Seperation anxiety! Need help

tabithakat64

tabithakat64

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My horse gets very stressed out if he's seperated from my pony, he's fine when he's being ridden or brought in to be groomed etc, but if she's taken out of the stable or field and he's left behind (even though he's with other horses) he runs round screaming his head off. I'm working on seperating them for short periods (up to an hour) and ignoring his shouting (btw he's fine if she goes out etc but I stay with him)

However I've started having problems with him when I'm riding, the other day my pony was coming back off of her ride with a friend and when my horse saw her he started neighing and got really strong and although I still had control he was jogging sideways.
Yesterday I went out in a group and the little shetland he is friends with was with us and went in front and every time she trotted or went out of sight (disappearing behind the horse in front for a moment) he started pulling and trying to trot, as we were going down a steep hill in heavy traffic I dismounted. I usually don't have any control problems when hacking in a group and don't really want to change his bit, is there anything else I could do to help him get over his seperation anxiety? Is there something I can do to stop him yanking me out of the saddle, pulling etc? I don't want him to become out of control when ridden and it isn't an option to change his field companions and I'm not sure I'd want too as both my geegee's are very happy as things are...
 
is there any way you can re-create 'seperation' situations in a controlled enviroment so you can ride through his behaviour and work him through it?

also maybe doing very 'serperate' things with them for a while so that they only time together is out grazing?

is he young?
 
I have thought about getting someone else to ride my pony in one half or the school whilst I ride my horse in the other, so he learns that he can be in the same place as her without having to panic about being 'with' them.
He hacks clamly etc with other horses he's turned out with and also with my pony and the shetland providing he is next to them or close behind without any problems. (he is not usually excercised with either my pony or the shetland and I will avoid doing so as much as I can in the future)
He's a green 9 year old, who lacks confidence, he's also very protective of the weaker or smaller members of our herd and I feel that maybe his protective behaviour is what is causing his speration anxiety and also the problems with his behaviour when being ridden.
 
sounds a bit like he has a nanny complex, wanting to make sure his 'mates' are ok. and make himself feel safe at the same time.

i would try to re-create the seperation as much as possible, but in a safe place.

maybe even feed them seperatly? (more walking i know but it might help?)

sounds like as he gets more experianced the bahaviour should improve, my mare had a couple of 'issues' when i got her but as she settled and was broken/worked etc they slowly improved - now she couldnt care less who shes with!!
 
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