My pony escaped from her stable today - advice please

[Marshmallow29]

As usual, I have to preface my post by saying that I am an extremely novice horse owner and would like some advice please. My pony is kept on full livery and yesterday I was told that she escaped from her stable by going under the rubber stall guard. The YO had just gone out of the barn (where the horses are stabled) to the feed room when she heard my pony clattering about and went back to find her pacing up and down the row of stables.

She had got very stressed over something and it took her a while to calm down once the YO returned her to her stable. She kept doing mini rears like she does sometimes when I load her into the trailer but she did eventually calm down and she was fine when I went up to see her.

My question is - is this a normal thing for a horse to do? Do all horses get stressed from time to time? She is a lovely pony and not normally the fretful sort so I am not sure what was worrying her and, like I say she is fine again now and seems very relaxed in her stable.

 

[Booboos]

Don't worry about it too much, all horses get stressed at one time or another!

Some horses get stressed for no obvious reason - the best thing to do is leave them for 10 minutes to calm down again. Other horses get stressed in specific situations, e.g. turn-out time, feeding time, when left alone, etc. If you know what stresses her you can either try to avoid stressful situations or expose her to them a little at a time so that she might get used to them.

It might be an idea for the YO to do her stable door up properly in the future, but I am sure she thinks this now as well!!!

 

[Sarah Sum1]

Could she be bored? perhaps a treat ball or hanging treat of some description may keep her entertained.

 

[NWalker]

All horses get stressed and worried at times. My daughter's horse got very stressed today because I was wearing different gloves!

 

[Marshmallow29]

I think she has learnt her lesson Booboos, now that she knows Chloe is working on her limbo routine

YO has no idea what actually made her panic as none of the other horses seemed worried.

I think (although I don't know for sure) that it was something which worried her, rather than boredom which made her get out of her stable. She was doing some mini rears when YO put her back in apparently and I've only ever seen her do that when I have loaded her into my trailer and she soon settles once we are under way. I might buy her a treat ball anyway as some of the other horses have them and they look like they enjoy them

 

[Marshmallow29]

Different gloves can be stressful -goodness, I would never have thought of that! Chloe once didn't like my hat though

 

[brightmount]

I wouldn't leave the yard if I only had a stall guard across the door. Hopefully YO wasn't far away but she should have shut the door! You can get mesh panel stall guards that cover more of the doorway, but get the sort that have the holes filled in so no hooves get stuck.

 

[Marshmallow29]

Thanks brightmount

YO was only a few feet away and she said that she ran back immediately she heard Chloe's hooves on the concrete. I am sure that it won't happen again because she is a lovely caring person and we all make mistakes sometimes so I am not blaming her at all. I think the doors are normally only left open when the horses are being mucked out and so someone would normally be in the barn. I will ask tomorrow though, just to reassure myself.

 

[lachlanandmarcus]

I had to stop using stall guards after multiple limbos, they are ok with well behaved horses but with naughty ponies they are just a game )

 

[montmol]

A friends pony used to be able to open his stable door, then run round the yard in a panic. To stop him she got a cheap lead rein and cut the rope off the clip, and used to clip it into the hole on the stable door bolt. I think that worked!

 

[montmol]

Oh dear, just read it properly and realised it was a stall guard :S Silly me!!

 

[Toffee44]

Yeah stall guards are useless even with big horses my 16.3 just used to go down on his hocks and sink underneath it hehe.
Just make sure door gets closed in future. Once shes learnt that she knows it will work time and time again.

 

[Marshmallow29]

Thanks everyone. You have given me the reassurance I was hoping for! I have spoken to YO on mob this evening and she assures me that Chloe's door will be firmly closed from now on, unless she is on the yard and can see what all the horses are doing

 

[MochaDun]

Glad all turned out OK in the end. My pony used to get a bit stressed in his stable when I first had him but not for long and only until he got used to all the comings and goings on the yard, strange noises, etc. A bit of an aside but the change of gloves comment made me smile as the only time when I think if my horse had had an escape route he would have gone for it big time to get out of his stable was last year when there was a injured baby pigeon being kept in the empty stable next to him to see if it would recover. For some reason, whether as it was very poorly and he could smell it or something I don't know but I had to leave him out for 2 nights (pigeon then died) as he just couldn't cope being in the stable next to it. At points like that I think it's best to let the horse away from what it's so afraid of rather then injure themselves in the stable. That's my boy...petrified of a poorly pigeon!