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Veteran
Posts: 277
 
Location: North texas | Can someone explain this to me? I am looking for a new horse and I am seeing this in ads....example....watchy on the ground but not mean...or watchy on the ground but fine in the saddle....or watchy on the ground but will warm up to you. I can't figure out what this would mean. Thanks!! |
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 Accident Prone
Posts: 22277
 
Location: 100 miles from Nowhere, AR | I take it to mean they notice everything and can be a little suspicious/snorty/spooky about it. I had a mare that I described as watchy, but she wasn't reactive. You could see her thinking it through, she saw every little thing you did and everything going on around her ALL THE TIME. A lot of ranch-raised horses are like that--this mare spent her first 3 years in the Nebraska Sandhills and Wyoming. |
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 A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | They notice the things going on around them, watch all the moves that you are making. |
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 You get what you give
Posts: 13030
Location: Texas | sounds to me that they can be goofy or spooky or snorty on the ground but fine under saddle. Like a horse that will see a bag and blow up when you lead it by |
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 I'm Cooler Offline
Posts: 6387
Location: Pacific Northwest | My dad's horse is like that. He's always watching you and will kind of spook or flinch away from you sometimes but I've never had him spook under saddle. |
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Veteran
Posts: 277
Location: North texas | Makes sense. Thank you!
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 Do You Feel Lucky Punk?
Posts: 3156
Location: NM...the Land of Manana | Lol, I have a "watchy" 5yo. Yesterday, riding in the arroyo, he was deathly afraid of the giant tree stump in the middle of the wash, or maybe it was the discarded kitchen sink sitting on top of the stump that had him spooked! |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1094
Location: Idahome | My gelding now is "watchy" and it drives me crazy at times. He is not mean or has ever tried anything. He just sees EVERYTHING. I ride along canal roads a lot at home and we can pass by the same thing everyday and it still scares him. He is to the point that if he isn't quite spooky enough when riding, I think there is something wrong with him. I wouldn't trade him for the world, but it does get frustrating when I have a 3 and 4 year old that ride better on the trails that him and he is 9 this year. |
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Accident Prone
Posts: 22277
Location: 100 miles from Nowhere, AR | KylaKris - 2014-09-15 9:34 AM My gelding now is "watchy" and it drives me crazy at times. He is not mean or has ever tried anything. He just sees EVERYTHING. I ride along canal roads a lot at home and we can pass by the same thing everyday and it still scares him. He is to the point that if he isn't quite spooky enough when riding, I think there is something wrong with him. I wouldn't trade him for the world, but it does get frustrating when I have a 3 and 4 year old that ride better on the trails that him and he is 9 this year.
My 9 year old is ok as long as things are the same, but Katy-bar-the-door if any little detail is different from yesterday. And living on a farm, nothing stays the same except a couple of months in winter. Last week, it took the 3rd ride after they picked up irrigation pipe out of the corn before he quit looking...and then they harvested one of the fields. Fun, fun. Ha! |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 596
Location: Somewhere in the middle of nowhere | Three 4 Luck - 2014-09-15 8:41 AM KylaKris - 2014-09-15 9:34 AM My gelding now is "watchy" and it drives me crazy at times. He is not mean or has ever tried anything. He just sees EVERYTHING. I ride along canal roads a lot at home and we can pass by the same thing everyday and it still scares him. He is to the point that if he isn't quite spooky enough when riding, I think there is something wrong with him. I wouldn't trade him for the world, but it does get frustrating when I have a 3 and 4 year old that ride better on the trails that him and he is 9 this year. My 9 year old is ok as long as things are the same, but Katy-bar-the-door if any little detail is different from yesterday. And living on a farm, nothing stays the same except a couple of months in winter. Last week, it took the 3rd ride after they picked up irrigation pipe out of the corn before he quit looking...and then they harvested one of the fields. Fun, fun. Ha!
I have one like this too! Any little thing and he is snorty and if you let him spook at something, he will ALWAYS spook at that some-thing....if you let him look at it and spend a couple of minutes looking at it, he is good and never bothers him again. And he is 7 this year. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1094
Location: Idahome | nmeastplains - 2014-09-15 11:07 AM
Three 4 Luck - 2014-09-15 8:41 AM KylaKris - 2014-09-15 9:34 AM My gelding now is "watchy" and it drives me crazy at times. He is not mean or has ever tried anything. He just sees EVERYTHING. I ride along canal roads a lot at home and we can pass by the same thing everyday and it still scares him. He is to the point that if he isn't quite spooky enough when riding, I think there is something wrong with him. I wouldn't trade him for the world, but it does get frustrating when I have a 3 and 4 year old that ride better on the trails that him and he is 9 this year. My 9 year old is ok as long as things are the same, but Katy-bar-the-door if any little detail is different from yesterday. And living on a farm, nothing stays the same except a couple of months in winter. Last week, it took the 3rd ride after they picked up irrigation pipe out of the corn before he quit looking...and then they harvested one of the fields. Fun, fun. Ha!
Had a field that had gated pipe that ran next to the road. They harvested it so moved the pipe to get in. The grass was a different color where the pipe was laying and we had a melt down. I also hate the ducks that fly out right in front of me as I pass. They are usually hiding in some of the tall grass so I don't seem them until its too late. Thankfully he isn't mean and just stops without trying to run off. |
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Expert
Posts: 1695
Location: Willows, CA | To me it means be watchy about buying the horse. I lived with one for years that would stop focusing on me and pay attention to something else that concerned him. His barn name was "Snort". Any time they are not mentally with you it is much easier for someone to get hurt. |
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Rad Dork
Posts: 5218
Location: Oklahoma | My 11 year old is like this... he's great under saddle, except around water puddles. I'm not sure why he is this way, but once you learn to plan out every move he's not that exhuasting to be around. lol |
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Veteran
Posts: 220
| I have gelding this way right now. But once your on his back. He is perfectly fine. You just have to be slow around him on the ground and let him smell pretty much everything. |
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 Queen Boobie mascot
Posts: 706
Location: Mayerthorpe Alberta | after reading these descriptions I have decided if they are 'watchy' on the ground then I will be 'watchy' about getting on them! lol
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 520
| I had bought a horse years ago that was a little "watchy", seller should have said the horse was a damn nut case! She'd spook at her hay moving when she ate it, spook at her lead rope if it moved in the wind - ended up ripping our hitching rail off and knocking me in the back and flat on my face in the dirt. Spooked at a feed pan I was trying to soak her foot in one day and reared and stuck her head right through the ceiling in our barn, needed her face stitched back up. Spooked and reared A LOT under saddle too (mind you she was child safe HA!). Had the vet out to check her eyes thinking she was going blind, vet said there was nothing wrong with her eyes and the problem was what was lacking between her ears lol.
... I ended up giving that horse away!
Edited by Buckles 2014-09-16 6:11 AM
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Veteran
Posts: 220
| That is the only reason I have mine still. When I am on his back he spooks less than my mare does who is an angel when I am on the ground. I have had rabbits and others things dart under him when I was riding and he didnt even flinch. |
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Veteran
Posts: 277
Location: North texas | lurker - 2014-09-15 7:09 PM after reading these descriptions I have decided if they are 'watchy' on the ground then I will be 'watchy' about getting on them! lol
Me too!! Why not just say spooky on the ground! I get that! Kinda like "can be a little bit fresh at times" ...means I will probably get "a little bit" bucked off! ;) |
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 Ice Queen
Posts: 1989
Location: Ontario, Canada | Buckles - 2014-09-16 7:08 AM I had bought a horse years ago that was a little "watchy", seller should have said the horse was a damn nut case! She'd spook at her hay moving when she ate it, spook at her lead rope if it moved in the wind - ended up ripping our hitching rail off and knocking me in the back and flat on my face in the dirt. Spooked at a feed pan I was trying to soak her foot in one day and reared and stuck her head right through the ceiling in our barn, needed her face stitched back up. Spooked and reared A LOT under saddle too (mind you she was child safe HA!). Had the vet out to check her eyes thinking she was going blind, vet said there was nothing wrong with her eyes and the problem was what was lacking between her ears lol. ... I ended up giving that horse away!
Wow! lol....if I didn't know better...swear I owned her too at one point! |
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"Watchy on the ground" ??