[horse101]

Hi! I live in a place where my neighbors are always riding their ATVS or Motorbikes or playing with their remote control cars. They do this every day and sometimes almost all day. My horse always gets afriad of their remote control cars and she gets agitated when they start the motorbikes and ATVS. I've had her here for almost a year now and she still gets agitated and afraid. I have another horse and she seems OK with the noise. She still gets a little agitated but not as much as her pal. Will she eventully get used to them or should I move away to another place?

[Tuscany]

Horses are often skittish around sounds that they are not familiar with. Like people, every horse is different. Some are more skittish then others and need time to adapt to their surroundings. Getting a horse used to a new sound takes lots of time and consistent effort.

My guess (only because I am not there) is that the horse cannot see the ATVs but she can hear the sound. She is probably spooking because she does not have any warning of what is coming. To get her used to the sound, put the sound where she can see what is making it. But start small. Start with the remote control car. Don't run the car near her legs, but at a distance, where she can see the car and hear the sound. Talk to her in a soothing fashion, reassure her that everything is OK. Then as she becomes more and more comfortable with that, go bigger. Never getting any of the ATV's too close. But where she can see them.

Then be sure to put signs up on the trail so that riders are aware that there are horses near by.

[maddie63]

No don't move she'll just have to learn to get used to it like my horse in his paddock we have hay in the paddock and tarpoleon over it that on a windy day it would just flap flap FLAP, now we jump over the hay and he's fine with it!!
And sometimes mares are a bit more agitated than geldings.
But also again she might not get used to it??
Good luck

[Schoolmarm97]

I really feel for you. I've got new neighbors surrounding my farm, and they have absolutely no idea what it does to my horses when their kids sit on the shed roof and yell or when they ride their ATVs in circles around their backyards for 6 hours. Sadly, we can't retrain our neighbors. We can 1) move our horses, 2) try to train the horses to get used to loud, erratic noises, and 2) learn to ride well enough to sit a spook and make sure our insurance is paid up.

If my 50 years with horses has taught me anything, it's that there's no real way of judging how a particular animal will react to a situation in advance. The fact that one of your horses has adjusted and the other hasn't is a good indication of the individual differences between them. Your second mare may never get used to that sound. From a distance, small motors sound like really big insects and larger engines sound predatory. That's hard for some horses to get over. I have six right now, and only one was able to handle riding in my woods while the guy behind me used dynamite to blast for a new road. The others wouldn't leave the ring, but that one liked to stand and watch the blasting. Go figure.

The best thing you can do for your mare is be calm and confident yourself. If the noise doesn't bother you, that's a step in the right direction. If you're nervous, however, about how your mare will react, she's going to be just a frightened by your tension and fear as by the noise. It's called a self-fulfilling prophecy. What you're afraid of may happen just because you're so afraid of it that you MAKE it happen! I've been there and know how it works.

I'm going to suggest that you spend some time on the ground with your mares, leading them near the sounds and just hanging out with them in a calm frame of mind. Bring carrot chunks. Don't get so close that the mare freaks, but get a little closer each day. That's called "sacking out". Either she'll get used to it or she won't. If she stands quietly chomping grass, then tell her how good she is and give her a carrot chunk. If she freaks, back off and try a little farther away. It took me two years to get my new Appy gelding used to the sound of my boyfriend's welder. That hissing and sparking just about blew that boy out of his skin! Now he's all brave and full of himself and wants to go exploring the farm equipment. Quite a change for a wussy gelding!

Patience! And if that doesn't work, then talk to the neighbors. You can't stop them, but you might be able to work out a compromise where they let you know when they'll be doing their thing so you can avoid being in the saddle. If that fails, then moving may be your only choice.