Feeling a bit deflated - advice.

[Patterdale]

Just realised this is the free horse from an earlier post.

If you knew she had issues and she was given away, you must have seen this coming.

People don't give away perfectly good horses for no reason.

 

[Goldenstar]

You need a stable without one you can't deal with this given time she will settle turning a new horse out in electric fenced paddocks unless I was around is something I simply would not do.
I have seen some frankly wierd behaviour from horses when they move homes and these are not problem horses.
This what I would do
No hard food at all let her live on what's in her paddock the only exception is a snack for coming into the stable which you will have to arrange getting.
Work, this type of horse I would work twice a day a friend who deals with welsh section d's describes them as insane ( that's a joke ) but they are certainly hot and they are very powerful .
Don't think of things like bonding and the horse having issues its bad behaviour the horse must repect you and learn that hysterical behaviour gets her no where
Hard regular work is the answer to these horses and by hard work I don't mean trotting and cantering madly to tire it I mean challenging Trianing and hacking mainly in walk to calm her and let her see the world you will need company to hack at first.
You bought a problem horse you knew this now roll up your sleeves and train it.

 

[rhino]

there was NO mention of the behaviour that she displayed yesterday and it really was crazy, not just something small and insignificant due to being a new place...


She is 110% used to the type of yard she is on because she came from one very similar in almost every way.

110% used to something isn't the same as being 110% (or even 100%) happy with something though. Individual turnout can be responsible for encouraging separation anxiety IME. Yes it's easy for owners, and may help protect their valuable 'assets' but most horses would be much happier living with others.

'Crazy'? What did she do that was crazy? Jumped a few field fences and had a paddy tied up? Personally I think that is hardly unexpected for a highly strung horse who has been sold and moved. You didn't buy a schoolmaster You say you now know that the problems were pre-existing - that the horse had to be travelled in company etc., and you are saying that you weren't made aware of it - in which case you could contact the old owners and suggest that she was maybe missold?

I think your idea of getting a professional to give advice is a good one, someone who can see the horse in the flesh I don't see how from the mare's behaviour in 2 days of moving you can write off ever being able to hack alone or turn out alone though. I do feel that this horse really needs to be in consistent, experienced hands, at least at the moment - so either you or your sharer doing the handling initially, not both.

Hope your sharer is ok, please make sure you are wearing hats/gloves and appropriate footwear around her in the meantime

 

[jools123]

none of mine have ever stayed in behind 3ft posts not even the 11.3hh!

in fact the one mare i did sell would jump out over 5ft 10inch live fencing-she was sold to a competition home as i wanted something to plod about on

 

[ItsJzo]

say for example this mare had never experienced electric fencing/or had but not been near live electric fencing for a while or even your fencing is much stronger than she has experienced before-she leans under/over/through to say hello to her new neighbours and 'WACK' something got her she has no idea where it came from, she is somewhere new, surrounded by being (horse and human) she does not know.
what would you do in her shoes? me i would run s*d the fencing i am not looking at that i am a prey animal i run for my life.
i hate individual turnout unless strictly needed for something that will attack all others (we have one of those at work)

was she in the manege on her without other horses?

i also wish people would get over the 'wont hack alone' thing-unless your horse goes with no rider it is not alone-you are there

some horses go completely to pot when changing yards turn her out with as many friends as you can (this can help as they dont become dependant on just one) and dont rush it, you could see this mare was stressed before you put tack on her and took her into what looks like a school you cannot see out of and expected her to perform i would say you need to take more time a build up some respect and connection.

personally i would say from your posts she has already proved too much, i dont think there is a problem with but not sure where you can go with it either

I can appreciate that..

I need to reply when I get home as off to move her now.

Just noted..... Despite the lengthy and clear post at the beginning ....some members are answering without bothering to actually read what OP said! and she was asking for more ideas and help!

Good luck OP. Section Ds can be a real handful and are known for it. I would chalk it down to an insecure mare and one testing her new boundaries so hope she settles..have you thought about a genera calmer while she is settling in? something like Magic?

Thank you, definitely will be looking at a good and sensible diet for her and take it from there.

I wont be riding for the forseeable future until she trusts me anyway

 

[Slightlyconfused]

Lots and lots of groundwork......as if you are starting from scratch. She will be unsettled not only because she is in a new home but because you are treating her different to what she is used to. Keep at it and make sure she knows you are a person worthy oe her trust. Sounds like she has a jaded veiw of people so you have to help change her mind.

 

[JFTDWS]

I wouldn't describe what you have said as "issues" so far particularly. Lots of horses would get wound up and jump over small electric fencing if moved to a new yard and turned out alone.

I'd turn her out in company, do whatever it takes to ensure she has company, and ideally somewhere with more substantial fencing.

I wouldn't say that a horse that doesn't like to be alone would be nappy hacking. I've had several horses that strongly object to being turned out alone who hacked perfectly well either alone or in company.

this ^

Tbh, there doesn't sound much wrong with her. She's young & has known issues, she just needs time & patience.

and this. You said initially you were told she was spooky to hack alone - now you've ramped that up to "impossible to hack alone", because she is not confident to be left without company in a new environment One of mine will freak out if left alone in a field, one of the other jumps out (away from company ) just for fun. The former is a spooky, but by no means unpleasant hack alone, the latter happily leads out boldly (youngster).

Leave her with company and decent fencing, allow her to settle in, work on getting her to trust you - not by feeding her ridiculous things like C&C - and then start to work on the separation anxiety.

 

[9tails]

I wouldn't describe what you have said as "issues" so far particularly. Lots of horses would get wound up and jump over small electric fencing if moved to a new yard and turned out alone.

I'd turn her out in company, do whatever it takes to ensure she has company, and ideally somewhere with more substantial fencing.

I wouldn't say that a horse that doesn't like to be alone would be nappy hacking. I've had several horses that strongly object to being turned out alone who hacked perfectly well either alone or in company.

What Mithras said.

I think you ARE jumping to conclusions after two days. You've brought a horse into a yard that it doesn't know and left her out overnight without the security blanket of another horse in her field. I'm afraid mine would do exactly the same as your new mare and I think mine is an absolute saint. As for ridden alone, it's not a given that a horse with field separation anxiety will transfer that to ridden. As Mithras said, I've got a horse that hacks out perfectly well on her own.

 

[ecrozier]

Not going to get too involved in replies, but my old girl has always been a royal PITA with separation anxiety.
The bigger the herd she was in though, the better she was. Paired turnout was awful, she was impossible. Individual - well, I saw her jump a 5ft tall double fence (3ft apart) because her best friend was on restricted turnout next door!

 

[ecrozier]

Hit send too soon. Meant to say - in a herd of 4+ she was much better. And even at her worst, to ride/hack alone was fine. Just a t*t to handle!

 

[*hic*]

Just thinking about it a little more. She had a paddy when tied up whilst you took the other horse into an arena. Even my big mare, who various users on here could tell you is as sane and well-behaved as they come, would have a paddy if you took her somewhere she didn't know, left her by herself overnight, then allowed her to pal up with someone else, then left her tied up whilst you took the other horse away - not because she's a bad horse but because she is not used to being left by herself nor being expected to tie for any length of time other than at shows where she is old enough to know that tieing up is just what you do at shows.

You need to get inside your new horse's mind and anticipate from her point of view what is likely to make her behave badly, then you, being in charge of the situation, do everything possible to make sure that situations where she has the opportunity to do anything other than behave perfectly don't exist. It's hard, it's time consuming and I've been playing this game with my Section D for 10 years now and still get it wrong on occasion but of course we are much more used to each other now so if I get it a bit wrong for him he knows that it's not the disaster he used to turn it into.

You do need to liaise with the previous owners and find out as much about how they dealt with her and what was successful and you need to do it as soon as possible without pestering them unmercifully.

Just one other point I see she's still using that rope halter. If you tied her up using that it will NOT have helped

 

[Jesstickle]

Give her a chance. My two horses moved yard together about six weeks ago. My gelding has been ridiculous. Despite me having owned him for 2 years he refused to let my mare out of the field without screaming and threatening to jump the fence. He has reached the point now where he still calls the entire time she is out but only walks the fence line. I can live with this.

Now she has started to kick off about coming onto the yard on her own so I have another problem to contend with

It can take literally months for them to settle after moving and that's without prior issues. My gelding is usually really steady and easy going and even he struggled until he knew the other horses and the new location.

I can only suggest lots of repetition. That's what has worked with my two. I feed him in the field and bring her in for just long enough to feed her on the yard and then put her back out and I've been working up from there. Fingers crossed it's going ok so far

 

[Spotsrock]

Is this the horse u were gifted as too dangerous for it's owner that u were so pleased with only last week?

 

[CBFan]

I do think you need to give her a chance to settle but then you could do with starting as you mean to go on...I think you need to begin some controlled separation. You get HER out of the field and lead her away from her mate - to begin with that might be just to the other side of the fence to have a hanfull of high fibre cubes as 'dinner' from a bucket, have a groom and her feet picked out... as time progresses you will need to lead her further away until you can get her to the yard and do some work with her before returning her. The key is that this needs to be EVERY day, preferably twice a day. You must lead her wearing a hat, gloves and strurdy boots and ideally using a long rope.

The other option, which I would seriously consider is to use a stable. make up a nice thick bed, hay water etc, put an anti weave grille on the top door opening, pop her in and leave her to it... it may take her days to settle properly but she will, all the while keep her routine strict, do 'things' with her - two of you at all times - lunge her etc as well as daily routine stuff of grooming, feet picking out etc etc.

re her ridden issues I suspect she has learnt that if she bucks her rider either gets off or falls off. Its a learned behaviour and one that she obviously got good at. you will need to learn to praise her when she's good and get off while she's still relaxed and BEFORE she bucks. i.e. you WILL need to re-back her.

 

[amage]

To be perfectly blunt I think the issue here is you and a completely unrealistic expectation of this poor mare. She arrived somewhere new, was settled in a stable, then put out in a strange field on her own...of course she tried to get to other horses. She was then brought in and tied up in a strange place and next thing her only friend was taken away, of course she had a paddy. You bought her knowing she has issues yet everything you have done with her since you got her would drive most horses with no issues to having a paddy! If she was settled in the stable then rent a stable for her, she needs somewhere that is "her" secure space from which she can begin to learn about her new home and new life.

 

[Auslander]

I've been through the mill with my sensible older horse, who arrived a month ago, and has been a complete loon. He's jumped a 4"6 fence, knocked me over whilst in hand, developed a huge crush on a mare in the next field and spent a day galloping up and down the fence til he lamed himself, hes broken countless tie up strings, and I've had to lead him in a bridle and lunge line everywhere. All completely out of character - so I backed off working him, left him out to get to know his new environment, and spent lots of time hanging out with him.

He finally started to chill out a week ago, and is now becoming the laid back horse I know he's always been.

Give her time - it's all new and scary.

 

[L&M]

Oh dear - it sounds like you may have had 'rose tinted' glasses on when you accepted the horse, but I am sure we have all been there somewhere along the line with horses!

The reality is you have been gifted/bought knowingly a 'problem horse' - you need to get some professional help, or will continue to have issues and somone could get hurt. The issues with mounting may have just been the tip of the iceberg, and as others have said some Welshies are quiet temperamental.

I have had two experiences of separation anxiety - in both cases the horses in question could tolerate being stabled on their own, but never settled in the field, even with weeks of controlled separation attempts. Interestingly both could be hacked on their own, albeit a bit more spooky than with equine company.

The only other thing I would do if it was mine would be to speak to my vet, just in case her behaviour relates to a hormonal or other physical issue.

Good luck - there has been some good advice on here. Give her some more time to settle and try to create a bond with her, without her feeling you are asking too much of her, and will be interested to hear of your progress.

 

[Welshie Squisher]

Totally agree with Amage, absolutely spot on in their assessment.

You should be doing everything to ensure this horses settles and relaxes first, and she needs equine company to do that.
THEN work on the anxiety. Currently your actions are making matters worse because you are not giving her time to settle in. Yes you will have to be patient and use your cob to baby sit at first, but free horses have issues that take time to resolve their issues.

Anxiety cannot be forced out of a horse by making them be on their own, they need to build confidence and tollerance, bit by bit over time, just like a youngster.

I think if you start at the beginning and treat her like a baby and build steadily on everything she'll be fine.

Agree with others about section D mares, mine is a delightful rat bag

 

[Crugeran Celt]

As I said, I am MORE than willing to give her the time she needs

I really really am not just assuming she is going to be a complete problem no matter what but she IS a different horse ALTOGETHER, not just a little, but completely. She was described as a complete saint on the ground to handle with no issues whatsoever.


When I went to try my Sect D gelding he was the quietest horse I had ever handled on the ground, He was deliverered a week later and came of the box like banshee. You could swear he was 17.2hh not 15.2hh! He was impossible to get into the stable and reared at every opportunity I thought I had made the biggest mistake of my life and couldn't believe he was the same animal. Neary five years on he is now the perfectly quiet repectful horse he was when I viewed him. It took him a good 12 months to accept me and trust me to handle on the ground. Just give her space and spend lots of time just with her, brushing her so she learns to trust you. Don't understand why you turned her out on her own, horses are herd animals and NEED company to be happy. As to the seperation problem this could take a very long time to conquer but I am sure when she has respect and trust in you her issues will start to decrease in ferocity. Keep trying and don't rush!

 

[Crugeran Celt]

Agree with others about section D mares, mine is a delightful rat bag [/QUOTE]

Not just the mares!