Help - competing two horses that are pair bonded?

Jnhuk

Jnhuk

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I have been trying unsuccessfully to try and take both my horses to shows so me and my OH can compete on both on the same day. However, they are constantly calling to one another and one of the lads becomes a different horse to ride and to be honest both perfom below what they do when out individually. We tried a few years ago then gave up. They were at a friend's yard for awhile so were in a group of four. They would happily go with their other friends to a party and when they each go individually, they are great.

Yesterday, thought we would try it again but both horses were idiots in different ways.

Has anyone else managed to overcome this?

I only have enough acreage at home for two horses so getting another horse is not the solution!

Also posted in CR
 
Do you ever hack together to your nearest school and then school separately? When do they get upset? Is it being far apart, or when they can't see each other ...?
 
My daughter and I had a similar problem in that we took the horses separately to shows (1 one weekend and the other the next) because hers wasn't good to load with the partitions in but I got fed up having to choose so persevered and took both. The first time, they travelled terribly and whinnied to each other most of the time neither performed as they usually did and I just accepted it and wrote that day off and tried again the week after. This time they travelled wonderfully, had no trouble loading the naughty one and their behaviour was slightly better. What I found was that if they could see each other from the collecting ring they were more settled, so I parked with the trailer facing the collecting ring or when my daughter was competing I held my horse where she could be seen.
The third time we went they were both better again, no whinnying and more concentrated.
I think the secret is to persevere and treat the first few outings as experience and hope that they will get better.
 
Theocat said:
Do you ever hack together to your nearest school and then school separately? When do they get upset? Is it being far apart, or when they can't see each other ...?
Click to expand...

Tend to go individually or together tbh. It is both when they can see each other and/or hear each other. If the wind is in the right direction you can hear the lad left at the stable when you are at the yard as only about half a mile away.

My OH's horse if you take him along so he can see my horse, he will happily doze while I am riding my horse who still gets tense and calls a lot. He doesn't go well and gets so distracted about worrying where OH's horse is, it is a bit of a nightmare. However, if you leave OH horse out of sight and get working my lad he concentrates on the job very well, unless my OH's horse starts to call. If you leave my OH horse in the box, he calls and kicks and generally behaves like I would never have believed from him as he is Captain Sensible usually!

Maybe I need to park a long way from the competition venue so my horse can't hear and let my OH deal with his horse having a loony from being left whilst we go.

We tried for about a summer, couple of years ago to do things together but in the end was far too much stress and we both stopped enjoying our outings. Last two years we have taken turns but I have been doing more with my lad tbh. Decided to give it another go this last month, both outings were bad so far and if anything yesterdays one was worse than the previous.

We could keep trying and persevering but I am beginning to think it is not going to change for the better.


TirionWirion said:
My daughter and I had a similar problem in that we took the horses separately to shows (1 one weekend and the other the next) because hers wasn't good to load with the partitions in but I got fed up having to choose so persevered and took both. The first time, they travelled terribly and whinnied to each other most of the time neither performed as they usually did and I just accepted it and wrote that day off and tried again the week after. This time they travelled wonderfully, had no trouble loading the naughty one and their behaviour was slightly better. What I found was that if they could see each other from the collecting ring they were more settled, so I parked with the trailer facing the collecting ring or when my daughter was competing I held my horse where she could be seen.
The third time we went they were both better again, no whinnying and more concentrated.
I think the secret is to persevere and treat the first few outings as experience and hope that they will get better.[/QUOT
Click to expand...
 
Posting this here to bump this thread

When I was young and my sister and I competed together, we never let two horses being in love get in the way. Sounds a bit harsh and I don't mean beat them up, but if you are schooling your boy and he is being a pain, then he gets made to listen and made to work until he starts to ignore what his pal is doing at the lorry (this might mean he has to work harder and longer than normal).

The horse at the lorry gets totally ignored - as long as they are fastened in properly and can't hurt themselves then they should start to realise that they are being ignored and will give up. It took a few shows (going regularly like every weekend for a month) before they realised this was their job, but it did work. each show they got better.

If it means that you take the first horse and worked them for two hours but didn't compete thats ok, as they will still realise they have a job to do, once one of them gives up replying the other should give up too.

Once you go back to the box with the first horse, then repeat the process with the second horse and take him away to work leaving the other one behind.

I don't know if it will work for M & R but we had lots of ponies that were best pals and never had any problems at shows, it was too costly for us to only take one to a show so we always took two.
 
I had this problem at the start of last spring with my 2 mares. We would go to horseboarding comps down south which would be at least 5hrs travel, both mares where stabled together at home and away, went out in the same field at home or pen at shows, travelled 1000's of miles together. At home if I bring one in without the other they will constantly call to each other, at shows they will call for each other if out of sight. I was lucky as they both still done the jobs that where asked of them but they would never stand still, working up a sweat as soon as I was on board and generally more stressy. Once they where reunited they had to touch each other to reassure themselves that the other was ok and then relax...... :rolleyes: That part was kinda cute, the rest was just annoying.

This year both mares were a lot more relaxed and I think its just because its the norm for them now, doesnt matter where they go its nothing new to them. Also, the horseboarding world is very small at the moment so its the same horses going to all the comps and they are all in close proximity of each other when they are there so they all know each other. A weird little show herd family really! lol :p Ive also been travelling them with other horses which I think has also helped.
 
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