Bloody sheep again! What to do??

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squirtlysmum

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Back in November my boy gave himself a horrific injury going through some stud fencing to get away from the sheep which were being moved from field to field, he remains absolutely terrified of them no matter what I try to do. Putting him near them means certain large vets bills and here is my dilemma, the sheep are now heavily pregnant and are due to come into the barn to lamb. The barn is about 20ft from his stable!
Do I ACP him or leave him out or take the risk of him getting maniacal and getting colic, I'm really very concerned.
Sensible answers thoroughly appreciated.
 
Gawd knows I've tried, I've even walked him in hand down to the field every day to see them and he turns into a fire breathing dragon and just fails to calm down, he's a very stressy character at the best of times so it's difficult to know what to do with him. He see's cows and takes it all in his stride but sheep, well they are clearly spawn of the devil and those fluffy white clothes hide an ocean of evil!!
 
That is soo strange a horse being scared of sheep! I don't suppose there's anybody who may have say a tame/pet sheep you could maybe introduce him to that won't run away so he learns they're individual animals not a swarming mass of white?

Do you have any idea where the fear stems from, is it from the related injury/incident or has he always been terrified?

Also, sorry to ask another question, what was the accident? We have sheep in with our horses or in adjacent field in the summer to help eat down the grass a bit - is this something feasible you can do so your horse can 'investigate' them in his own time or is he likely to do something silly?
 
I remember all your previous posts and know that you have tried pretty much everything you can to desensitise him. In the short term (while the ewes are lambing) I think your only safe solution is to move him somewhere well away from the lambing shed - probably difficult I know, but it really would be the safest bet. After that - would it be possible for you to hand-rear a couple of orphan lambs and keep them near him? We did this to get our dogs used to sheep - they just accepted them as the lambs never ran away. Failing that, someone must have a pet sheep that he can be introduced to. This really is quite an irrational fear - my old horse had a companion sheep for years and loved her dearly. good luck.
 
He, somehow, managed to get the second strand of wire on stud fencing caught under his armpit, for want of an easier way to describe it. I reckon he must have leapt in the air and got his leg through the fence, he then panicked and the wire acted like a cheesewire and sliced through the inside top of his front leg 6" deep and 8" long almost into his chest cavity. For good measure he then bolted through another fence and somersualted over it onto his back, we initially thought he'd also managed to fracture his leg as he couldn't walk on it. It took three hours and five layers of stitching to close it and fortunatly the leg wasn't fractured and he's had from then until now off to heal. If you can be bothered to trawl through my previous posts there is a cracking pickie of the vet holding the back of the wound open.
I completely agree it is a totally irrational fear and I've never come across a horse with one, he's home bred so I know his history inside out. The potential is there to adopt a bar lamb when they arrive and make him live with it although knowing him he'd turn into a jibbering wreck.
 
Have you determined if it is the Smell, Sight or Sound of the sheep that is distressing your horse?

I would most certainly move him well away from the sheep when they come in as there is no point asking for trouble.
 
would a calmer help, my mare has to live with them everywhere in front of her stable, in stables either side and in the field, she also has got use to trkeys pigs cattle ducks geese and chickens good luck, at least lambing is only 3-4 weeks usually.
 
I would use the sedative and leave him in, that way he get's used to the smell, sound, sight of them, while being far enough out of it to not care. Our big mare is terrified of smoke and farriers, however when on sedaline she can stand in the stable next to her friend being hot shod without batting an eyelid, rather than turning herself inside out!
 
can you find a sheep farmer who will let you put the horse in with his sheep? I had one who was terrified of them and this solved to problem to the point where she decided they were all her babies and part of her herd.
 
Sorry to read about your traumatic dilemma, both for you and your horse. Does he respond to other horses? e.g. getting a calm sheep liking horse to be with him for short periods to calm and influence him. I would probably try the calmer/sedative but with only a few sheep nearby to start with and not a whole flock, logistics probably wont make this possible. I feel that you will have to choose the option which will cause the least stress and worry to you both and may be plan a long and sustained attempt to get him de-sensertised (sp!?) in time for next year. Maybe use a cade lamb this year to introduce your horse to sheep more closely, possibly even lightly sedate him, a smaller and less threatening form of sheep may help. Or is it possible for you to move him, as someone suggested, for the lambing period?

I was extremely lucky with my horse, he had sheep as his companion's whenever they were moved to his field, the most trouble he caused was when the sheep got moved and the farmer had to use his collie to split my horse from the sheep instead of rounding the sheep up!!!!!

Best of luck with whatever you choose.
 
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