H&C

3
Sep
2010

1 Comments

Help! My horse is terrified of bikes

The question

"I am currently riding a five-year-old 12.3hh Fell pony, who I have been hacking out alone and in company since the start of 2010. He's brilliant on the road now, and doesn't seem to get spooked by anything - except recently, he has developed a fear of bicycles. I have tried stopping him and making sure that he can see the bike and where it is going and he still wants to just run away behind his friend/s so he doesn't have to look at the bike. I thought it could have been that the bikes are so silent when coming from behind, only he never bothered about them before and so I don't see why he is fussing over it now. Just wondering if you have any advice to help him conquer his 'fear' of bicycles as there are a lot of them around the area where I ride out, and I don't want him to get worried and stressed out when a bicycle comes around the corner and ruins his hack ? Thanks, Lisa."

The answer

H&C blogger and proprietor of Contessa Riding Centre, Tina Layton-Elliott BHSI, replies: "Dear Lisa, thank you for your question about how to help this Fell pony become more confident with bicycles. There could be some truth in what you said about bikes being very quiet – they seem to appear suddenly out of nowhere.

Ride forwards

I suggest riding the pony forwards rather than trying to stop – although there are times when horse needs time to look at whatever it is spooking at, in this case keep the pony thinking forwards and ‘in front of you’ to avoid it trying to turn around in the road. As always on the road, think of letting the horse see traffic coming from behind with their inside (right) eye (if they see it with the left they might try to spin and put their quarters in the road).

If possible you may be able to ask the cyclist to slow down, and to talk… the pony might then realise it is a person, and not just a scary monster approaching! The same is often the case with a group of people – some believe the horse sees a sort of ‘blob’ or large monster, so if the people talk, the horse will often be less afraid.

Develop confidence on the yard

Are you able to do any confidence building with bicycles at the yard? You could start with showing the pony a bike that is stationary – let it sniff etc and then ask someone to ride it as you walk past, gradually increasing the speed the bike comes at.

Best of luck, Tina."