Pony who won’t stop walking

[conniegirl]

Am at my wits end with my pony and looking for advice.

We have the problem that if he is turned out he is fence walking, he just won’t stop! Seems to have started since his stint on box rest for his tendons.
We’ve tried big fields, little fields, lush fields, bare fields with hay, track type arrangements, fields surrounded by hedges and fields with only electric fences on each side.
We’ve tried on his own and next to others, we can’t put him in with another as he tries to kill them.

It all points to a deeply frustrated pony but I don’t know what to do.

The only time he stops walking is when he is in his stable or if he has his treat ball. In his stable he is happy, totally content and not bothered if he is on his own or if others are next to him.
If you give him his treat ball (it has grass nuts in) then he will settle for long enough to empty the ball but then he starts pacing again.

Doesnt seem to matter if he is in work or not!

He has worn himself very deep trenches from his walking and it can’t be doing him, his joints or his tendons any good!

Just don’t know what to try next!
Thoughts?

 

[Brownmare]

Have you tried staying with him in the field at all? If this is a fairly recent development maybe try hand grazing him for a while and if he settles like that then quietly unclip the rope (or have it just slipped through his headcollar) and slowly move further away as long as he stays settled. I would also bring him in as soon as he starts to pace but try and increase the time gradually. I know you said you have tried small fields but have you tried a tiny stable-sized paddock? Would it be possible to set up a small yard/paddock for him to access directly from his stable if that is his safe space?

 

[mossycup]

Turn out with sheep or goats? If his field makes him genuinely unhappy, he wouldn't be the first horse to live in 24/7 for their own health and sanity....

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

Are your fields quite a distance from the yard? I only ask as next door they have 2 fields that are a fair walk down a track from the yard, the furthest one away backs onto my field and there were 2 mares that would fence walk in that field but never did it in the one nearer the yard, just thought it was worth a mention.

 

[Wheels]

Have you tried him with just one other horse? He sounds very lonely so I would be inclined to try again (under a very watchful eye of course)

I have one who will terrorise other horses if there are 3 or more horses in the field but if he is only with one other pony he feels like he needs them and after a couple of short chases he settles

 

[conniegirl]

Have you tried staying with him in the field at all? If this is a fairly recent development maybe try hand grazing him for a while and if he settles like that then quietly unclip the rope (or have it just slipped through his headcollar) and slowly move further away as long as he stays settled. I would also bring him in as soon as he starts to pace but try and increase the time gradually. I know you said you have tried small fields but have you tried a tiny stable-sized paddock? Would it be possible to set up a small yard/paddock for him to access directly from his stable if that is his safe space?

We’ve tried staying with him, as soon as you unclip the rope he starts walking. He will happily hand graze.
We have tried a stable size field and he just went round it in circles.
He can access the fold yard directly from his stable however when we have tried letting him choose he walks round the yard once and then goes back to his stable (even if there is hay in the yard and none in his stable), if locked out of his stable he will pace round it and on concrete thats even worse than the field.

Turn out with sheep or goats? If his field makes him genuinely unhappy, he wouldn't be the first horse to live in 24/7 for their own health and sanity....

We have no access to sheep or goats unfortunately.

Are your fields quite a distance from the yard? I only ask as next door they have 2 fields that are a fair walk down a track from the yard, the furthest one away backs onto my field and there were 2 mares that would fence walk in that field but never did it in the one nearer the yard, just thought it was worth a mention.

We have tried paddocks quite a way from the yard and right next to the yard, doesnt seem to make a difference.

Have you tried him with just one other horse? He sounds very lonely so I would be inclined to try again (under a very watchful eye of course)

I have one who will terrorise other horses if there are 3 or more horses in the field but if he is only with one other pony he feels like he needs them and after a couple of short chases he settles

We have tried him with just one other and with a small herd (3 others). With Just mares, Just geldings, with horses bigger than him and smaller than him.
With just one he tried to kill them (in one case he had them pinned against a fence and a large vet bill ensued) in a small herd he had everything terrified of him and no one could get near thier horse.
It is made harder by the fact he now has to have hind shoes on because of his tendons.

 

[PapaverFollis]

I would give him access to the yard directly from his stable and let him choose. Take him out for hand walks to graze as much as you can. If you can find him a place with a field directly off his stable that would be ideal. He doesn't sound like he's very happy at the moment.

 

[Caol Ila]

Drink lots of whisky. And I mean lots. There really isn't enough whisky in Scotland to help you cope with a fencewalker but I recommend drinking yourself to oblivion anyway. And then moving.

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

Turn out with sheep or goats? If his field makes him genuinely unhappy, he wouldn't be the first horse to live in 24/7 for their own health and sanity....

I wouldn't do that, if he wants to kill them, he will be quite able to do so.

 

[conniegirl]

Drink lots of whisky. And I mean lots. There really isn't enough whisky in Scotland to help you cope with a fencewalker but I recommend drinking yourself to oblivion anyway. And then moving.

Will Gin work? I have plenty of that!

 

[Caol Ila]

Any alcoholic beveredge of your choice!

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

It sounds like the stint of box rest has made him insecure about turnout, can you put hay out there?

 

[Mule]

Mabey if you leave him out for a short time each day until he gets used to it again (after the box rest) and when he is more relaxed leave him out for longer.

 

[splashgirl45]

is it worth speaking to your vet and maybe giving him some acp or similar to take the edge off and get him to relax as it sounds like its his brain that is over reacting

 

[Caol Ila]

On a more serious note, I found that I could manage the fence walking if I brought her in before she started. If she was coming in after she kicked off, it only ever spiralled and got worse. But it was semi-predictable at that particular yard. At others, it was a lot more random so that didn't work.

 

[Starzaan]

I had one who did this and wore an almost 3ft trench in my field. The only thing that worked for him was turning him out in a BIG herd of geldings.

He immediately went from pacing the fence constantly to happily grazing, and never did it again. I agonised for over a year trying to sort it. That sorted it instantly.

 

[DabDab]

Sounds like he has become a bit agoraphobic during his time on box rest. I used to know a horse who developed a fence walking habit in similar circumstances (period of being stabled 24/7), and wore a deep trench in her field. Eventually she was turned out with a couple of others and settled after a couple of days, but since you can't turn yours out with others that wont be much help.

Difficult to think of things that could relieve his insecurity in your circumstances. The suggestion of just leaving the stable open onto a turnout area is probably the best idea. Other than that, a move of yard?

 

[PapaverFollis]

With my fence walker there were some clear triggers so it was a case of getting her in before any triggers happened. If I managed that for a long enough period she got a bit less reactive to the triggers (another horse being fetched in was the big one). But honestly mostly she just either did it at a particular yard or didn't! She was best at the yard where she had direct visual on her stable. She would just stand at the gate if she could see her stable door. If not, she paced when she'd decided she had to be in. Wish I could have had her on my current set up. No gates, no stables!

 

[Caol Ila]

Yeah, mine is similar to PapaperFollis'. She either does it at a particular yard or she doesn't. That's why I said "moving" above. I wasn't kidding. The triggers are usually the geography -- in terms of whether the stables and the fields feel connected -- but I think the vibe of the place and the YO/staff being insane or not is a huge factor, because she's paced at yards where she theoretically should be fine. My vet has agreed. He said, "Horses are very sensitive, and that guy is pretty weird."

 

[Marigold4]

What about creating a zig-zag line of electric fencing inside your existing fence on the side your horse fence walks? It might prevent your horse getting its fence-walking "fix" and divert its mind to other things?

 

[saalsk]

Not had one do that, but could you perhaps make an area in his field that is like his stable, so that he may feel his stable is now just in the field, and he can be more relaxed ? Must be very stressful, for you and him, I hope you manage to sort an answer

 

[MrsMozartleto]

What about leaving him with his stable and the yard but you described, stake door open, hay and water in the yard and not in the stable. Put them just far enough that he had to step out and gradually move them further away.

 

[conniegirl]

Small update. We seem to have fixed it for now. He has been taken out of his corner paddock and put in a paddock surrounded on every side by other horses. Makes it more difficult for me to get him in and out but he hasn’t walked in the last 2 days.
Probably famous last words!

 

[Gloi]

The best thing for the one here was to never bring him in for food and live out all the time. He got caught up to ride but never got any food in the stable he was only fed back in the field. After a couple of months he stopped. Unfortunately at one point he started being stabled at night again and was back to square one.

 

[AShetlandBitMeOnce]

Could you set up a sort of maze with electric fencing that would mean to fence walk he would need to go around lines of electric fencing protruding from the fence that is there currently. If you make it a PITA for him he may be more inclined to focus on other things

 

[rabatsa]

A friend did this with one of his and the only differance was fancy lines in the field.

 

[WandaMare]

That good news that he's settled with other horses around him. It does point to him being a bit agoraphobic after the box rest and hopefully he can build his confidence to be happy in the fields again now. I had a pony who got agoraphobic after being on box rest with laminitis and I ended up making a pen so he could walk in and out of his stable freely. Like yours he would stay in the stable to begin with even when the hay was outdoors but we persevered with it and eventually extended the pen right down to his normal field. This seemed to work and gradually he started to graze completely normally again. It was a pain though and took a good couple of months to reestablish his confidence.