I have no idea if I've done the 'right' thing....

Arwen - I also agree that what you have said makes perfect sense! Some days she doesnt bat an eyelid at things that on other days, she freaks at! I should have known; when I walked her down to the field, there was a stack of pallets that hadnt been there last time she walked past....cue lots of snorting, planted feet and rolling eyes! I think she's just having one of those days! Incidentally, a few weeks ago when she was out in the field - during those three days of gorgeous weather - she stayed out for 7 hours and didnt want to come in! So I think that time-of-the-month and recollection of scary muck sprayer may have something to do with it.
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_OC_ - I am inclined to disagree; how can I not take things personally when I am being accused - and you cannot deny that - of abject cruelty? Some people's comments on here have been very supportive and helpful, and I only hope I have managed to thank them all properly. But others seem to be unable to separate the 'ideal world' from reality. This I find quite insensitive; no-one is perfect, we can only try our best! And if I have appeared agitated at all it is because I greatly resent suggestions that my horse would be better off being loaned or sold; Ellie is everything to me, and I am only where I am now because I have shaped my life to ensure that I can keep her.
 
Oh i must say if she has always been ok (you said for the last 2 years) then im wondering why all of a sudden this would change ?? If now you have left her she is happily grazing then she may be acting up !!

My lovely mare unforunately jumps the fence when i leave her - not cos she doesnt want to be out though but because she knows the grass is greener in my grandparents garden !!!
 
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But others seem to be unable to separate the 'ideal world' from reality. This I find quite insensitive; no-one is perfect, we can only try our best! And if I have appeared agitated at all it is because I greatly resent suggestions that my horse would be better off being loaned or sold; Ellie is everything to me, and I am only where I am now because I have shaped my life to ensure that I can keep her.

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yeah, but its not about you. at the end of the day if your horse is unhappy at being alone then you need to sort that out. if she, as you seem to think, is just being 'naughty' (not a concept I subscribe to in this case), why stick that pic up of her? and then argue practically every single reply? you either want a fight or justification from everyone.
 
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Oh i must say if she has always been ok (you said for the last 2 years) then im wondering why all of a sudden this would change ?? If now you have left her she is happily grazing then she may be acting up !!

My lovely mare unforunately jumps the fence when i leave her - not cos she doesnt want to be out though but because she knows the grass is greener in my grandparents garden !!!

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I am so lucky that Ellie respects fences! That must be a nightmare for you! Used to have a NF pony who would quite happily pop a 4ft post and rail to get into our garden...wouldnt jump higher than 2'6 when ridden though, little monkey!
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Dutch_viscount - is it not customary - and courteous - to try to reply to everyone's comments? I thought it was....I would ask you to take note that I havent 'argued' everyone's point; there are many I have agreed with and discussed further. I am merely asking for understanding, and perhaps ideas, not criticism. I do not feel I need justification for any decision I make; however this is an advice giving forum, and so I felt it was quite fair to post regarding this issue.
 
woooohhh... things are getting very catty!!

Has anyone actually realised it is FRIDAY!! :-) woop woop!!

the horse is now grazing happily after her initial antic in the field and was always happy before so being alone was NOT the issue. Oh it is also springtime even my 20 YO (who is happily kept on her own) is on her toes!
 
Aran can end up looking like that (through playing for hours and hours in the field with his pals).
I put a fleece and a thin summer waterproof on him if he's going to hoon about and that stops him sweating but keeps him warm.
If you can't stop her zooming about then maybe that will help stop her sweating up.
You must be using up a load of electrolytes with her doing that the whole time!
 
i feel that in a perfect world all horses wud b free and ferrel and in herds and mayb a buddy is the rite way to go!! but wud that mean they would be xstatic and happy???? mares are notorously hormonal mayb she wudnt like her new bud!! what happens then!!!!! and what about seperation anx for the other horse when u 'hack out' or 'go to a show' ect, we kept our horses in together for a bit but, what with kicks, torn rugs,nappiness, we got fed up (alot of very unhappy horses too) now they r all in individual paddocks and it works really really well no bullying and damaged horses!! to me your mare looks well looked after and although quite hot (u said she had a turn out rug on aswell) bound to get hot running around) (race horses get hot in paddok waiting to race doesnt always mean they are being anxious bout race, mite b excited). !!!!!
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Hi MizElz,

I've never replied to any of your posts before as they do often get a little heated! I think you - just like myself! - get very sensitive about other's comments.

Please don't take my comment in a bad way.

I have never seen a fully clipped horse sweat so badly, including the racehorses at the yard I did work experience at after incredibly strenuous exercise. This leads me (perhaps wrongly, I'm not saying I'm definately right) to the conclusion that it is 'stress sweat' i.e. nervous sweat as well as the normal exercise type sweat.

I had to keep my horse on his own at one point as I was on a yard with separate fields for mares/geldings but mine was the only gelding. Even very small nervous/unhappy signs from him made me anxious. I did all I could to get a companion, even though I only had a part time job and was in full time education. In the end the local horse sanctuary refused me a companion horse, even though the visitor that came out said the yard was fine. (If anybody's interested it's because the field had barbed wire, which I put electric fencing in front of it but ho hum)

Anyway, your main opposition to getting a companion seems to be 1) the added cost - mainly the worry about extra vets bills and 2) the worry of what would happen if you lost the land.

Well why don't you offer a foster home to a pony from a sanctuary??? You can give them back if the animal incurs any vets fees or you get chucked off your land. Also, the cost of a native pony is really really minimal, and one that I would consider a necessity in your case.

Oh BTW I moved yards when I couldn't get a companion. My boy never did anything as bad as your girl, but I could tell he was unhappy. He's loads better now
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I know ur problem - my TBx is turned out alone as she is a bully and agressive towards other horses. When we were between yards I didn't want her to go 6 months without seeing another animal but as the field rent was v high I loaned two goats from the RSPCA for the six months then sent tham back at the end of that time. She used to chase them round the field but they kept her company and they didn't cost me anything in that time, which thinking back is a miracle considering she used to bite them and all sorts!!
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Just a thought, if you keep putting these sort of posts on here.. you might end up getting a visit from the RSPCA or ILPH if someone knows where you live........

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Why?

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Because its happened to people on here in the past and wasted a great deal of time better used for cruelty cases.
 
Err, I hope they have more worthy cases on their hands than to investigate a girl who appears to love and care for her horse, is stuck in a difficult situation but is doing the best she can, and whose horse appears to have mad moments in the field, whilst living happily alone for 2 years.

ILPH/RSPCA would be very frustrated at the waste of their time (I hope).
 
My mare was screaming and hooning the other day...purely cos of being in season...there are horses in other fields around her...but she was totally ignoring them as they stood with their chins on the ground watching her in total amazement...I went to catch her and she just screamed in my face and went charging up the other end of field and back again!!! She is retired and has arthritis...but looked fine to me!!!
She was brought in and even with the horse being stood opposite her outside his stable she was still screaming as if she had been abandoned and no-one else was left in the world...nothing had happened to upset her...nothing had changed in her routine...she was just hormonal.
May be if she is like this a fleece under a lightweight might cut down on the lathering...if you say she is usually fine on her own...it could be her season or the upset of the farm machinery..or combination of both.
Season finished...back to peace and quiet...and our eardrums and my nerves (after constantly checking her legs) came back to normal!!!!
My mare is a sensitive soul and believe me...I am often wondering 'why did she do that' and we spend ages thinking of all sorts of things...we often end up with - its a Tuesday!? the moon was full last night?!..more often than not we are just baffled and I feel totally inadequate...she still loves me tho!!!
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DiablosGold - thank you for your reply; again, you make a lot of sense! Unfortunately, money and land are not the only issues preventing us from getting a companion. I would have nowhere to keep it! As I have said, our cottage, land and stable are rented, and there would be no possibility - nor space - to build another stable at the present time.

There is also the issue of time. I am in full time education - I commute 80 miles to uni each day, a decision I made to enable me to keep Ellie. My mum is also in a full time job; added to that she is also taking a degree, so is at night school through the week. As such, the horse is pretty much entirely my responsibility! I cope just fine with Elz, but it takes me a good half hour (if not riding) to set her fair every morning. I get up at half 5 as it is; if I had another to do, it would just be too much to deal with. I have been there before - mucking out 3 and riding two before school each morning, and it isnt a situation I want to get back into.

As someone else has also mentioned, there is then the issue of separation anxiety, and we have first hand experience of this, seeing as our distant neighbours have a houdini little roan pony who, whenever they take his companion out without him, leaps out of his field and gallops up the road past our house
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I wouldnt want this to happen if we got another horse, either from companion's perspective, or Ellie's.

Hopefully, in the not-too-distant future, we will be able to get ourselves into a position whereby getting another horse - and not just a companion - will be possible. Mum would dearly love something to hack around, but she cannot afford the time, what with her degree and her work. By learning and saving now, we hope to be able to afford to do things properly in a couple of years, rather than scrape to do them halfheartedly now!

Again, thank you for your understanding; it is appreciated! I just hope that when I say a companion would not be suitable now, people can understand this without making judgements and assumptions, for it is something that we have frequently considered.
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I'm off to get the little demon in now.....
 
Everything you describe sounds like a horse who is searching for a companion...not a 'naughty' horse. Sorry but if your horse is unhappy with being kept alone you need to find a solution not keep finding 'but' clauses.
 
I agree totally with Spaniel, nice to see some sense in this thread for a change.

For my two pennies worth, an awful lot of you seem to get your knickers in a twist about something like this; just what is the point, get some common sense for once. The horse is not ill, not cruelly treated, far from it so just what is your problem?

Miss E is doing her best, I know how hard it is on a limited budget and when property is not your own, you are dependant on a landlord for your house, possibly your job too; life can be very difficult so I do sympathise; I've been in exactly the same position and I commend Miss E for not giving up.

It doesn't particularly worry me that a horse is on its own as long as it is well looked after, which Ellie obviously is; she is used to her situation normally, it's probably just a hormonal thing with spring just around the corner; all of my mares are hooning around getting sweaty but the difference is they're not clipped and don't have rugs. If she persists in getting up a sweat, ideally I would use a Thermatex on her but other if that is not an option, I would be inclined to use a sweat sheet (as in the old style string type vest) rather than a fleece, underneath a lighter weight rug and I wouldn't use one with a neck either, they're only for idle grooms, horses don't need them if they are well but that is only my opinion and Miss E knows her best.

We all can't live in la la land or have money to be thrown away on a companion, after all, when you take Ellie out, surely to be fair, according to a lot of you, you need another companion to keep the first companion happy; where would it stop?!
 
Well, here is the little moo, fresh from the field, not even a bit of sweat on her! Maybe a lightweight rug IS a valid option after all....

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i think i`m not far from you.
it was quite chilly and windy here this morning which affects behaviour.
my lil one and his new sec A buddy were quite mentel this morning,also the coloured.
my cob was too busy filling her face!
 
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i think i`m not far from you.
it was quite chilly and windy here this morning which affects behaviour.
my lil one and his new sec A buddy were quite mentel this morning,also the coloured.
my cob was too busy filling her face!

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You've just hit another nail on the head - when I went out to get her, my wellies had been blown over and the washing line was spinning wildly - its so windy here! and judging by her eagerness to get into the stable, I think she may well have had the wind up her tail!
You get lulled into a false sense of security in a nice warm study!
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Thank you MFH_09
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You are right on many accounts; you've even got me evaluating my laziness at using a full neck rug, and I have to concede I do only use it to keep her mane clean!
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Horses 'deal with' alot that we ask of them in order for them to fit into our way of life, its a system that works well. Nature intended them to wander the plains grazing and having fun and its fantastic for us how adaptable they are to our expectations. There isn't really a 'right thing' to do but I would agree with everyone who has said your horse is anxious, not naughty. If its only occasionally she gets herself in this state, and she's usually much happier, personally I wouldn't worry, but if this is a regular occurence IMO you need to look for another way of keeping her, or for a different horse who can cope in that situation. Sorry if that sounds mean, its just that I'd be concerned if I were you.
 
The moment has passed a little but I thought I'd add my thoughts:

It sounds very like Arwen said - something has stressed her and she is looking for companions. If there is a smell or something in the field that is stressing her, and you know it is safe, then you should definitely leave her in the field until she calms down. Otherwise you are just reinforcing the idea that the field is stressful and she needs you to 'rescue' her! so, in short, I think you did the right thing leaving her out in a light rug.
 
Hi Mizelz, have you considered somehow erecting those companion mirrors. You could put one on the side of your stables. We had a horse that would never go in his stable cause he couldnt see others. So put one of these up and he's good as gold now.
 
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Hi Mizelz, have you considered somehow erecting those companion mirrors. You could put one on the side of your stables. We had a horse that would never go in his stable cause he couldnt see others. So put one of these up and he's good as gold now.

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Sounds a good idea!
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But she is as good as gold in her stable and the yard, and knowing Ellie, she would probably freak out at her own reflection! It is only in the field - and only in the last three or four weeks - that she has been misbehaving!
 
I have to agree with you Mizelz...I would much rather see a horse on its own well cared for than two skinny beasts...I kept mine on her own for ages and she was never bothered by she is now on a small yard and out with another mare but she can take it or leave it tbh...I think she was probably upset at the new smells in the field as she is happily grazing now...
 
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