Horses that hate to be alone

Roasted Chestnuts

Roasted Chestnuts

Well-Known Member
Joined
7 July 2008
Messages
8,754
Location
Scotland
Visit site
Now I have seen this in other peoples horses and I wont stand for it in one of mine so here goes guys, any other suggestions on what I have done would be helpful and appreciated!!

Right guys I am just thinking of my future course of action with her anxiety about being by herself.

Now Kia dont care, never has never will. At the mo he has a canter about when she is taken from the field but after she is out of sight he goes off and scoffs.

She on the other hand shouts, and shouts, and shouts and then weaves, then shouts some more.

Me being the person who doesnt pander to such nonsense just ignores her, I am actually bringing her in now when I am mucking out, even if I am not riding or even just for random grooms.

Now when you take her out she will hack out fine herself, bit nappy occasionally but have found out that a good poke with a pair of spurs gets her going but dont ask her to leave another horse. I got a full blown rear and I mean right up and a leap forward. Was not impressed and she got a right good crack on the bum and sent on in the opposite direction at a canter.

Now I am considering just carrying on the way I have been. Taking her away for longer and longer periods of time and just when the farrier is due she will be in the stable herself rather than what I did the last time was just bring them both in.

Anyone else got some other ideas. The only other thing is stick her in the newly fenced front field and stick Kia in one of the back ones and let her deal with it as I am not having this carry on at shows, she will leave him come hell or high water or I may just not be able to take them both anywhere at all.

If she is with other horses she doesnt care where kia is as long as there is something else there, proved that point with the next doors ponies as long as she saw them over the fence she didnt care where Kia was

Sorry its long but I am just trying to get more ideas if anyone has them!!

Nikki xxxx
 
I can't help other than to say you're not alone. I've had Lil just over a month and she is a right pain if she is separated from Belle. I'm hoping that as she settles down on our yard generally that Belle won't be so much of a comfort blanket for her.
 
Also OP, don't worry that your horse is making a fuss about nothing. She is a herd animal that in the wild would probably die if alone. They punish bad behaviour in a herd by sending the offender away from them. So, whilst to you it seems silly, to her thousands of years of evolution it is at least a 'punishment' and possibly even a case of life an death! So, by all means train her out of it but do understand that it actually is a 'big' thing you are asking of her. Good luck!
 
Hear hear Tickles. We have a yard rule that says if you bring the last but one horse in, you must also bring the last one in. We all know domestic horses have to make some adjustments from being wild but jabs in the sides with spurs and not even a flicker of understanding of how stressed the horse may be sounds an adjustment too far.
 
Some horses will always be overly attatched to other horses. Others just couldn't care less. I have both extremes and the clingy horses are a nightmare and it affects so many things. It often comes from being lonely in the past. And just two horses living together is a nightmare!!!! They become so ridiculously over attatched to their only friend.

It's not really somethinng they get over, all you can do is make them feel more secure with what they're doing so they don't feel that depserate need for other horses.

From experience punishing them for messing about just makes them worse in the long term - the only thing that makes them better is more trust for their humans and punishment only reduces that.

It will just take time until she's more relaxed and settled in your company - you've not had her long. With practise and lots of nice experiences (i.e NOT being punished for being frightneded) she will improve. She may never be perfect though, and taking her to shows with Kia and seperating them may always present you with problems. However it can improve. Kalli has always been perfect if taken to shows all by herself, but was a real nightmare if taken with other horses initially. She is now so much better, but still not as good as on her own, and can be difficult if the other horse is calling too. Nothing helped her stress and anxiety other than her becoming more relaxed in new enviroments through practise.
 
Make being with her buddy hard work, lunge her next to him make her work then take her away and rest for 20 secs and then come back and work, she will soon realise that being away from him means she can have a rest!
 
I keep two horses and had the same issues. The only thing that worked for mine was to gradually separate them for longer periods of time, beginning with just a few minutes with the horses within sight of each other and gradually building up and moving further away, the minute they get stressed, you put them back and eventually they cope with no issues as they are confident that the separation is temporary. Takes time, patience and commitment but the results were worthwhile. The one who got stressed is quite happy now, although he will stand and wait until we come back, but he isn't stressed and galloping about and trying to jump the fences.
 
Some great ideas guys thanks.

On the other hand I will not have one of my horses thinking that rearing and leaping under saddle is anyway allowed no matter what the circsumstances. Yes they are herd animals but she is willing to work away from him and leave the yard without him so in my eyes she is taking the mick.

She can be worked away from him as her attention is diverted so no problems there and as Ive said will happily leave the yard without him so again no problems there. Even if she plants when he leaves until he is out of sight, I will happily let her stand there all day no bother I can wait.

Will not have rearing and being a pratt especially not on or near a road, its a danger to drivers as well as myself and you have to be responsible.

I will try the moving them apart in the field. She is worked in the school which is in the field and also lunged in the lunging paddock which is far away from the current field and not a peep out of her.

Having also been in a collecting ring/warm up ring and nearly been murdered by a rearing/napping horse whos mate had just left for another class I just wont accept the possibility that it could be me injuring someone else.

Thanks for the suggestions guys if there are anymore you can think of feel free!!
 
Box_Of_Frogs said:
Hear hear Tickles. We have a yard rule that says if you bring the last but one horse in, you must also bring the last one in. We all know domestic horses have to make some adjustments from being wild but jabs in the sides with spurs and not even a flicker of understanding of how stressed the horse may be sounds an adjustment too far.
Click to expand...

Hate to say it but I am not a novice so can we please leave the whole 'understanding' nonsense out of it ta.

And Jabs with spurs I mean really?? Is putting your leg on with a pair of spurs really jabbing them. Bit extreme wouldnt you say.

Nikki xxxx
 
Sell her to someone with empathy, understanding, and horsemanship skills?
Buy something less sensitive that doesn't care what you do to it, that won't 'take the mickey' to the extent that you have to give her 'a good poke with a pair of spurs' or 'a right good crack on the bum'?
S :D
 
Shilasdair said:
Sell her to someone with empathy, understanding, and horsemanship skills?
Buy something less sensitive that doesn't care what you do to it, that won't 'take the mickey' to the extent that you have to give her 'a good poke with a pair of spurs' or 'a right good crack on the bum'?
S :D
Click to expand...

Yeah like I dont have those somewhere.........

Where did i throw that carrot stick........... I am sure my long line is here somewhere...........

Oh right I threw them on the bonfire ;)

Nikki xxxx
 
I am sure that if you sat in a quiet room, and thought really, really hard, you would be able to work out what your mare's problem may be, and even why it is worse sometimes than others (without straying into the realms of Parelli).
Then, having fully understood the problem, you may be able to devise a humane and horse friendly way of curing it, which will be more effective than spurring/smacking and getting reared with on the roads.
Good luck.
S :D
 
We have the same problem with stellas pony, although he is fine brought in and ridden on his own, should we leave him in a stable he junps out, and if he gets left in the field on his own he either junps out or runs through fencing.

Solved the stable thing by shutting the top door, but just cannot leave him out on his own.
 
My friend and I keep our two geldings together and we have problems with mine not wanting to leave hers. He will happily leave him on a hack but not at a competition. Mine whinnies, prances, runs backwards etc (he doesn't rear thank goodness). We are tackling the problem by getting them out to Riding Club things as often as we can, ie, every 2 weeks at least, and riding them away from each other, out of sight and then coming back.

I would suggest you start now taking them out together to little comps- find some low-key local stuff or RC or why not go to a friend's yard or something. Then they'll be used to it when you want to enter something more serious!

Mine gets separation anxiety at home if he is brought in at a different time and this is improving by us gradually increasing time apart. You just have to get them to realise that their friend is coming back eventually and YOU are there to keep them safe.

btw hate to say it but horses DO need boundaries and I'm with you there on punishing a rear! My lad gets so cheeky sometimes he spins or bucks (NO medical reason for this), and the only way to deal with that is a wallop and to send him forward. Also trotting in lots of tiny circles reminds mine who is boss! It stops him doing it for a few months anyway...
 
When I bought my mare she would panic when left alone, had never hacked alone and I have spent two years gaining her confidence.

I didn't do anything special, just built up the time she spent apart gradually. When it came to hacking out, we started with very very short rides on familiar routes, built up steadily and now can go out all day if we wanted to.

I'm sure this is nothing new to you, I just wanted to add, that its all about building the horses' confidence in being alone, and with you as a leader. The moment the horse begins to stress, or you give the horse reason to doubt you, the lesson is lost IMO.

I've learnt this through experience - my mare would have little nappy moments and I found that if I punished her, she would often start calling afterwards and become more worried. It took patience and reassurance to get her hacking alone happily. She is most definitely the opinionated, piss-taking type if she thinks she can be but in these circumstances she needed understanding and a soft approach.
 
Shilasdair said:
I am sure that if you sat in a quiet room, and thought really, really hard, you would be able to work out what your mare's problem may be, and even why it is worse sometimes than others (without straying into the realms of Parelli).
Then, having fully understood the problem, you may be able to devise a humane and horse friendly way of curing it, which will be more effective than spurring/smacking and getting reared with on the roads.
Good luck.
S :D
Click to expand...

Yeah thanks i kinda know what my mares problem is and several different ways of sorting it I am looking for angles on the anxiety that I havent thought of.

Thanks for your input tho it always makes my day when people call me inhumane and non horse friendly, 20+ years of horse care/training experience just counts for nowt these days ;)

We all look for different methods to a problem and the first thing as you said is working out the problem I spend most day with my horses being DIY on a farm so I would say the ground work for bonds is pretty much there and both my horses look for me :)

Thanks guys these suggestions are good and thanks for the support got a list of things to try so if you dont succeed try try again lol!!:D

Nikki xxx
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top