Any advice please?! (bringing horse in while others out)

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MissieSFW

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Hi!
I could do with a few second opinions - we have just had some stables built in the last 2 weeks; until then my mare was living out 24/7 with 2 shetlands for company. She has been in her stable a couple of times over the last 2 weeks for short periods, and once overnight last week when the snow was bad, and the shetlands came in that time too. She was a bit worried about leaving her friends at first but seems to be improving each time (she's not too stressy about leaving other horses usually so just a question of her getting used to it I think).
However - she is quite prone to digestive problems and has developed diarrhoeia (I think from rooting around in the snow), and to cut a long story short the vet wants her to stay in 24/7 over the weekend. She has been in since around 4.30pm today but the shetlands are still out at the moment. I can't decide whether to bring them in or not as they hate being stabled and won't tolerate being in all weekend, so I'd have to turn them out again in the morning, and I know she'll go a bit crackers so I'm worried it will be more stressful for her to have them coming in and out than to just leave her in on her own! Any thoughts? She seems ok at the minute, standing with her head over the door most of the time but not too stressed and is eating her hay on and off.
Should say the field isn't really visible from the stable although only about 50yards away, just a big barn in the way.
any advice welcome! thanks!

ps. thinking of going and buying a stable mirror tomorrow, the only one I can find that I can physically go and buy as opposed to ordering online is 600mm x 450mm, would this be big enough do you think??
 
Leave her as she is - its far less stressful for her to be in alone than it is to have overnight company and they get turned out in the morning and she doesn't.

Especially as she seems ok - she will probably settle more over the weekend and contrary to popular opinion I find that horses stress less when they cant see the fields/others from their stable, they tend to just get on with the important business of eating instead :-)

Hope it goes smoothly - sounds as though it will x
 
Thanks, that was also my feeling, nice to get some reassurance though.
Do feel a bit sorry for her as it's quite extreme to go from out 24/7 to in 24/7 for 2 days, but can't be helped I suppose!
 
It's quite a change of routine, but I've had grass kept horses settle unexpectedly well on box rest. Look at it this way, its rotten out there at the moment, eating is probably a main priority right now.

Even my lot never left their round bale when grass kept during the snow, so she may feel less miserable than you might think.

Don't worry about giving her company, the coming and going will probably unsettle her more -and she's not in for long.

Give her some TLC, and hopefully she'll be better very soon.
 
Not really as they are very attached to one another, and one in particular can't stand to be on his own and goes berserk if left so I think I'd just end up causing myself more problems! But thanks for the suggestion!
 
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