled regularly, and are definitely well-gaited. Fingers crossed, we don’t plan on advertizing them for sale until after they are trained under saddle and have trail experience.
When my son resumed riding Snowflake this fall it became clear that she wasn’t listening to his cues quite as well, possibly because she needs her teeth floated. So until we can get that done, he’ll be riding her in a bitless bridle, and to ensure no frustration on the horse’s or my son’s part, I gave her a little refresher by taking her on a couple trail rides by myself. He wasn’t flexing laterally like she used to, but we’re working on that, and she’s getting a lot softer.
Anyway, to the incident. This horse to whom I’ve trusted my 6 y.o.- now 9 y.o., was walking down a logging road when the wind picked up and made the leaves rustle. Red and yellow leaves in a line with perfect S-curves started quickly snaking up to Snowflake’s back feet, while making a crunching, rustling, rattling sound. She had her left eye on it but wasn’t walking faster. Yet when it cought up with her backs, straight up in the air we went and then proceded to outrun the “snake”. 15 feet later I turned the ambarassed horse around, went back to the now, since the wind died down, lifeless “snake”. Stood a bit, and proceeded out.
I don’t think she’d ever spooked before. And for what it’s worth, I think my son is so solid in the saddle that he probably wouldn’t even known that she’d bucked/jumped straight up and would’ve pulled her to a stop just as quickly as I could. But – you never know!
I owned a Saddlebred gelding who was absolutely quiet and impecably trained. I owned him for 20 years and rode him everywhere in every style of riding possible. He did everything from saddleseat to western to dressage. He was quiet with a very good work ethic. I could ride him anywhere. Nothing fazed this horse – sirens, bull horns, cattle, sheep, llamas, kid jumping out of the brush trying to scare us, farm equipment, 18 wheeler trucks – nothing fazed this horse. I was riding him along a quiet country road and a local farmer had moved his hogs to the front pen next to the road. My horse went unglued and started to shake as soon as he saw those hogs. It was a muddy pen and the hogs were covered in black dirt. The poor horse just could not understand why the dirt mounds were walking around making noise. I had been trying for several months to teach him to piaffe to passage. He was properly motivated and provided me with the most amazing movements as we passaged past the hogs. He listened and did not leave me but everytime we rode past that farm he looked for the walking mounds of dirt that made weird noises. He would frequently give me a decent piaffe to passage transition.
I have an eight year old standardbred who is my endurance horse. He does it all. Trucks, trains, bicycles, barking dogs, screaming children, flags, snare drums, and Halloween decorations that make predator noises don’t bother him. We were the outriders for National Rescue Ride and were making yet another round on the trails. I had a plastic bag full of poker chips in one hand and we were trotting back towards the barn. There were three deer trapped in the alleyway between the paddocks in front of us. My horse was ok with the deer. He was even ok when the deer started throwing themselves into the fencing in a panic. Then one of the deer managed to bust through the fence and come out on the other side. My horse sat back and considered bolting. “HOLY SHIT THE DEER WENT THROUGH THE FENCE.” But after a moment he was even ok with that. He was NOT ok when we then went to walk past the next field, which had donkeys in it. Suddenly, my usually reliable mount was spinning, dancing sideways, and rearing in an attempt to get away from the deer-colored-equines. I’m pretty sure he thought they were going to come through the fence and eat him alive. Recap- deer slamming into fence= no big deal. Donkeys= OMGWTFBBQ!?!?!?!
sometimes this isn’t a case of a bad parent. I was a daredevil child on my 9 hand shetland pony. I would be playing outside and the moment my mom was not 100% focused on me…. I was on my pony bareback, facing backwards, trying like hell to be a trickrider like the ones I would see at the rodeos. My mom was a very safe, good mom too.
Her taking pics of it…..well that’s not my call to say.
P.s. she caught me riding the cows when they would lay down too.
Make bombproofs lose their cool?
Ground bees
Draft teams pulling with all their show harness on. I almost bit the dust a few times over them.
A tree stump….theres a tree stump on a path near my house, and every single horse I have ever started under saddle always spooks at this one tree stump.
BBQ grills…when someones cooking and the smoke comes out from under the lid. The show arena at our fair is right beside the camping spots. So you have to get them used to it before the show or you’ll never make it around the arena in a rail class.
Thanks for all of the stories! Like I used to tell my 4-H kids, there is no question that if you are around or ride horses, you will have a horsewreck. It’s just a matter of time, and any horse, no matter how tested, tried and true, can be the one. All you can do is prevent as much injury as possible by wearing a helmet, riding in a clear area free of obstacles that you might land on, and never ride alone!
Perhaps the best description of a bombproof horse is “Bombproof but not boogeyman proof. Forgiving of rider’s errors, stuff like that. But the boogeyman that can scare that horse to death can be pretty much anything.”
(My back hurts in empathy of everyone’s bruises and my own three back surgeries, which are what got me off of horses thus far permanently.)
had a great arabian mare, that I had from the time she was three years old. Been through everything never batted an eye. Someone threw a couple of M-80′s off underneath her when we were riding all she did was raise her head and go on about her business. never missed a step in the show ring. Nothing made her look twice, then she saw a COW, just laying there in the pasture you would have thought she had seen Godzilla. Straight up in the air, turn and ready to run only stopped because I said WHOA loud and she had more faith in what I said then the scary cow in the pasture.
Any horse can blow with the right motivation. Really wish people would learn that.
Spot is rock solid, brave, and smart—a Pinto with a heart of oak. Never made a wrong move. NEVER. Three hours out on a hunter pace, we’re exhausted, and the finish flags are in sight. One tiny eighteen-inch log across the path. Our partners, a woman on a big bay warmblood, says, let’s hop over this thing abreast. Which we do, and Spot hits the ground and sends me like a slingshot. I mean, there was no time to think: I was burning toward home like one of Andy Pettitte’s pitches. The only thing my friend said to me when she saw him go galloping up toward the trailers was, “Did you at least get through the flags before you hit the dirt?” Answer: No.
Working very quiet hunt horse in the snow. I mean, this little dude is practically comatose under the most exciting circumstances: he’s just not a goer. Trotting through the woods: aah. Down through a stand of pines, hop over a little coop at the top of a hill like a perfect gentleman. Takes off like a rocket on the other side. Had to steer him into a tree to stop him. I was sitting back like I was driving a tractor. Tag, what’s got into you? I think the horse had no idea why he did it. He seemed as surprised as I was.
My horse is usually catatonic or at least close to it, so much so that the first time I went to see him and asked if he barebacked, the woman threw one of her riders on him and he was straight of the track!! W/t/c around the ring on the buckle! I ride this horse and do things on him no one else at my barn would dare do on theirs, nothing stupid but hes my horse and I take responsibility if my rear end pops off him. He is such a doll, so you can imagine my surprise when while riding in the ring he reared up and spun around like we were doing keyhole! He didn’t go anywhere after that, in fact right after he spun around I am fairly sure he was confused at what had just happened as well. What did he spook at? Hale bales, that had never been up near the ring before, he had just caught sight of them out of the corner of his eye and he was having none of it! Luckily he is fairly smart and sensible horse and making him say hello to them wasn’t that big of a task but still it was enough to set my heart a racing if only for a moment!
Off the subject. Can you all discuss colic. How often is too often. I have been told they can fart funny and colic. Should I worry about it or just be prepared.
Last year I was on a college equestrian team, and we had a very call red dun QH named Smoke. Well day after the arena had finally dried up from the rain our coach wanted us to play a game. So, I just got done tacking up my horse and I was on my way to the arena when all of the sudden we see Smoke galloping with one of my team mates on him!!! Smoke galloping? WOW!! He ended up bucking my team mate off and giving her a severe hip contusion..Later on I found out that my coach had put a silver cooking pot near one of the light posts and Smoke decided that, that pot was a killer pot and it was going to eat him!!! This is the first time my coach has seen him move that fast since he was a 2 yr old..and smoke is about 16 yrs old now. That was a definate shocker for all of us!
http://santabarbara.craigslist.org/grd/1465285546.html
Oh indeed. I had — sadly gone now — a wonderful Chincoteague/Quarter Horse gelding cross. Gentle, loving, kind, nothing ever fazed him. Until the day I rode him past a combine in a field which was occupied, unknown to either of us, by a very large flock of pigeons, which left at speed. Probably the longest, fastest, wildest ride I ever had on the old boy…
“I had no idea that any of the horses would react this badly to a little guy that’s barely 32″ tall!!”
I’m used to nutty behavior from my 2 Arab mares, but my 10 year old deadhead QH gelding never moves a step unless you wave a bucket of feed at him, could care less about squawking chickens landing on his back, and sleeps through sheath cleaning, but one day he saw a couple of minis frolicking in a field and he had a panic attack the size of Guam. Emergency dismount ensued. He trembled like an aspen for 2 hours.
I have some horse stories too…I was riding my horse once, and a mountain lion jumped out of a bush at us, and my horse spooked. Another time, we were riding along, and a rhinoceros charged us, and my horse spooked. Good horse…kept us safe.
http://www.dreamhorse.com/show_horse.php?form_horse_id=1410963&share_this=Y
see… you can have an excellent show horse with good conformation AND color!
this is what the people who only breed for color should be breeding instead of popping out fugly foals
now all i have to do is convince someone to pay for this horse
My OTTB is exceptionally “bombproof” however it never stops amazing me about the things that DO cause him to act like a retard. i trailered over to a friends house to ride. not even thinking about their EMU. we parked at a pretty decent distance from it, and i got him out and tied him to the trailer to tack, he started wigging out. i was able to get him untied and away from the trailer before he hurt himself, and walked him ( stupid me) near the emu. he nearly lost his mind rearing and pawing shaking like a leaf. after i figured out what my “bombproof” “kid safe” horse was afraid of, it made perfect sense… i’m not a big fan of birds that look like muppets on crack. so no more emus for him…
that is the only time i have seen him really loose his shit. otherwise, aside from a few fakeouts… ( he is “terrified” of those big balls the police use with their horses to practice) that being said, he will do anythign you want with the ball as long as he’s blind folded, push it, bite it, bump it. take the blind fold off, even if his face is on it, and he looses his cool. i think it’s the point of the matter… he told me he was afraid, and that’s what he ment, it doesn’t matter if it smells the same and feels the same, it’s scary when he can see it. he even played mounted cowboy polo with the thing blind folded.
it’s hard to know what goes on in their little brains, even the best of them can have moments. and they are usually the ones to “over react”.
Years ago, I was barn manager at a really nice facility full of well-trained horses owned by pony-club kids and other knowledgeable Dressage and Eventing riders. One of our experienced adult clients was an advanced Dressage rider, who owned an awesome 3yo warmblood. One dry winter day, she brought a friend to see her gelding. He was out in the pasture wearing his blanket, and to show her friend the horse’s wonderful conformation, the owner took off his blanket without putting on a halter first.
Dry, cold weather–apparently, whipping off the horse’s blanket created a spark, and the horse totally freaked out. He ran, jumped the pasture gate, ran wild through the wooded area to the driveway, proceeded to gallop down a busy road, over a traffic-filled bridge, and thankfully, into a tree farm where the owner and the BO were finally able to catch him.
No injuries to anybody, fortunately—lesson learned: follow those pony-club rules for safety, even if they take more time or seem too bubble-wrapped for experienced people.
Most of my friends laugh at me because I am so careful–thank you for supporting my cautious ways! I would NEVER let my friends kids run around my horses barefoot or any other way, although they are calm well trained horses.
I have 3 mares, one rescue standardbred, one rescue grade pony, for companions to my nice TB riding horse. I am really fascinated by animal behaviour and I love to just watch and observe my mares interact and react to the environment around them. I am not into showing or anything-just enjoy my horses to bits which does help my case for sure. When I observe my mare is having an “off” day–we don’t ride–but stay on the ground and play around there. So far I have never had an accident…..knock on wood…. My horse friends, who think I am crazy and “spoil” my horse, have had cracked vertebrae, broken collar bones, legs, wrists, concussions and smashed feet! When I am riding on the trail, usually alone, at the first sign of her tightening up, we return home until she softens and then go back. Sometimes that means we are home really early, sometimes we have a beautiful long ride. I don’t push it but go with the flow. So I guess what I am saying is try your best to LISTEN to your horse and these surprises are far less likely to happen!! maybe I have just been lucky? oh oh knock on wood….
I’ve got a TB I’ve had for 12 years, had him since he was 5 and he was so quiet and chilled out you could do anything with him he often was mistaken for a WB at shows, when he was about 10 a vet nearly killed him with an overdose of anaesthetic and after that he became very unpredictable he bucked at a dressage comp once I didn’t even think he knew how to buck! I came off and landed directly on my head (thank you helmet for not letting the fall break my neck) and this is a horse I trust with my life, there are no guarentees and you can’t blame the horse for being a horse either, expecting the horse to be 100% quiet 100% of the time is unrealistic and unfair to the horse.
did anyone else notice that the comment with the link to ‘dream horse’…a palomino QH, $20,000…shows it standing champion at a show but the logos say Buckskin Association ?? Am I missing something…a palomino can be a champion at a Buckskin show??
Both my Welsh Cob geldings have had the trait of internalising pressure – they would startle, but swallow the freakout and the energy would come out later. So I’ve not ever seen either of them outright panic, but they have their share of spooks.
Lomion, my first Cob was steady as they came. Not placid, but just very confident and not easily impressed. The one time he stood nailed to the ground and I almost heard him squeek HOLY FUCK WHAT IS THAT!? was when we encountered a field with herding dog practise going on. Individual sheep? no problem. Sheep all moving together un-sheeplike in a white blot across the field? OMG IS THAT A UFO??
Dom
Recap- deer slamming into fence= no big deal. Donkeys= OMGWTFBBQ!?!?!?!
I’m pretty sure that’s a case of internalising, because my horse does the same. It’s like at the scary thing, they go “OK, OK, my rider says it’s okay. I’m not convinced, but I can deal” and they swallow that MUST FLEE mental pressure – and then a second scary thing happens and it all piles up and the freakout has to happen – even if the second scary thing isn’t nearly as significant as the first.
My horse once went on without a fuss when we ended up right next to a military shooting exercise (and that *echoes* in the forest) and then spooked at some white pebbles next to the track. All that tension has to come out somehow.
twrightcali-omg! wow! that is barely believable conformation and the price! i don’t know whether to laugh or cry.
I dunno, gotcuddles. I wouldn’t take that Palomino for a hunter. And the one in the picture below it looked funny in the front legs. But still, if you like ‘em…
My OTTB is very calm and trusting — I know, I know. Oxymoron there. But he learned about trail riding from an ex-pony horse from the Central California fairgrounds tracks and about new barns and shows/clinics from me ;o) No fear.
However, dogs growling from behind solid wood fences and loose dogs dragging broken chains on the ground 8 or 10 feet behind them can give him pause.
And anything going on behind him — like the neighbor playing with her dog and the dog running back to her with the fetch toy in its mouth is a reason to “hollow out and run forward.” Doesn’t have to be dogs — can be kids or trash blowing.
With dogs in general, he’s quite good. They charge up to him and he’s oblivious. Does not kick if they are behind him, and if I turn him toward them and we head their way, he knows they will turn tail. So far, he’s been right.
Sure have that right saying bomb proof is the same as a no symtom hypp positive horse. Those kids hanging all over that young filly is a time bomb, anything could make that filly jump, heck my easy going horse jumped at the leaves falling off the trees the other day.
Anyway people that write an ad like this need to be hung, words like “get rid of” and not enough hay just have to shake your head. Hay is around $2 a bale here. Look like this horse need some tlc. Her hip bones are protruding. There is an over abundance of TW’s here and I hear all the time that their bodies are shaped to look boney. I don’t think so?
Date: 2009-11-15, 10:53AM EST
Reply to: sale-fgjzp-1466915111@craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]
——————————————————————————–
I have a black mare that I really need to get rid of because I am not going to have enough hay to feed all 3 this winter if interested please call 423 753 7674 Terry
•Location: Jonesborough
•it’s NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests
PostingID: 1466915111
Re “internalizing everything” and blowing up — look at your horse to see if it is breathing. Not breathing is a prelude to many horses “going up.”
Do not pull on the lead rope, They will react to that like pulling back — going up and over backward. I’ve learned that if I can get the horse’s attention — call his name, move to one side and get him to LOOK at me — that I can then say the magic words, “Come forward” — and he will do that and begin breathing again. He was pushed at the track, and panic became his response. Luckily someone saw beyond the rearing, which would have been a life-ending behavior for some trainers, and rescued my guy before the knacker could get him. I had to learn the hard way — but we never had anyone injured because the horse knew about “his space” and “his peeps,” and now we know what — and what NOT — to do.
I so AGREE with you! NO HORSE is BOOBPROOF, I have seen it all with mares and geldings and studs… I have seen it with TB, QH, etc… I have seen it with all ages too. I never sell a horse as “boomproof” or “safe kids horse” why? because I dont care how good of a horse it may be, you never know when that horse might be scared or set off by something! here’s an example:
I have a mare that is really quiet she plays with tarps and buckets she picks up jump posts and throws them around shes really an easy going dopey doh dont care what you do horse….my friend was practicing his roping on a fake cow… and the noise the rubbing rope made freaked my mare out! as I was walking her back to her stall the rope made a sound, up my mares head went, and she bolted pushed me out of the way in a pranced panic. hell no to that. I walked her up to what she was scared of and let her smell the rope and the fake cow and we gently put the rolled up rope on her. this is something I have to work on now and be consistant ( I dont want another episode like that). but Im so thankful I wasnt on her when she freaked heh, so people please no horse is bombproof… they all have their moments. I cannot understand people selling horses as a child safe horse, if that child gets hurt… guess what? you’re going to be sued. so think before you word your ad. you could do harm to a child or family someone who isnt horse smart shouldnt be sold a horse anyways. please think of others instead of your greed and antisipation of ridding the horse.
More Craigslist fun:
2yr old already being ridden and going on trail rides in TX:
http://elpaso.en.craigslist.org/grd/1447320695.html
http://elpaso.en.craigslist.org/grd/1427471761.html
Long as a bus in IN:
http://fortwayne.craigslist.org/grd/1443338237.html
Horse or cow? In MO:
http://kansascity.craigslist.org/grd/1466859805.html
My 5 year old OTTB doesn’t spook much, but I know he’s capable. He is more worried/obsessed over things attacking/eating his stable mates.
Last week during our group lesson, a stablemate led her horse into the arena to retreive her jacket after an earlier lesson. Her horse had a fleece blanket on and my horse who was going nicely at the canter became over-excited and decided to gallop (not out of control but definitely with a purpose). Once we finished our pattern, the stablemate led her horse over so my horse could see what was going on. We could hear the nose-to-nose conversation….”TJ, are you being eaten alive by the horse eating fleece blanket?”. “No, Little Big Red, it’s soft and warm – you should feel it”. At that point Red sniffed the blanked and all was well.
I went to an IHSA horse show yesterday (Saturday) at Wilson College, and oh-my-goodness this one class would just not end.
It was one of the last classes, the horses were getting tired, and the last few classes were the least advanced riders. Bad combo, especially when you’re riding a horse you’ve never ridden before (this is how IHSA shows go in order to put everyone on the same level so they can focus on equitation and NOT horse behavior).
One of the horses was being a jerk pretty much through all of the flat classes, and another decided to try to make a quick exit out of the ring. So they replaced that horse, and started the class over again. Then jerk horse decided to keep being a jerk, and started bucking down the long side of the arena. So then that horse was replaced, and the class was started all over again. Then one of the horses spooked at someone walking past a doorway and threw a huge buck and threw its rider (a Bucknell girl) into the wall. They stopped the class and caught the horse and the paramedics were brought in. She’s okay, took a few minutes to get up but was able to walk out, I think she has a concussion.
So these were all horses that were selected to be in the beginner classes- none of those girls even show over fences, the class in question was just W/T/C. I understand that the horses are all supposed to be level-headed, but I feel it’s the fault of the show management for not keeping an eye on them and replacing those horses earlier. Every single horse I saw was frazzled to some degree, and I feel that every single incident was preventable. I was taking photos for one of the teams, and even I was able to see which horses were going to be a problem.
Today my normally unflappable redhead decided there were horse-eating dragons in the next field while I was leaning off him opening a gate. He’s a dasher when he (thankfully rarely) spooks, so before I’d even realized what had happened we were headed back to the barn at a racing gallop with me still leaning over in one stirrup. I got my balance back and steered him into a quiet area where he calmed down, but it was not how I wanted to start my Sunday ride.
Every time I see photos like this, I can’t believe people are stupid enough to do this shit. Seriously, is the goal here a postpartum abortion? Because a horse accident is a great way to off your kids and not be charged, like the sequel to Lil’ Sizzlers.
twadwis — Yes, ma’am! My pride and joy is a palomino that was the Texas Buckskin Horse Association’s Horse of the Year (high point) in 1996 and 1997 in his. My husband also showed a young palomino four years later that was a TBHA class winner in color and halter.
kimtn — Wow. Hay (horse quality) here in Texas is going for $9/bale, good stuff out of the field = $6.50. He can’t do $2/bale? That’s really disheartening. And I’ll bet it’s, like, what grass hay is supposed to be like (orchard or timothy or meadow-grass). Even our best bermuda grass hay in Texas is kind of considered bottom of the barrel as far as forage goes. Two years ago, we had a family from Wisconsin stay on vacation with us that sold us 10 bales of this luscious timothy-alfalfa mix. The guy said a fair price would be $2.50/bale (For reals ?!?). Wow-wee, were our mares excited to find this stuff doled out in the their regular $15/bale alfalfa!!
BOOBPROOF! I don’t know if it was meant to be typed that way, but… big LOL!
I didn’t get to finish my sentence:
“My pride and joy is a palomino that was the Texas Buckskin Horse Association’s Horse of the Year (high point) in 1996 and 1997 in his younger years.”
Thanks!
My one and so far only horse, Jag – was at the time of the story six-years old. He’s a solid built little solid paint and for the first two years I’ve owned him we just trailed around. He is an awesome trail horse, he does get tense in situations, but we’ve never not gotten through anything. He’s a brave, brave little guy.
But, anyways. We moved to this new barn, a private place and just Jag and our friends paint mare and arab gelding were there. A week after we let them get situated, I took Jag out for a little hack around the surrounding properties (on the road. It was kind of suburbia…). He’s an idea of his personality. We were walking on the side walk next to a big ole’ trampoline and it was rather windy. Just as we start to pass it (which he hadn’t given it a second glance) a big gust of wind picks it up and stands it on its side. Scared the living daylights out of me, but Jag? He turns, snorts at it and paws like he’s about to tell it whos boss. After regaining my composure, we continued with our ride and it was rather uneventful.
But, a couple months later, after we’d been every which way – we were riding in the back pasture and out of know where he starts rearing. I mean, no tensing, tucking of the haunches, nothing. Just rearing up and down, up and down. Over and over. Not trying to go anywhere. Not big rears, so I wasn’t scared of him going over, so I try and move him forward and that just makes him go up faster. I pull his head around and he just starts spinning in circles. Worried that maybe he’d stepped on something, I bailed (which was thankfully nice, soft pasture grass). As I land, he stands, looks at me and seems fine. I picked up all his hooves, checked him over from head to toe – looked around on the ground to see if maybe there was a snake or something – nothing! I tentatively mount again and he just sighs and looks around. After some baffled moments, we continue with our ride and had no reoccurrence.
To this day (three years later) we’ve never done anything like that and I still have no idea what it was about, but you definitely need to no that you are riding a prey animal that can go off without any warning.
re catxx: Horse or cow? LMAO!!!! If that thing is 1100 lbs., then I’m Angelina Jolie! ’10 yrs old. Lots of potential.’ Translation: I really suck, maybe you can make something of him.
*sigh* I really hope this fella finds a good home. Maybe one with some hay?
Fugly – don’t know if you’ve seen this local one yet… http://www.komonews.com/news/local/70157962.html
Pierce County and it sounds like the officials need to meet you…
I have a filly that is probably just as calm as the one advertised. Took to all of her training, had a saddle on her and lunging by 2 (no weight added of course), and she never batted an eye lash at any of the “scary stuff” I threw at her, nor when being ponied on the trails. However, this summer, after giving her a bath, I made the mistake of too much trust (especially with a baby). In order to get her dry, I had her walking around me (like lunging) on an extra long lead, about 8 or 10 ft. I have to admit to being somewhat distracted at this point by the fact that we had to put down one of the old horses that day (which means I should have been more careful!). Out of no where, at lightening speed (I’m not joking, it was THAT fast), a hoof was flying in my direction and I heard a sickening crack. My filly had broken my sternum. I did not fall down, but had to sit because I could not breathe. My filly walked over and sniffed at me and stayed with me the whole time, as if she did not even know what was going on. It was one of the weirdest horse moments that I have ever experienced. Just goes to show, that even people that have “been there, done that” can make mistakes and should never take a horse for granted. My approach to any horse has definitely changed, I don’t care how much I trust the horse or how long I’ve known it.
kimtn: I also disagree that Walkers are supposed to be bony. My friend used to show them and they were sleek, beautiful and well muscled, no bones sticking out. The guy down the street from the barn I help at also has several of them, none skinny. It is the same when rescuing old horses. They all say, well old horses are “always skinny” or “supposed to be skinny.” My 24 year old QH is 1300 lbs and still chasing the youngsters around. BUT he gets a huge chunk of hay and high calorie grain and I am not rich, but I budget for the old guy. How do all these people have a horse it’s whole life and not get attached and want to give it a good life when it’s old? It is beyond me.
And if that filly was SO great with kids, why don’t they keep it? Ugh…that first picture is just SCARY. Happy belated Halloween.
Upgrade needed…..2 y/o filly out with 3 y/o stud colt….DC area
http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/doc/grd/1463844196.html
Had to come out of lurkdom for this one!
My old instructor loved to tell the story about when he went to look at a “bombproof pony” for a student. The owners went to great pains to demonstrate how quiet he was, riding him up and down the main road, climbing all over him, they popped balloons right in front of his nose and let fire with a rifle for crying out loud! Then while the deal was being done, with the owner still on board next door neighbours started up a chainsaw…
As the owner and the pony disappeared off into the sunset, my instructor turned and said to the very suprised wife of the seller “Yeah he’s bombproof alright, damn shame he’s not chainsaw proof.”
He still bought him.
I used to have a Morab gelding who was just about the best thing in the world. I was a young girl and he was my “do everything” horse. We went to the county and state fairs every year. Fireworks did not phase him, large crowds of people did not phase him, little stupid toddlers running up behind him and launching into his tail didn’t bother him, dogs running around him and barking and biting at his heels didn’t phase him. You could shoot a gun off of this horse, ride him past llamas, donkeys, goats, cattle….even animals I myself was afraid of (like the scary hormonal bull that was sometimes pastured next door). I took him up mountains and swam in lakes. I carried the American flag multiple times at a full gallop on my trusty horse. I took him into costume classes with all manner of sparkly, gigantic, fluttery, noisy crap all over the poor thing. I even took him as a Pegasus one year with gigantic wings with real feathers that wobbled back and forth and extended 5 feet to each side of him. I threw tarps over him so big you couldn’t see him anymore. The list goes on.
I rode this horse bareback and bride-less in the arena over jumps. I was confident and STUPID when I was a preteen/teenager. One day I decided to ride down our dead end street with just a halter. We were trotting along and got to the end of the road to turn around when a deer jumped out from behind a barn. Tequila stopped and stared. The deer stopped and stared. After a couple of tense, motionless seconds my horse spun, snorted so loud I thought a bomb had gone off and took off at full speed. Just as in this blog entry, I had velcro butt at the time. Its a good thing too since he decided to jump the 3 foot irrigation ditch and run down the concrete road. Nowadays my head would have been all over the places in gooey little pieces after it shattered off the pavement. He had seen many deer on trail rides and they didn’t phase him. Maybe this deer was the anti-christ of the deer world. I don’t know. But no horse is bomb proof. Always be as safe as you can.
Ugh…I have 2 more cents to pitch in…
Yay! Buy me for Christmas for your kids!
That’s just like buy this bunny for Easter.
Where do they end up when Easter, etc is over?
You’ve got it…into overcrowded rescues.
Like other people have said, there is a lack of responsibility and common sense in this world.
I have a zebra that is in the pasture next to mine, and when my friends come over to ride, their horses instinctively know there’s something different in the area. But when he goes and brays, all hell usually breaks loose. My beanhead is so used to him now, he doesn’t bat an eye when the zebra come to the fence to say hi, but he still looks sidways at him when he brays.
One of the WORST things I have seen on Craigslist…Rhinestones…*headdesk*
http://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/grd/1464641593.html
Poor guy.
“birds that look like muppets on crack” LOL until tears come out my eyes!
“NO HORSE is BOOBPROOF” ROFL! Freudian slip? Dave Barry says a male human can spot naked ones from 2 miles away. But then again, if I was a horse, I’d probably spook at a “wardrobe malfunction” like at the Superbowl a few years ago.
What spooky horses have taught me is to keep an eye out for anything unusual or out of place, or that could be a carnivore (i.e., any living creature). It doesn’t have to be scary to *you*. If that grooming tote has always been between the stall doors, but today it’s in the middle of the aisle – be ready. If the trail you have ridden on forever suddenly sprouts a sign (like “horses only” or “Tom Dorrance Trail”) – be ready. If the gate has been painted a different color… I think you get my drift. Riding is like defensive driving – your eyes should always be on the move, looking for things that could develop into threats.
Ruthie
A wise friend of mine always says “horses are good ’till they’re not” and I totally agree.
“someone already mentioned it… but sometimes horses will look “calm†when really they are internalizing everything and are about to explode… You see it all the time.”
This is one of the three “f” negative reactions natural to the horse: freeze, flee, and fight. The first one really indicates the horse is shut down, brain included, and is often followed *explosively* by one of the other two.
And yes, the freeze gets beginners hurt all the time. “Look, he doesn’t care at all,” they brag, ignoring the fact that the horse has every joint locked, his muscles are rigid, and his eyes are looking at “nothing”. This ranks up right there with “Here, hold my beer and watch this” as a warning signal of potential disaster.
More abandoned horses…………………….(sigh)…………….
http://www.2news.tv/news/local/70198907.html
I’m late to the party here, but this topic is relevant to my morning, so I’ll post.
My mare is not what anyone would call “bomb-proof,” but she’s pretty good. Generally, her idea of spooking is to stop, stand still, look, and if it’s bad, blow and snort, and if it’s really bad, try to back up (but no “running” backwards, just trying to inch away). There was one incident involving about 40 drummers in a park, a gazillion soccer- and baseballs flying, kids running everywhere, etc. where she completely lost her mind, but that’s another story.
Today, however, was something that’s never happened, and probably will never happen again. I’m testing out a saddle, and I set aside this morning to continue to inspect the fit and ride in it. Unfortunately, today the city finally decided to come take down a few trees from the front yard that pose a public danger (large branches of these trees tent to fall off when it’s windy). So, as I was grooming Cadenza, she seemed nervous at all the loud motor, truck, chainsaw and tree-limbs-falling sounds, but as soon as I went to lead her from one area to another, she completely lost it. She generally has wonderful ground manners, but she started circling me and I was pretty sure that the morning wasn’t going to end without me getting run over, or her going backwards over onto the test saddle. I managed to get her into some cross ties, untacked her, then let her loose in the arena, where she immediately flew into a fit of running and bucking and snorting. Poor girl was trying so hard, I think, to trust me, but it was ultimately just too much to ask at the time.
I’ve had my 17 year old holsteiner gelding since he was 4 and he used to spook and almost everything. He grew out of it and is the most reliable horse I have ever had… the one thing that still scares him to death… dropping a brush on the ground. Poor thing is so scared that all he can do is stand there, snort at it and shake.
For a good laugh check out Hoosier Topics. This website is horse trader central. Actually it’s pretty sad how many people are out there that have no business owning horses.
Years ago, I was riding my QH gelding on the trails about a mile from my house. We were on a path that led through some woods, then out to some open areas, with spots of woods all around. He never really relaxed when we trailrode, and that day we were by ourselves. Suddenly, he stopped. I could hear rustling in the woods and I strained my eyes to see what he was looking at. He was so nervous that I could feel his heart beating under my leg and under the fender of my western saddle. Then, I saw them…..wild hogs! There was a group of about 6 rooting in the woods. If they saw us, they didn’t care. I started having thoughts of being chased by the hogs, me falling off and getting hurt. I calmly turned my gelding around and we walked back the way we came. He never took a step wrong, but I could feel his bottled up nervousness and that pounding heartbeat beneath my right leg.
More recently, I was riding a different gelding (gaited cross) and I was with a friend who was riding the above mentioned gelding. We were riding in the same area and I was in front. My short little gelding stopped short on the trail. Just a few seconds later, two very large and very fat wild hogs crossed the trail about 30 feet in front of us. After another few seconds, my good boy continued on. He knew they were no longer close and it didn’t scare him a bit.
Needless to say, I was VERY proud of my fugly little gelding that day!
I’ve seen the usual OMG it’s going to kill me scenarios, however, my OTTB gelding (5 at the time) who is about as laid back as they get — NOTHING bothers him – EXCEPT for invisible pygmies in a hay field. Seriously! I was riding him along the edge of our hayfield (the other horse I was riding with was acting like an idiot so we were trying to calm him down) and a really, really strong squall of wind came out of nowhere. The wind came across the hayfield (which was due to be cut) and laid out the grass in front of it like something was coming through the field at us! He was convinced there were pygmies coming through that field with spears and they were INVISIBLE! He lost it. Spun and went up all at the same time and bolted for the barn — me? I was left behind to deal with the pygmies! First time in 30 years that I hit the ground. After walking back to get him — we both were in the round pen, me on his back, in the pouring rain. Oh, and swinging real estate signs – extremely suspicious . . .
I always say that 1 & 2yo’s are the calm before the storm. I’ve seen many turn into hellish by 3. That’s when they start to realize some of their strength and start capitilizing on the crappy handling and lack there of proper groundwork. So yes- seeing some idiot parent let their girls climb all over the cute little filly is just telling me that the filly will probably be a rank PITA before too long.
Just had one yesterday. 8 year old curly mare, ex-broodie. Too small for me to ride, but I’ve done everything BUT get on her myself. That saddle can ride under that mare’s belly without issues. Had my velcro-assed neice on her bareback and led around, no issues. Had a trainer out yesterday to help me get in her first few rides. Mounted up, no issues. Walked around, all was fiiiine. Let her graze with the trainer on her, and OMG the ponies from hell suddenly attacked! (they walked over to the fence to see what was going on) mare rodeo bronced across the yard. threw trainer. yippy. Now I’ve got a mare with a bad first ride to deal with…. joy…
I always wonder how more of these people don’t end up in the hospital, or dead.
Or maybe they do? Maybe these genuises are making up the majority of horse-related head injuries?
I bet these types of folks are also the ones that, once they have one bad incident (that could have been avoided with some basic safety rules), they dump all their horses and refer to the incident as the “freak accident” or “tragic accident”.
Just because a ‘tragic accident’ hasn’t happened YET doesn’t mean it WILL.
I can’t believe that people are so cavalier with the lives of their children. Isn’t basic self-preservation and protection of your young ones a very basic instinct programmed deep in everyone’s brains?
“I had been trying for several months to teach him to piaffe to passage. He was properly motivated and provided me with the most amazing movements as we passaged past the hogs.”
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LOL @ Curls – isn’t that funny! I had a similar experience with a beloved dressage horse years ago. He put up with so much stuff from me as I figured things out.
I love that phrase – “Properly Motivated”. lol! Not knowing really how to teach a horse to piaffe/passage I would just start applying aids when he got really excited and was doing it naturally because I figured he would form an association with the movement and the aids, and it did evolve to the point where he would do it on cue.
I love dressage because it’s truly based on natural movement.
Oops, I meant to say, just because a tragic accident hasn’t happened YET doesn’t mean it WON’T.
I wouldn’t claim that my boy is bombproof, but he is pretty calm. We’ve had a head on collision with a pony — no reaction. A deer jumped in the ring — no reaction. A fox ran in the ring and sat at the base of a jump — no reaction. A low flying blimp came in sight…total bolt and run. At least he didn’t spin and bolt!
I had just started trying out this new horse my trainer had rescued. The thing was an 18 year old Trakehner who was used for a decade or more as a fox hunter at a world class facility. He was old and really out of shape and I was thinking about adopting him. The few weeks I rode him aruond the farm, he was wonderful. Very calm, eager to work and especially jump, and he batted an eye at nothing.
I took him for a trail ride one afternoon, and we were walking down this dirt road. There was a pit bull barking at his heels, chasing him and he could care less. But when we walked past a paddock, a really fat pony came trotting up to see him, and he was fine. But the donkey that was behind him – oh god you would have thought he saw the devil. The donkey didn’t bray or make any noise, and he didn’t get within 10 feet of the fence, but Nero went nuts. He shied away and threw me onto his shoulder. Luckily I managed to hold on longer enough to control him and stop myself from falling headfirst onto a concrete cinderblock from an 18 hand horse.
I turned him around and took him home, the pitbull biting at his ankles the whole way home (and he was fine with that).
Silly horse.
Sorry for going AWOL but just so you know, I’m working on a couple of new entries now!
We had a 6 year old Pinto – dream of a horse. Took him to tons of shows, trail riding, down the road, whatever and he never did anything stupid or spooked. Then one day at the end of a show, my then 10 year old daughter took him into the practice arena after her last class to cool down and he took off like a bullet, kicking and bucking and throwing his head. People scattered like crazy. She finally came off and hit the ground hard. Fractured her kidney (yes, they do break we found out!) and spent 8 days in the hospital.
Nobody can even begin to give a definitive answer as to why he did that and was perfectly fine afterwards as well. I’ll never ever totally trust another horse no matter how broke or quiet they are. Now everyone calls me the safety freak – but I don’t really care if it keeps us all alive and well.
Speaking of bad parents, anyone know this guy or his daughter’s horses that he gave away on CL?
http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/ank/wan/1466392658.html
That’s disgusting, RE: evenkeel. Some people.
An older (18ish years old at the time) TB mare I used to ride would not blink and eye at ANYTHING. Neighbors starting chainsaws, people mowing near the ring, barn cats running into her legs, barn cat laying under the jumps, 6 or 7 deer jumping out at us on a trail, balloons, fireworks, guns, bags, loud cars you name it. One day we were at a show, we had been there in the same ring at least a dozen times we were walking and another trainer raised a fence, somthing she had seen/heard 100′s of times- she took off like a bat out of hell, full headlong gallop, bucking around the ring. It took us 3 and a half turns around the ring to stop, then she just walked along like nothing happend.
Just wanted to share, the scarriest thing that I personally ever encountered while on horse back. We were riding down a dirt road. There was a pasture on our right that was uphill at a pretty good grade. Up over the top comes this big mule, stops and poses. Then with loud continuous braying, the mule charges down the hill, nearly sliding to a stop next to the fence. Poor Tuck!
I had a yearling draft colt (percheron/suffolk cross) that was about 14h that I would walk with my friend down centennial trail where I had him (blactop walkway, grass/dirt trail on the side). We had done everything to him, the plastic bags, dogs, cats, ropes… everything we could think of so that when he got BIG we would have an easier time of it, and so far nothing fazed him. One day we had him about 3 miles down the trail (I always took him on a lunge line just in case he did take off, I had a ways to slow him down and reel him back in) when some ladies with a whole herd of barking dogs came by us. He proceeded to turn and break into a full gallop the other way… on the blacktop. When he hit the end of that lunge line (I had already braced myself for the impact) all four legs went straight up into the air and he landed on his side. I will never forget the look on his face when he got up, shook it off, and ran straight back to me and buried his head in my arms. Me and my friends could not stop laughing for days afterward, after we made sure he was ok of course. To this day that is my favorite memory of any horse I’ve had.
Those pics are hilarious. I love them. You can tell from the look on the horse that its used to this/them, and tolerates the little rug-rat-bastards, and if the horse spooks and cripples/kills the kids, well, so what, there’s plenty more spoiled brat-bastard kids out there to fill their little shoes. I vote for the amusing pics. ka-ching.
Oh, my.
My grandmother grew up on a farm and one of the first things she was taught was to never fool around near the horses. If she caught me crawling between a horse’s legs, she would drag me to the back of the barn by my shirt collar and belt me. I’m grateful for that.
It’s like these people are trying to kill their kids.
I had a dependable old babysitter that I would put anyone’s kids on. If they fell off she would stop and stand still while arms and legs were safely taken off the ground. Once I was riding her in an open pasture and came across a huge piece of cardboard, like a box from a washer or dryer. I got it into my head that I should drag this cardboard off to the side so it wouldn’t blow around anyone else’s horses. I got off, looped the reins off her head, grabbed an edge of the cardboard with my other hand and started dragging it. It made a sliding sound on the grass for two seconds, and then suddenly I was flying through the air. She collided with me so hard that I came off the ground about three feet and actually arc-ed back into the ground from on high onto my folded arms. She galloped in a circle around me in a panic looking at the scary thing. I dropped the cardboard somewhere along the way and she calmed down. I went to walk over to her (she never pulled out of my hand), and realized that she had kicked the heel clean off my boot. The only way she could have done that was to have kicked my heel off with her hind feet while I was flying through the air. I was very lucky she didn’t kick my other end.
I was about 13 and on my big appy gelding that I had been riding and showing trail and wp (and costume classes, fun classes, 2ft jumper classes etc) for 4 yrs. This guy had done every parade in existence within 30 miles of home, was ridden every day in all weathers- on roadsides and along railroad tracks. We were always bareback when not showing or training.
One day we were riding on a well used path in some very deep weedy grass and BOOM!! My boy was instantly transported about 5 feet to the right of where we had been happily ambling along.
I, however, am sure I remained stationary in mid-air for a second before hitting the ground.
Someone had offloaded a big, blue, plastic kids swimming pool into the ditchline and you could not see it for the grass till you were right beside it. It’s honestly the only time I can remember Sunny dumping me.
You never can tell.
I had just been legged up on my quiet, sweet pony. I was just placing my feet in the stirrups, as she wandered towards the dressage arena, gathering up my reins as we rode around the corner of the barn, and suddenly she leapt three foot in the air and stood there shaking like a leaf. She was absolutely horrifed, staring at… get this… a thistle. I swear, she reckons it was the most evil thing on planet earth. Still does, and everytime we walk around the barn corner shes just like, OMG its the creepy prickly thing. Of course, pretty soon I wised up and started mounting her in the actually arena so I didn’t have to hold a huge clump of mane everytime I wanted to walk around the corner. It’s the only thing I still haven’t been able to desensitise her too. Ugh.