Am I doing the right thing? Or advice if not!

C

Cedars

Well-Known Member
Joined
19 May 2009
Messages
7,830
Visit site
My 1 year old is getting really bad mannered and I think its because she's in a field on her own (separated by electric tape from our mare). I think she needs someone to teach her manners in a horsey way.

Now, they cannot share the same field all the time because the mare needs about a fifth of the grass intake of the baby. Likewise, I can't put the baby in with the mare full time in the starvation paddock because there is NO grass, and she'd starve. I also cannot get a companion for her, we can't afford another horse so that is full stop not an option. She also can't go in with our gelding as 1. he has no herd manners as he wasnt socialised properly and would just bully her like mad and 2. she needs to be in the same field as our mare because otherwise the mare has a panic attack.

SO, I was considering putting Puzzy in with the mare during the day, i.e. like 10 til 4 every day? So she still has 19 hours to eat lots of grass in her field, and 5 days to still eat but less grass. But hopefully in those 5 hours she'll also be taught some manners!!!

Advice please? Be as honest as you like, she's my baby and I want whats best for her, so if you have to be rude to get that then go for it!!

xxxx
 
She needs company - so yes, I'd be putting her in with the mare - and supplimenting her with hard feed if needed.
 
What, only during the few hours? I'm worried about putting her in all day and giving her hard feed as its suggested that it encourages fast growth in babes and Im worried it'd damage her. xxxx
 
Can you not put a muzzle on the mare and put her out with the youngster?

Why does the mare panic when the young one is taken away? Maybe you should start doing that for periods anyway as otherwise you are going to have problems further down the line.
 
Its not just the foal she panics, she has HUGE separation anxiety and she really can't cope when shes on her own. She's fine if shes with our gelding and the foal gets taken away, just so long as shes with A horse.

She wont cope with a muzzle, we have tried. She just stood in the field kicking herself in the face trying to get it off, and didn't eat at all. Which I suppose was kind of the aim, but.....!!

Hifi lite is a good idea, I think if she started to drop weight I could supplement with that.
 
flamehead said:
What, only during the few hours? I'm worried about putting her in all day and giving her hard feed as its suggested that it encourages fast growth in babes and Im worried it'd damage her. xxxx
Click to expand...

She needs company 24/7 - so if the only way to give her this is via a bare paddock, then you will need to suppliment her feed.
 
I agree that she definitley needs some company - preferably a little older than her - to teach her manners and how to behave in a group.

Could you borrow a pony for a few months? I know you said you can't afford a companion but I borrowed a friend's yearling when I had to wean my foal suddenly and sooner than expected (a long story) and that worked very well. It hardly cost any extra as they were out at grass together.
 
I've asked around about ponies to borrow but nobody has any. Also its not the feed its the insurance and everything, I just cant afford it.
 
I also wont supplement her feed if there is any chance it'll damage her, if anyone has addvice on supplements reccommended for babies then let me know.
 
Is it your own land? If so, why not advertise for a grass livery?

Also, when we borrowed Harry, his owner paid for his insurance, jabs, and trimming. She was glad to have some free grass livery!

Why not put your gelding with your mare so she does not panic and send your youngster away to live in a herd for a while?
 
Difficult situation but you will find yourself with big problems if your filly stays alone.

You've said your mare and gelding aren't an option so if this was my situation I'd find a local 24/7 grass livery yard with a nice herd and turn her out there with them. As your mare needs company can your gelding go in where your filly was and move her to a grass livery herd? You might not like this idea but your filly needs to learn how to socialise and be a horse otherwise you will end up with problems down the line. A bigger herd than 1 mare will be far more benificial for her.
 
Difficult with sending her to a big herd..long story but shes a charity case and the paperwork is something else.

Will talk to OH about grass livery adverts but its not our land its his mums and i dont think shed want other people around.

Will ring feed companies today and put her in for as long as possible whilst giving her a supplementary feed. Hopefully the mare will be back in work soon so she can have some more grass.

Bloody horses!! Lol.
 
Speak to Happa http://www.happa.org.uk/, or SWHPR http://www.swhp.co.uk/ they are more than happy to loan out field companions, unrideable, unbroken etc. I fostered about 8 different youngsters when I had a yearling, I had ones that needed grass as they charities were really short of grass. They were overjoyed that someone wanted to help out. And it helped me out too.
 
Last edited:
Spoken to SWHP who have a horse that needs a friend, they're going to ring me back. Problem is that come September/October we'll run out of grass so Puz can go in with our mare and any friend would have to go back! But they might need somewhere even if its just for a few months. xxxx
 
They'd want us to have the horse long term, so thats a no no =[ think I'm going to have to just put her in the starvation paddock for as long as she can manage without dropping weight.

I dont want her going from lush to starvation and back again. She might just have to live with only a few hours in the starvation. xxxx
 
What about trying a different type of muzzle on your mare? It can take them a while to get used to them but really you are leading up to long term problems with an unsocialied youngster (as you know).
 
Different muzzle may be an idea but the mare isnt technically mine shes my OHs mum, so I cant really dictate what she does with her horse.
 
It is worth adding that come September/October she'll be in with the mare all winter til April/May, so its only really the summer she'll be separated. xxxx
 
Turned out together for a few hours in the starvation paddock, Dotty instantly showed Puzzle who was boss! And then they had lots of fun galloping round and play fighting. Was nice to see!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top