What weird and wonderful things is your horse okay with?

[Trewsers]

Question in title. Now we may not be the bravest or most widely travelled hacking team but my Stormy has seen quite a few things which hopefully stand her in good stead.
Some that come to mind are:
The hoover. She sniffed it and thoroughly investigated it over a few nights. When we lived in the caravan the hoover lived in the tack room and each evening (I had to keep the caravan super clean and tidy!) when I got it out she could come and have a look. We graduated to switching it on and hoovering mats outside the tack room and even the "snake" flex became nothing of interest. Not sure how many hoovers we may ever meet out hacking but there you go.

The washing. She has no fear of duvet covers, towels, socks, jeans etc. Not even when they flap in the wind. Setting a line up next to the arena was a good move.

Shopping bags that rustle. Sainsburys deliver our shopping and when we lived in the van they used to helpfully drop the crates outside the school. I would then lug them over the fence and onto the yard. Storm gingerly began making enquiries one day after seeing that carrots sometimes sprouted from the noisy plastic bags. So next time we meet a rustly bag that someone carelessly left in a hedge she will have no excuse!

Builders cement mixers. Last summer I made a concerted effort to lead her over to ours. She wasn't keen when it was going at full pelt with bricks in, but you just never know when you'll meet one of those out hacking! I think now it would not worry her, she'd look but not mind particularly.

So, what things have yours become accustomed to just by chance or deliberately at home / on the yard?

 

[MrA]

Bicycles!

Its got to the point now when my mum hacks ale out, if he sees a bike in the distance he is convinced its me. He will try and go say hi! He doesn't even seem to jump when they come up behind him.

 

[Trewsers]

Bicycles!

Its got to the point now when my mum hacks ale out, if he sees a bike in the distance he is convinced its me. He will try and go say hi! He doesn't even seem to jump when they come up behind him.

That's great! Bet it's funny when he tries to introduce himself to them!lol

 

[chev]

Trains. There's a railway bridge at one end of the field that they use as shelter and we take them to groom and tack up. The trains going past make me jump every time but they don't bat an eyelid.

And jets taking off and landing at RAF Valley. They come right overhead. Helicopters too.

Añd yet a wheelie bin sitting quietly at the side of the road is to be avoided at all costs. Maybe it's not noisy enough to be ignored!

 

[No_Angel]

My lot love plastic bags, I used to take their carrots up in them, so whenever they see one they come running!
Had an issue once with a sharer, we were riding along the road when someone walked past with their shopping in bags, Murf turned around and started following them! Sharer was a bit useless and just laughed and let him do it, so I had to try and double back and wrangle Murf away from the plastic shopping bags

 

[Jane&Ziggy]

Ziggy is fine with planes, helicopters, bikes motor and pedal, lorries, bin lorries, tractors, tractors pulling rattly equipment, and feller-bunchers (those huge devices that cut down trees and cut them into logs all in one go). He doesn't mind much in fact, and if he does shy at something I ask him to touch it and he has to pretend to be curious, which seems to work most of the time.

Mattie is fine with all of these, plus he will gently investigate any standing machinery. He will spook if a big leaf turns over though!

 

[OwnedbyChanter]

A bit like Ziggy big and noisy and they are fine. A log in the woods we might die

 

[horseandgoatmom]

Trains- there is a train station right across the street.
Hot rods- my neighbor has one.
Tractor trailers- my husband has one.
Dirt bikes and atv's- they run up and down next to the property on the power lines.
Crazy drivers-its fun to sit at the edge of the train station entrance when the rush hour trains come in.
The drivers all go crazy to be the first out of the parking lot - there are so many close calls of them
hitting each other.

feller-bunchers (those huge devices that cut down trees and cut them into logs all in one go)

They had one of those on the power lines this winter - that was interesting to see working close up- the horses did not bat an eye. I had only seen one on tv before that
one was out there.

Chain saws - my husband uses them here.
All my crazy fun stuff I put out-- its out there in some format all the time.

 

[Kite_Rider]

Out hacking she's ok with most things, if anything on the yard isn't where it should be though that's a different story, I would love to get inside her head. Someone had left a builders bag in the drive the other day, on a hack itit's like 'what bag, has it got food in it' on her turf it becomes a hideous monster waiting to eat her, funny girl.

 

[Jessey]

A bit like Ziggy big and noisy and they are fine. A log in the woods we might die

This is jess at the moment, shes looking at the sillyest things yet everything you would think a horse might look at shes fine with. Recent spooks include a little broken branch with the lighter under side of the leaves facing up, the noise the door at the local shop makes, a photographer in the forest and today I think it must have been a blade of grass as I couldnt see anything
She couldnt care less about most traffic (her 2nd ever hack as a baby we met a fire engine with blues and twos on, it came head on at us and she never faultered), low flying aircraft (jets, heavies, choppers Inc Chinnocks at about 100ft), building sites, trains, balloons and party stuff, tow trucks winching busses on, canoes and boats to name but a few.
I might introduce her to a hoover (I was going to dump my old Henry before my move) as it wouldn't half take the elbow grease out of grooming ;-)

 

[Trewsers]

Ours never even look up now when the military aircraft fly over. We get to see some super planes and helicopters - all very thrilling. They come over at night with all their coloured lights on - if I didn't know better I'd suspect alien craft
Neither of them pay any interest at night either. Yet first time I was riding and one came over I was bricking it and I think she sensed my legs clamping onso probs made her nervous.

 

[Mary Poppins]

Ben doesn't seem to be bothered by anything to be honest. He hasn't had a single spook for almost a year now. Last year he spooked because someone jumped out from behind the haybarn and scared him (and I fell off!). He does look at things with his ears forward, but I think that he is just being nosy!

 

[squidsin]

The dog, my kids. My 3-year old daughter ran full tilt into her legs the other day, fell over and started crying. Roxy bent her head down and nuzzled her in a worried sort of way!

In general, she seems to have got spookier though. I am hoping the change of yard may help.

 

[newforest]

Squeezing through a gap that's smaller than she is.
Someone blocked the school by parking the front load tractor in the gateway.
So I walked through between it and the fence and let my rope slack so she could decide if yes I can squeeze or no rather not.
I have seen her push through behind the post and rail which aren't big enough as you hear the wood cracking under the strain! Actually she slides down the banks to but that's another thing. They are having to be rebuilt!

Yes she decided that she could shuffle, push and squeeze through.

 

[Trewsers]

Squeezing through a gap that's smaller than she is.
Someone blocked the school by parking the front load tractor in the gateway.
So I walked through between it and the fence and let my rope slack so she could decide if yes I can squeeze or no rather not.
I have seen her push through behind the post and rail which aren't big enough as you hear the wood cracking under the strain! Actually she slides down the banks to but that's another thing. They are having to be rebuilt!

Yes she decided that she could shuffle, push and squeeze through.

Lol! Chloe is the same. Storm will never try and squeeze through gaps but Chloe judges it and then slowly gets on with it. She can squeeze her bulk through the tack room door and calmly back out again once there is no food to be discovered!