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Horse Care and Comfort

Spooked by wind

By:

pinkie

Date:

2014-Jan-12 at 02:39AM

My alpha mare (I have 2 mares) is very spooky in high winds, is there anything I can do to desensitize her in the future? My other mare also follows her lead as she's quite nervous.

It's currently 40 degrees at 9:30am with a blistering hot wind and I don't really want them stressed out too much in these conditions.

beryl 2014-Jan-12 at 02:24PM

It's quite normal for horses to be spooky in high winds, one of the reasons is that they lose being able to hear things coming like animals hiding in the undergrowth etc so effectively losing one of their senses that keeps them safe.
Really, it's just a question of time & her getting used to it, but the thing to ask yourself is - is it safe to be riding out in these conditions? The horses don't think so, that's why they don't like it; they'd much rather be standing right out in the open away from trees, or anything else that's likely to come crashing down on them, that way they can see any animals creeping up on them & be ready to run.
Don't take risks if the winds are too high, it's not worth risking your safety, tomorrow's always another day.

LennyLlama 2014-Jan-12 at 03:14PM

Beryl is right, it's perfectly natural for horses to become a bit skittish in the wind, another flight or fight thing :) my horse doesn't mind wind or rain but I know others who are totally freaked out and also ones that aren't too bad, just a little cautious. We as humans can't really desensitise a horse to wind as wind comes and goes, there's no way of controlling it so that we can get our horses used to it lol I wish I could control it so there would be a cool breeze in the hot weather but it never happens >.< lol so in her own time she will learn to get used to the wind and the sounds it make on the trees! sand etc.

vicci - UK (North Wales) 2014-Jan-12 at 07:32PM

I never work horses in high winds unless they are completely ok with it - it's too risky. I will cancel clients because an unknown horse in high wind is just too many risks.