Feeling a bit down, had a bad day/ year need some HHO support!

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fools_ gold

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Well it's not been the best year for me and my horses, first of all after some dangerous behavior and some very painful falls the vet diagnosed one of my horses with kissing spines. I later spoke to some of his old owners and from what I can gather he must have been drugged when I tired him and is a pretty dangerous horse. He has had treatment but due to terrible weather, flooded fields and no arena I haven't really been able to get back on and see how he is going. Decided to leave him till things brighten up next year - it wont do him any harm to have an easy winter.

So onto my other horse, who is supposed to be the sensible one, I have taken things quite steadily with him since I got him just to give us time to get to know each other, and get my confidence back and so far so good.... until today! I was going to take him on a little hack and got half way down the drive when he heard my other horse G calling and decided to bronc all the way up the drive, back to the field where G was!! I did stay on despite his best efforts to get me off. I decided it would be best to jump off after I had calmed him down (I was home alone today so didn't want a bad fall with no one to save me), but didn't want to just leave it at that, so thought I would walk him in hand back down the drive and walk him around for about ten mins. After that as I was walking him back up the drive, got to about half way up and he just bolted back to G again there was no way I could keep hold of him.

I have owned horses all my life and never had easy horses so it's no shock to me that they do these things sometimes. But really after this year my confidence is at an all time low, and I honestly felt like giving it all up today!

After a bit of time to reflect I think although there is no excuse to behave like that, he only decided to do it because he could hear G calling for him. Normally it doesn't bother B when he does this. Possibly because I normally have someone walking with me??... G has three other horses that he is right next to in his paddock so he's not upset at being left on his own. But I think he might be overly bonded with B!
So trying to make a plan of action, I think I need to start separating them more. Which is tricky as they have the same routine being the only two I have stabled.

The only thing I can think of doing is, keeping one in for half the day while the other goes out in a paddock that can't be seen from the stables. Then swop them over half way through the day. I only have a small yard so they would have to be stabled next to each other at night... Do you think this would help or not really?

Does anyone have an recommendations on how to get them more independent of each other??

Sorry if this is a long rambling post, but it's hard to explain these situations sometimes... Thanks in advance for your advice and support!

P.S I realise things could be worse! But just a bit down this evening so please be kind x
 
Many would of hopped of thrown a paddy. I wld separate them nd perhaps throw in some dressage style moves to try nd get em going when they back off ?
 
Chin up theres always a way round things. Ive got 2 mares living together and they are quite dependent on eachother. Tomorrow I aim to ride the kissing spine one, yes I have one too, so what I do is bring them in together, they live out. Whilst mare 1 is hungry and her tum always takes over with her, I take mare 2 out and not for too long. Mare 1 thinks whats more important, food or her field mate, and her tum usually wins. As said, I dont go for long, cant anway because Im building up the time slowly riding the KS mare due to her condition. So far its worked well.

Do yours have to be stabled at night? This is my 2's first winter out so they are hungrier now and it seems to be less stressful. I vary the routine a lot too so they dont get too used to doing things the same way every day. Hope that helps you a little, horses are worrying at times but keep on persevering.
 
Instead of starting to bring them in and making life boring for them, but don't you just make a habit of walking your boy up the drive 3/4 times a day (as you keep them at home?) It will only take a week or so before he really won't care about being separated.

Also, lead him in a bridle even just for the first couple of times. I used to have to with my own who would bolt off when being led. All it took was a sharp jab in the mouth as he tried to pull away for him to realize that he wasn't going to get the better of me.
 
Not sure I can help you, but so sorry to read you are feeling down. If your problem today was one shouting the other, can you find a way for someone else to take his attention so that you can get on your way without him shouting?

I kept on trying to go on riding for years, and enjoyed schooling and dressage, but a bad fall knocked my confidence, and so to be honest I have far more pleasure from being on my own feet and looking after first of all my children's ponies and horses, and now short term fostering some rescued ponies.

We used to only have two horses at a time at home, and the bonding issue was a problem, they were so fond of each other, would jump out to find each other etc.

Hope others are along soon with suggestions for you.
 
Izzwizz said:
Chin up theres always a way round things. Ive got 2 mares living together and they are quite dependent on eachother. Tomorrow I aim to ride the kissing spine one, yes I have one too, so what I do is bring them in together, they live out. Whilst mare 1 is hungry and her tum always takes over with her, I take mare 2 out and not for too long. Mare 1 thinks whats more important, food or her field mate, and her tum usually wins. As said, I dont go for long, cant anway because Im building up the time slowly riding the KS mare due to her condition. So far its worked well.

Do yours have to be stabled at night? This is my 2's first winter out so they are hungrier now and it seems to be less stressful. I vary the routine a lot too so they dont get too used to doing things the same way every day. Hope that helps you a little, horses are worrying at times but keep on persevering.
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Thanks... Glad you are back riding your KS horse! Hope things go well for you! The trouble with G is he is not very food orientated. He is a bit of a stress head (warmblood). B would be fine out except he is a bit of an escape artist when my back is turned, G has to be stabled as is a total softy. I think I just need to get them doing things at different times so where one goes the other doesn't follow kind of thing. They were here for quite a while just the two of them which I think is why they have bonded so much. I put G next to my cutest new filly in the hope he might fall in love, but it appears he might be gay :)
 
I actually think that keeping them apart more often will worsten the situation as they will become more anxious thinking that every time they are apart will be for a long time. Rather than trying to fight the ay horses are wired you need to work around it. In the summer I would always bring my two in together into the sand menage which is next to the arena and work one with the other one watching, then swap over. Now they are in their winter routine, it is much easier as they always have horses stabled next to them and the others are out in the sand next to the arena.
 
FreddiesGal said:
Instead of starting to bring them in and making life boring for them, but don't you just make a habit of walking your boy up the drive 3/4 times a day (as you keep them at home?) It will only take a week or so before he really won't care about being separated.

Also, lead him in a bridle even just for the first couple of times. I used to have to with my own who would bolt off when being led. All it took was a sharp jab in the mouth as he tried to pull away for him to realize that he wasn't going to get the better of me.
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I had him in a bridle today and he still got away from me... need to start lifting weights I think :)
I was thinking along the lines of what you suggested. So maybe even taking B down the drive to the gate and giving him a handful of mix in a bucket. So B feels like going down the drive leads to food and he is a piggy so will probably work for him. At the same time G will get used to him going away for 10 mins or so and hopefully wont have a heart attack when B goes out of sight!
 
Thanks, my KS girl is doing great. My 2 have always been stabled previously, one is a TB/ID and the other a TB/Hanoverian and both can be a bit stressy at times. I thought they were soft but its amazing how much they have taken to living out, so much better for them so if its an option for you it may be worth a try. No special tips to offer regarding escape artist stuff.... apart from a good zap from an electric fence..
 
fools_ gold said:
I had him in a bridle today and he still got away from me... need to start lifting weights I think :)
I was thinking along the lines of what you suggested. So maybe even taking B down the drive to the gate and giving him a handful of mix in a bucket. So B feels like going down the drive leads to food and he is a piggy so will probably work for him. At the same time G will get used to him going away for 10 mins or so and hopefully wont have a heart attack when B goes out of sight!
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Yeah the food in a bucket is also a good idea, it doesn't have to be anything big - even a carrot once you reach the end will be enough!
 
Wagtail said:
I actually think that keeping them apart more often will worsten the situation as they will become more anxious thinking that every time they are apart will be for a long time. Rather than trying to fight the ay horses are wired you need to work around it. In the summer I would always bring my two in together into the sand menage which is next to the arena and work one with the other one watching, then swap over. Now they are in their winter routine, it is much easier as they always have horses stabled next to them and the others are out in the sand next to the arena.
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Yeh I see what you are saying and I would do the same in an ideal world but I have no menege and my fields are so wet it's not possible to ride in them. My only option at the moment is hacking out.
G is not being left on his own he has three others for company, he is just very attached to B. Do you think that gradually getting them used to spending time apart will be better, so maybe start with 5-10 mins and try and build up from there and see how it goes?
 
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