Seperation anxiety

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rachredbull

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Help me experts!

I have an 8yr old (so he should know better) thoroughbred who is generally a quiet gentle soul. I also have a gypsy cob, 3yrs old who is very well mannered and mature for his age. Both boys they have been 'together' for 4 months now and when hacking out together, they are fab.

HOWEVER I keep them at home on 3 acres, split into 4 areas via electric tape fencing and high hedges. I have no stables (moved here in July, so in planning stage) but am lucky as in Ireland and very sheltered here, so they are wintering out with rugs and plenty of roughage and hard feed for the tb. Problem is when I take one of them away from the other, especially the tb. For example: Last week I was in the bottom field doing some casual schooling with cob in full view of tb but the silly thing was pouring with sweat and ploughed up my precious paddock whilst threatening to jump out :eek:It's worse when god help me I try to hack out with one of them! Unfortunately the youngster is impressionable and so copies tb. My nerves or pocket (poor fields) cannot take much more! Ideally I would get another one....but not enough grazing :( Any tips????? :confused:
 
It is a nightmare for pair bonds especially if you don't have stables.

I would try to work them individually but for frequent but short spells so they get used to be taken away and brought back to one another. Try not to reward the bad behaviour by returning as soon as the other one creates.

I have similar set up in fields with my two lads but I have stables where I can safely put one in whilst I ride the other. It took awhile but they did settle down and stop the frantic calling to one another. However, I cannot take them to a show together without all the calling - it is a nightmare. If they go separately, they are both brilliant but with their bud, the one left on the lorry starts to be a prat and often disturbs the other one competing so last year I ended up travelling with a friend's horse rather than the two of them travelling together.
 
Thanks for the empathy, it helps to know that it is not just me being soft! I initially did ride each one away for up to 15 mins at a time, but even after a couple of weeks of trying, the situation wasn't improving. I am at present keeping them in seperate paddocks during the day, but even if the cob wanders out of sight, Barney goes balistic! I only got the cob to keep the tb company!!! I think I have been letting them off more recently as I am worried about the mess they are making of the grass? I agree with you about the security of a stable, at this rate though it will never be finished! Guess I will have to put the pressure on my other half ;)

Good to hear you are getting out competing. That seems a long way off for me the way things stand :mad:
 
Could you get a mini? We have 2 at our yard & they are great for keeping the big horses company without eating too much grass or costing a fortune.

My 2 live in a herd but I can't take them to a competition together because the one left on the trailer goes mad, I've given up trying now for the sake of my nerves so I can totally sympathise!
 
I completely empathise with you. My 11 year old mare is a nightmare when she is left alone in the field. She goes absolutely insane and ends up frothing all over and dithering from head to toe. She never used to be too bad until she bonded with a little 11.2 pony who was later sold. She has charged through wooden and electric fencing, fallen over and slid into a bramble hedge when going mental, and crashed into numerous gates. I just cannot ever put her out alone. There are only two other horses on the yard I am on and one of them is elderly and very arthritic so the owner understandably doesn't want her out with my mare who is quite bouncy and boisterous. The other one who was in the field with my mare is now stabled permanently for the foreseeable future. So my mare is being turned out in a tiny little muddy paddock which used to be a menage, with no grass and only hay to eat in the day. She's stabled at night and is fine out of sight when stabled. She is ok in the menage area strangely but I think it's because it's right next to the stables and she feels secure. I have advertised for a loan horse/pony which I will take full care and daily responsibility of but cannot do any financial contribution, but so far everyone who has got back to me is not willing to pay the stable rent. :(
 
I can completely sympathise- I sent my horse to professionals who confirmed the worst case of separation anxiety they had ever seen- A mini horse does not help in my case so be careful if you decided to go down that route, I now have a shetland who tbh is a grass pet and just another mouth on my very stretched purse and grazing.
Its a nightmare, I imagine when you have your stables it will become easier. Can you feed the left behind one or give a treat ball? Or even ride and lead?
 
My old mare had separation issues with everything, to the point where even if there she was in a field with more than 3 horses in she would go nuts if you took one horse out. If you shut her in the stable she would try and come over the door. And if you shut the top door then she would get herself into such a state that she would end up colicing.
 
Is it worth putting up a pen area for now. I have an area that they can go in as my geldings are a pain in the a##e. They cant get the speed up to come to much harm and cant jump out. See my post before xmas about my gelding jumping out into the road to follow his mate !!
 
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