Keep in or put out?

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littlen

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Horse is driving me mad!! He will not stay in the field for some reason.
He goes out and weaves...and weaves until he comes in. I've tried electric fencing off the gate, he weaved over it. I've tried hay, different company and leaving him screaming there all day. He never moved all day until I get him in and he bounces and screames all the way to bed! He has also dug a huge crater at the gate which has filled with water and he is standing in it all day. Am I the only one with a horse with no brain??

If I leave him there most of the time will he eventually get the idea and go behave like a proper horse?

Even more annoying is the fact I can't ride as he is like an unexploded bomb and leaps and bucks the whole way around, but he won't loose any energy in the field as he won't move...grr!!
 
My old boy is a terrible fence walker, a random habit that developed about two years ago when he got over attached to my mare following the death of my pony.

I tried everything, and got so stressed about it that at one point I was seriously considering getting rid of him.

Eventually, I gave up, ignored all the rubbish people were spouting about me being cruel and him ruining fields (hello...my fields, he can ruin them if he wants to thank you!) and it stopped!

He now only does it when I play musical fields, or if a new horse arrives, but other than that? Nothing.

Good luck with it! He should get the idea after being ignored for a few days - bringing him in is rewarding his behaviour, and giving him what he wants.
 
Do you think he is being bullied in the field? Could you try him out with just one or two quiet horses or do you think it won't make any difference? How frustrating for you.
 
If you are sure that there is no real reason for this behaviour, decide what your routine will be and stick to it. Put him out, shut the gate and leave him to it. Take no further notice of him whatsoever until you are ready to being him in. When you are ready, go to the gate collect him, insist on good manners on the way back in. I would do this for at least a week, he should get the idea.
Can you match your routine to his field companions? Ours live as a herd and all go out and come in at the same time, always in the same order. I do think that helps.
Good luck!
 
if it makes you feel better - i put two of ours out this morning - within 45 mnues they wanted in.....

there was also a third horse who didnt want to be out too :/

if your keeping him in - why not lunge/walk rround for a bit before you get on???
 
One of my friends horses is like this, and subsequently lived in all day every day all summer. It drove my friend mad.

The horse was doing exactly the same as yours....

They tried the mare in different fields, with different companions and neighbours until eventually they found a field she felt safe in, a companion she got on with a mares for neighbours as she got over flirty with gelding neighbours.
 
littlen said:
Horse is driving me mad!! He will not stay in the field for some reason.
He goes out and weaves...and weaves until he comes in. I've tried electric fencing off the gate, he weaved over it. I've tried hay, different company and leaving him screaming there all day. He never moved all day until I get him in and he bounces and screames all the way to bed! He has also dug a huge crater at the gate which has filled with water and he is standing in it all day. Am I the only one with a horse with no brain??

If I leave him there most of the time will he eventually get the idea and go behave like a proper horse?

Even more annoying is the fact I can't ride as he is like an unexploded bomb and leaps and bucks the whole way around, but he won't loose any energy in the field as he won't move...grr!!
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I would do some ground work in the feild so your pony gets used to it moore if he still hates it and you have alot of time on your hands you could try to keep him in is stable with plenty of bordembrekers.And graze him in hand?
to loose energy you could take him for walks in hand or lunge him.
 
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