I'm a carriage driver in old Montréal and I can tell you that horses can be afraid by an umbrella , a bride, a skate-board, a cow or even a flower pot more than big trucks. They're is different type of horses some are going to be more afraid by shadows or movement, some it's more the weird noises, and other it's more the weird things. But for all of them it can be all thoses answers.

In 1998 I was driving an old mare called Nelly. She was really bomb proof. In the hole summer I was working with her she wasn't afraid of anything. She even passed once just beside a building in renovation and they where dropping dumps from the 3 floor. The street was really narrow and we've passed just by it. So I taught ok this time she's going to react a little but no nothing not a flinch. She was afraid only once and it really took me by surprise specially from her. What was it? A plastic swimming pool for kids in the garbages.

Conclusion there is no bomb proof horse and sometime it's the horse that you think that is the safest that can become the most dangerous if your not carefull from being to confident on him.

Horses are going to be afraid of everything that they find weird. For some horses it can be even from familiar things if they're in a weird posture.

I've rented an Halloween costume once and almost scared my horse off the stand wen he saw me. I've catch him on time but he was doing sparkels from dancing on copper stone street. I was lucky enough to have a friend to come and hold him while I took out the costume.

So the more a horse has seen things the less it's going to be encline to be afraid of anything put it still can be afraid of something unexpected.

And the best way to calm a horse is to stay calm. If you don't get afraid you have better chances to stay in control.

Your horse also has a smell as good as a dog or maybe better so it smell the difference in your swet and your vibrations if your afraid.

Talk to your horse with a calming voice always using the same sentence.

And if you have a good bond of trust with your horse just the voice, a good hold on the rennes and not forgetting that the horse talk with his body and that it's ok the let them express they're fears a little without being to impress by it and getting affraid from it, it should do good.

Hi azelle 7

I would like to drive my two mules on my covered wagon. They have got a two months training in the capital of Switzerland. They got trained with a training horse for one month and the second month they were driven together.

Everything went well. Now back at my place I lost my trust as they run off a few times when I was driven them from the ground. Especially they are afraid of tractors and truck with trailer. During the training in Bern it was o.k. as the road is wide so especially the male mule had enough space to drive a way. But at my place there is a narrow road on a small dam, now imagine where my male mule was going passing tractor. He jumped down about one meter, luckily I was driving him from the ground.

Now I hope you can get a picture and may give me some advise how can I get over my frighten and get back my trust so that I can use them in front of my wagon.

Thanks, Urs

furrer67@yahoo.co.uk

Hi EvyG
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My daughter's horse Robbie is terribly afraid of horses pulling wagons and carts; but the very worst thing for him is a small horse pulling a cart. It just blows his mind! Unfortunately we found this out the hard way when we went to a show. Not good :-(
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Our plan was to place Robbie in a safe round pen and have a friend who owns a small horse and cart to come over and drive around the arena where Robbie could see from a distance and then over a few days bring it closer to him.
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We didn't get to try this with Robbie because we sold him recently (and we explained his fear to the new owners). Not sure if this is the answer or not, and it will be interesting to see what other people come up with.
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When we first moved here to the farm we have now, Robbie was also terrified of our tractor. It is so very loud. Imagine 10 harley davidsons reving their engines in a built up area, and you might get close to how loud our tractor is.
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We put Robbie in our big round yard which is a good distance away from the tractor shed and we turned the tractor on and ran it for a bit and then turned it off. Over the course of about two weeks, we drove the tractor around at a distance slowly coming closer and he learnt that it was loud, but nothing to be afraid of. He doesn't even lift his head when we drive it around now.
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Once again, I don't know if this is the right thing to do, but the incremental exposure to the noisy tractor while Robbie was in a safe place worked for us.
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Kind regards,
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Gen

My suggestion to you is intrinsic learning and distraction.