Mare spooking at the wind in stable - advice please

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Henmen

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She is normally happy, laid back and chilled out, but all this wind is making her spooky and she is completely trashing her stable. YO had to move her yesterday lunchtime into a box further down, she said she was so wound up & had so much sweat coming off her it looked like she had just done a x-country course
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I have moved stables last night, and its helped abit, but she is still jumpy, the problem is that the wind makes doors bang a bit and gets under the rafters. All the other horses are bothered in the slightest, but she is a baby, so a bit more sensitive.
Ive been thinking of putting her on a calmer, but dont want to come to rely on them, so any advice on how we deal with this appreciated
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No baby..she is four now isn't she?

The calmer is no bad thing for while the weather is bad, mine are on calmers long term, except the height on the summer when they are too mellow to do anything, it won't do her any harm. Does she have calm company in the next stable..this will probably help her more than anything else?
 
Not at night no, they are all in, and the fields are lakes so everything staying in, shes gone out today for a bit, she doesnt stay in much, but the days she is are a nightmare
Yep got company, doesnt make any difference.
 
Would definitely consider a calmer - we had this problem when we took our mare to MK and she went bonkers in the overnight stabling, as it was very windy, and everything was flapping and banging! We ended up having to put her back on the lorry ...

I'd try and tie down anything that's noisy anywhere near her stable, and the calmer that worked best for our mare was a liquid valerian-based calmer, which really seemed to do the trick. Good luck!
 
I have never heard of calmers being used as a matter of course. Do the effects wear off after a while? Are your horses exceptionally flighty? Sorry, just curious as I usually only hear of them being used for one-off occasions.
 
Sooty, one of mine was a real handful last winter owing to not getting enough work, and when we started her off again this spring I put her on Magic calmer. It made a real difference over the summer and she has come on a long way. Then the TB came back from loan, quite skinny and needing to settle into a routine I put him on it too. The pony doesn't need any.

I increase the amount for specific events, and reduce down to a maintenence dose each day..with a view to tailing it off in summer and reassessing if it is needed.

I like to minimise stress as far as possible, especially at times of change and if I am asking them to learn new things..I don't think it does any harm, doesn't cost me a fortune for the relatively small amounts I am giving, and i admit I am a bit paranoid about stopping it now, having seen a really positive effect for myself
 
Yes quite agree with the watcher - shes not a baby. Snoopy is the same age and is in 24/7 atm.
He hasnt been worked since Wednesday due to work commitments and weather although hes been on the walker.
He is behaving himself very well indeed which I am suprised about due to the awful weather we've been having.
I have cut his food accordingly, I leave the radio on as and when i can. I would give him a calmer if he needed it but he doesnt. Equestro do a good calmer which YO and I both use prior to hunting.

Are you still working her daily? do you have access to a walker?
I would make sure she is getting plenty of exercise and try using a radio etc - personally i think this is great for young horses all this banging etc as it helps for when they go competing or when you require them to concentrate. Although Ive got to go and ride in a mo and could be coming back moaning *blinking wind* due to my horses being complete twits lol
 
I would try a little bit of calmer if she is really that bad, but would try to let her get on with it unless she was really stressed and liable to damage herself. Sooner or later she will get used to it. By

Last night I deliberately worked Chancer with the door open at the windy end of the school, we had a few spooks to start with, but he soon realised that he was going to have to get on with it.

I something think that by not facing the horse up to things, they never learn that things are ok.
 
i had two shetlands who'd never been in a stable before, being kept in 24/7 for months (one had white line disease)
because of their thick coats and the stress, the sweated up so badly. i put them both onto naf magic calmer and within about 2 wks they had settled down and leading them out became alot easier!! it just allows the horse to settle quicker after a rush of adreniline and makes them cope with stess easier. ive also heard topspec calmer is really good. and they dont become dependent on them.
but ur mare isnt alone, my filly doesnt really enjoy being stabled anyway, but she is careering round her box and kicking the walls down!
 
I think I would look at her feed and take away any cereal that she is having. If she has a friend, maybe you could stable her next to a horse she likes.

For a horse to remain hyped is unusual, generally you would find them playing up when people are around, creating an audience and getting attention.

From what you have said, this does not appear to be the case and I wonder if its just not the wind. Could it be that others on the yard are getting fed up with her, and shouting, banging to stop her wrecking the stable in your absence.

I have known a lot of people over the years that protect their stables from getting damaged by doing the above to horses.

Generally a nervous horse will settle in his own bedroom and know it is a place of security and their own quiet time. If none of the other horses are doing it, I would be looking at other causes, not just the wind.

You could go round and find as many rattles as possible and (latches etc) and tape a piece of foam on them to keep the noise down.

Good luck I hope you can get to the route of the problem
 
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Could it be that others on the yard are getting fed up with her, and shouting, banging to stop her wrecking the stable in your absence

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Absolutely not!! They are the nicest people on earth!!
 
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