SHYING HORSES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 76, Issue 105, 6 May 1933, Page 20 (Supplement)

SHYING HORSES

SOME OF THE CAUSES TEMPERAMENT AND HABIT. The opinion is fairly generally held that defective eyesight is a very common cause of shying in horses, but such is by no means the case. Unquestionably, defective vision not infrequently accounts for a horse being a shyer, yet it is nothing like so frequently a cause of shying as it is assumed. The principal and most usual cause of the habit of shying in horses is nervousness or fear, the horse shying at some object or other because it is afraid of it, even although it can plainly see it. Habitual shyers are usually either of a highly-strung or nervous temperament, such as is very commonly met with in well-bred horses, or they are of a very timid disposition. It is. of course, well known to horsemen that by far the largest proportion of shyers are mares. The habit, of shying is nothing like so often met with in geldings as it is amongst mares, and entire horses are but. very rarely given to shying. The reason why this is so is obvious, when it is remembered that, most usually the cause of shying is nervousness or fear. Mares are, as a rule, of a more excitable or nervous temperament, and more often of a timid disposition than geldings, the latter generally being of a more equable temperament than the former, though there arc exceptions, of course; while entires are usually very high couraged. Hence one does not find an entire shying on account of nervousness or fear, as a rule, and geldings do much leess frequently than mares. Young Horses. A great many —in fact, it may be said most —young horses arc more or less given to shying when they arc first put to work, owing to their being unfamiliar with many objects they see, and consequently afraid of them. When they are taken up to be broken in, young horses, moreover, are very commonly inclined to be somewhat nervous at first, and this, naturally, renders them very liable to shy on the slightest provocation; but, as a rule, they cease the habit of shying as soon as they become accustomed to the sights of the road, and lose their erstwhile greenness and nervousness. Hence the fact that a raw and unmade young horse shies very easily, and frequently is a matter of no importance, and no notice need be taken of it, seeing that it is only natural it should be so, in view of its greenness, and that in all probability the habit will pretty soon cease of its own accord when once the young animal’s natural nervousness and greenness wear off. The Confirmed Shyer.

Sometimes, however, this habit of shying at unfamiliar or strange objects so general among young unmade horses when they are being broken in—persists long after the young horse’s education has been completed, and proves itself to be quite incurable, it oftentimes, indeed, gradually becoming worse in such cases.

Here we have the confirmed shyer which nothing will cure. The habit, aggravating or worse as it is, is, however, the horse’s misfortune, not its fault, seeing that it is the result of a highly nervous temperament or of a too timid disposition; hence it should be kindly and patiently dealt with. Tn some fortunate cases it may be possible to cure it by dint of careful management and patience before it gets too firmly rooted, but more generally it is impossible to effect a complete cure when the shying persists after the horse has been thoroughly trained and becomes fully used to the road, and mostly it is in these circumstances a case of <r once a shyer, always a shyer. ” i Better Out of the Stable. When once the habit of shying has become firmly established, and when it is due to nervousness, the chances arc much against the horse ever being broken of it. It .may, perhaps, bo improved if the horse is in the hands of a careful and patient rider or driver, who knows how to deal with it and takes the trouble to do so. At best, however, one must always bo on the qui vivo with such shyers, and one is never safe with them, whilo in many cases the habit is, or becomes, so bad that the animal is afflicted with it is a wholly unsafe conveyance and not fit to bo in a private stable.