Dually alternatives? (Separation anxiety related!)

starryeyed

starryeyed

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Hi everyone, was just after a bit of your wonderful advice about control headcollars for my new bargy/stressy mare!

When I spoke to her past owners they did tell me that she might try and take advantage and push me all over the place - and of course, she is! They said they'd originally used a dually with her which worked well, and as I have a dually & understand how they work etc I've been handling her with this every day.

It has improved things ... she obviously remembers her dually 'training' as after a couple of groundwork sessions in it she was being an absolute sweetie, all bargy behaviour gone, will stop when i stop, go back when i go back etc. (I do a bit of groundwork with her every day.) When it's on, and she's in the right state of mind, I don't actually have to use it as a dually - she just walks alongside me like a lamb.

However.

She is a stresshead, and suffers a lot from separation anxiety, and it's a big struggle to get her in from the field. It's no good having one companion with her, or even two - she wants them all to come in.
When she goes into anxiety mode, all good behaviour goes out of the window and she becomes a total handful - she spins, pushes me about, prances and will run all over me and ignore anything I do to try and bring her back down to earth. Obviously - this needs to be nipped in the bud! She can still clearly SEE everyone in the field from the yard and her stable, it's literally about 30 seconds from the yard, but she wants everyone right next to her - even a horse tied the other side of the yard is too far away. Now this can be worked on - but I'm concerned that she's just going to keep pushing me around all over the place, as when she's in this state of mind, she completely ignores both me and the dually. I can attempt to circle her, get her to go back, try everything I can to get her attention back on me but it's extremely difficult and she's a big girl so I don't really want her walking all over me. She has reared once or twice but more in a "I want to go back!" than a threatening way - still not ideal! When she's done this I've sent her straight round in circles, both directions, and we've gone forwards again when I decide we do. When she behaves like this, she's not nasty with it (yet) - she's a kind horse, just gets incredibly stressed very easily and works herself up.

For the time being, to try and attempt to get this bargyness sorted before it gets out of hand, I was considering changing to a different type of control halter - because as previously said, she completely ignores it when she's stressing - and I'm already dreading our first event because I'm sure she'll be a nightmare! She won't let me catch her with a bridle, but is a little easier to handle in one once its on.

What would you recommend? Both for the separation anxiety, and as a dually alternative? I'm firm but fair with her, keep my cool when she acts up - but I don't want this behaviour to get worse.

Ideally I'd like to be leading her in and out with a headcollar and hope that when she settles a bit more (she's been here about 2 months?) this can happen... I don't want to have to rely on a control headcollar, but for now I think it's important to stay safe while she acts up and if this means changing it then I think that's what I have to do... I realise she's still unsure of everything at this stage, and separation anxiety I can cope with - it's just the seeing right through me/walking all over me I don't like - she needs to realise that she's not alone, she has me!

I've heard of the eskadron control headcollar, but not sure how it works - is it just a chain around the jaw? Also heard of the Be Nice but don't know much about it. Tempted to try the kemp controller as it's similar to the dually but not sure if it would be effective?

Thank you in advance for any advice xx
 
We have a very stressy chesnut mare who has severe separation anxiety! I tried a dually with her at first but it didn't do much good! I now lead her and load her (if on own) with a Richard Maxwell training halter and she really respects that! It comes with a training DVD! I really rate his methods!
 
My horse was just like that due to extreme separation anxiety.

I used to bring him in with a bridle with no noseband so it was easy to put on. A dually didn't work.

Horses that suffer from separation anxiety bond very strongly and you need to develop the bond between you and her so doing things like join up, sitting quietly with her in the stable, going into the field and sitting with her whilst she grazes all help. All being well she will eventually bond deeply with you. It is a hard slog at first but well worth it to get such a strong relationship.

Don't listen to people who tell you that your girl is "naughty". Separation anxiety is exactly that, she is anxious and getting cross is counter productive as it makes them even more stressed. I was always quiet and patient with my boy and giving treats for the behaviour I wanted worked well too. He changed from a complete stresshead when alone and a horse I bought as a non-lone hacker into a complete sweetheart who would go anywhere and do anything as long as he was with me.

Hope this helps. :)
 
Have you thought at all about a different approach? I don't really have any answers but in certain situations 'calmers' may help - try this link
http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/horsecare/1370/279133.html

My old mare was a highly stressed when seperated but not when we kept one of the others nearby. Her problems were more serious and I don't for one moment think that the same applies to your mare but just check that she is having regular seasons as hormonal problems can have this effect.
Maybe have a word with your vet and see if there is anything you maybe overlooking before trying to deal with this yourself.
 
Our mare deals with separation better if she is the one who goes away rather than has my mare taken away from her! I have to admit that I do tend to make sure she has my mare around her whenever possible as she is so calm and happy then!
When she is on her own, if my daughter is riding and I'm on the ground then she will follow me around like a little lamb - completely joined up! I like the Richard Maxwell halter as it does give me 100% control when she does have a panic attack!
 
I have the be nice halter, bought it for my extremely bolshy youngster- he used to rear with me leading him quite a bit and this definitely helped- because its got the small rounded metal bits on the poll he really respects it- now I only have to use it occasionally or when I think he will be more wound up than usual. The only bad thing about it, is it is quite strong and I have heard some horses hate it, but my boy is quite sensitive and he is fine in it (once he learned the whole 'yield to pressure' thing). Probably depends on how you use it- have seen some people hanging onto them and dragging which can't be nice for the poor horse, but my boy knows I'll give it a firm downwards pull if he rears, and if he runs off it pulls, but if he's good its loose. I find its got a good quick release as well :)
 
Is she food orientated? Our haffy was like this when she first came and used to bolt in hand when turning her out/bringing in. I used to feed treats, walking a bit and then stopping and standing whilst giving a treat before continuing a bit more and repeating. It only took me a couple of days to completely stop her barginess and she has never done it since, I stopped the treats altogether after a few weeks. TBH if the dually doesn't help then I cannot see how any of the others would.
 
Wow, thank you for such speedy replies!
Haven't heard of the Richard Maxwell halter, will do some googling - thank you

Dreamcometrue - I'm doing all those things so hopefully she's getting more used to me being around her - she gets groomed/pampered twice daily, read horsey magazine articles which I think she'll appreciate (how not to fear the wheelie bins), I've been sitting in the field with her so it's good to know I'm doing the right kind of things. I know she was very close with her old owner so it must have been very difficult for her to leave and suddenly have a new human taking care of her and giving her instructions. It did help, thank you - hopefully in time she'll turn into as much of a sweetheart as your boy.

cambrica - thank you for the link, will bookmark it - it's good to know what's in each supplement! I popped her onto a global herbs calmer when she first arrived as I thought she'd be very unsettled, but it did nothing so I changed to topspec a few days ago which works well for one of the others who is very nervous - hopefully there will be some improvement there (fingers crossed)

Unfortunately she's not in the slightest bit food orientated - will not eat if she's not with everyone, can't even distract her with a mint when she's "alone"! She will pace up and down the fence in the morning until everyone is out and will box walk until the very last horse comes in, then she will settle down to eating. I was considering clicker training as I think she's the kind of horse that would pick it up very quickly, but again she'd have to be in her calmer state of mind for that to work .
 
Op, I recently tried clicker training for my youngster, it worked a treat (excuse pun) it really teaches him to take control of his emotions, there are a couple of good books on amazon kindle, and some fantastic vids on you tube, the author of the book I read had a mare that wasn't food orientated but it still worked because she was an intelligent girlie and loved to be doing things, she lived for the sound of the clicker! It's great fun and really helps you to bond, I only use it a bit with my young boy but it's helped so much, and he positively sparkles when he knows he's doing some training :) I've certainly grown lots closer to him because of it :)
 
I had a chap with seperation anxiety - I had a PNH instructor work with him on it, because I had to address this before float loading - otherwise he just threw himself down in the float.

It is not the halter - (I used a PNH halter which despite misconceptions is just a halter - no gadgets involved),

it was about giving him some thing to keep him busy and listening to me - lots of yielding and ground exercises on our walks away from home. He used to try and turn around and gallop back home when we first started, even before we got up the drive way.

He came to love his walks out so much he would be waiting at the gate. He became so calm on his walks that he would follow and stay with me, even if I had his lead off or around his neck, and we were walking along the roads, with traffic at 80-100 kms going past, and horses in paddocks along side galloping around.

It was not overnight, it took some dedication, but we did make an initial breakthrough reasonably quickly. So I would suggest stop thinking this or that halter will solve the issue - it is handling and what you do with the horse that will fix the issue.

It is not easy to do on your own, you need someone to come and look at what the horse is doing and then, and let you know/show you what you need to do to change the behaviour.

Within the first 2-3 walks out (accompanied by instructor) she had taught me enough that I at 5' could manage my 16.1hh ISH (previously desperate not to leave home) with out any issues. From there is was all up to me, I just put the time in myself. I cannot tell you what a difference this made to my horses (and my) confidence.
 
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