Help - don't know what to do with my horse

I had a horse that weaved I went and put a grill up and she didn't do it as much. A friend said she seen her stand behind the grill and was weaving what a wast of time that was.
Your horse would be so happy out in the field.
Think of your horses health, She looks good for 20.
 
Sounds like the move has really stressed her out....

Agree with trying to find an option where she could be turned out all of the time. But of course with time she may stop, once she has settled in to her new routine.
 
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Ok, so what about a farm, or somewhere where she can live in a barn instead of a stable, so she has more room and wont be as stressed.

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She was kept on my grandad's farm when we first got her for a couple of years, then moved to another farm, then a farm that ran as a livery also and now she is on a livery yard. But the new yard is stables in a barn and they are very big and open. She can see absolutely everything...

I really have tried everything. She has a more than adequate rug selection (
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) but I don't think living out 24/7 will suit her either. She's now first at the gate to be brought in and shows no interest in going back out again once she's in and she gets mud fever which is hard enough to manage in the middle of winter when I get a chance to dry her off, no idea how I'd contain it if she was out 24/7.

Thanks for all your ideas, ASBO will pm you. Cheers

ETA I DO think about her health!! That's why she looks so good, is 110% healthy and gets regular massages etc. It's her mental health I'm worrying about and can't seem to fix...
 
So by the sounds of it has had a lot of changes over the past few years.

Some horses do not react well to change - and it sounds as if she is saying enough is enough. Poor old girl...
 
[quoteit sounds as if she is saying enough is enough. Poor old girl...

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Not really, she was on my grandad's for 3yrs, at HillHead for 4yrs, at MH for 2yrs and just moved 3/4wks ago to new yard. She's done this since we got her and she weaved when mum went to view her. I don't think 4 moves are excessive over 9yrs and they have always been moved "up" to better places where it should be more suited to her (ie quieter, safer, drier, better forage).

"Poor Old Girl..." you make it sound like I am actively punishing her and making her life hell?? Everything I've ever done has been with her at the forefront, she ranks over my other 2 horses because she is the high maintainance one that needs all the special attention. Talk about kicking someone when they are down...
 
I don't think Amymay meant it that way...but you're obviously very worried about your old girl.
I don't think there's an easy solution to this, as it would be difficult for you to get turnout 24/7. (Have you asked if you can pop her out with any cows etc nearby...farmers might let you?).
Perhaps try feeding her different foods....more fibre...although I don't think you said what her current diet is?
Try a stable mirror so she thinks she has company? Swap her round stables so she has a different view (studies show weaving is reduced by widening horizons...more views). Could you barn her with your others so she has physical contact with them? Perhaps try company in the form of radios, or a mini/sheep to stay with her? Ad lib hay, maybe?
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"Poor Old Girl..." you make it sound like I am actively punishing her and making her life hell??

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And Breath - I didn't mean it like that.

But she does sound very stressed, so I obviously sympathise with her - and of course you for the worry that you are going through. You obviously feel the same as you wouldn't have posted here about it. The phrase 'poor old girl' was meant as an endearment, not an insult.

I actually think that 4 moves is quite a lot - but lots of people move their horses more regularly than that with no ill effect. So that is only my personal view. Either way your little horse seems to have reacted very badly to the last one. And as you have only been there a short time she hasn't really had the opportunity to settle in yet.

It would be interesting to know if she weaves continually or if certain things trigger her off - like feed times, horses being turned out, brought in - so busy times at the yard. When things are quieter - is she quiter?

I used to have a horse that would become stressed very, very easily. The trick for him was an absolutely rigid routine.
 
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I don't think Amymay meant it that way...but you're obviously very worried about your old girl.
I don't think there's an easy solution to this, as it would be difficult for you to get turnout 24/7. (Have you asked if you can pop her out with any cows etc nearby...farmers might let you?).
Perhaps try feeding her different foods....more fibre...although I don't think you said what her current diet is?
Try a stable mirror so she thinks she has company? Swap her round stables so she has a different view (studies show weaving is reduced by widening horizons...more views). Could you barn her with your others so she has physical contact with them? Perhaps try company in the form of radios, or a mini/sheep to stay with her? Ad lib hay, maybe?
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Sorry, a tad sensitive about it.

She doesn't like/isscared from cattle and has been turned out with them before. She is in a field with 4 other mares (2 of them mine).

She's not really getting fed anything as she doesn't need it; she's in great condition and there is loads still in the grass at the new place. She gets 1/2 scoop of alfa-a, veteran supplement, green lip mussle upp, garlic and mint with succulents in the morning. She's always been on a fibre diet apart from the start of this year when she seemed to drop off for no reason (got vet/blood tests and everything fine) so put her on Bailey's no.4 for a while.

She has loads of company, mares from her field on both sides and it's an open stable with low walls so she can see every other horse on the yard (in barn). The only place I can swap her to is with my TB; that's into a big loose box with only the stable door to look out over into the yard and she'd not be able to see as much and have no physical contact.

Her stable has low walls and she and the other mares can touch and groom each other over the walls if they wanted to. The radio is on at weekends in the mornings but it seems to upset her having all that noise? It's only on briefly (by other liveries) before I turn her out. She has ad lib hay and haylage, a straw bed that she's taken to raking through, snack ball (which she doesn't use), rockie's salt lick on the floor (doesn't like likits or any of the holders for them), I put carrots through her hay and she is fed from a hay bar.
 
Sorry, a tad sensitive about it as I am totally and utterly at the end of my tether and I have no idea what to try next. As you can see I've tried everything that's been suggested apart from 24/7 turnout. I can't do it on my present yard, to move her somewhere else (to where I don't know because there is no where suitable that I am aware of) means another move and taking her away from her friends. Then there is the mud fever worry if she was out 24/7 as you can't keep boots on that long and she wouldn't have a chance to dry off etc.

She has a fairly set routine as in I get to the yard just after 7 and they have just finished their breakfasts (all fed at 7am). Then QH gets de rugged etc, rugged up in T/O and feet picked out, then Shiraz, then TB. TB taken outside and tied up, Shiraz and QH taken outside together, untie TB and all 3 taken to field and turned out together. At night all 3 caught together (when I can catch TB
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) and brought in. QH changed, grrom. feet etc, then Shiraz then TB. tidy up yard, all get a treat, lights out and leave...

I've tried doing her first and last and on her own but it doesn't seem to make any difference so this way suits me a bit better.
 
You're right, you've tried everything you can do at your present yard. This only leaves you two main options, that I can see;
1. Move her to a yard where you can just leave her out....on something like retirement livery if it's far away from you...which by the sound of things it would be.
2. Put her on loan/sell her to someone as either a riding horse or a companion (where she can live out).
Sorry, no other solutions....unless it could be ulcers...in which case antacids might work...but that's a long shot.
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1) I don't want to retire her, would that not make her more bored/stressed? She is fit and healthy and still has plenty, if not too much, "go" in her.

There isn't another yard to move her to. The yard we just moved from had year round turn out but the fields were really badly poached and the gateway came over my wellies adn the horses were reluctant to walk through it, I kept then out 24/7 for September (before I moved at old yard) because the hay was so bad it made one cough and even then all 3 were hanging around the gate wanting in (by around the gate I mean the otherside of all the mud so about 5/10metres away. The fields were one of the reasons I moved them.

2) I don't want to sell her, she's 20. I know she has plenty of life still left in her but she's still an older horse and I think at this stage in her life it's my responsibility to ensure that the end of her life is dealt with properly and if I sold her I wouldn't be able to make that decision. She can't live out as even in summer she HAS to come in.

She was blood tested and it came back clear, would ulcers not show up in that? The vet was checking for everything as she'd dropped a bit of condition.
 
yep, and she will need to be out at least some of the time on non-grass surface cos of the mud rash. You sound like a lovely caring owner though, so have a hug from me, its not an easy situation
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There are 2 geldings that she can't see on the other side of the barn who are sometimes out before she is. Usually though mine are first out. All the horses round about her are always in.
 
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How about a stable mirror? Possibly worth a go before resorting to more drastic measures?

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But she has company that she can see and touch, would a mirror really make that much difference? Bearing in mind she freaks at her own shadow
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Hi Shiraz

I'm from Stirling although live in Alloa but work in Stirling LOL

Where do you keep your horses?

May be interested in giving you a help out with her depending on where the yard is as I have a 4yo Highland to work on at weekends and 4 dogs to walk at nights lucky me!

My yard in Alloa is fab and they allow 24/7 turnout, fab hacking and huge all surface floodlit school and smaller sand school, 5 min hack from equestrian centre but the fields only have natural shelter no man made sheds im afraid!

Feel free to PM me if you don't wanna put info on here - I'm new to this foum so bear with me!

Elaine
 
I think I know the yard you are on, two of my friends are there. I used to live in Tullibody before I moved to Stirling and the horses are kept past Blair Drummound Safari Park.

I got your PM so will send you an email
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