At 15:38:34 on 31.10.12, Trot ON Comment wrote:
Tina Bettison who writes some of our favourite horsey humour books has written our Halloween blog-take a look if you want a good giggle :D Then tell us, who is really spooked-is it you or your horse? And if you have some good spookbusting tips for horses and humans-please share them here!!

At 03:09:38 on 02.11.12, JessAndGrenville123 wrote:
The only thing i do is make sure i confront grens fears head on, if you avoid things and never see the scary plastic bag/umbrella/whatever it is then how will your horse get better with them?

At 08:32:08 on 03.11.12, Flicka wrote:
Some horses are definitely spookier than others, the Farlow is as bad now as when we first bought him over ten years ago and he spooks at things the rider hasn't seen-the phrase 'what was that about!' is often heard when hacking him out lol We reckon before we got him he must have had some nasty experiences with, a dark patch of grass, mud, a log, water...and the list goes on. I would say, it would be worth checking his eyesight but he's never had any problems spotting you walking across the yard with a bucket or armful of hay when he's right at the bottom of the field!! But I do think riders do pre-empt their horse spooking at what they imagine to a horse will be a 'spooky' object and tighten the rein or their leg and hold their breath, generally tense up. Riders also look at the object which has the effect of focusing the horse on it too. It's important to put the object into perspective-are you frightened of it? Or are you frightened of what your horse will do? Think about the object as if you were walking past it on your own two feet, would you be scared? I imagine no, so let your horse know it's not scarey, just ignore it. If your horse moves sideways then just move him back as you would if he wandered off line at any time. But don't make an issue of the object and stare at it and make him stare at it-turn his nose away. If they spin then I will turn them back but back to the direction in which I wanted to go. I'm sure that others will disagree with me, but it works with my mares. As for the Farlow, my husband rides him and doesn't take kindly to any advice from me lol