katpower
Active Member
My gorgeous TB Darcy is a rescue. He was kept by himself in a small yard (maybe 6x10m) from weanling to 6 years old, ungelded, mostly unhandled, and odds are good occasionally thrashed by his senile old owner.
I adopted him (from a horse rescue group) 3 months after he was liberated/gelded/chucked out in a paddock to learn to horse. It took a year of groundwork before I started breaking him in, I copped a lot of bites and kicks while we learnt about manners and appropriate behaviour, and 3 years in we're still taking it slowly. But he has come a long way - he's now a fun, pretty chilled riding horse, bit of a turd on the ground but within limits, a cheeky but charming devil.
But, unsurprisingly, he is phobic about being yarded.
He doesn't have a blanket case of claustrophobia. He floats fine, can cross-tie, hard tie, walk through stable blocks etc - but put him into a small yard or a stable and he flips out - full anxiety attack. This puts rather a barrier on our prospects of going out to events, especially with overnight stays!
So, what would you do?
My thought at this point is to walk him in and out of yards at every opportunity, keeping everything low stress, low expectations. Just walk in and out. Maybe walk in, halt and out. Walk in, back a little and out. Etc. Work up from there.
Like people with problem floaters, I tend to only try yarding every few months, no preparation, in slightly stressful circumstances, which no doubt doesn't help!
I adopted him (from a horse rescue group) 3 months after he was liberated/gelded/chucked out in a paddock to learn to horse. It took a year of groundwork before I started breaking him in, I copped a lot of bites and kicks while we learnt about manners and appropriate behaviour, and 3 years in we're still taking it slowly. But he has come a long way - he's now a fun, pretty chilled riding horse, bit of a turd on the ground but within limits, a cheeky but charming devil.
But, unsurprisingly, he is phobic about being yarded.
He doesn't have a blanket case of claustrophobia. He floats fine, can cross-tie, hard tie, walk through stable blocks etc - but put him into a small yard or a stable and he flips out - full anxiety attack. This puts rather a barrier on our prospects of going out to events, especially with overnight stays!
So, what would you do?
My thought at this point is to walk him in and out of yards at every opportunity, keeping everything low stress, low expectations. Just walk in and out. Maybe walk in, halt and out. Walk in, back a little and out. Etc. Work up from there.
Like people with problem floaters, I tend to only try yarding every few months, no preparation, in slightly stressful circumstances, which no doubt doesn't help!