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

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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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Your horse looks VERY healthy and well to me.
Having a horse on its own isnt ideal. But I dont think warrents a call from the RSPCA.

Winnie was bought from someone who kept him on his own, he coped. When we moved into our house I had Bertie on his own for a year also.
Horses cope!
If she was that unhappy and stressed she wouldnt look as well as she does IMO
 
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Hasn't the farmer got a sheep you could borrow!?

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If we put a sheep in with our lad he'd jump out the field. He does't like cows either. They are O.K. if they are other side of hedge but if they come near hedge he goes other side of field. Silly sod
 
Your horse is gorgeous, and being a mare she will be prone to mood swings. *waits to be corrected by owners of non-moody mares* I cannot give any advice, but can tell you of our experience. When Troggy (daughter) brought Toffee here on loan prior to buying, she (Toff) had been in a riding stable/livery yard, and was miserable as sin. She hated being in a stable, or near other horses, and when she found she had an entire field to herself she was the horsey equivalent of overjoyed, You could see her relaxing as the days went on - for the first year. Then she gradually changed, and became very clingy when Troggy went in the field. It got worringly bad, and one day she was running around so fast sparks were coming off her shoes in the dark. She was visibly stressed, and that is when we decided, and were advised, that she was lonely. Troggy was very fortunate in that we were willing to invest in another animal to keep Toffee company, which is how I landed up with a Sec D foal. The difference in Toffee is immense; she is the most relaxed she has ever been, despite her heavy ovarian follicle load and general temperament issues. I realise you cannot afford to run two horses, but someone did suggest maybe a sheep, or what about loaning a companion? Horses, like people, can and do change, and what suited her two years ago may no longer do so.
 
all I can say is good luck, I think what you have done is right in the circumstances, at least you have the horse you can afford and are not getting another one which would jeopardise the bank balance, and I don't agree on getting a sharer in for another horse to fund having it. I am sure she will settle with time.
 
I have a really insecure gelding. Hes spooky to ride (but angelic if you will walk him inhand) and after 10 months of being on very restricted turnout, i have a feeling hes going to be very unhappy going back out.

All of last summer when i tried to put him out, he'd run up and down by the fencing wanting to come back in and he was having, literally, one hour a day. I got him to settle to the point where he'd be ok if i sat there and stayed with him (he was out alone but with horses over the fence from him), but if i walked away, he'd get dangerously upset.

We're moving soon and hes going to be turfed out daily and im 99% sure that im going to have a problem with him not liking it initially.

We had no option but to get companions for the new yard because there are laws here preventing you from keeping horses alone (and animal welfare laws in Denmark arent something you mess with...)

She sounds a bit like mine in that shes insecure. Someone else mentioned that perhaps something has upset her (or maybe two weeks in was enough to move her comfort zone) and now shes stressing.

Ideally i think a companion would be a good option. Although clearly shes been happy enough before. You could, as others have said, approach a charity and take something on a loan basis so that if everything goes wrong you can give it back. One reason id encourage this is that horses kept alone for a long time tend to become somewhat socially inept and struggle to accept others again.

I dont think youre being cruel at all. In an ideal world we'd all have endless grazing and they'd be out daily with company (and naturally, this company wouldnt kick or bite and there would be no fighting). I do think you need to think about it carefully though as they are herd animals and should really have friends
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one very pee'd off horse I'd say, I'm going to sound judgemental but hey ho!

Dont agree with horses on their own at all (under any circumstance) I am not a soppy person either but they should have equine or goat/sheep etc substitute animal company.

No reason why for £100 you cannot pick up a minature shetland, elec fencing max £100 if your fencing is not up to it and get a mini friend for your mare.

No horses goes nuts for the sake of it when it hasnt been out grazing for yonks, most would settle eventually and eat.....

Why dont you keep her with something else????? Minis cost peanuts as a rule to keep...

We have two minis, they have invaluable when I have to take a horse away for the weekend and leave a biggie on its own, they babysit my big ones, vice versa....
 
can i just ask...nicely...
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...if that IS sweat as you are asking me to believe, then why isnt there any sweat between her back legs and none running down the backs of her front legs either??
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looks like XC Grease to me????
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but not one to start/cause any bad feeling here..i'd try her in a lighter weight rug tomorrow.
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can i just ask...nicely...
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...if that IS sweat as you are asking us to believe, then why isnt there any sweat between her back legsand none running down the backs of her front legs either??
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looks like XC Grease to me????
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but not one to start/cause any bad feeling here..i'd try her in a lighterweight rug tomorrow.
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I will just add if you cannot keep a horse correctly, you should sell, I broke my heart in December when I sold my mare, but being in my final year of degree, massive vet bills, and being short of money, I decided to sell her as I could no longer keep her in the way she/I was acustomed to, I would rather not have a horse than see them suffer, I do not think it is right that no horse has no company at all,
 
If everyone who had a horse that could not keep them 'correctly' sold their horse.......

.........there would be a hell of a lot of sold horses..... actually perhaps not as there would not be enough 'experts' who could afford what was needed to do such a job.

I think that is a very unfair comment to make... but good for you if you could not afford yours for you to sell her. I hope she is in a nice rich home now.

Just because a horse doesnt get everything it desires doesnt mean that you should sell it, crikey, most of the horses I know would put themselves up for sale if that was the case.

MizEls horse looks the picture of health, is well loved and fed, and has superb accomodation...... the only thing it doesnt have is a companion..... well sometimes its tough luck.

I am sure she would rather live like that and be a bit lonely (maybe) than be starved, worked half to death or neglected in some way, be it farrier, saddler or teeth.
 
JM07 - do you honestly think I would go to the trouble of a) buying a pot of XC grease when I NEVER go XC, b) covering my horse with it for no apparent reason and c) taking a photograph to make out that it was something different? Cant even see what would make you think this, let alone make you think I would have a reason for doing so
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There was no sweat 'running down her back legs' because she was lathered under the rug. Must you pick holes in such trivial issues? Come on!!!!

Some people astound me, they truly do!
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Ok here's my tuppence worth....!

Ideally she would have company. However I can't be the only one with experience of laminitics whose hair is standing on end at the thought!

Shetlands/Natives/Elderly/Poss Cushings horses and ponies who are prone to laminitis can get VERY expensive and take a terrific amount of time and money to care for correctly.

I don't think this would be the solution to Miz Elz problem tbh.

Having said that, I don't know what the answer is. Personally I will not let my mare be the first or last horse in the field, but I am lucky that there are plenty of others at my yard.

Jo x
 
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I will just add if you cannot keep a horse correctly, you should sell, I broke my heart in December when I sold my mare, but being in my final year of degree, massive vet bills, and being short of money, I decided to sell her as I could no longer keep her in the way she/I was acustomed to, I would rather not have a horse than see them suffer, I do not think it is right that no horse has no company at all,

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If you felt that you could no longer cope with the responsibility of your horse, and that she was suffering because of this, then fair play to you for making what must have been a terribly hard decision.

I, on the other hand, have not said anything about my horse suffering; I have merely said that she has recently been getting stewed up in the field, and that I have changed her rug today to see if it makes any difference! That is the real gist of this thread - it was not me who brought up the issue of cruelty/lonely horses/companions/suffering! I did not ask people's opinions regarding companions, mainly because it is something we have considered, subsequently discarded, due to our circumstances.

I dont actually believe anyone has the right to tell someone they should sell their horse.
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As MerlinsQuest has said, if all horses who had some element of imperfection in their lives were sold, there would be a hell of an increase in the number of horses for sale! And if you sell a horse because of one thing you cannot provide, eg. companionship, how can you guaranteee that the next owner will not 'fail' them in some way too, eg. farriery/saddlery/bedding/ragwort in field etc? Answer: you can't.

Nobody is perfect; nobody. I refuse to believe that those who take a severe stance in issues such as this have perfect set-ups themselves; it is just not possible. As I said, I commend you zigzag for making the decision you did, but you nor anyone else have the right to tell me I should be doing the same!
 
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can i just ask...nicely...
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...if that IS sweat as you are asking me to believe, then why isnt there any sweat between her back legs and none running down the backs of her front legs either??
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Sometimes my boy gallops about the field. By the time I've arrived and took his rug off he has been lathered in sweat under his rug which looks like someone has slathered him with grease, just like MizElz horse! It just seems to collect with no sign of running down his legs. Where possible I try and change his rugs to suit the weather but when you work full time you cant split yourself in two.
 
You say she hasn't been turned out for ages? What length of "ages" are you talking about?

Maybe you could leave her out 24/7? Rather than bringing her in at all? That way she won't have so many of these lively moments?
 
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JM07 - do you honestly think I would go to the trouble of a) buying a pot of XC grease when I NEVER go XC, b) covering my horse with it for no apparent reason and c) taking a photograph to make out that it was something different? Cant even see what would make you think this, let alone make you think I would have a reason for doing so
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There was no sweat 'running down her back legs' because she was lathered under the rug. Must you pick holes in such trivial issues? Come on!!!!

Some people astound me, they truly do!
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some people do astounding things...

i only asked...nicely too.

so it's the light weight rug route then?
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You say she hasn't been turned out for ages? What length of "ages" are you talking about?

Maybe you could leave her out 24/7? Rather than bringing her in at all? That way she won't have so many of these lively moments?

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Hi Tia, all has been explained further up in the thread, although I dont blame you if you havent wanted to trawl through it all!
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She hasnt been out for a fortnight - probably not ages in most people's books, but I like to get her out as much as I can as I do believe they need their freedom! No way could I leave her out 24/7 though - first of all, she has always preferred her stable to the field, and secondly, there is no kind of real shelter in the field, hence why we dont leave her out long at this time of year. She is out 24/7 for a couple of months in the summer though, when she has the run of the whole field with the cows.
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Have you really confined her to her stable for a whole fortnight? Poor horse must have been totally bored out of her mind.

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Of course not, what on earth do you take me for? she hasnt been in the field for two weeks, but she has been ridden virtually every day, and has been loose in the yard for the rest of it. Give me some credit, please!
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Lol! I read the rest of the thread after I had replied. Lots of different opinions as always.
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Anyway getting back to your comments. When you turn her out in the Summer 24/7, what is her behaviour like? Does she still get stressy out there with the cows?

I think you mentioned this in the thread but I have forgotten
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; are you able to leave access to the stable if she is in the field? Can she not use the stable as a shelter during inclement weather?
 
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what on earth do you take me for?

[/ QUOTE ] Perhaps its best if I dont answer you honestly on that one ...

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She sometimes gets 'on one' if something spooks her - there was a funny occasion last year when she was in the same field as the cows, but in a fenced off part; she began charging around when a tractor rattled past, and set the cows off! One of them decided to join her...and jumped straight in over the 3ft electric fence! Normal Ellie behaviour is....erratic to say the least! But generally when she is out with the cows, she is fine. That said, generally when she is out alone she is fine too!

Not poss to make field accessible from stable; big hedge in the way, and the part of the field I fence for her changes according to what area the farmer wants me to use. But when she is stabled, she has the run of our yard, which has some grass for her.
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what on earth do you take me for?

[/ QUOTE ] Perhaps its best if I dont answer you honestly on that one ...

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Right, and who are you to judge after......22 posts?
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what on earth do you take me for?

[/ QUOTE ] Perhaps its best if I dont answer you honestly on that one ...

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Right, and who are you to judge after......22 posts?
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what has that got to do with anything...she only joined a few days after yourself.
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I have read the whole thing, stallions are kept alone and they survive, I would put it all down to the muck spreader- nothing more and nothing less, she is looking fantastic Miz Elz! There is nothing wrong with her condition wise. She looks happy enough. And at the end of the day she's FEMALE!!!! We all have our bad days. I reckon once the muck spreading has finished she'll be back to normal.
My horses have been quite lively recently, maybe theres a bit of spring grass coming through.
 
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I have read the whole thing, stallions are kept alone and they survive, I would put it all down to the muck spreader- nothing more and nothing less, she is looking fantastic Miz Elz! There is nothing wrong with her condition wise. She looks happy enough. And at the end of the day she's FEMALE!!!! We all have our bad days. I reckon once the muck spreading has finished she'll be back to normal.
My horses have been quite lively recently, maybe theres a bit of spring grass coming through.

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Think this is exactly it. I'm sat here discussing it with Mum, and considering the horrid pong here at the moment - muck spreading in fields to left, right, front and back - plus the fact that Ellie does suffer from the most awful PMT, I think this is at the root of the problem! I'm also going to stop using the full neck rug on her and try her Rambo for a while, just to see if she is more comfortable in it.
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