Seperation Anxiety...is there anything I can do?

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petite-girle

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I have 2 horses and my partner bought a little 17 month old filly a few months ago. This filly had been kept completely on her own since weaned, on someone's own land. No horses even in sight!! When we first put her in with my 2 horses she had to be contantly touching one of them, had no clue how to act around other horses (understandly). They did used to get quite fed up with her as she was constantly invading their personal space! Now if I take either one of my 2 horses out of the field, even though she still has one horse left in with her she goes biserk. She screams non stop and gallops round the field until the the horse is returned to the field, really working herself up. The other horse left out with her isn't fussed one bit, and just carries on eating and ignores her behaviour. Is there anything I can do??
 
I have a retired 15 year old that is very clingy and a complete stress head. I only have him and another horse at home and it has taken about a year for him to calm down when I take the other one away.
I used to let him out on my concrete yard while I was riding so he could walk around and have a few more things to look at, otherwise in his stable he would literally cover the whole of his stable in poo and end up in a complete sweat. Unfortunately one day he jumped out of the yard over a 7 bar gate into the field and landed on his head so I've had to keep him in his stable since. However, I think the tumble made him think a bit about his actions and since then he doesn't get sweated up, doesn't do cowpats around his stable and apart from a few whinnys he has calmed down alot. Maybe it knocked some sense into him?!!
So having tried a few things like leaving him out, keeping him in with big haynets and leaving radios on which didn't make a difference I can only say that hopefully, eventually your mare might calm down with a bit if time.
 
We had a youngster that used to be like that. We ignored it, and she gradually settled down the older she got, until she was happy out on her own. To be honest I think it kept her fit to some extent. the year she stopped racing around was the year she got laminitus!
 
Im having this problem, i have 2 mares, my sister has a gelding, they are all over 7yrs old!

my second mare is retired so is always left in field with the gelding but when i take my mare out of the field the gelding goes instantly beserk!

its really getting to the point of being extremely annoying... i have tried stabling him (walks around and around constant, pooing, sweat lashing, bucking in stable kicking doors), left him in the field with other retired mare (gallops up and down field flat out constant, even tho mare continues on ignoring behaviour and eating away)...

is there anything at all i can do to train him that the horse IS coming back!!! im at my wits end, i actually hate that stupid gelding now as its such an inconvenience everytime i go to do anything with my horse.... GRRRRR!!!
 
I had this with my lad when we moved yards a couple of years ago. He was in with a mare who he was very attatched to and he was an absolute pain to take out of the field without her - leaping about, trying to drag you back to the field etc. He would also run about when she was taken out - although this wasn't so much of an issue as she was in-foal and was left in the field most of the time. After a few weeks of trying to gradually take him further away/distract him with food etc, we decided to split them up and put him (with our two ponies) in the next field. He spent 90 mins charging up and down the fence line until he was completely worn out and was very unsettled for the rest of the week - with regular fence running sessions. It was horrid to watch but it did the trick as he soon settled down and was happy to graze with the others instead of clinging to the fence-line. I then started taking him out alone to a different field - with very good grass - to graze in hand and after a couple of weeks I had my easy-to-handle chap back! :)

My lad is an ex-racer and was in a field on his own (with horses next door) in his previous home so I think this is where the problem stemmed from. He's still inclined to be clingy on occasion and I could never leave him in the field alone, but otherwise, he's completely fine.

I think you need to try and stop this behaviour as soon as you can as she is only going to get worse. Is she happy to come out of the field by herself or is she just out all the time? Taking her out for a groom and small feed could be a good place to start.

My lad went back in with the same mare a couple of months later with no repeat of the problems so you may find that splitting them up short-term does the trick? Good luck, whatever you decide - it's a real pain when they are like this!
 
I had this when I bought a pony for my daughter. He was in the field with my mare and if I took her out he'd go mad, even when I left him in the stable he would jump the door and he had other horses around him.

I sperated my paddock with electric fencing so they were seperated and I started putting him out first and gradually increasing the time. It was a long haul but it worked in the end, he would settle in the field all day but not in the stable.
 
What a shame. Now I've had a few foals/youngsters I think this is more about personality than how they are reared. I agree with the post re separating fields so that they can still touch etc. You have to consider it like weaning all over again. If you put them out of sight you are probably asking for trouble as I've had one go through (literally) permanent electric fencing. It does get better though.
 
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