depressed and anxious horse

madhector

madhector

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Joined
12 December 2006
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Location
soon to be up north!
www.darlingdressage.co.uk
Hector isnt himself at the moment, he is normally very chilled out on the ground (not once you get on mind
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) and generally quite a happy horse, but since his girlfriend left he has been very miserable, and also very anxious, every morning i turn him out at the same time, in the same field and he always snorts all the way to the gate and then stands around staring at everything for ages, takes him a good half an hour to settle and eat, he is the same to bring in, dont know how to reasure him that its ok, normally other horse proberly would have done but now that shes gone he just doesnt seem happy,

he has ponies next door for company, cant go out with them as he tries to eat them, and they arnt mine
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so until i get something else he is on his own, is there anything i can do to help him settle, or cheer him up, he really isnt himself
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Poor Hector......hope it's not a broken heart
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Could you put some haylage or something in the field, to tempt him to eat? I find with big lad that as soon as his jaws start moving he is instantly calmer. Also, we had great success with a stable mirror- he would stand next to it if he was feeling lonely.
Apart from that, just try to spend lots of time with him, and groom his neck and withers really well.
Hope he's back to his usual self soon.
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he has haylege in the field as he has a field shelter so i always put some in there for him, ive tried giving him his breakfast in the field aswell but he still takes a good half an hour to eat it, and he is normally very greedy

he is usually very cuddley but he wont let me fuss him, just makes faces at me
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he seems to cheer up at bit when i ride him, but grumpy again when we get back, think he must really miss her, (unlike me
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) just have to hope i find something else soon
 
Mm dont know what to suggest as Owen is currently going through exactly the same boat! In the summer he was the sweetest, cuddliest, adorable boy ever, now he is a grumpy old b***rd!! I dont know whats wrong with him, I had him blood tested to check for a virus ( which is what he had the last time he was grumpy a few years back) but his bloods were fine.
I can only connect his behaviour change with the death of my other horse who was his buddy- but not sure its really possible for horses to be emotive about such things?
 
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