Click on this photo to see more of Dave Elston’s cartoons.
Here are some ‘scary’ horse stories for you to enjoy, plus many more in the comments! Feel free to add yours!
Story #1
My husband and I volunteer at a horse rescue and one early spring day a few years ago were involved in a rescue training exercise that involved a life-size but very lightweight plastic horse. To set up the evolution we had to carry said fake horse past a small field of weanlings and yearlings with their babysitter mares. The sight of two humans literally sweeping a horse off its feet terrified not just the babies but the “aunties” as well – except one old gal was simply intrigued. Hubby and I wound up adopting her – and she is not just wonderful on the trail but amazing in the dressage ring.
Story #2
They say the horse was scared of carrots. Not any carrots…only carrots that still had the carrot tops on. At least that is how the story goes. The trainer didn’t believe the owner as the horse seems pretty reasonable in all other respects. But he had to know…
A trip to the store and a few carrots with tops later, it turns out the horse WAS scared of carrots with tops! Ran to the back of the stall when he saw them. Upon further questioning, the owner revealed that the horse, the first time he tried a carrot with a top, snatched the greens and pulled hard. This resulted in the carrot swinging and hitting the horse in the head. The horse fled…still carrying the carrot by the top…the carrot swinging wildly…
Story #3
I had a pony who was afraid of his hay for a while. I don’t know what caused the problem since he had been eating it his whole life. He would very cautiously sneak up on the flake of hay, grab a bite, and run away to eat it. He would eat all of his meals like that for a few months until he got over his issues. My vet watched him do it and said that he’d never seen that before. It was very amusing.
The rest of the story…
When I first posted this I invited people to add their comments and lots of people did. Read through the comments and feel free to leave one of your own! Has your horse ever been scared of something completely silly…at least silly in your opinion?
I’m opening the floor here. Do you have any scary stories involving a horse?
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My husband and I volunteer at a horse rescue and one early spring day a few years ago were involved in a rescue training exercise that involved a life-size but very lighweight plastic horse. To set up the evolution we had to carry said fake horse past a small field of weanlings and yearlings with their babysitter mares. The sight of two humans literally sweeping a horse off its feet terrified not just the babies but the “aunties” as well – except one old gal was simply intrigued. Hubby and I wound up adopting her – and she is not just wonderful on the trail but amazing in the dressage ring.
My boy was pretty sure the yellow painted speed bumps on the road were going to eat him the first several times he saw them. He tried to go around them sideways so he could keep an eye on it at all times!
We took our horse a TB son of ladys secret to fla and the boarding barn had a Zebra o n the paddock.
He wanted gone ! It Terrified him. All winter he would not go to that side of the barn.
Just the other day we were riding around the block enjoying the beautiful fall colors. When we turned the corner I knew I was in big trouble. I’d forgotten about the goat dairy just around the corner. The filly had never before seen goats. They all came running down the hill together bleeting their fool heads off. Suffice to say it took a while to get her past them. It took us about twenty minutes an a lot of convincing. She eventually scrambled past with eyes bigger than saucers. There was a lot of circling but we finally made it. Pretty scary for both of us at the time.
my horse and I went to his last show this summer. he has bad eyes and we were competing in gymkhana classes. when it came to stake in barrel we seemed fine running up to the broom stick replacement but he did a little sliding stop right in front of it we got disqualified for that class.. yet we still qualified for state fair! and it was supposed to be for fun, and I’ve only ridden in a western saddle a few times.
I have to laugh out loud about that “Plastic bag that flapped” photo because I have taught my horses to come to me when I shake a plastic bag. My family…like so many others…don’t seem to like eating the ends on the loaf of bread…so I have turned them into a treat for my horses. I go out into their paddock and shake the plastic bread bag and they all come running to get their bread treats. I am waiting for the day when we are on a trail ride and they want to check out every piece of rubbish on the trail 🙂
One of my mares is afraid of the lines she makes in the sand of a freshly raked arena! She also picked up a palm frond in the pasture one day, clenched her teeth on it a ran around chasing the other mares in the pasture with it!
My horse is afraid of that patch of dirt in an otherwise grassy yard. He’s also afraid of his own shadow, but walks over gravel and tarps like there’s nothing there!
My Arabian, Echo is a spooky fellow. He was trained to “startle in place” because of this. The thing that really freaks him out are deer …apparently he was told they are carnivores that crave horse flesh because my poor boy just loses his mind when we run across one.
One time on a Fall trail ride we came around a blind corner and we’re face to face with a doe. He squealed like a pig and began backing up and hopping. Each hop higher than the previous one, nothing I couldn’t just ride out so I was laughing at him.
Well he backed into a smallish oak tree and acorns rained down on us. Needless to say I was abruptly deposited on the ground. Fortunately for me he was also trained to just stand still if his rider became a “yard dart” It would have been a long walk back to the barn.
My driving pony is a really steady mare but butterflys that come flitting toward her face tend to put her on the “edge”. I talk to her and ask that she tolerate their “kisses”. My daughter’s horse was trained to drive before he was mature enough to be backed. He was only driven on the home property and was not bother by any aspect of the driving training or the driving. He outgrew the harness and was ready for training to ride and was ridden exclusively for the next 14 years. He had not seen another horse being driven during that time. I planed on driving from scratch since it had been so long. I had him on a lead when he saw his first horses hitched to carts and driving around and the closer they came the more worried he became and had to move his feet and if he had been loose he would have run off. I gave him lessons on line following the carts at a distance as naturally he was more confident as they drove away from us, repeating this on several days, and then doing “leap frog” with those being driven with the cooperation of the drivers.
My horse thought water being poured on him was the end of the world, hoses, puddles, a rope dragging on the ground, pipes, a ditch that was muddy (that he has crossed no problem before…), horses bolting out of bushes (I don’t blame him though), and he also thought that the fresh lines painted on the road (which got redone and for a while there were no lines) were colored snakes waiting to eat him.
😀
My mustang is petrified of my bottle calves. Somehow, he had made his way through the coral panels yesterday into the calves pen. When I asked what he was doing in there he looked at me as if to say “I don’t know, but please get me out of here before they eat me!” Of course the calves are extremely curious and friendly and “chase” him around thinking he’s just another cow to befriend.
I have seen a lot of horses scared or ponies or horses pulling carts or wagons. they are not afraid of the cart or the wagon when it is standing still nor are they afraid of the pony or horse before it is in the wagon or cart but put them together and and let them move and they become a monster. I like to ask the people to let my horse watch the hitching process and then snif the horse as it begins to pull the wagon. Then watch the wagon go then follow the wagon.
I was riding a friend’s horse for the first time (on him). We were 5 minutes from end of trail ride when a turkey flew up right under us. Trusty spun on his heels and shot like a bullet through the field. Did I mention it was the first time I ever sat an Australian saddle? Where’s the horn???? In my “can’t think quick mode”, all I could do was pray and holler “whoa”. Thankfully, my ride ended well. My much more experienced friend’s mount ended up bucking her off and hurting her arm.
I am free leasing a gelding that the owner trained very well. I brought him to campus to ride with the equestrian team. They are building a building on the corner. We past a tractor trailer, the material that keeps ground from eroding, earth moving equipment moving. He would look but continue on. Got to a goat in a field and he flipped out.
Found out it is other domesticated animals that are the problem. We have since had a meltdown at mules and still doesn’t like goats.
I won my paint mare at a McNeese football game raffle where she was exposed to many exciting and loud events. She had been trailered from South Dakota to Louisiana. She was very friendly and curious. When Birthday Wishes, aka Josie, was about four years old she was coming in from pasture to the water trough. Earlier the barn owner had dragged a large tree that had been felled, into the area near the water trough. Birthday Wishes walked toward the trough but stopped short of the tree trunk. She walked away and returned only to stop again and would stare at the horse eating tree. She backed off and got a running start only to come to the only sliding stop she ever performed and retreated. Only when I laid down on the tree did she come close to investigate. Trees are suppose to be vertical, not horizontal!
I have a morgan mare who feels the same way. Trees should be vertical and there is something very wrong when they are horizontal and she sidepasses suspiciously by every one.
On a ride my mare saw a lady jogging and pushing a stroller. She was behind us and to the left at least 100 yards away. my mare reared up came down ran into a fence fell on her side jumped up and ran all the way back to the barn. That was about 1/2 mile away. In the mean time I’m laying on the ground go what the heck with a sprained ankle and a big bruise on my stomach from saddle horn. You can do anything with this girl but for some reason that day she wasn’t having any of it.
Riding the first colt I’d started for myself, who was very bold had never shied at anything, we came across a gigantic and very dry palm frond that had fallen onto the road from some truck. He wanted to sniff, so I let him. Next thing I knew he had grabbed ahold of it with his teeth, causing it to flap and rattle wildly, which sent him into a perfect reining horse spin. He was so surprised, he’d clamped his mouth shut and we kept spinning and spinning with that palm frond chasing his face until he finally heard my WHOA, dropped the darned thing, and stopped. I started laughing, and when he snorted, turned and stomped right over the palm frond on the way out, I laughed harder. He seemed quite pleased with himself for killing it in the end.
Our old gelding was afraid of only two things, remote control cars and bubbles. Would hide in the back of the stall when kids blew through bubble wands. Nearly flipped over when a child, realizing that his remote car was causing anxiety, picked it up attempting to calm the horse. Instead, the fear increased. I guess he thought the car had caught the child and was going to eat him! The silly part was that we had just ridden past a wedding party complete with blaring horns, decorated cars and tin cans clashing down the road with nary a sideways glance. Go figure!
My girly is terrified of a galloping horse statue in the local park. Only time she’s tried to bolt with me. I wanted to work through it but her feet where tearing up the grass and I didn’t want to loose the privilege of riding through the park.
I had a pony who was afraid of his hay for a while. I don’t know what caused the problem, since he had been eating it his whole life. He would very cautiously sneak up on the flake of hay, grab a bite, and run away to eat it. He would eat all of his meals like that for a few months until he got over his issues. My vet watched him do it, and said that he’d never seen that before. It was very amusing.
I had an Arabian gelding who had a bad experience with a hitching rail. In retrospect, I think where this happened may have been the first place he ever had to be tied to a rail. I was grooming him for a ride one day and he suddenly pulled back against this rail, I might have set him off, but not sure. I don’t like to untie or cut the rope right away on horses that are set back, they will often flip and can make the experience worse. So I got behind him and asked him to step up. He did, right away, and banged his nose, HARD, on the rail. So, he set back again, of course. I asked him to step up, and he did it again. This happened three times in rapid fire before he stopped, legs all askew, blowing hard and snorting at the rail. That damn rail jumped out and punched him in the nose! It swelled up and got black and blue. I untied him and pretty much expected him to be afraid of the rail. He was. So, I taught him to stand for grooming and saddling without being tied. He fully got over it and you could tie him anywhere, but I was certain I had created a monster. Good boy.
I had a beautiful mare for years who would let any woman or child ride her with ease, but put a man
on her and she would back up into ditches, balk at the change of color of the ground…we knew she had at one time been abused by a man, so once I figured it out, made sure no man ever got on her.
The only thing she would spook at with me on her was farm equipment, her specially chosen horror was being eaten alive by a combine…………might be 2 miles away over a field, but she would jump
6 feet sideways….she was very careful tho, to signal her fright so I would not be unseated…my kids
were 1 and 5 and sitting on her, she reached down for a juicy piece of grass and they just slid off…she stopped so as not to step on them while they sat on the ground looking at her…she was a
superb saddle horse and a wonderful ride….
My QH mare is only afraid of hot air baloons when they fly low and make noises (such as when they heat air)… She looks very funny looking up at the sky and running in circles! Although I do want to tell the hot air baloon people to get off my air space (she looks funny but I bet she doesn’t think it’s funny at all!)
My arabian gelding is the bravest horse I know, except when it comes to yellow traffic lines or indications in the pavement!!! He just stops in his tracks and starts snorting (he doesn’t care if they are white though)… I can’t find a reason for it and I think it’s the sweetest thing. To think he doesn’t care for white plastic bags on a windy day!
I rode a horse in a Christmas Parade once. We had the fire department behind us with sirens and little firetrucks driving all over the place. The horse was a champ and didn’t care about anything. At the end of the parade we saw a clown with a miniature donkey and that horse almost flipped over backwards. LOL
I had a lovely Arab mare who was a little too smart for her own good. After heavy rain a portion of the field would have standing water. I called the horses up for breakfast, and a couple hours later we were going for a ride. We headed back the way they had come in, and when Prin got to the water she stopped and acted afraid “Theres a monster there, I just KNOW it!” I turned her to face the other way, backed her a few steps and then spun her back. BINGO, we’re in the water! The expression of her body language was “Busted”.
She was however, terricied of small ponies and mini’s. Never got her over that one.
My very reasonable, very quiet aqha mare doesn’t get excited about much. But after a successful show weekend we had just finished showing when an exhibition came into the pen of a collegiate six horse draft hitch. She took one look at that and came unwound.
Ha ha. At least I find it ironic. Yes my unflappable quarter horse mare is scared of hogs. Now that being said; I myself, am not crazy about wild hogs either. I’ve been around the woods and hog hunting enough to know they are dangerous. However, my mare whom is solid as a rock about EVERYTHING ELSE, almost dumped me on my head over some hogs at the stock pond. When I say solid I mean solid. She’ll pass flapping plastic bags with ease. Unstable footing, no problem. Loud, rumbling, honking 18 wheelers easy peasy. Run a rope through her legs, great. Want to shoot off horseback? (pistols, rifles, shotguns) She thinks it’s interesting and wants to know what you’re shooting. She is stabled on the property of a boarding and training dog kennel that I used to manage. I used to walk her through a standard door frame (and she’s a broad lady) down the middle of a 75ft long 5ft wide isle on the inside of the kennel, full of dogs on either side who thought she might be tastey. She never batted an eye and looked at the pups with disdain. Yet she was going to leave me on my head for the hogs. She went from calm and collected to panic in under 1 second. Eyes wide, nose blowing, instantly slicked in sweat. From a standstill, she did the fastest 180 spin leap into a full gallop I have ever felt. I knew she could move when cows were involved, but I never suspected she had that kind speed. I was bareback and God was watching over me that day, I hung on with a handful of mane and a boot hooked on a hip. I find it completely ironic and funny she can handle ALL that and run from the hogs. 😉
My favorite scared horsey story is of a filly. She was waiting to get her first trim and the owner decided to walk her around in the fresh arena. The filly was walking fine and a horse walked by outside, the filly stopped and backed up upon seeing the large horse outside, when she backed up she noticed her foot prints and that was way scarier than the big horse outside, she just kept backing and backing and they kept appearing and appearing, she thought they were chasing her, she eventually stopped and sniffed them and all was ok.
I had a mare years ago who was afraid of white; white mailboxes, white edging bricks, even the dogwood trees off in the distance when we crested a hill on a trail ride and there they were, several miles away on another hill, just waiting to GRAB her!!!!
So my horse Mr. Bucky is terrified of carrots in buckets! Outside of the bucket all is well. When they are inside a bucktet, tops or no tops, he won’t get near them! It’s really hilarious! He also absolutely hates it when I try to pick something up from his back but if I was to put it down from his back, he’s okay with that. This is all manner of items too, I’ve thrown my coat over his head (from off his back) onto the fence rail and he stands there like a stone, but try to pick up a camera from on top the fence and he won’t even get close to it! We’ve tried many, many times to get him to overcome this issue but after 16 years, we’ve just trumped it up to his little weird issue!
The little purebred Arab mare I used to ride was absolutely, totally, scared of lots of things – but I got her over most of them. The only thing I never could convince her was O.K. was the rooster. Every time he crows, her head goes up and she backs away and tries to leave his vicinity. If she can’t leave, she’ll just stand there, shaking.
YIKES! to the ostrich story!!!
One of my younger mules started eating the end of a cornstalk, the other end of the stalk scared him so he started spinning around and around and wouldn’t let go of it. Made him look like a reiner…
While on a short trail ride on my first horse , we were returning home and he passed gas, it was so loud it scared the heck out of him and he jumped straight up in the air! I managed to stay on and laughed all the way back home. When I arrived I was still laughing so my friends I boarded my horse with wanted to know what was so funny. I told them the story and they thought I was pulling their leg, just then my horse passed gas again so loud it spooked all the other horses in their pens!
Thanks for the laugh! That is too funny!
One time I was the one to make the “noise” and my horse jumped sideways!
We had an Arab whose only fear was the ‘gators’ (blown out tires/strips of rubber) on the roadside. He didn’t flinch at semis, giant farm equipment, or anything else on back country roads…but let him see the tiniest piece of rubber, and you WERE going to the other side of the road, or half a mile into the closest field 🙂
My super bomb proof mare (who grew up on a farm that had military vehicles including a tank) will lose her mind at butterflies. .We’ve ridden past trucks, bounce houses , the above mentioned tank while it was moving. .nothing..butterfly floats by..she’s making dragon noises and trying to go the other way!!
We have a funny/ scary story about an older mare that we liked to joke was not afraid of anything except ostrichs. we had newer neighbors that decided to raise ostrichs in the old hog houses on the property they bought. Ond day the baby ostriches had grown very tall but the poeple had not made the fences taller. My two adult daughters went riding and took my first little granddaughter who was only about 8 months. Just as the young ladies on their horses with infant infront of mom were passing the ostrich barn the tall young ostrichs became alarmed and ran inside the barn but the owner was cleaning inside and chased them out again. The ostrichs became very upset and some hit the fence that only came up to the top of their leggs. Two ostrechs fell over the fence and now they were really scared and so were the horses. the horses began to leap and shy while my daughters were trying to stay aboard. Both ostrichs were running around in the middle of the gravel road bumping into each other and the horses were freeking out. My daughters did emergency dismounts and took the granddaughter down to and the old Appy mare ran home by herself the Arabian was able to be led home. All were safe. The owner came out and took hold of one of the ostrichs by a wing and led it back into the barn.
Wow that is scarey. I’ve never tested my mare with ostriches wonder if she’d do the same. She’s scared of hogs. If I ever bring her down to my mom’s I can test her with emus.
My ottb is terrified of most things and not bothered by the oddest things. Last week he was chased by large dogs nipping and barking. He confidently walked on. Two houses down a fenced yard holds two of the ugliest fluffy, tiny, yippie dogs. The came bouncing towards us side by side. You would have thought someone had pulled a rug out from under him. Next door, a very suspicious, possibly horse eating trash can. A block farther, cows that look at him funny. In between those destinations a semi speeds by and he’s half asleep. I’ve sacked him out with tarps, bottles, feather dusters. He spooked at my jacket so he wore it while I lounged him. He’ll follow me blindfolded anywhere, but let something completely ordinary happen and all hell breaks loose.
I hacking and a bird was taking a dust bath in the arena. My super steady Concho saw the ground wiggling and was on the other side of the arena before I knew what happened. We stayed together thru that. He was very good at keeping me on his back.
One time my mom and I went to the barn on a rainy day and we both had bright pink rain coats on. We whistled to my horse out in thw pasture and he looked up, saw our rain coats and bolted in the other direction. Haha he wouldn’t let us come near for half and hour.
When our Arabian “The General” aka “Hawk” died at age 34 years of age..he was still ready to stop so suddenly at the “flit of a butterfly” that you had to be constantly aware of all butterflies … “
Once me and my super bombproof gelding were loping along when suddenly! He noticed a flattened piece of arena left behind from a barrel!! We went galloping in the opposite direction. It was quite hilarious and took a lot of time to get him over his fear! 🙂
My horse Flint use to think a plastic bag was going to eat him. With work he has gotten better but still looks at them like they are going to jump up and get him. I wish I knew why then scared him so much.
My quarter bred paint was “helping” a guy who I’d hired to cut up some limbs from an ice storm. The horse picked up some leaves in his mouth that were still attached to an elm limb. Of course the elm limb moved. Scared him. He started trying to get away even to the point of running and kicking at the limb that was “chasing” him. Proves that fear clinched the mouth shut! I do have to say his confidence is much better with me ON his back. He certainly has to have a leader!
One of the Arab mares where I used to work was put in pasture for awhile and she went to the nearest tree to eat some leaves… She took down a whole branch, spooked, and continued running with the branch in her mouth, making the branch chase her….
I was leading my horse down to the front pasture where the water hose was set up for a bath. He spotted the neighbors beach towel, hung over the fence by the pool to dry. Just calmly laying there, not flapping in the breeze, not moving a bit.
His head went on high alert with ears like arrows on top of his head! Tail in the air, prancing, farting and snorting as we went circles trying to redirect his attention to me. About the time the circles went from a race to a trot, the towel flipped in a gust of wind.
It was all over but the crying (my part) as I failed as a leader and decided it was safer for me and him if we did the bath later. Back inside the gate, lead rope quickly detached from halter and I let him fly back up the hill to the barn with me in slow pursuit to let him calm before I approached to retrieve the halter.
While riding my generally level-headed 4 year old, we came upon a tipped over bright blue outhouse… He turned into a complete fire-breathing dragon. His neck was arched and as he’d inch closer, he’d turn to run and flee, this all happening while we were still a good 30 yards or so from the horse eating outhouse. I finally convinced him it wasn’t all bad and he ever so cautiously approached it, but still never took an eye off of the darn thing!
or there is always the monster in the corner of the arena, and the sea monster in the puddle….
Yes! why is it they’ll walk through a whole lake of water and then they are terrified of a puddle?!
Because God forbid they get their precious feet wet…
My boy is scared of turtles which are always walking through the arena. Wont go near them or back to where he same them! haha
That is funny, lol!