horse scared of other horses

[crystalpony]

Hi, i am new to this and bit of a long post, sorry. Had a nasty fall before christmas, and still having issues. Short version is friends horse spooked, reared, bolted (friend was on the ground) slammed into mine. Saddle slipped, i hit the ground, the 2 horses bolted over two fields. Mine then jumped through barbed wire fence, and over an electric fence before being rescued at the yard with saddle underneath her. We had to sart from scratch as she is a sensitive mare, most issues now much improved.

However if i meet another horse out riding she starts to seriously panic. If other horses are in the yard when i try to mount she gets very fidgetty and upset. A different friend has a lesson after mine, and if she enters the school when we swap, my horse will start to bounce, threaten to rear or bolt. Will only calm once i exit and the gate is shut.

Any ideas how to help her overcome this, anyone experienced this?

 

[kerrieberry2]

Is she defo scared? the accident sounds really horrible but her behaviour sounds very similar to my mare, who I've had for 11 yrs, I have never really been able to ride in company, if i do, she will jog the whole time, bolt with me, if we try and have a canter or freak out on the spot. if im out alone and another horse comes in the opposite direction she will start freaking out then too!

im pretty sure she's not scared, she is just easily wound up by another horses! I moved her to a massive yard once and she got so stressed at the amount of horses there, she would head butt me and chuck me into fence posts and jog side ways all the way to her field, which was at the end of a 22 acre field, sectioned into seperate paddocks! so was a total night mare

the only thing that had worked for me, is moving to a private yard with a small number of horses, she is so relaxed now, its like having a different horse! It made me realise that for the first 8 yrs of owning her i never really enjoyed our rides, now i always have an amazing time!

 

[Littlelegs]

What's she like with other horses when she's loose eg in field, or inhand? Or lunging, tied up to be groomed etc? Or is it just under saddle?

 

[crystalpony]

She has always been a little marish around geldings, but used to hack out happily with several different horses. She could be silly in large group, 3 or more. Went to shows and dressage last year. Rode in a packed warm up arena with strange horses absolutely fine, even showed with a stallion in the ring.
I can hack with a small gelding, but she will get scared when we pass the spot of the accident, and tries to get as far away as possible from the other horse, half a fields distance and she will then calm again. she is ok there if on her own, we have worked on that. Now if we meet a horse in the lanes she tries to run the other way, never used to. Used to school with another horse in the arena, cannot do that now. She is fine to tack up, groom, lunge, ride in general. Can get fidgetty when tied, so do most things in stable, will not stand to mount if other horses near by. It took months to get her ok with the saddle and being ridden, but we have conquered that. Its just this last hurdle.

 

[crystalpony]

Nervous if other horses are in gateway. She is ok with them in field. She has always been best friends with my retired mare, and will allow her completely into her space, no issues with her at all. The geldings are in a seperate field and she gets nervous if they walk past her, could not leave her tied up. Worse under saddle though.

 

[Littlelegs]

It does seem more that its a fear of anything she associates with the accident than horses in general. I'd try & build her up slowly again to the ridden situations that stress her. So if possible, do stuff like have someone lead your retired mare she likes round the arena while you ride, avoid the accident spot, lead her in hand in the arena etc while others ride. Maybe get someone to meet you close to home with a horse in hand & then when its habit they can meet you mounted. Just create new associations really. If you can't avoid the accident spot till she's better, try dismounting before she has any signs of stress, or get the other rider to, feed a treat at it & mount again when past. You can probably think of other similar stuff too, what I think she needs is to gain her confidence back by not being exposed to reminders. And when she's settled back down you then slowly build back up to the situations that scare her.