scared of noise in stall

Question
My horse seems to be scared of noise in his stall. Everytime I bring the hose by to do his water he freaks out and backs into the corner of his stall, even though he knows its me. He dosen,t like the rain on our tin roof either. He is even head-shy in his stall. Why do you think is wrong.

Answer
Hi Carson,

Without knowing your horse's background, it's hard to tell what could have caused him to be so fearful of water sounds.  My sense is that he's probably had some kind of scary experience having to do with water in the past.  All you can do is work with the issues as they are right now.  There are a few things you can do.  If your horse is not real aggressive with food, you can "food train" him.  What you do is start out giving him a goodie then moving the hose just a little bit and encourage him to stay calm with your voice.  You can also, if you feel safe doing it, have someone else move the hose very slowly while you calm and stroke him.  Continue doing this until he's less and less apprehensive about the hose moving around.  Patience is the key here because he's obviously acting out of fear.  Don't get frustrated or upset with him over it because that will make it worse.

As for the head-shy problem, again, there could be many causes.  Try to assess whether it's a fear of having things in front of his face, or fear of having his ears touched.  These are two very different things.  The ear problem often comes from having had someone "ear twitch" him to bridle him at some point.  In a case like this, you just have to work through the fear and prove to him that no one is going to hurt him again.  Be patient and consistent in your approach and you'll help him.

Hope this helps.  Fear issues are tricky because you can't just explain away the fear like you can with a human.  You have to show a horse over and over again that they're safe.  Horses that have been scared like that in the past can feel like they're going to be hurt again.  Be understanding and consistent with him, and you'll work it out.  Please don't hesitate to contact me again if you have questions.  Good luck with your guy!

--Susan