A question! About horses!!

[desperance]

Okay, horse-people: sort this out for me. I have known all my life (since Grace Archer died in a stable fire in 1955, which is Time Before Chaz) that horses are panicked by fire.

Is this actually true? Of all horses? And if it is true, how true is it? Specifically, if we have a Georgian stable-block and the horses are stabled in one corner of the yard and there's a fire in the opposite corner, how panicky are they likely to be? (Assume hunters rather than plough-horses or race-horses: the kind of horse you'd likely find in an English country house, a couple of generations back. Wartime. WW2.)

Go.

Comments

[flick]

Anecdota 1: Police horses have to be specially trained (but are, successfully) to cope with clouds of smoke and similar that they might encounter in a riot. I have seen police horse displays where they jump through burning rings of fire.

Anecdota 2: if they're burning stuff on the allotments near where I ride, and it's a still day / the smoke is blowing toward the riding school, the horses are twitchier than usual, especially when being ridden.

I would imagine that if it's a bonfire-type-fire, and it's there often, they'd be fine with it. If it's a something-on-fire, and they're not used to it, and people are running around panicking, they'd be disturbed: probably need the stable boys to be in there with them calming them down, but not actually smashing their way out of their stalls. Just a guess, though.

ISTR there's a fire in Black Beauty, might want to have a look at that? Author (whose name I forget) was a fair horse expert and lover, so probably accurate.