Left alone vs Stable

[NicandLiv]

Picked up my new horse on friday, she's settling in slowly and just got into the field with the rest of the herd this morning and was very calm.


Anyway in a couple of weeks the other horses (3 of them) will be brought in overnight in a stable. I do currently pay for usage of a stable but she hasn't been in one before and she is a fizzy horse for example she will rear if you go in her mouth, generally has no manners or respect which is something I am working on most definitely.

Now... When we moved the herd down to thebottom for new grass this morning she was cantering around her little paddock obviously a bit stressed. She did calm down after a while.


I am in two minds of what to do. The first thing I will go with is leaving her out in the field by herself to see how she gets on, I expect she will go a bit mad when they are being brought in and last thing I want is to potentially put anyone else at risk (though I don't think she would intentionally hurt anyone, but she may slip or crash by accident - I haven't known her long enough to say 100% she wouldn't do this). If she is stressed in the morning, or very sweaty etc I will introduce her to the stable and bring her in to see if that helps.


Do you think this would be the best course of action, or would you consider it a bit cruel to keep her by herself as they are designed to live in herds?

 

[Angus' yard]

I would never leave a horse out alone. Is this not the policy on your yard? If the others are coming in shortly i would suggest getting her used to her stable as soon as possible - short periods to start with, just to feed. If you can't stable her and have her on the same regime as the rest of the herd, perhaps somewhere that offers 24/7 turnout would be more appropriate for you?

 

[NicandLiv]

She currently isn't on any hard feed or hay at the moment so I can't feed her in a stable. I will work with her getting used to it though, thank you.

 

[AmyMay]

I would also not leave her out alone. Just asking for trouble.

Bring her in with everything else and get her used to the routine.

As suggested, start bringing her in now for short periods of time. Offer a small handful of nuts and hay.

 

[splashgirl45]

....as you dont know your horse and she sounds a bit stressy i would not risk it, you could arrive in the morning and have a badly injured horse!!!!!!!! much better in the stable with the others....just give her some hay to munch if you dont want to give her a feed...

 

[starryeyed]

I think it's probably safest to get her used to the stable over the next couple of weeks and then bring her in with the others. I think she is a lot more likely to panic and cause herself harm being left alone in a field overnight than she would be being inside a stable with others who are used to being in and will hopefully be calming influences on her and help to settle her. I'd just introduce it gradually, get her in the stable every day and slowly increase the amount of time she is there - if she is anxious being alone then would it be possible to get her in the stable next to another horse so that she can see them? I understand she's not being fed anything other than grass at the moment but it may be worth just giving her a handful of chaff or just a token amount of something in a bucket so that she associates the stable with good things.

 

[NicandLiv]

Introduced her to her stable this morning

 

[skint1]

She looks happy! Good luck!

 

[starryeyed]

Ohh she's got such a gorgeous face! Let us know how you get on x

 

[Cortez]

Hmm, well I know that everyone on here will tell you not to leave her on her own, but honestly all of ours HAVE to be able to be left on their own, so we train them from the beginning to just get on with it. Just as they also have to be used to being in the stable, be tied up, stand on the box when required, and generally behave like useful horses. Up to you what you let your horse get away with, but practicalities of life mean that horses can't always have their own way.

 

[splashgirl45]

Hmm, well I know that everyone on here will tell you not to leave her on her own, but honestly all of ours HAVE to be able to be left on their own, so we train them from the beginning to just get on with it. Just as they also have to be used to being in the stable, be tied up, stand on the box when required, and generally behave like useful horses. Up to you what you let your horse get away with, but practicalities of life mean that horses can't always have their own way.

yes all horses SHOULD be able to be left on their own but in the real world not all horses are level headed enough to cope and when a horse is new to a yard she should be given time to get used to the changes.. once she has been there for a while and knows her new owner, then maybe try .. remember horses are herd animals and we are asking them to fundementally change their nature...NOT EASY!!!

 

[Beanolove]

Aww you have done a great job and her head is so pretty!!!!
IM getting a new horse too he is coming soon so I hope he will settle in well.

Good luck with her !

Beanolove

 

[nix123]

Hmm, well I know that everyone on here will tell you not to leave her on her own, but honestly all of ours HAVE to be able to be left on their own, so we train them from the beginning to just get on with it. Just as they also have to be used to being in the stable, be tied up, stand on the box when required, and generally behave like useful horses. Up to you what you let your horse get away with, but practicalities of life mean that horses can't always have their own way.

My thinking exactly. All mine have had to deal with things there not used to. I think the op is in a perfect position... Start as you mean to go on. Horses are not made of paper and do have a brain that works, ok differently to ours of course but thats a lot of peoples downfall, they treat their horse like another human. Yes horses are herd aminals, but along with us getting on their backs (which is not normal for the horse) they have the ability to adapt to that, the same as they have the ability to adapt to being on there own. Not ideal but this isn't an ideal world.