For horses, spooking is a natural response to being startled or afraid of something. In the wild, spooking is an innate mechanism that helps them flee from danger very quickly. Other factors, such as excess energy, pain, or vision issues can increase a horse's propensity to spook.
Although spooking can be a reaction to something in the environment, it's also possible that your horse has pain or discomfort somewhere and the pain was the actual cause of the spook.
Redirect Nervous Energy. When your horse spooks at an object, put his feet to work immediately. Trot him in a circle around the object, or if you're not able to circle the object, circle in front of it. You can even trot or lope him back and forth in front of the object, such as a fence line.
Some horses can be completely de-spooked just by training them correctly in front of the leg. With others, you must be more creative in building confidence in scary situations. De-spooking a horse starts with basic tasks at home, in a place where your horse doesn't feel threatened.
Usually, the younger the horse is, the easier it is to reduce or eliminate spooky behavior, but horses of all ages can be calmed and encouraged to enjoy new experiences.
If your horse is very spooky, start by skipping away from your horse as you lead him — horses are more confident when they're following something, rather than when something is approaching them. When your horse seems confident with this new way of walking, skip toward him.
More energy is being provided by the ration than the horse is expending, resulting in excess energy (either expressed in behaviour and/or being laid down as fat). Too much starch and sugar in the ration provides fast release energy that may contribute to spooky or excitable behaviours.
In the wild, horses are most scared of natural predators like lions, wolves, and alligators. Domesticated horses can be scared of any sound they haven't heard before, and it could be as innocent as the sounds of plastic bags, barking, or any suspicious noise in the wind.
Many riders notice that after grazing on spring grass their horses become spooky, nervous and excitable. In extreme cases they are impossible to ride. In addition to the sudden increase of sugar in their diet, the cause of this behavior is the insufficient level of magnesium in spring grass.
A spook is usually a startled jump sideways, or a quick change of direction with the intention to flee. The horse may or may not want to keep their eyes on the object that frightens them. In the wild, this quick reaction is a response that would allow a horse to flee a predator very quickly.
Researchers confirmed that horses can smell specific odors in human sweat that reflect emotions like fear and happiness, which could open doors to a whole new way of understanding emotion transfer from human to horse, they say.
1. Humans making sudden, unnecessary movements—movements that could be perceived as aggression on the part of the human (like chasing them with a plastic bag tied to a whip).
Antonio Lanatá and his colleagues at the University of Pisa, Italy, have found that horses can smell fear and happiness. While these are just two emotions the researchers identified, further studies may reveal horses can pick up additional emotions from the body odors humans emit.
The answer is fat.
Fat has a calming effect on horses' behavior. In a study, researchers at Virginia Polytechnic Institute** noticed that horses fed a high fat diet were less reactive to startling stimuli and had lower levels of excitability and anxiety than horses fed a more traditional grain-based diet.
Whether the horse is panicked, throwing a tantrum over something he does not want to do, or simply overwhelmed and shutting down, this behavior is often dramatic and can be frightening at times.
There are many concerns and dangers to horses if they eat grass cuttings and garden waste which can include: Risk of the horse choking. Causing the horse to develop a potentially life-threatening stomach-ache known as colic. Severe hoof pain which can also be life-threatening (known as laminitis)
The horse may be anxious or in pain. This frightened horse is leaning back with head raised and turned to face an alarming object, ready to flee, ears held back, whites of eyes showing with tense muscles above, tense muzzle with square nostrils. The horse is about to run away.
Depending on the situation, horses can show fear physically as their eyes will widen, their nostrils will flare, and their necks will brace upward. Sometimes horses will physically shake out of fear or chew their bit to help ease their anxiety.
Of 69 horse owners, 79 per cent of them reported that horses felt jealous, although the specific contexts in which this jealousy occurred, or whether a horse or human relationship was being threatened, was not explored.
Horses are all different, so some may prefer stabling more than others. However, whatever your horse likes, or dislikes are, stabling is a requirement – particularly during the night. Horses need stables during the night to protect them from bad weather such as rain and snow.
The way to make your horse bombproof is by putting them through desensitizing training. Desensitizing is when you introduce your horse to everything they may be scared of and help them understand why they don't have to be afraid.
If a horse is grazing in a field and they come towards you when you are around you can be sure they like you. Horses that follow your movements in their presence show they are focused on and give you 100% of their attention. If your horse follows you around when they see you, they consider you as a friend.