Hi, I have encountered a few spooks with the horse I am sharing, and when he suddenly went into a turn and sudden gallop I fell forward cause of his strength and I couldn't sit back up and right around the next corner I fell badly. It hurt so much, how can I overcome this and if it happens again sit up?

When horses suddenly turn around it throws a rider forward because horses decelerate very rapidly to a complete stop and then turn very quickly. Very often at that moment they sink down under the rider which increases the difficulty to stay well connected to the saddle. The faster a rider was going before the turn the more forward she will fall. If you fell forward so much that your seat ended up in front of the saddle it is very difficult to get back up again. What you can do is to use your arms as leverage. Grab the mane as close to the withers as possible and push with all your strength against the neck. This will help your body to straighten up and even get back into the saddle, especially, if you are riding in jumping/all-purpose saddle. While you are pushing yourself backwards with your hands move your feet forward a bit to help them regain their normal position because feet end up behind the rider in such situations. Regarding overcoming fear factor it takes time and determination. The best solution is to change the horse. If you cannot change the horse and have to ride the one you fell from teach that horse to be more in front of your legs and do not change speed without your permission. Every time he slows down or speeds on his own correct him until he gives you satisfactory answer. Stay very focused when you ride and do not let him "talk" you into going with different speed then the one you intended. I do not know if you have problems with your seat. However, improving your core control and ability to wrap your legs around the horse's barrel to create adhesive and quiet connection will improve your ability to stay in the saddle during spooks. Good luck!

Thank you so much for this information. Do you do lessons and if so can I come and learn, as not sure if I wrap my legs around the horse quietly. It would be good to learn this and see if I sit right in the saddle. I am a very determined person, and just love to ride, but I think it will take me time to get over what happened. Like today I went for a hack with him and the bad thing was I kept getting off every time I got nervous. I don;t know how he picks up on it as I don't show it, but I think by my actions he may sense it? Not sure? Anyways, I walked around the field with him and he got startled and I jumped and he reacted, does this mean he may see me as his leader as he always listens to me, when I tell him to stand and to walk, trot or canter and stand again he listens. In the arena he'll follow me a little and then stand when I tell him and back up so not sure, if this means I am his leader. Anyways I got back on him in the field and 5 min down he spooked and luckily this time I stayed on and he ran straight into the crop lands. I calmed him down and said whow and he listened and slowed down but we were now in the middle of the crop land, and after that we just walked back and got home safely.

I take my hat off to you for going on a hack after the incident. I would be very scared too. Even though you try not to show your fear your horse may feel it through the changes in your body that you do not notice. These changes happen in the way you breathe, in the muscle tone and pattern of the tone. We unconsciously tense certain groups of muscles when we feel fear. These muscles are upper neck, hands, hip flexors, etc.
He probably sees you as his leader because he listens to you when you are on the ground. The fact that he spooked when you jumped does not prove it. Horses feed off each other's reactions no matter the rank of subordination. It was only two of you in the field, you jumped, he jumped as a consequence.
If your horse spooks and runs when you are riding you can try turning him into a big circle, circle usually works even when they are running fast and hard.
I do teach lessons, I teach in and near Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. If you are close by we can have a lesson. If you are far away you can try doing a video lesson with me. I have video students who had bad accidents and were dealing with fear issues. Video analysis helped them with both physical and mental aspects of riding. Contact me directly via my email form if you want to discuss lessons.

Thank you. I will contact you via email.

Hello, I have been researching on line about spooks, and sudden behaviors in horses. I found your site and have been reading comments. So here is my situation, just going to talk a bit about my back ground and then I will get to my situation. I have been riding since I was 5. My mom never wanted me to show, thou I wanted to so badly, anyhow I rode for fun. Fast forward years ahead I got married in my early twenties had 2 kids and stopped riding for 8 years. 3 years ago, at the age of 31, I bought my then 5 year old 17 hand Belgian/tb mare. She had basic training. I was afraid of her spunkiness, but had some sort of connection with her. I took lessons, fell a lot ( from some sudden spooks) but still determined that we were going to make it work as a team in the jumpers. I starting showing her 2 years ago, went from the 3ft3 jumpers to the 3ft6 jumpers racking in the ribbons! Finally last summer I thought we had that special connection and that we were past the spooking (she would rarely spook at shows). I have her at my place, so I look after her every day. She is the Alpha mare in the herd, but she has high respect for me on the ground.She is quiet, calm she listens she is good with everything on the ground, but for some reason this winter, riding her in the arena I go to is unbearable. She seems to spook at every corner of the arena, not only spook, but drop her shoulder and bolt. This is the worst she has ever been. I'm frustrated at her. I don't make a big deal when she does it, even thou inside I'm tense. I just try to make her work and ignore, but it seems she won't give up....this is a horse that has been to the champs on her circuit, with so many things going on, big scary jumps and she does not even blink an eye....I'm so disappointed, I don't know what to do....any suggestions? Thanks Sophie

Horses are usually very spooky during winter. Sometimes they are so bad it feels like riding a different horse. Indoor rings are very often have gloomy corners, shadows, things stored in corners, etc. All that makes horses spook more. Here are few exercises to help with this:

Ride a spooky place in counter shoulder-in. If you do not know what it is simply ask your horse to bend outside and look right into spooky corner while you are walking, then trotting and even cantering. In such posture your horse cannot drop the inside shoulder and turn suddenly. She will be looking into the spooky corner and feeling like she is moving away from it. It will give her sense that you are on her side. She will start listening to your aids for counter shoulder-in.

After a while ask for less and less counter bend, until you can ride through those corners almost straight. Start riding a 10 to 15 m circle in spooky corners every single time you are there. If your horse shows signs of fear, tenses up, or speeds up, repeat the same circle a few times. Again you can do it in walk, trot and canter.

Spend some time working in walk near the spooky places. Movements to consider - very small circles, shoulder-in, counter shoulder-in, turn on the forehand, turn on the haunches, halts, reinback, combinations of these movements, etc. Be creative!

Good luck!

I have a 16.2 Paint/TB cross. 9 yrs old this year Very talented. He did it all. Dressage, hunter, trail, horse shows and was very well behaved. He had a slight case of laminitis 2 springs ago and had a really tough summer. I couldn't really ride him at all. He hasn't been the same since. Spooky, co-dependent, unreasonably naughty, scary behavior when he is upset. Snow sliding off the roof, his shadow, the light coming in the crack in the door from outside, the plastic jump blocks, brightly colored poles, big rocks, & other naughty horses will set him off. I give him Quietex if we are going to the park or the show and still it doesn't solve all the problems. I am a professional and have been riding for 30 years, but this is a head shaker. He gets ridden 4-5 days a week. Help!

There is no simple or straight forward solution to your problem, Natalie.
The first thing that comes to mind is a question if he is still in pain? Even though there is no obvious signs of problems in his hooves laminitis takes a long time to clear up completely. If his hooves are trimmed with slightly long heels and the wall is not rounded enough at the toe he may still experience mild pain or discomfort. This makes him on edge. Have you tried nerve blocking to see if he behaves better with it? Or, give him bute and see if this change things for the better. Then you can be sure it is actually pain that causes these issues.
The other thing is losing his trust in environment and/or humans. I had that happened to a breeding stallion after he was gelded. Very different behavior after. Try to change things around him for the better: does he has a horse companion he likes? is there anything in particular he likes to do - jumping, dressage, riding outdoor? May be he needs a challenge and will change if you put a rider on him he should take good care of like a kid. I know it sounds crazy but sometimes horses behave amazingly different with kids.
One more thing I can recommend is work him much harder. The spookier he gets the longer and harder you ride him. Keep him very, very busy. Do not go around large doing nothing. Lots of transitions, arena figures, teach him a new movement, keep him so busy he starts to forget there are things around to spook at. And do not get involved in his spooks, stay with the exercise and keep asking him to continue like the spook didn't even happen.
Good luck! Drop me a note later if you find something that worked for him.