A sneeze. My allergies got the best of me. At “achoo,” the mustang gelding I was riding about jumped out of his socks.

Allison Morisey, California

A ‘pop.’ After a relaxing ride, Dusty abruptly passed gas, scaring himself silly and almost jumping out from under me.

Sue Ladwig, Illinois

Butterflies. A group of yellow ones were resting around a puddle. As my Arabian/Saddlebred gelding splashed through the center, he and the butterflies sent each other flying.

Rosa Rarick, Wisconsin

A bag. I’d just mounted my off-the-track Thoroughbred when a plastic bag floated our way, about knee-level. Babe cha-cha’d all over the place.

Anna Bryant, Texas

A branch. Doodles, a former racetrack pony horse, was unflappable, but out on the trail he jumped straight in the air at a moving branch. “Doodle-bug,” I said, scrambling to stay on, “what’s up with that?” He just sighed.

Penny Kroh, North Carolina

Urine. It was a puddle of my mare’s own pee, which she’d put there a minute earlier.

Carol Colleen, Oregon

Purple mustard. Foxy doesn’t spook at much, but it took her several minutes of staring and circling to decide that dangerous-looking patch on the ground was just…flowers.

Sally Silhasek, Nebraska

A tiny flag. My mare spooked at an American flag in a flowerpot.

Laura Harper, Ohio

Itty-bitty barks. My retired three-day eventer, Dixie, takes most things in stride, but a Chihuahua attack sent her into a bucking fit.

Lisa Myers, Nevada

His own shadow. My Haflinger gelding and I turned a corner and there was this big, dark, scary thing in the dirt—his shadow.

Barb Chaney, Montana

His own face. Mickey, my laid-back Appaloosa/Paint gelding, spooked at his own reflection in the water tank. Now he always stares at himself suspiciously before drinking.

Samantha Schoenberger, Missouri

An insect. Sam jumped sideways at a barrel with a “what the heck was that?” look. Peering closer, I saw a ladybug walking across the barrel’s top.

Patti Engle, Pennsylvania

A potty break. On a downhill mountain trail, my horse stopped to urinate. The stream trickled downhill, between his forelegs. When he saw it, he jumped backward.

Melinda Hartman, Oregon

A sign. My mare jumped practically across the road because of a real estate sign.

Kimberly Grindle, Maine