Erratic behaviour/moody mare?

[Spottyappy]

Our nf mare has started to behave erratically when she is left in the stable after my others are turned out. We want to work her,but she seems to have a serious attitude problem when alone in this situation. She is always fine if brought in from the field alone and worked,but not when left to last in the stables.
I have had alot of experience over the years,but am at a loss to know how to handle this!
She can be abit stressy at times,and I suspect may have been beaten in the past,as she shakes when disciplined,even if just shouted at.
The problem is that she will not work or concentrate solely after being left on yard. She just whizzes round on the lunge,which we try to do first to eliminate the poor concentration before riding,and refuses to listen to your voice. Any other time,she will behave perfectly. When ridden,she gets very nappy and has occassionally reared.Again,any other time,she is a star.
She can't be left out at night as she stresses and runs round. She is not fed any hard feed,just hay.
Prior to us being given her 15 months ago,she had been left in a field for 6 yrs ,but the first 3 years ofher life,I know nothing of.Saddle,teeth,back,general health all been checked,and are ok. I do not want to leave others in,that may stop the behaviour but there maybe a time where the others have to go out and then the behaviour would return.
Any suggestions appreciated.

 

[Caol Ila]

If you actually solve this problem, please give me your magic formula. This is a topic near and dear to my heart.

Seriously, I have a horse who is very particular about the way she is managed and stresses and paces herself into a tizzy if things aren't right. Being left alone in the barn is a huge issue. Just now, she has a meltdown if her barnmate is taken out for a ride and the fact that she has been in this stable next to the same horse for a bit less than a year hasn't changed her behaviour. I've asked that when she takes her horse out, the other horse's owner chuck one of those treat balls into my horse's stall, which has some positive effects so long as the other owner remembers to do it. It's a good idea, but has the flaw of requiring another owner to remember to do something that's not for their horse. As of last night, I finally convinced the livery yard owner to try putting another horse into the empty stall that is in this barn. It's clear at this point that she's not going to just stop this behaviour on her own, so we need to institute some management changes to hopefully make things better for her.

Are your horses at your own place? If so, you may just have to change around how you run your barn to suit the needs of the anxious horse. You may not be able to stop this behaviour; just work with it. At least if they're on your own property, you don't have to negotiate with and moan to livery yard owners.

BTW, question to everybody else on this topic, if it's this horse she has gotten attached to and she still freaks out even when there is a third horse in the barn, I'm open to any and all suggestions. Aromatherapy? Calming supplements? Anything.