[Tobar]

Can somebody tell me why my horse is scared of other animals that are white or creamed colored? I tell you everytime he sees a light colored cow, a grey/white mule and white horse, a cream colored dog, he goes jittery/bolty on me. Thank goodness he dont go overboard but poor darling is so scared! His head went higher than mine, collected all of himself under the saddle and was headed out!

Today, I stopped him from bolting and asked him to greet the little white mule in the barn lot that he was so scared of. After that, well he kinda walked/trotted off from her as we continued on our way.

Woud there be a reason he is so scared of light/white animals? Thanks in advance if you can offer me some advice or reason.

[mandiemoo]

my horsey doesnt like tht either unless he already knows the horse or animal and then hes fine!! we went for a ride yesterday down by the western arena where the comp was, hehe he saw the palaminos and he totally freaked silly boy

[Madamoiselle]

Hm, I'm not really so sure, but my guy got all jittery when a dapple grey mare walked into the ring, he flipped out, pranced around and exploded into multiple bucking and rearing fits. After five minutes he's fine with her now(even though she despises him).

What's the turnout situation? Is he turned out with a lot of horses? If so, maybe he's getting bossed by a lighter horse and associating all light four legged hooved animals with this? That's the only thing I can offer if he isn't starting to get a bit more used to them.

[Buckshot]

White is an alarm color in animals. It's the color you see on an alarmed deer, etc. Alarmed animals make horses alarmed, so an alarm color can make horses alarmed too.

[Tobar]

Thanks Buckshot, that makes sense! Buck is not turned out with other horses...but, there are cows and horses next door (a fence separates them) and yes, some are cream colored. He is ok with the dark colored everything, but the light...noway! I guess I just have to make him face his fears with the mules, cows, horses, cause there are lots of those where I live. And lots of them are light in color.

[Tobar]

Oh, an another thing, he is scared of the dark. Buck sleeps with a nightlight. If that light goes out in the barn, he will find the nearest streetlight to stand by and sleep.

[horse_lover231]

where I used to board, there were all solid colored horses, but when I left the lady bought 2 paints and OMG so scary... The horses would not go near them because they had never seen a spotted horse before. so funny. I'm not really sure why your horse would do that though even if she sees the color quite often...hmmmmm....

[SpiritSaddle]

Hmm yeah I've heard of horses like that. I think almost all horses are or were at a point scared of white things. I never understood why but I don't really think there is much white out in nature, is there? Maybe it's just not a natural color and they find it scary?

[barn_babe09]

that could really s.uck for a white horse..........lol

[Tobar]

Soooo funny Barn babe09...luckily they dont walk around with a mirror!!!!