[jannette]

My gelding is pretty green, in the arena he does great and even on the trail he is alert but not jiggy. However we will be going along nicely and out of nowhere he tucks his butt and jumps forward like he's being attacked by an imaginary lion. After he's gathered up he acts like nothing happened. Lol it's very dramatic and I'm just not sure if he's insecure and he'll get past it with time or if it's a whole in my leadership and i should be doing something to help him. Any suggestions welcome please.. tia

 

[charrorider]

What about your legs?

 

[Smilie]

He should get over it in time. Horses being a prey species, often attacked from behind,in their natural setting, can react like this, on a trail, esp until they become more confident. They see some movement behind them,having that panorama vision, and react, going into temporary flight mode
The good point being, he is not trying to bolt, but comes back to you, soon as he realizes nothing is coming up behind him
Maybe riding him with another hrose for a time or two, with him leading, might build his confidence. His reaction is also why many horses on group trail rides, like to be in the lead
In a wild herd situation, the boss mare leads, while the stallion brings up the rear, to protect the herd

 

[beau159]

Sounds like he is green and just needs more miles on the trail. Just stay calm when it happens and bring him back down to a walk and act like nothing happened.

 

[jaydee]

I agree - he's green and lacks self confidence.
It sounds as if you're able to keep him under control and ride him through it so I wouldn't make a huge deal of it.
If you can stay calm and focused when the monsters attack then he'll gradually figure out that its nothing to worry about.
If you start to over react then so will he

 

[mmshiro]

The best thing you can do is to stay calm. I think he'll pick up on the pattern of your staying calm and nothing bad happening to him. After his hop, you can turn him around and have him look at what he imagined as a threat - I don't think horses have a clear idea of what's going on behind them other than "movement". Smell and hearing probably fill in the gaps. So if he gives the perceived threat two eyes, two ears, and two nostrils he can, to reuse a phrase, "use the thinking side of his brain". (Plus, when you turn him, he'll have to listen to what you want him to do, further distracting his mind from the monsters.)

 

[alias]

Sounds pretty typical for a greenie good that he isn't finishing the dramatic act with bolting or bucking.

I found on green horses who like to do little spooks over anything real or imagined that the most proactive thing you can do is keep their attention on YOU. Ask them for something, especially if an area of the trail or whatever is prone to produce spooky jolts forward. Bend him alternating directions, do small serpentines, circles around brush or trees even, haunches in/out same with shoulder. The more you keep him engaged, the less time he has to be spooky. It'll still happen, that's the best part about green horses or any horse, really. Calm is always good, indifference to "spooky" object is best. Studies actually have shown there is no benefit in lessening a horse's reaction or decreasing the time it takes them to not be bothered by it by "showing" the real or imaginary spooky thing to them, indifference actually had better results. in all honesty it doesn't matter if they know what it is or not, what matters is how they react. Still reprimand his spook, it's not "okay" but all horses will spook at something from time to time, just keep going. Miles are your best friend for getting through this phase. The more you ride out the better he will get.
A buddy horse isn't bad to have unless that horse is not a model horse for what you want yours to become- it would be less than ideal if your horse spooked and the other horse reacted with him. We ride out with dogs a lot on our green horses, one green horse and one dead quiet experienced horse. after a short while they get used to things jumping in and out of the woods and sometimes even running between their legs. (I've had armadillos and rabbits run under my horses and zero reaction, it's nice. I highly recommend energetic dogs for training purposes, haha. Put a bell on their collar and the horse will clue in faster that the animal running up from behind is just a dog) Deer, hogs and invisible things will always exist but keeping the horses attention on you and giving them a job to do should help a lot.

 

[jannette]

Thank you everyone for the great advise and the reassurance that I'm heading in the right direction!

 

[Celeste]

He is seeing the pokeman in the bushes. Keep on riding. In about 800 miles worth of rides he should start to settle down and ignore them.

 

[waresbear]

My horse used to do this when he was young and do a powerful sideways jump. He grew out of it, for the most part, lol.

 

[Celeste]

I should have put all of my horse's shenanigans in one thread. You would feel much better about your horse. Mine is doing well. (I hope that my saying that doesn't cause bad luck to put a firecracker under her this weekend.) I think that since you are not getting bucked off, you can handle him and he will do well.