separation anxiety help please?!

kerryflower

kerryflower

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Hi All

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas and happy to be able to crack on with the furry things now that snow has gone :)

A friend called today for some help and I've not had to deal with it before so asking any of your advice. She bought a TB in September to do normal RC etc. She is 14 and he is 15.2. When bought he was really chilled out and had been doing all the normal RC activities, camps etc. He is 9.

Allw as fine until about 2 weeks ago. He settled into the livery yard she is at well and was being hacked out etc. All Ok. Then he and my friend's previosu pony were moved into a new field of about 7 horses. It was an established herd. The 2 new horses were bullied to the point of them hiding in a hedge (needless to say bad decision by YO to introduce 2 horses to established herd with no intorduction but hey ho). So they were moved again to a "nicer" herd. However the TB now has severe anxiety when separated from the pony. I'm assuming because he was only horse friends with when being bullied and now relying on him. If taken out of field away from pony the TB will not settle in satble, barging people out of the way, throwing himself at door, when ridden won't settle and trying to jump out of school on lunge. As soon as pony comes in he is fine. Likewie if pony taken out of field he tries to jump out.

Soooo any ideas how to settle this? I suggested separating them but they are scared he will hurt himself while getting used to being separated. With regards to handling I'm going to try him with a chifney just to give that little bit of control to hopefully let him know he has to listen to the person on floor and hopefully learn to trust.

Any ideas?!:confused:
 
I can recommend Global Herbs instant (and long term) calmer - this is what was used on Ed by his previous owner to great effect. I would say start separation once on calmer and continue slowly getting them used to it.
Shite situation, remember Sam and Cleo, but they made it eventually didn't they? :)
 
We have the worst of this problem with my mums mare and my mare, its terrible, cant split them at all! :mad:
VERY annoying!
at shows they whinny, cant travel seperately, if one goes round the corner of the yard, all hell brakes loose!!!sorry no ideas here! we have had to cope for many years :(
 
Thanks J will suggest that. It's for Tara's new horse. He is infatuated with Mav apparantly :s. Said I would go and try to give a hand with him on weekend but unless they separate them can't see how they will overcome problem. He was fine beforehand :( It's def a tricky one but with a bit of patience I reckon couldk be ok....just not sure she has the patience :S
 
Not the same but my youngster got too attached to my mare so much so that couldn't handle my mare. So following vet advice separated them for winter and working well so far. Youngster has shetland in with her and my other mare has 3 goats and my loan mare with her, im not on a yard so for me was easier to sort out. Would have been unhealthy to leave them as youngster was trying to suckle from mare and mare same breed and colour as her mum.
 
To be honest, knowing that, they could be making the issue worse themselves as T isn't best known for her calmness lol bless her! I'd recommend starting it off slowly, but quite intensively over the next few weeks, even if A has to take Mav out infront of T and work on leading him out of eye/earshot...
 
My horse got very attached on a couple of occasions and trust me it escalates very quickly. I found the best way was not to pander to him this is hard to do when they are stressing in the stable but I just let him get on with it, I also seperated them in the field and I found after a while it tended to be a case of out of sight out of mind as he had other horses to focus on, it is always worse when they are insecure e.g. new yard but he is fine now. It can be very dangerous when riding ect as all they focus on is the other horse.
A word of encouragment tho- as my horse is fine now you just have to watch for the initial signs. Try a calmer it can't hurt and best of luck.
 
Ive had this problem in the past with my TB the best thing i can suggest is to remove the horse and put it in a feild next to the pony alone, as this problem is only going to get worst. this way he can see his friend at all times, hopefully without becoming too distrested. then in time try him with different horses next to him. slowly removing his bond with the pony.
worked for me but every horse is an indvidual!
 
"The 2 new horses were bullied to the point of them hiding in a hedge (needless to say bad decision by YO to introduce 2 horses to established herd with no intorduction but hey ho)"
In reply to this Kerry, would just like to add as the yard owner, that they were not the only two added to the field, and that infact two small herds werre amalgamated together for the winter! And as a responsible yard owner the options were given to the owners to move as soon as there was an apparant problem, but they chose to wait it out to see if things settled down!
 
How long has this situation been going on for? My horse had a similar issue a few months ago as she had moved to the yard when I bought her in the summer and would not separate from another mare. Eventually we sorted it out by doing nothing- the reason she was stressed was that she had moved yards and then moved fields about four times in the space of two months and this mare was her comfort blanket- as soon as things stayed the same for a month or so she calmed down and didn't react at all when the mare left the yard- by this point she and the other mare had been in a field with two others for a month and relaxation had set in. If this person's horse has only been on the yard since September and has moved fields a couple of times, and the snow has disrupted the routine etc., it might just be this.
 
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