Kitei
Well-Known Member
For the past few months, Obie has undergone a complete 180 in terms of personality, and I'm struggling to figure out what exactly his problem is.
Don't get me wrong, he has always had quirks. He's and still fairly young, but he's always been incredibly sensible on the ground, easy to catch and handle, and I've never had a problem with the farrier, etc. Even ridden, he's always been very polite about when things aren't right, for which I'm very grateful.
In the past 4/5 months, he seems to have done a complete U-turn. He's developed what appears to be severe separation anxiety from his field neighbours, and is a danger to himself if I try to stable him (for the farrier). He's started weaving out of nowhere, though he appears to have stopped cribbing. Initially I thought this might be due to the stable location, as he couldn't see much that went on, so requested a new one and he's now in the middle of two horses he is familiar with, overlooking the ménage and in sight of another stable block, as well as his hacking buddies in a field next to it.
He's become impossible for the people handling him to catch. He's in a 2 acre field and just runs rings around them when they try. Although I did visit him last weekend and he was very pleased to see me, and after a little bit of thought, was rather content to be brought onto the yard, and was well behaved for me whilst I was there. However, I do wonder if this is because he's not seen me in 3 months, and it was a bit of a novelty for him.
He's not on any feed currently, and hasn't been since early spring. He's on good grass and has held his weight well. He's currently not being ridden, as I've moved away, but was doing 4/5x hourly sessions or hacking a week before I left. Ridden work was stopped when I came off him and was unable to ride for 3 weeks and then of course, I had to move. It doesn't quite coincide with his behaviour change as what I can now see as signs did start showing before I left - as I said, I thought his stable location was his biggest problem, and I'd thought his developing spookiness out hacking was spring grass - and it still could be.
Then when the farrier arrived last Monday, I've been told he was absolutely dreadful. He just had a trim as I've had his shoes taken off for winter (he doesn't need them to eat grass), and as I previously said, I've never had a problem with him before. In fact, he's fascinated in our farrier, and normally the only difficulty is keeping him balanced because he's staring lovingly into the back of his head. Farrier was great about it, as he's used to tricky horses and is tall enough and strong enough to practically pick Obie up, but I'm rather horrified that he played up like he did.
I'm just having a bit of trouble figuring out what might be the issue here. He's familiar with his handlers and hasn't been a problem with them before, and they're not novices. This is the first and only yard he's displayed this behaviour at, including both previous homes that I know of. So I guess I'm looking for ideas for where to start, really. I'm quite happy to book vet appointments if need be, but would appreciate an idea of where to start as I can't get there very often (and apparently can't guarantee he'll be caught, otherwise) so time needs to be used productively.
He will be moved within the next month or so to the yard with the others on grass livery. I'm holding off moving him here until I hear about OH's job offer, as we may move again, and I think he'll probably be happier out with them, sharing a routine and with people I trust to keep a good eye on him. Unfortunately I wasn't aware quite how bad his behaviour had degraded as it was rather downplayed to me - not sure if why, entirely, but that's the case.
Don't get me wrong, he has always had quirks. He's and still fairly young, but he's always been incredibly sensible on the ground, easy to catch and handle, and I've never had a problem with the farrier, etc. Even ridden, he's always been very polite about when things aren't right, for which I'm very grateful.
In the past 4/5 months, he seems to have done a complete U-turn. He's developed what appears to be severe separation anxiety from his field neighbours, and is a danger to himself if I try to stable him (for the farrier). He's started weaving out of nowhere, though he appears to have stopped cribbing. Initially I thought this might be due to the stable location, as he couldn't see much that went on, so requested a new one and he's now in the middle of two horses he is familiar with, overlooking the ménage and in sight of another stable block, as well as his hacking buddies in a field next to it.
He's become impossible for the people handling him to catch. He's in a 2 acre field and just runs rings around them when they try. Although I did visit him last weekend and he was very pleased to see me, and after a little bit of thought, was rather content to be brought onto the yard, and was well behaved for me whilst I was there. However, I do wonder if this is because he's not seen me in 3 months, and it was a bit of a novelty for him.
He's not on any feed currently, and hasn't been since early spring. He's on good grass and has held his weight well. He's currently not being ridden, as I've moved away, but was doing 4/5x hourly sessions or hacking a week before I left. Ridden work was stopped when I came off him and was unable to ride for 3 weeks and then of course, I had to move. It doesn't quite coincide with his behaviour change as what I can now see as signs did start showing before I left - as I said, I thought his stable location was his biggest problem, and I'd thought his developing spookiness out hacking was spring grass - and it still could be.
Then when the farrier arrived last Monday, I've been told he was absolutely dreadful. He just had a trim as I've had his shoes taken off for winter (he doesn't need them to eat grass), and as I previously said, I've never had a problem with him before. In fact, he's fascinated in our farrier, and normally the only difficulty is keeping him balanced because he's staring lovingly into the back of his head. Farrier was great about it, as he's used to tricky horses and is tall enough and strong enough to practically pick Obie up, but I'm rather horrified that he played up like he did.
I'm just having a bit of trouble figuring out what might be the issue here. He's familiar with his handlers and hasn't been a problem with them before, and they're not novices. This is the first and only yard he's displayed this behaviour at, including both previous homes that I know of. So I guess I'm looking for ideas for where to start, really. I'm quite happy to book vet appointments if need be, but would appreciate an idea of where to start as I can't get there very often (and apparently can't guarantee he'll be caught, otherwise) so time needs to be used productively.
He will be moved within the next month or so to the yard with the others on grass livery. I'm holding off moving him here until I hear about OH's job offer, as we may move again, and I think he'll probably be happier out with them, sharing a routine and with people I trust to keep a good eye on him. Unfortunately I wasn't aware quite how bad his behaviour had degraded as it was rather downplayed to me - not sure if why, entirely, but that's the case.
