AHHHHHH PIGS!!!!!

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Dizzydancer

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Well the nice quiet yard where my old retired man is kept is about to be less of a sanctuary for him.
The ladies son is getting 4 pigs tonight which are going to be kept in one of the stables on the yard to be fattened up for xmas. Well my horse has an irrational fear of them and not at sight just the smell sends him spinning and galloping in the other direction.
So as of tomorrow morning im going to try and desensitise him although not expecting great results. He is out at the moment but comes in at night if weather is awful and lives in during winter, most of the day and night.

Im not happy, i dont feel its far to scare him beyond his wits at his age, but i also dont think i could move him. I need him to be able to stand in the yard as i have to clip his legs off regularly (skin probs) and they are due this week but plannin on next as weather not great this week.

This is soo annoying for me!!! Hopefully if he does goes as mental as he did last time he smelt pigs the YO will tell son he has to move pigs/get rid of them!!
 
she wont have field shelters. I also dont think he would actually be happy with a field shelter he would just stand at the gate waiting to come in especially in winter. As everything on yard would be in.
Im hoping with his age he has become more sensible!!
 
I feel your pain! Neighbours of ours have just bought some but the problem is that they are behind a hedge, so the horses can smell and hear them, but not see them - nearly had a 'nasty' this morning trying to hack past....!

Will be intersted in any advice you get!
 
The gate into the pig field I regularly have to hack past now has a sign saying sausages for sale :eek: - hope the pigs can't read :D
Maybe my troubles are all over now!!
 
ours are also going to be behind a stable door so i will be having that! I doubt will get much advice really as i doubt much i can do, im planning to bring down daily to just feed him so he associates it with good things!
His stable is the opposite side of the U shape yard so at least not next door!
 
Only one of my old horses had the fear which we were never able to overcome, but all of my other horses, once introduced became desensitised.

It's not ideal that they will be in a stable near him to start with, as he will feel more vulnerable to begin with - it would be better for him to get used to them by having the pigs in a field next to his. If you are able to arrange that, then within a week you might be suprised with how well he's coping. Boot him up for the first couple of days, as he'll probably have a jolly good snort and a hoony round, until he finally realises they don't do much and are probably safe.
 
dizzydancer said:
Well the nice quiet yard where my old retired man is kept is about to be less of a sanctuary for him.
The ladies son is getting 4 pigs tonight which are going to be kept in one of the stables on the yard to be fattened up for xmas. Well my horse has an irrational fear of them and not at sight just the smell sends him spinning and galloping in the other direction.
So as of tomorrow morning im going to try and desensitise him although not expecting great results. He is out at the moment but comes in at night if weather is awful and lives in during winter, most of the day and night.

Im not happy, i dont feel its far to scare him beyond his wits at his age, but i also dont think i could move him. I need him to be able to stand in the yard as i have to clip his legs off regularly (skin probs) and they are due this week but plannin on next as weather not great this week.

This is soo annoying for me!!! Hopefully if he does goes as mental as he did last time he smelt pigs the YO will tell son he has to move pigs/get rid of them!!
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What a nuisance for you. My mare was kept in a field next to pigs for over a year. She wouldn't go anywhere near the dividing fence even when the rest of the herd would - she would be on her own at the far end of the field! She still hates them.
 
Send the piggies to me please - we'll look after them! Phooey loves them! Would spend hours just staring at them in wonderment. If we do any animal rides - its like taking him on a safari and takes forever. He liked donkeys til one brayed heartily right in his face and then he just stood and quaked with his nostrils joined up in the middle.
 
with plenty of exposure he should be ok? We have pigs and they are next door to the horses and they are not bothered a bit. My 2yr old has never batted an eyelid at them. The little Welsh firecracker was fine once she had jumped in with them and scared the bejesus out of the poor little porkers, authority established, job done!!! :)
 
We bought our horses two pigs! To elaborate, my 19 year old is scared witless of them, and I didn't want the youngsters Cue lots of snorting and prancing on day one, then the horses just interested, then plain nosy, until the day that the OH got the the field to find the pigs out, and wandering around the horses legs, all happy together. We've met another pig on a hack recently - no problem! I really didn't think the old boy would accept them, he is a terrible wuss about everything, the world is a worry to him, so I'm delighted with how it's worked. I can even go in with the pigs, rub my hands all over them, give them a good scratch, come out and hold my hands out tot he horses, and they don't react. Will be having pigs again for sure (these go for slaughter in a couple of weeks).
 
Massive sympathies, I had a similar situation, my 19yo is/was terrified of pigs, similar to yours, sweating, spinning in general having a heart attack.

He has eventually got used to the pigs next door but any others is still wild hate and gallop home.

((((((((((((((((((hugs))))))))))))))))
 
Mmm, think yours WILL get used to piggies eventually - won't have any choice basically! BUT at least you'll be sorted.

We had some little pot bellied pigs moved in up the road from us - ASBO cob basically said no thanks mum, not going there! So we did the touchy-feely stuff, got out the Parelli halti, etc etc, and we did manage to get the beastie to tiptoe past - half way up the hedge with eyes boggling out and snorting and prancing.

Then one day he actually SAW ONE! OMG!!! - immediately wanted to whip round and head for home, but mum said "no" (horrid human!); and he was led past.

Then one day - it happened - we rode past. OK a bit of a Spanish Riding school demo, but heh we got there (sort of), and since then we've been more-or-less OK'ish about it, improving all the time.

But we tend to avoid feeding times, coz then they all squeal and grunt and gallop across the field to the gate! Deffo not for wussies.
 
I has this problem last Autumn, y/o's son brought his 2 pigs over to stay for 2 months. They were turned out in the field next to my TB so he could see and smell them. Oddly enough, when he was loose in his paddock he wasnt overly bothered. After the initial snorting and fire breathing dragon act he seemed quite settled, would even touch noses through the fence. However, when I tried to ride him or bring him in it was a different matter. He became dangerous to handle and would not listen to me at all, I came to the conclusion that he felt safe whilst he was free to run away if he needed to but whilst I was in charge, so to speak, he didnt trust me to keep them away from him :( Our piggies lived out so when all the other horses were in, he was happy to be in as well but was very suspicious on the walk to and from his field. I appreciate this wont help if you have to keep him in and the pigs are in as well but thought Id share, my yard owner is not paricularly horsey and didnt believe me when I told him why Che was being such a pillock, however within days of the pigs going home he had to admit I was right and has promised not to have them to stay again, lets hope he keeps to his word.
 
We had this, earlier this year. We have 2 barns where the stables are in and they put 4 pigs in one stable behind our row of stables, my youngster was on box rest but didn't seem to be bothered. I think that the first night we had a few messy stables as they were piglets and making terrible noises :) My other horse only froze when he went past the stable, more smell I think than them. One horse was in the next stable to them and he was petrified, the only time he has ever bolted in his life was when he came across a pig on a hack!!
However, the second barn where there were no pigs, and non reactive horses, there was a 27 year old (fit and still being ridden), he got colic and twisted gut through the stress and had to be pts. So just be careful and make sure you keep an eye on any abnormal behaviour.
 
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