Forget the lions, tigers and bears. Oh my! More often it’s the trash cans, motorcycles and street signs that make our otherwise brave trail horses shiver in their shoes. Though there are a handful of truly bombproof horses out there—or so the legend goes—almost every horse will spook at something on the trail. Whether it’s the sneaky dog that lies in wait and then leaps at the fence like a rabid coyote, or the gardener wielding a weedwhacker, our horses have their phobias. Sometimes a horse is cruising down the bridle path only to be surprised by an artifact (empty pizza box, anyone?) that sends him whirling in the opposite direction. Other more contemplative horses become transfixed by mysterious objects.
We’d like to know what hypnotizes your horse on the trails. Is it questionable choices in lawn ornamentation? Or does your horse snort and scoot when it comes to crossing water or a busy street? We want to know the one thing that always seems to send your horse into flight mode when you’re out on the trail. To contribute, just click on Submit a Comment below. Some of the best responses will be featured in an upcoming issue of Horse Illustrated.
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My horse is a huge scaredy-cat! Sometimes, it makes me laugh, especially when there is nothing there. I feel bad for him, though. If I ride him out on the trails more than once in a week, then he’s fine. If I don’t ride him that often, then he freaks out.
My horse is a bit of a scaredy cat at times. She doesn’t like water and will do almost anything to avaoid getting her feet wet. She also hates plastic bags, and squirrels that she thinks are going to eat her!
Mine spooks at deer every time. The first time he discovered his phobia, he startled me so much I fell off. I expect it now so I don’t fall off anymore but I’m trying to show him deer are NOT crazed beasts that are certain to chase him down.
My filly has spooked at a century 21 for sale sign flapping in the wind and creaking. She also dislikes small children running around but on the whole, enjoys a good hack. My appendix quarter horse gelding however, is convinced that the trails are full of monsters! One of his biggest problems is a row of small pine trees a house down the way has planted in their yard!
Yes, there are a handful of horses out there who are bombproof, but even bombproof horses have their scary objects. I’ve worked with the most bombproof horses I’ve ever met for years, and it was the most bombproof one that we had the worst incident with. This gelding, a big, muscular, problably around 16.1 Quarter Horse, was invincible. I’ve seen him standing out in the field, pinned between the fence and a horse that was clearly telling him to go away, pinning, then resorting to biting him repeatedly on the ear, and this horse just stood there throwing his head every time he was bitten. He was the horse we gave the least experienced riders. Even though he was only 6, he took the best care of his riders, doing exactly what they told him to do, going over bridges, through mud, walking through a creek… and he had had nervous riders on him before. However, we found out the hard way that he was most afraid of rider fear. A girl scout got on him to go on a trail ride, but she was really scared. Everyone knows that when the rider is nervous, the horse also gets nervous. He did, and if that wasn’t enough, a pole got knocked down and touched him on the way down, and the girl who was handling him got startled and screamed. That was the last straw for this poor horse, who ripped out of the girl’s hands and ran out of the arena with the screaming Girl Scout, abruptly stopping short of a fence, where the Girl Scout promptly fell off and hurt her wrist. She was crying, the horse was trembling, and it was overall a BAD situation. Well, we made sure to take a bunch of time out of our afternoon that day for desensitization, for him, as well as a couple other horses and ponies that we put kids on regularly.
My horse is also afraid of large rocks, white ones in particular. He likes to think there’s something waiting to eat him around every corner but rocks are what really push him over the edge. He usually just whirls around to run as far away from it as possible but he hasn’t actually taken off yet. After an encounter with a rock though it takes him a while to calm down again.
I was once riding a paint gelding named Chief and It was the first time riding him and we took him out on a trail and he was doing fine until I tried to guide him around a corner and he totally freaked out and started jumping all over and resufed to turn the corner. I COULD NOT get him to to. There was nothing around except trees. I felt him tense up so I grabed the saddle horn and dug my heels down becuase I thought he was going to bolt back to where we came from. after a minute one of my friends I was riding with had to lead there horse over to him and grad the bridle and lead him back. After that he was the best horse on the trail. I guess it was just one of those horsey moments on the trail 🙂
Of all the things that spook my horse on the trail, I think that the other horses are the biggest, I always ride on the same trails so theres not really anthing else to be scared of.
My horse Blaze never spooks at anything when we go out trail riding he loves to look at the birds and we ride with deer too. But heaven forbid if we go by the trash can at the end of our farms driveway. It is only that one trash can.
My instructors horse Angel is the spookiest horse around. Even when the wind blows, she hops & jumps around all scared. When you say her name she will jump as if your voice was a firecracker, even when you weren’t yelling!
I have a mare, DLB Trissy Pine Bar, who spooks at just about anything. My faithful old trail horse, Missy, is probably one of those very few, near-bombproof horses–the only thing she ever spooked at in all of our trail rides was the scent of a coyote that had recently walked the same trail.
I have a new horse, Hoss. He is 4 years old and only ranch broke. He has never had a carrot, bath, or shoes and never road anywhere except his 20 acre ranch in Oklahoma. We board him on the edge of an 85 acre wilderness area with trails all over it in Southern California now. He absolutely refused to go out there when we first tried. The first week I led him in a halter out on a trail, going about 1/2 mile and back. I did that for two weeks until he was bored with that. Then I led him in a halter on the trails for one mile for two weeks until he was bored with that. Don’t get me wrong, he was broke and gentle in the saddle when I got him. I then put a saddle on him and I got into the saddle and my daughter led him with me on his back for a mile and back for the next two weeks. At the end of this two week period I was able to ride him alone out on the trail and back for over an hour. Try it, it works.
My horse isn’t bothered by any kind of traffic. Trucks, buses, ambulances with sirens and trash trucks don’t make him spook. But he hops and dances around if a motorcycle comes anywhere near us. It can be slow or fast, it doesn’t matter.
Our dead broke lead mare, Angel, doesn’t spook at anything, but riding through a neigborhood last Christmas, she did surprise me by stopping at a house for a minute for a good look and smell before moving on… The house had a set of Christmas ornamental reindeer all lit up in their front yard.
I was on a trail ride with another lady who borded her horse at are horse. My horses name was dancer, hers was chief. We were just walking out of the woods when about 15 snakes came out all over the place. Chief was jumping and fraking out when dancer was just standing there trying to eat some wood of a tree. Thats one of my fav memores on the horse trail.
It was Mothers day and we decided to all go on a walk, even the horse Dancer. My dad got the saddle and I got the halter and we saddled him up. My little sister Katie through on the horse hellmet and climbed up on dancer not even 10 min. in the woods and a bird flew by and scared the day lights out of dancer. My little sister started to cry, because she was clueless on how to jump off. My dad was trying to calm Dancer down and my mom and me were trying to calm katie down. When dancer found out the bird was gone he slowly got back to the tame horse he is. Katie swung of the horse running in to my mothers arms, with a red face. My horse can be the calmest aniamal in the world but he can all so be a bull kicking some one off his back. I love dancer any way tho. (:
My mom and her friends went on a trail ride; but instead of taking her horse Chicken, she took Arrow-my horse. When they Came up to a large tree stump Arrow just stopped. She was so scared that it took my mom around 30 minutes to get her past it. About a week later me and my mom went on that same trail (her on Chicken and me on Arrow). Arrow just walked right on by that stump; not even taking a second look at it.
My horse, Pistol, is an extremely good trail horse. He will walk by dogs, stamp through streams, and cross the street. But when it comes to plastic bags, that’s another story. The poor thing is petrified of plastic bags and will stand perfectly still then BOLT. I always have to be on the look out for those evil bags 🙂
My pony Irish is a very bombproof pony, you can ask anyone that knows him. When on the trails he spooks at nothing. The only reason he spooks is if another horse is spooking at something ! Sometimes he doesnt even know what it is , he will just run or buck because thats what the other horse is doing. But other then that there has been nothing we have encountered together that he is afraid of 🙂
Plastic bags… I never knew there were so many until I started trail riding! I wish people would stop throwing things into the environment!!
I haven’t found many things that my horse spooks at. She crosses roads, water, bridges, traffic safe to cars, trucks, semi’s, motorcycles. But she did spook a little bit at a Pheasant the other day.
I ride a ex-racehorse gelding. After he came off the track, he became a hunter/jumper and had only been ridden in the ring. When he came to our farm, we opened him to eventing, jumpers, and trial riding. When we go on trial rides, he jumps perfectly, hardly spooks at any spook-worthy object, and adjusts to the pace I want him to go. But when he sees water, he locks up and studders. It takes several minutes to pass through the creek. He’s just so terrified!
My horse is pretty unafraid. He’s more scared of things he hears but can’t see and occasionally he’ll just decide that something is scary. A rock, a stick, who knows? Treats work really well though to bring back his bravery.
My 17.3hh thoroughbred gelding is horrified of mud puddles. And ducks. But mostly mud puddles. He just stands there for a second, then tries to slowly back away!
Dancer; is a breeding stock paint. He’s very calm and has a very gentle spirit. He’s been trained to run barrels. But in some arena’s if there are shadows on the ground he thinks its a hole or something and will try to jump from up under me. He will also spook at ground flushed rocks. But I can take across old wooden or iron grated bridges without incident.
My TWH’s worst nightmares consist of big white geese and plastic bags. I don’t know what it is about those two things, but they always make him nervous. Maybe he just doesn’t like the color white?
= )
my horse is afraid of nothing so far!! Except when we are with other horses he tries to race them! He is an ex-racehorse.
For some odd reason my cremello appaloosa is really bothered by , of all things, MULES!It’s the silliest thing I’ve ever seen. He doesn’t bolt or anything, but he will pick up his pace to as fast as I’ll allow him to go, until he feels he’s a safe enough distance away from the bellowing monsters. And yet, when we do civil war reenactments, he’ll stand right next a cannon as it goes off, without even flinching a muscle!
One gelding at our barn is scared to death of deer feeders! If he sees one, he’s out of there!
My 4 year old palomino Mare, Dayzi, seems to be bomb-proof. she could care less about a big white flag carried on her back[which is strange considering that she had neverseen one before]and there are the little randome things, like maybe the mounting block is in a different place than it was yesterday, or maybe there is some weird light spot on the ground. sometimes, she will spook at noises outside, such as another horse cantering on the trails in the distance, or a deer that suddenly jumps in front of the path while we are loping. haha. gotta love her though, even the spooky side.
My ten year old paint mare is scared to dealth of cows!!! She was supposed to be a roping horse but the awful thing is she can’t be 10 feet from a cow! When we are trail riding she is always on the look out for these monsters or so it seems to her, and when she sees one she is in the other direction in a heartbeat. She also spooks at long grass swaying in the wind, semi-trucks passing by our house or her own shadow, and no matter how much “sacking out” and re-training we do I can never get her to like cows!!!
My first horse was pretty good when it came to traffic, crossing water, crossing a bridge, plastic bags, tires, cardboard or pretty much anything else we came across. The one thing she didn’t like was weeds. If she saw a weed in the ditch that stood out or looked a little different she’d spook.
My QH Aladdin is really good on trail but the wild turkeys give him a terrible fright! You know those “horse eating” turkeys are soooo scary! 🙂
My horse is pretty good with other animals and stuff, but he doesn’t like sudden movements. When we are riding in our field along a row of trees, my horse freaks out! Then, if a bird chirps or the wind blows the leaves, then he jumps back and tries to go away from it.
We have 2 ponies, 2 horses and 7 children. Needles to say I don’t have a lot of extra time. Our horses used to spook on plastic bags while out riding until I tied some on my fence posts. I have electric fence and use bags to mark it when I move it around. If your horse spooks on tarps, try putting one on the ground with hay or grain on it in the pasture. Curiosity will get the best of them! It won’t take long and they’ll look forward to bags and tarps!
My horse is pretty good with most things on the trail. Something that’s rustling in the bushes? No problem! A plastic bag that flies across the trail? Easy peasy! But as soon as we come to a stop sign that’s not moving or being mysterious, that’s when he freezes up with fear!
I have two horses and they are complete opposites. Dreamer spooks at everything, whether its real or not, but it takes a lot to spook Misty because she is just so curious that she would rather go up to see the object that run away from it.
My 5 year old Palomino Quarter Horse is a very nevious horse. Cheyanne spooks at a lot of things. If the wind blows she becomes alert or nevious about her surroundings. Cars are very scary to her if they are moving or even parked! Water puddles she advoids; infact she will try to push into me or pull away just to advoid walking in the puddle.
The mare I am privileged to ride, Dulce, is terrified of school buses! It has become an art of knowing exactly when the daily buses are going to pass the barn, so i can be sure i am not caught on the road where there is no side road or land to escape on should one go roaring past.
My 15 year old Quarter horse gelding is very good and hardly spooks at anything although he used to be very spooky. He is an excellent trail horse but last year as I was out on the trail conditioning him his attention was caught be some goats running lose and bleating on one of the neighboring farms. He was so scared and curious he just stood there for the longest time. I could not get him to budge. I don’t think he had ever seen or heard anything like that in his life. He was so scared I could feel his heart beating between my legs. After standing there for a while I guessed he realized the wouldn’t hurt him and we continued on. Overall he is excellent out on the trail especially for a hunter jumper.
I have a 3yr.old mare,Autumn,to be a little spooky in the barn. But when we are out on trails she does great.She jumps great over any fallen logs and she really only spooks at jumping over ditches.
Im only 144 and i know alot about horses. And my horse is also a kicker. She wont strike when im on her but sometimes she gets spooked at the smallest things like a horse coming up from behind or the sound of leaves blowing. Im training her for hunt seat and show jumping but i mainly ride in western do you think anything that i might not be doing can spook her?
I have a 14 year old arabian gelding, Floyd, that is really good on the trail. He goes thru and over most obstacles and isn’t afraid of most anything. The only thing he has shown much fear over is guinea fowl. There is one house we have to ride past to get to the trail and they have guinea fowl. They make a really strange noise and come running out at us when we ride past. Floyd will get nervous and try to hurry past the house before the birds come running.
I have a 14yr. old QH gelding named Gadget. I’ve owned him almost 2 yrs. One time I let a friend take him on a 4 day trail ride. The first day about 10 minutes into the ride I was told that Gadget flipped out. He double barrel kicked & reared. The only thing different than from I ride him is that there were about 60 horses on this trail ride. I’ve only ridden him with about 8 other horses. Do you think some horses could be over whelmed with so many horses? I was also told that some people were drinking, shouting & even crowding!
Branches on the ground. Streams. Mud. Trees. Paper or other trash. Birds. And don’t even THINK of taking him near traffic (especially trucks) or you truly do take your life in your hands.
There are some days when I wish I had a trail horse, instead of a spoiled warmblood show horse!
My 4yr. old gelding used to have the biggest problem with this peice of rusted sheet medal that was always laying on the ground next to the trail, no matter how many times we went past it everytime he would jump sideways like it was gonna eat him. It really was hard if we were loping by.:)
My pony is usually really steadfast, but sometime’s he’ll jump at the most random things… like swinging things or plastic bags. And he won’t walk into water without a fuss.
My horse is 28 and the biggest fraidy cat I know. I have had her for 20 years and have gotten used to her being freaked out by everything. If given the chance,she will bolt to get away from the monsters. She’s afraid of cows, deer, plastic bags, dogs, owls or other birds, horses in pasture, you name it and she will find some reason to spook. The only way I get her through it, is to remain calm and gradually walk her to the object. No amount of work has gotten her over her fears and I take it in stride. To say the least, I do not take her to the mountains for a trail ride. I will not let anyone else take her out of the arena for a ride. She is definitly not for a beginner.
I like to think for the most part Zeus my draft cross 5 year old gelding is colm for his age.But on the trail ducks & things ubrupt get a big jump out of him. I find my self lucky that a jump is the only reaction he has given me so far.Should I be expecting more or less in the feuter?
My horse HATES geese! The other day when we were trail riding these geese started hissing at us and flapping their wings. I was riding my Appy mare that is normally dead broke and she flipped! So I guess there are things she is afraid of!
MY 4 year old paint gelding will spook at birds flying to close, or even snow falling off the roof sends him flying to the door
I consider my horse Liza, a not so good trail horse. She is very spooky on the trails, but I trail ride with her anyway. She will spook and almost anything, but the worst is when a bird will fly up or a frog jumping into water. She will go running, though shes never gone to far before I regain contril (luckily!). She may be spooky but its still fun to trail ride!
BUSHES! they are a killer!
My horse likes to spook over his own shadow, though I sometimes think he just doesn’t want to work!
Chewbacca would scare at the craziest things. He would go through a rocket launching in the middle of a show but when a bird is in the tree he freaks. Also when the fields are getting done we found out that he doesn’t go well with gigantic machinery rolling down the road or in the field he’s going through.
Water. We can get past cars, tiny crawl spaces, metal barrels, but heaven forbid if Baylee ever has to put her feet in water. And it’s not just on the trail. In one exit from my barn, if it rains really hard, a small puddle about two inches deep will form, and she will JUMP over it while walking out that way.
memo will side step across the world to get away from cows. nobody can convens her they don’t eat horses.
My horse Slick is a Arab x! So he spooks at most anything! I took him on a trail ride once and he was afraid to walk on the trail! The when I was riding him the other day, he chould care less about the cones I had set up, but was terrafied by a dip in the ground!Silly boy!
My lesson horse, Ashley, spooks at umbrellas. We could be just calmly walking along and then suddenly we will begin to do dressage as she side-steps away. even though she is 26 she still doesn’t get that they can’t hurt her.
Blue is a pretty calm horse. He and I can do just about anything together,except fo walk next to a decorated mailbox. He can handle cars, boulders, trash cans, and even barking dogs but whenever we walk next to a mailbox with flowers around the base or something painted on it he will side step like it’s going out of style. He’s even fine with a simple solid colored mailbox with nothing around it.
My mare is pretty calm most of the time on the trail.The one thing she hates is bycicles. She will leap in the air and freeze when she sees one! My trainer’s horse is terrified of cats, old sheds, and tire swings!
I was on a trail with my 4 friends. This trail is aways full of wildlife. My cousin Emily Was riding Jazz,he is scared of EVERYTHING. We saw a butterfly,and Jazz tock of! But Emily got him setteld. We all laught about that when we go on that trail!
One of the horses at my stable, Murray, is known as the biggest spooker at my stable. If you’re out on the trail (even if you’re an advanced rider like me) if he sees or hears even nothing (for him, the silence means danger is near) he’ll toss his head up and back up. So with that in mind, imagain what he’ll do when he sees the regular deer or the occasional cow! So when my instructor asks me which horse I want to ride on the trail ride that day, I keep in ind not to say Murray’s name!
My horse cannot deal with a simple leaf falling in front of him. Dakota and I have been working on it.
I rarely go on the trail, but when I do, little Cookie stares in horror at anything that is perfectly normal, and walks right by the things that spook a normal horse!
Ummm the scariestthing out there for my 24 year old horse is the shadows of the flags, the silk weds of the worms in the trees and the worst is those Big Ol’ Mean Gunna Get You EVERY SINGLE time you go by the storm drains…. He can’t stand them! But the other bad thing is the different sounds when goin from the road to a bridge over the river…
My half lease Arabian gelding, Bayard is terrified of loud noises and cows. Whenever we go past cows he throws his head up and refuses to move, and if you finally get him to move he bolts for about five or six steps, and then forgets about those terrifying cows.
My horse is a great trail horse. She isn’t afraid of cars,animals, plastic bags,bikes nothing seems to bother her. BUT if she hears a person talking (even really far away) she will freeze up and stare. Then despite my comforting words she will run as fast as she can- towards the person’s voice! That’s right she doesn’t run away she runs right towards them like in some sort of trance!
My newest horse, Razzy Reine, is very green.But she has been doing pretty well on the trail.Throughout the fall,though,she has been mortified by the corn stalks in the fields.I had a path through them and she acts like the stalks will reach out and grab her, and heaven help me if my stirrup rakes one and it makes a noise.She is also terrified of the little beagle who lives within sight of her every single day.When he comes along on a ride she acts very nervous and watches his every move.One particular ride she saw a cow standing across a fence.That was like Godzilla!She froze; I encouraged her on, but about a ten of a mile later she bolted,bucked, and acted like she was going to die.Ever since, she acts like an idiot when we go into the little woods connected to that fence.The cow has never been there again.
Nothing, NOTHING, scares my horse. He’s “Bomb-proof.” That’s good, because he’s my first horse. Ever.
Plaid.
My Thoroughbred is a character. We ride past trucks, dogs, and even combines and he doesn’t even spare them a glance. But when a rabbit crosses his path, he goes nuts. Because y’know, from his point of view, rabbits are vicious critters with huge fangs and claws and they eat horses for lunch. With ketchup.
My TB mare lives on rough board. She is near the road, see’s cars, trucks, motorcycles, etc. and hears the sound they make. I ride closer to the road than her pasture. She’s fine. But if she see’s a deer it’s the end of the world. She jumps sideways and crow hops; can’t take her concentration off of the deer, even if I give her time to think about what they are. But when I put her away, she will graze right next to the deer that scare her when riding.
My horse is the most bomb-proof 5 year old you’ll ever meet, but everything seems scarier when we’re riding. She once dumped me twice within 15 minutes!
My six year old arabian/saddlebred doesn’t spook at animals, plastic waving in the air, traffic, or just about anything else but when it comes to manhole covers it’s the end of the world. He’ll stick his ears straigh up and snort at and then as we slowly walk past it he will bend his body so he can keep an eye on it…just in case.
My 7 year old gelding Bandit has gotten over most of his fears since I started working with him three years ago. His two crippling fears are bunnies and lambs. He’s a wimp and is convinced that they’re going to beat him up.
I’m not really a trail rider, but when I do take out my 6 year old Hanoverian geldind out with just a snaffle bridle and a bareback pad he can get a funny personality. It’s not that he’s flighty or anything, but when we ever see a rabbit or deer he stand square and still and start to whicker at me for about five minutes. Then, if I don’t seem to take interest in his new discovery, he’lls turn his head around and nudge me with his head and prick his ears in the direction of interest. He also loves to race over fields with the deer. Its so fun! He’l start to prance and come down on the bit and whinny at the deer and once they start running, he’s off! I swear he must be able to outrun a thoroughbred, as the deer have been sorely beat.
My boy is pretty brave when it comes to most things on and off the trail. If there is a car, my god lets see if that human in it has a snack for me, a fire pit where they are burning the wood from a tree they just took down; hey that’s nice and warm, water on a trail is a little iffy and he may just move through it like a little kid sure the boogy man is going to come fly up the stairs if they don’t get in their room quick enough. But go by a group of cow’s? He is sure the cows are trying to kill him. He will start to prance around and get nervous, flared nostrils and ears crammed so far forward you might think he is trying to get rid of them. Show him a cow and its all over.
My horse is pretty good about not spooking on the trail but when he does see something mysterious he’ll stop and stare at it, snort or blow, and crane his neck as we walk on to make sure it’s not going to attack him from his back side!
Lucy and I enjoy walks at a lead because she can’t be ridden. If I ever mistakingly pass a cow she will stop, shake, sweat, and…. BOLT!!! Yes, Cows.
My horse usually spookes at white rocks or logs. She frequently just stops and stares at it for awhile and then shepishly cowars around it. I urge her to always confront those kind of things.
When my horse was younger, he thought that puddles were going to eat him up! It took him a while to realize that all puddles did was get your feet wet!
At the stable I board my horse, Abigail, who is extremly abused. When ever we go an trails she spooks at: overhead branches, other horses riding with us, crops from other riders, shadows(hers included),(and my personal favorite), puddles. Everyone at my stable now calles puddles “Abi’s alligator puddles” and when she ‘dances’ with her shadow it’s the “Abi-daby-do dance”.
My Horse Hawk is fearless out on the trail. Motorcycles, ambulances and fire trucks don’t bother him at all; but let him pass by a rock, especially a wet rock and he acts as if the hounds of hell are after him. I used to panic when he jumped straight up in the air at them, but now I just laugh and tell him it’s ok!
There is a old melted box that has been on the side of the road of a trail Indie and I ride every week in the summer, it has been there for a year now, and it never ceases to make her stutter in her pace. LOL
My 4 year old gelding is quite brave, but he fears anything that is moving, or if he hears it move. When he does, he comes to a dead halt, drop’s his nose, then turns the opposite way and takes off at a flat out gallop, and then starts bucking.
My 8 year old horse is usually pretty good about trusting me when we go for rides on what she considers”unknown territory,” but what I consider”just another place to ride.” But when we happen upon a place she is not sure about, she stops stock-still, snorts, then bolts in the opposite direction as fast as she can possibly go, even though the “boogeyman” was just a pheasant nesting in the grass!Also, she hates water and tries to jump a tiny puddle rather than walk through it! O,the ways of horses!
theres always something that will spook a horse even the most seasoned trailhorse but it all can be worked out. therers different levels of spooking also.the more you work with your horse with bombproofing the better he will be and you too.take your horse back to the object that scares him,get off walk up to the object,let him see your not afraid of it,let him investigate it i have a motto, we dont run from anything if he does run we come back.this builds confidence in your horse.being able to shoot a gun around a horse puts him on a whole bigger level of confidence too.Bombproofing is fun for you and your horse and makes your relationship with your horse better too