Horse won't settle in stable

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Katiesmum

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I have a mare who at her previous yard took a bit of getting used too her stable and was stabled around 22 hours a day ( yard owner rules) the yard owner barracaded her stable up so she couldn't see other horses etc and sometimes inisusted she be stabled for days on end.
However I've moved to a new yard and where turnout is guaranteed.
Shes currently in isolation and the routine of the yard is horses are out first thing and in by 5pm.
24/7 turnout is available during summer.
However she's went bonkers in her new stable in isolation.
She's barging the door ( to the point I'm having to climb over the stable door to get out)
She's kicking, pawing, rearing in the stable and aggressively box walking!
Refusing to eat her haynet or morning and night feed which contains her regumate and calmer.
I'm soo tired and exhausted by her behaviour, I've thought of selling her and giving up horses altogether as there is no enjoyment from her.
Anyone else been in the same position?
 
She’s in a new environment and alone and afraid she has every right to act how she is. What you as her owner have to do is find a solution and the best one I can think of quickly is to get her into a herd ASAP. She clearly has separation anxiety so 24/7 out in a herd until you can work on it is probably going to be what she needs, as the ex yards method clearly didn’t work.
 
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That's my thinking too. However she can't be in a Herd while she's on isolation, roughly we still have 1 week of isolation. She's fine out in the paddock alone where she can see other horses.
However she's running out the stable at the back of me, and all of the above behaviours.
Unfortunately until isolation is done, then she has to be stabled on her own.

I honestly feel like we're just not getting anywhere and giving up altogether.
She was bargy and very dangerous when I got her, with lots of groundwork she's now mannerable and respectful except in a stable.
This is maybe a vice I just can't conquer with her
 
Stable mirror? Horse toy, food ball.

Some horses simply don't like to be enclosed, and would be fine if they were in a barn where they can see around, although I realise this doesn't help with the present problem.
 
Poor mare she has been tortured by the last YO, barricading a stressed horse so they cannot see others is torture and she has every reason to be scared it is happening again, I have had a few here that had separation anxiety and the only way for them to get better, some never get over it especially if they have been badly treated for being that way, is to never keep them alone, build up their confidence and once they have genuinely relaxed start from the beginning doing tiny steps, going cold turkey even for a week is not going to help, you need to look at it from her point of view and deal with her as best you can as you have taken her from one bad place into another which to her mind is just as bad, you know it is only a week but she has no idea it will ever end.

As a YO I would never have isolated one with the issues she has, I have a companion pony who would be nearby and is kept for that job, she has often been with new arrivals and helps them settle, if something comes from a good yard, is vaccinated the risk is low and as the pony is healthy, is not worked I am more than happy to keep her for that purpose, it is only once in a while but she is very useful, no help to you but I do think this should have been better managed, probably by turning her out 24/7 with another nearby but not within reach would have made more sense, a mirror may help and is certainly worth trying before she loses the plot completely, give her a chance this is not her fault she is the victim of circumstances.
 
I would be speaking to YO and getting her out of that situation asap. The post horses is tormented.can she not be kept in isolation paddock rather than stable? Perhaps your yard is not the ideal set up for your horses needs
 
Do be mindful of what the stress is doing to her tummy. Ulcers are jolly painful and may exacerbate the problem. I have one very similar so I do sympathise. Years ago the vet gave me ACP for a horse on box rest but I'm mot sure that's used anymore. Can vet let you have some sedalin. Just a weeny bit will settle her. . I'm sure once she's out of isolation everything will settle down again.
 
Katiesmum said:
That's my thinking too. However she can't be in a Herd while she's on isolation, roughly we still have 1 week of isolation. She's fine out in the paddock alone where she can see other horses.
However she's running out the stable at the back of me, and all of the above behaviours.
Unfortunately until isolation is done, then she has to be stabled on her own.

I honestly feel like we're just not getting anywhere and giving up altogether.
She was bargy and very dangerous when I got her, with lots of groundwork she's now mannerable and respectful except in a stable.
This is maybe a vice I just can't conquer with her
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Sounds like you want to sell her? Seems extreme to give up due to stabling issues
 
Poor baby she must feel like she is in hell. Don't give up on her just becuase of this. You've got her past issues once before you can get her past this in time too. But definitely speak to YO about ending isolation early or getting a companion for her. Her welfare is seriously compromised at this point. Not your fault and no crticism. Bio security is important. But she doesn't know it is only for one more week.
 
I have not seen this type of isolation for a horse new to a yard, it sounds like cruel and unusual punishment. So the horse is alone in a stable and cannot see any other horses for several days? If this is correct then I am not surprised the horse is reacting badly. This is so unnatural and frightening. I would insist my horse was put in an area where she can see other horses while isolated at the very least.
 
The situation is far from ideal but as it's only for a week - and other yards I assume will also have an isolation period, I'd persevere with it. I'd ask if it's possible for her to have one other horse she can at least see nearby. If not, could you try a sedative for a few days?
 
Just hang in there, my horse would go absolutely beserk in that situation would be totally unmanageable but in normal circumstances is the perfect angel, just ride through this isolation period and give her a chance to settle.
I would also look at mild sedation or possible nearby company
Some, well quite a few, will not cope well being isolated from others
 
I think quarantine is a form of torture for many horses. Moved yards and then deprived of company as well. And the really daft thing is that at most yards which quarantine new liveries, horses will be coming and going to training and competition weekly if not daily. Quarantine on ordinary livery yards is a modern phenomenon and one I hope to see die out as quickly as it has spread.


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ycbm said:
I think quarantine is a form of torture for many horses. Moved yards and then deprived of company as well. And the really daft thing is that at most yards which quarantine new liveries, horses will be coming and going to training and competition weekly if not daily. Quarantine on ordinary livery yards is a modern phenomenon and one I hope to see die out as quickly as it has spread.


.
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I thought it interesting that the yard does not appear to be keeping Bear in quarantine, I don't bother with horses from a place I know but do take some steps if coming from an unknown yard, I have never put them completely out of sight and as you say they are just as likely to bring a bug back from a competition as to pick up something from a new arrival.

One yard nearby insists on everything being strangles tested before going there, even horses just going there for lessons, they expect others on the home yard to also be done yet regularly go to competitions, presumably stable overnight and were the only yard, I think, in this area that had a case of flu last spring so it shows the strict regime is probably a bit pointless, a pony being bought for a mutual client had a strangles test done which was borderline and when asked the YM had no idea what to advise.
 
Katiesmum said:
That's my thinking too. However she can't be in a Herd while she's on isolation, roughly we still have 1 week of isolation. She's fine out in the paddock alone where she can see other horses.
However she's running out the stable at the back of me, and all of the above behaviours.
Unfortunately until isolation is done, then she has to be stabled on her own.

I honestly feel like we're just not getting anywhere and giving up altogether.
She was bargy and very dangerous when I got her, with lots of groundwork she's now mannerable and respectful except in a stable.
This is maybe a vice I just can't conquer with her
Click to expand...

How's she getting on now your a few more days in?
 
Katiesmum said:
I have a mare who at her previous yard took a bit of getting used too her stable and was stabled around 22 hours a day ( yard owner rules) the yard owner barracaded her stable up so she couldn't see other horses etc and sometimes inisusted she be stabled for days on end.
However I've moved to a new yard and where turnout is guaranteed.
Shes currently in isolation and the routine of the yard is horses are out first thing and in by 5pm.
24/7 turnout is available during summer.
However she's went bonkers in her new stable in isolation.
She's barging the door ( to the point I'm having to climb over the stable door to get out)
She's kicking, pawing, rearing in the stable and aggressively box walking!
Refusing to eat her haynet or morning and night feed which contains her regumate and calmer.
I'm soo tired and exhausted by her behaviour, I've thought of selling her and giving up horses altogether as there is no enjoyment from her.
Anyone else been in the same position?
Click to expand...
My horse suddenly one day, for no reason that I could find, became terrified of her stable that she'd occupied for about 8 months prior. She nearly knocked me flying in her desperation to get out when I opened the door, totally unlike her as she is quite respectful on the end of a leadrope.

It took three of us and a whip to get her back into her stable and she stood at the door and kept staring behind her at the back wall which stands about six foot 2" high and has a metal grill on top of bricks and trying to get out, I was scared she would try to jump out.

Behind the stable is a storage area walled on three sides and with a cattle wire type of door on the other side. Inside are stored hay bales and one possibility was that rain was dripping on a tarp over some hay that was stored in there and she didn't recognise the sound. She could stand on her banks and look into this area if she wanted to, however she was too frightened. I couldn't leave her that evening as she was threatening to jump out, and the only stable available was a straw bedded one which she couldn't go in (she would eat straw and get colic) so I had to get the vet out as I was seriously considering she'd had a brain injury of some sort as her behaviour was so 'wild' and out of character and she was around 22 at the time.

The on call vet took nearly 50m to get to me but she was still the same when she arrived so she sedated her by injection. She still didn't calm down, and was snatching hay from her haybar before standing next to us stood inside the stable door. The vet thought she looked like she had colic from her looking behind her all the time but her eyes/face and other body signs indicated nothing of the sort and she'd ruled this out on arrival.

She said my horse would forget about it all the next day as they 'live in the moment', bit like dogs do. I thought 'yeah right, she will never forget' but the vet was right. I was up the yard at something daft like 5.30am before work the next morning after a sleepless night, to check on her and she had laid on her bed as she had shavings all over her rug so couldn't have been that bothered. Since then she's had maybe a couple of little 'looks and snorts' but nothing like she had that night.

Never got to the bottom of it, one theory was the dripping on the tarp, one was maybe a rat or fox had got in to the storage area but then she has a rat run at the back of her stable (it runs over her banks on a daily basis so she's used to it), another theory was that hay had been offloaded earlier that evening and the head lights shone into the area so may have looked like 'eyes in the dark', but she was either tied at the front of her stable or on the walker and didn't appear distressed and spent most of her life tied up outside a trailer on a busy competition car park in the winter evenings with loads of 'eyes' staring at her without a murmur lol.
 
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be positive said:
I thought it interesting that the yard does not appear to be keeping Bear in quarantine, I don't bother with horses from a place I know but do take some steps if coming from an unknown yard, I have never put them completely out of sight and as you say they are just as likely to bring a bug back from a competition as to pick up something from a new arrival.

One yard nearby insists on everything being strangles tested before going there, even horses just going there for lessons, they expect others on the home yard to also be done yet regularly go to competitions, presumably stable overnight and were the only yard, I think, in this area that had a case of flu last spring so it shows the strict regime is probably a bit pointless, a pony being bought for a mutual client had a strangles test done which was borderline and when asked the YM had no idea what to advise.
Click to expand...

We asked about a camp at a well known boarding school which hosts a BE event, several showjumping competitions and judging from its website, hires its indoor school out regularly. It seemed to us to make sense that they could be making use of the facilities, empty stables boarding houses and canteens during school holidays. They wouldn't allow any horses to stay overnight without a strangles test - but we could use the facilities all day, stable elsewhere and come back the following day if we wanted to. :rolleyes:. Their policy is that every horse who stays overnight has to have strangles test and if they go anywhere else overnight (but not during the day. Is it like a gremlin and only a problem if it eats after midnight?) they have to have a test to come back. Any horse who goes home for the school holidays has to be tested before going back - so up to 6 times a year!
 
annagain said:
We asked about a camp at a well known boarding school which hosts a BE event, several showjumping competitions and judging from its website, hires its indoor school out regularly. It seemed to us to make sense that they could be making use of the facilities, empty stables boarding houses and canteens during school holidays. They wouldn't allow any horses to stay overnight without a strangles test - but we could use the facilities all day, stable elsewhere and come back the following day if we wanted to. :rolleyes:. Their policy is that every horse who stays overnight has to have strangles test and if they go anywhere else overnight (but not during the day. Is it like a gremlin and only a problem if it eats after midnight?) they have to have a test to come back. Any horse who goes home for the school holidays has to be tested before going back - so up to 6 times a year!
Click to expand...


Barking bleeding mad!
 
ycbm said:
Barking bleeding mad!
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They're doing themselves out of thousands of pounds, all those facilities sitting empty. They would easily cover the cost of disinfecting the stables before the start of every term - or even after every camp. If people were asked to clear all the bedding from stables (as you often are at camps) it would only take a few hours to spray them all down.
 
annagain said:
We asked about a camp at a well known boarding school which hosts a BE event, several showjumping competitions and judging from its website, hires its indoor school out regularly. It seemed to us to make sense that they could be making use of the facilities, empty stables boarding houses and canteens during school holidays. They wouldn't allow any horses to stay overnight without a strangles test - but we could use the facilities all day, stable elsewhere and come back the following day if we wanted to. :rolleyes:. Their policy is that every horse who stays overnight has to have strangles test and if they go anywhere else overnight (but not during the day. Is it like a gremlin and only a problem if it eats after midnight?) they have to have a test to come back. Any horse who goes home for the school holidays has to be tested before going back - so up to 6 times a year!
Click to expand...

It could well be the same place, they have these rules in place but they make no real sense as any virus or disease can just as easily be transmitted by someone visiting that has been in contact with a horse that has rubbed its nose on their jacket, the fact they couldn't actually advise on the test result made it even more ridiculous, I quickly did some research and offered a sensible solution but the YM never actually checked before allowing the pony onto the premises for lessons a few months later, I think she probably forgot the result was positive and just asked if she had been tested, which she had.
 
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