honestly, the more you can create a routine, the quicker he will settle (even if you don't continue to stick rigidly to it in the long run-we all know this is pretty difficult for the every day owner!) if you can be rigid initially to help him settle it will help. My lad was really bad at having his hind feet picked up/out, he'd threaten to plant one on you and so this was very un-nerving, but I knew he would have had his feet regularly seen to at a race yard and when it comes to being shod....racehorses are no novices at this! so I persevered and every day 3 times a day would pick his feet up, I picked them up unnecessarily until the penny dropped! Every time he was well behaved i'd make a huge fuss of him, he was soon offering them without even thinking about it-it became habit! I pick them up in the field now with him totally untied/no headcollar, you will definitely see improvements, if you're anywhere near nottinghamshire I am willing to help advise I did read in someone elses response to your initial post about the separation anxiety that follows ...and I can second that too! Find the things he does really well and recognise him for it , and without this coming across wrongly ...the stable lads and lasses/trainers will have stood for no nonsense, whilst you need to support him and understand where he's coming from/lots of patience, you also must be boss and give clear boundaries, the chap that ran the yard I used to be at turned him out with me first time as he'd been on 10 days quarantine and was most definitely feeling fresh! He squeeled and threw himself in the air for me, he didnt put a foot wrong for him! and no...he didnt raise his voice or a hand to him...no chiffney involved! He just calm but firmly checked him every time his attention wandered you read posts like this and it makes it all sound easy, it's not, at times it's really disheartening and frustrating and easy to think...nah i'll start tomorrow! x
(I think I've read all the posts now I've back read so should be easier to follow everyone's replies - fingers crossed)
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. I do know with Mum's mare she was very unsettled when we bought her having been purchased and owned by someone else for 10 weeks and essentially left in the field (when she had been use to daily contact with the same 2 people since birth (then 5)). She improved immensely being handled and having some attention while on the same yard as it was just more what she was used to - she is a very people orientated horse.
That's actually classed as a big stable in my country. In my own stable block most of my stables are 12x11 and even the 17 handers are fine in there. Many stables over here are around 10x10 or smaller and that's what most people keep all size of horses in. My foaling boxes are huge though, but I don't use them for anything other than foaling.
