My horses have all jumped when deer pop up out of the brush. But once they know it’s a deer they are OK. I have deer come graze in the pasture with the horses, so they are use to them. It’s just that many times the deer wait till we’re about right on top of them to jump up and take off, heck they startle me.
Sometimes my dog will scare them up before the horse and I get to them. The horse may stop to watch the dog chase them off, but I think that’s more of just watching, not spooking.
Becky
We were having a similar problem on our ride this weekend with backpackers. The trail has really narrowed over the years with all the little pine saplings encroaching on it, so they could see that SOMETHING was moving down the trail, but they couldn't tell what. And to make it worse, the backpackers would politely step off the trail to let us pass, but then the horse couldn't see them at ALL, but they knew that SOMETHING was still there and wouldn't get any closer. We finally had to ask them to step on out in the trail so the horses could see them. Once the horses saw that it was a person (although a very strange hump-backed one) they were ok.