Horse Walking Circles In The Field

[Quibou]

Hi everyone,

Last year I noticed my horse would walk a perfect circle in the field at night in one particular field and if I moved him out of it he'd stop. I never saw him do it, but by morning the track which was lush grass the night before was now mud!

I thought no more about it until the other morning when I went down, and there was a track, so I moved him and the following morning there was another one. He does it with and without company and I saw him do three circles last evening and walk through his companions as if they weren't there.

Has anybody got any ideas of what could be making him do this? Im concerned its not to good for his limbs when the ground is so hard. He doesn't normally box walk or fence walk at home, but on a yard during term time he can sometimes walk/gallop the fence line at getting in time or when left on his own.

Thanks in advanced!

 

[AdorableAlice]

Pass, but that is one of the best questions in a long time.

 

[Quibou]

Thanks! It's really strange and has a lot of us baffled!

 

[DonskiWA]

He's lunging himself! Wish mine would occasionally

 

[Harveydales]

My friend's horse does this. I couldn't believe it when she told me they were perfect circles until I saw for myself. He only does it on one rein and we believe it is stress related. He suffers with sweet itch and does his circling when the midges are out so when she sees him circling, she brings him into the stable. He also lives on his own.

 

[Wheels]

I've seen this before as a reaction to having too many flies or midges around

 

[tilly_monster]

My horse does this, but only when there a lot of midges and flies, so we put her fly rug on and she stops
She has made a perfect 20 meters circle in the field

 

[Quibou]

Thanks everyone I will see if its the flies and either bring him in or rug him up tonight. I just thought if it was the flies he'd do it all the time as we do have a large number of flies here and he's never done it when there are thick clouds of midges. But will definitely try that theory out tonight!

 

[only_me]

Flies?

Or maybe practising crop circles

 

[Laafet]

I saw a horse do that out Blood hounding a while back. The rider got off and let him go and just walked round in a 20m like a dementor, apparently he spent a lot of time on a horsewalker at home and was bit of a nutter!

 

[The wife]

One of our old hunters does this, perfect circles, he got my point to Pointer doing it last season too. We always put it down to the flies, even after a tonne of repellant on. He only does it during the evening, between July-September, never looks stressed or unhappy. I think he just thinks he'll get ahead of us with his walk work before he comes up to start fittening work.

 

[LeneHorse]

Sorry - have no idea why he would be doing this,
But wouldn't it be a great opening scene for a Dr Who episode? All the animals suddenly start walking in perfect 20m circles! There has to be an alien life force involved methinks!

 

[Regandal]

I used to know 4 ponies who regularly did this. The mare led 3 geldings and they walked in a perfect circle for about 15 minutes, then just stopped and grazed. They didn't look stressed, and none of them had any stable vices.

 

[Quibou]

Thanks everyone, I'm putting it down to the flies for the time being but *touches wood* he hasn't done it for two nights in yet another different field again with the usual masses of repellent, rug and mask on! If only he could perform the perfect circles in his tests!

 

[With Ponies]

Probably flys! I suggest putting the horse in the stable at night and let him out again in the morning. Let me know how it goes

 

[TheMule]

I had a mare who did this, never really found a cause but she stopped with a change of field too so some kind of stress

 

[Mule]

Flies?

Or maybe practising crop circles

Best explanation