Separation Anxiety - splitting friends up ?

[MardyMare]

I have two mares who didnt get on at first but after two yard moves are inseparable. The one I compete on is not too bad I can take her away from the other without too much fuss and she is fine once on trailer and at competitions. I have finally found someone to ride the other as I am struggling with time for her and she is being impossible. She really does not like leaving her friend. But she is fine to stay in paddock on her own. This lady brought her out with another horse and she still kept neighing for my mare and was becoming quite bolshy. This lady is prepared to keep at it and try improve her. I am off on holiday soon for a couple of weeks and was thinking of sending my competition horse to my instructor for two weeks. Do you think this will help the other horse become detached or do you think when her friend comes back from instructor they will just rebond again? Any other suggestions / ideas welcome

 

[WandaMare]

Personally i would go for the softly, softly approach and take her out each day for a little bit longer each time and get her confidence when she's away from the other horse. She needs to respect her rider enough to concentrate on the job in hand and not be fussing around looking for her best mate. So plenty of schooling away from friend and gradually for longer periods of time.

In my experience taking a friend away can be qutie traumatic and she might get stressy, nervous which could take a longer time to fix. Thats just my thoughts though, I'm sure others may have more ideas...

Hope she settles soon, all the best with her

 

[Bosworth]

are you still on a yard or at home? I own a yard and one of the things I tend to do when owners arrive with two horses is to split them into two seperate groups, so they have to make new friends and reduce the seperation problems. i start them in herds next to each other (my herds are about 4 horses) and from day 1 i enourage the owner to handle them as individuals rather than bringing them both in together - feeding togerther etc. The first day - they tend ot be a bit anxious as they want their known friend to stay with them but by about day 3 they are happily grazing with their new friend and within a week to 10 days they are no longer calling. makes for far more settled horses as they are more independent and realise they can cope. All the horses on our yard can now stay in their own stable while the others go out, or come in on their own without creating. It means the owner can box rest one if they need to - just makes life far easier. But it is tricky if they are the only two horses on the yard. In which case I would keep taking the stressy one away and getting that to gain confidence and don't take it out with the other for a while so it learns to be more independent

 

[MardyMare]

Thanks for both your comments. I really like your way of thinking Bosworth - unfortunately I am on a big yard and nobody really wants to swap stables but I might have a word with YM and see what her thoughts are. This lady is taking your approach Wandamare - she has started bringing her out (well for two days now) walking her in hand around the block and putting her back. I think / hoping once they come back in at night they will all settle into more of a routine.

thanks again for your help.