New mare severely attached ...

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Bedford Joy

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I recently took on another horse, she's a 16 year old TB mare from a local riding school and since arriving she's been stabled next to (American barn stabling) or turned out with my other TB mare. She's meant to be very, very quiet to hack out and that's why I took her on ( she was free ) but when I walked her out onto the yard in her halter she became quite stressed and was desperate to get back to my other mare. I took her back and it was like something out of a love story, she shot to the side of the stable my other mare is on whinnying and nickering softly trying to sniff and touch my other mare. It did look really sweet but is this a potential problem in the making? I rode my other mare in the end but could hear the new mare calling to her the entire time. My other mare wasn't bothered at all but as the new mare is purely for hacking out on do you think I could have problems?
 
Probably not. We have 2 mares who both hack out alone. the other stays at home with the retired cob. They each make a fuss when the other leaves, calling until we are out of earshot. The leaver might call once and then just gets on with it. When the one who's been out gets back the other is usually eating happily. In your position, unless there is another horse out at grass, I'd leave the one you're not riding in the stable with some hay. She'll be fine.
We used to have 2 who were very attached to each other (it was love at 1st sight for them) but you could take them out separately so long as they had a companion to stay at home with.
 
Thanks for that. The plan is to bring them in together then leave the unridden one in the stables as the barn has 20 stables in so there are always other horses in for her to see. My concern was more about the new mare being asked to leave the yard ... Will she try and come home to be with my other mare. I'm not too worried about her being in while I ride my old mare as there are lots of staff to keep an eye on her.
I have lost confidence recently after a fall and my old mare was a bit spooky out hacking last time so to help with my confidence I took on the new mare, but seeing how she was at the weekend I am now a little concerned she might try and come home or nap or something scarey because of her attachment issue. It's still early days as she's only been with us a couple of weeks but I was hoping to hack her out yesterday but didn't feel it was right to do so.
The head girl says she might be better once tacked up and actually doing some work, maybe hacking out with others. Or perhaps I could hack them out together with a friend.
Please can anyone offer any more advice :)
 
Ours are both fine when tacked up and going. It's usually the one left behind who is fussing. If you're not sure how she will react, how about taking her out for a walk in-hand first? You could take her in tack and if all is well get on at some point.
 
Good idea, will walk her out initially and then maybe hacks in company :)
Do you think they would be okay to hack out together ?
 
There is a new mare on our yard who has become very attached to one of the other mares she is turned out with. She is very difficult to bring in from the field if her "Friend" is turned out (they are in a group of 8 mares so would not be left in field alone.) but once she is seperated and bought up to the yard her owner seems able to hack and school her without too many problems, so I do think that there is every chance ytou will not have big problems with your mare. Perhaps you could try hacking her out in a group to start with as the company might distract her from the friend left at home and would also help you to build some confidence before you take her out on your own.
 
Bedford Joy said:
Good idea, will walk her out initially and then maybe hacks in company :)
Do you think they would be okay to hack out together ?
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I imagine they will be fine if hacked out together, but if they were mine I would not set them up to always expect to do everything together, I would get your new mare used to spending a little time away from her friend on a regular basis - bringing her in on her own to be groomed for 15 mins or so then turning her out etc. Help her to gain confidence in you and feel comfortable with you as well as with the other mare. If your confidence is a little low you might just be over thinking the situation and she could pick up on your anxiety, so take your time to get to know her, make it easy for her to get it right and gradually build your relationship.
 
I would be careful as it could become a big problem.

I bought a young wb from Germany and the transport company warned me she had made friends with a foal coming over, was very unhappy when it was dropped off and advised me to keep her on her own for a while to make her less clingy. I didn't listen, kept her with my irish mare who wb quickly became very attached to (irish mare couldn’t care less!) & eventually she would refuse to leave her. Going out for a hack would bring on a major tantrum which included rearing bolt upright, refusing to go forwards and spinning round trying to turn back, once you got the first ½ mile out the way she was fine. In the end I had to what i should of done at the beginning & moved my irish mare to another yard for a few weeks leaving the wb with only cows for company.
 
The trouble with keeping horses without equine company is that it can make them even more clingy. IME, so long as they know that you will be bringing the other one back, they get used to being separated and cope quite well.
 
I have the same problem - two mares, one in love with the other. The clingy one is tricky to hack out on her own, the unclingy one is fine.

I imagine the new mare is feeling very stressed if she was in the riding school home for years and had a herd that she felt safe and secure in.

Now she has to cope with finding her place in a new herd and environment, so the initial attachment is quite normal for any horse that has just moved, and especially for a mare as they do have more hormones to contend with :)

It would be worth having a plan to make sure it doesn't get beyond control though. I wouldn't hack her out with the other mare yet, but hack her out with another companion. You don't want to make her too dependent on the other mare.

Eventually they can both hack out together but don't do it every day, and when she is used to hacking I would want her going out alone soon too before she decides that's something she can't do on her own!
 
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