RFido
Active Member
I have a feeling my little boy might be grieving, but I have never been in a situation like this before, so not too sure; Would like to ask your advice on why you think he is acting why he is/what might help. I must say that I am not looking for sympathy from this post, nor do I wish to upset anybody with details, so please, if you have lost a horse recently, please don't read, as I would not want to upset you, but need to give a few details to get the advice....
So I just had my old boy, Paddy, put down at the grand old age of 34. Gizmo, my little Welsh pony, has been with us for nearly 21 years now (i was 5 months old when we got him, as was I). 18 of the years Gizmo has been with us, he has grazed with Paddy. Others have come and gone in the field with them, but those two have always been together. The only time they would of been apart is when one was taken out for a hack without the other. When I was learning to ride, my mum would often ride Paddy and lead me on Gizmo and there were never any problems. With Gizmo now being older, we don't do much with him - my cousin rides him maybe once or twice a week; Paddy had been retired 6 years previous to us having lost him - so, basically, you get the jist that they were always together 99% of the time, and have been for years.
The day I lost Pad (Valentine's day - sod's bloody law!), I went up to feed them, and Gizmo came to the fence for his bucket straight away. He wasn't hesitant at all, knowing Paddy was down in on the ground. When Paddy didn't come, I went and found him down at the bottom of the field, and had to have the vet called to him. Between finding him, and him passing, there was about 90 minutes. In this time, Gizmo didn't come near Paddy or anything - I would of thought it would distress him but it didn't seem to do so - He didn't see his dead body, or essentially say 'Bye' to him in any way.
We moved Gizmo to another field when we moved Pad's body, and all night we could hear him running around and whinnying. Every time he heard somebody come out the house, he would run to the gate, squeeling. He carried on like this for about a week, and lost a LOT of weight in this time. He continued eating normally, however, and my cousin has been riding him again (think she took him out after 5 days of losing Paddy) and he was fine in all ways.
He has now stopped the running about in the field and slipping everywhere like an idiot, but is still doing a lot of whinnying/squeeling/calling when he sees myself or my mum moving around in the yard. The main problem now is that he has become a little bit nasty, and he never was before - mum left me to brush him and allsorts from myself and Giz being 4/5 years old and he was ALWAYS a diamond! The other day I put my arm over his neck to fuss him and his ears went flat back, he turned around and went to kick me, then when he was facing me again, he put his head to the floor and snorted, like he was about the run at me. He is being really awkward about people touching/brushing him, his ears flat back and even tried to kick my mum the other day when she reached for his girth (he has NEVER shown any bad attitude towards my mum....ever!). He has always been the cheeky welsh sort - pulling zips for treats and that sort of thing, but a few times since we lost Paddy he has been licking my hand and then gone to bite it. He never really liked dogs before, but he cornered my uncle's the other day up against a wall, ears flat back, and was repeatedly kicking - Gypsy wasn't hurt - don't panic!
Don't get me wrong, we can still get him out, and my cousin has still been messing with/grooming/riding him, it's just the fact that he has never been NASTY before, just usually CHEEKY. Someone suggested to me that now my old lad is no longer with us, Gizmo might be acting like this because he is trying to re-arrange the pecking order, making himself top dog, that sort of thing? Someone else suggested that he was bored, as his grazing-mate has gone, or he is hungry because there is less grass in the bottom field - BUT he has two bucket feeds a day, as well as a haynet twice a day which is double-bagged, so it takes him longer to eat and keeps him occupied, and my cousin is riding twice a week.... I thought maybe it was because he hadn't seen Paddy's body - but he was in the field before I got there and must of known what was happeneing - some say they should see it, others say it's a bad idea.
Please no negative comments on how I am with my horses/his behaviour. I would just like a few ideas from people as to why he may be behaving like this? It may be nothing to do with losing Paddy, at all - but it seems linked to it, as his behaviour has changed since he has been grazing alone. I need your help, horsey friends; Anything will be appreciated :9
So I just had my old boy, Paddy, put down at the grand old age of 34. Gizmo, my little Welsh pony, has been with us for nearly 21 years now (i was 5 months old when we got him, as was I). 18 of the years Gizmo has been with us, he has grazed with Paddy. Others have come and gone in the field with them, but those two have always been together. The only time they would of been apart is when one was taken out for a hack without the other. When I was learning to ride, my mum would often ride Paddy and lead me on Gizmo and there were never any problems. With Gizmo now being older, we don't do much with him - my cousin rides him maybe once or twice a week; Paddy had been retired 6 years previous to us having lost him - so, basically, you get the jist that they were always together 99% of the time, and have been for years.
The day I lost Pad (Valentine's day - sod's bloody law!), I went up to feed them, and Gizmo came to the fence for his bucket straight away. He wasn't hesitant at all, knowing Paddy was down in on the ground. When Paddy didn't come, I went and found him down at the bottom of the field, and had to have the vet called to him. Between finding him, and him passing, there was about 90 minutes. In this time, Gizmo didn't come near Paddy or anything - I would of thought it would distress him but it didn't seem to do so - He didn't see his dead body, or essentially say 'Bye' to him in any way.
We moved Gizmo to another field when we moved Pad's body, and all night we could hear him running around and whinnying. Every time he heard somebody come out the house, he would run to the gate, squeeling. He carried on like this for about a week, and lost a LOT of weight in this time. He continued eating normally, however, and my cousin has been riding him again (think she took him out after 5 days of losing Paddy) and he was fine in all ways.
He has now stopped the running about in the field and slipping everywhere like an idiot, but is still doing a lot of whinnying/squeeling/calling when he sees myself or my mum moving around in the yard. The main problem now is that he has become a little bit nasty, and he never was before - mum left me to brush him and allsorts from myself and Giz being 4/5 years old and he was ALWAYS a diamond! The other day I put my arm over his neck to fuss him and his ears went flat back, he turned around and went to kick me, then when he was facing me again, he put his head to the floor and snorted, like he was about the run at me. He is being really awkward about people touching/brushing him, his ears flat back and even tried to kick my mum the other day when she reached for his girth (he has NEVER shown any bad attitude towards my mum....ever!). He has always been the cheeky welsh sort - pulling zips for treats and that sort of thing, but a few times since we lost Paddy he has been licking my hand and then gone to bite it. He never really liked dogs before, but he cornered my uncle's the other day up against a wall, ears flat back, and was repeatedly kicking - Gypsy wasn't hurt - don't panic!
Don't get me wrong, we can still get him out, and my cousin has still been messing with/grooming/riding him, it's just the fact that he has never been NASTY before, just usually CHEEKY. Someone suggested to me that now my old lad is no longer with us, Gizmo might be acting like this because he is trying to re-arrange the pecking order, making himself top dog, that sort of thing? Someone else suggested that he was bored, as his grazing-mate has gone, or he is hungry because there is less grass in the bottom field - BUT he has two bucket feeds a day, as well as a haynet twice a day which is double-bagged, so it takes him longer to eat and keeps him occupied, and my cousin is riding twice a week.... I thought maybe it was because he hadn't seen Paddy's body - but he was in the field before I got there and must of known what was happeneing - some say they should see it, others say it's a bad idea.
Please no negative comments on how I am with my horses/his behaviour. I would just like a few ideas from people as to why he may be behaving like this? It may be nothing to do with losing Paddy, at all - but it seems linked to it, as his behaviour has changed since he has been grazing alone. I need your help, horsey friends; Anything will be appreciated :9
The last thing I want is for my boy's health to be at risk from him stressing.....
I have been looking online, and found a few 'companion' horses close to us... Going to spend my day tomorrow ringing around and seeing what they are looking for/telling them my situation. Fingers crossed we can find Gizzymodo a little friend!!
