Serious Separation Anxiety Issues!

[hellfire]

My lad Sparky was a serious neglect case, weaned too early then left alone to starve and beaten all at the age of 3 with no human or horse contact apart from the beating he go from a man.
Ive had him 7 years now and had to work through a lot of issues and problems. Ive never had a horse with such bad seperation issues. Its driving me and everyone insane and starting to cause problems. Ive tried for years to get him over it. Hes stopped running through metal fences but still goes though electric. As soon as a horse leaves the field he screams at the top of his lungs runs about sweats up etc. Hes not even alone!! It started just with his best bud Minstrel but now this week hes decided to start no matter who gets taken out! When hes out hes not so bad but even in company hacking out is getting more nappy and screaming for his Minstrel. If im with him hes ok as obsessed with me but send him off with someone else hacking or even if imj on another horse hes nappy as hell.
He was fine hacking with other horses until recently. Nothings scared him and nothing in his routines changed. The same girl still rides him for me (or trys!) I've tried taking Mini away just over the fence but that sets him off, tried associating Mini or another of mine leaving the filed with good things and him getting feed, no joy! Hes extremely food obsessed after being starved but he will eat as fast as he can spilling most of it and then go back to screaming. Even with a hay net. Hes out in the filed all the time never in a stable and always has another horse with him when my others are out.
My neighbours are getting sick as all summer if another horse has gone out they've had to contend with the noise for hours. It is very very noisy!
Im at my end here and dont know what to do!
His other serious issue he'll never get over is gorging himself! Hes on constant restricted hay/soaked hay as he has IR and will eat non stop given the chance. A full hay net (greedy Feeder one) will last 20mins tops! If i put a full bale out he wouldn't stop until it was all gone. The issue is pretty soon hes going to have to be separate for a bit as my others are loosing weight and i have to give them extra bucket feed as Sparky eats so fast and eats their ration too. Restricted diets making him worse than ever.
They are all natives so they are fine on the restricted grazing. I gave them grass for a week when i was away, not great grass. He gained 20kg and his girth didn't fit when i came back!! These two issues are getting beyond a joke and i just don't know what to do with him. Send him away to someone for a few months away from me and his companions? Would that make him ill with stress or would he get over his obsessive compulsiveness!?? Any ideas? Ive trained many horses over the years but this is beyond me.
Thanks

 

[Pingu42]

My lad Sparky was a serious neglect case, weaned too early then left alone to starve and beaten all at the age of 3 with no human or horse contact apart from the beating he go from a man.
Ive had him 7 years now and had to work through a lot of issues and problems. Ive never had a horse with such bad seperation issues. Its driving me and everyone insane and starting to cause problems. Ive tried for years to get him over it. Hes stopped running through metal fences but still goes though electric. As soon as a horse leaves the field he screams at the top of his lungs runs about sweats up etc. Hes not even alone!! It started just with his best bud Minstrel but now this week hes decided to start no matter who gets taken out! When hes out hes not so bad but even in company hacking out is getting more nappy and screaming for his Minstrel. If im with him hes ok as obsessed with me but send him off with someone else hacking or even if imj on another horse hes nappy as hell.
He was fine hacking with other horses until recently. Nothings scared him and nothing in his routines changed. The same girl still rides him for me (or trys!) I've tried taking Mini away just over the fence but that sets him off, tried associating Mini or another of mine leaving the filed with good things and him getting feed, no joy! Hes extremely food obsessed after being starved but he will eat as fast as he can spilling most of it and then go back to screaming. Even with a hay net. Hes out in the filed all the time never in a stable and always has another horse with him when my others are out.
My neighbours are getting sick as all summer if another horse has gone out they've had to contend with the noise for hours. It is very very noisy!
Im at my end here and dont know what to do!
His other serious issue he'll never get over is gorging himself! Hes on constant restricted hay/soaked hay as he has IR and will eat non stop given the chance. A full hay net (greedy Feeder one) will last 20mins tops! If i put a full bale out he wouldn't stop until it was all gone. The issue is pretty soon hes going to have to be separate for a bit as my others are loosing weight and i have to give them extra bucket feed as Sparky eats so fast and eats their ration too. Restricted diets making him worse than ever.
They are all natives so they are fine on the restricted grazing. I gave them grass for a week when i was away, not great grass. He gained 20kg and his girth didn't fit when i came back!! These two issues are getting beyond a joke and i just don't know what to do with him. Send him away to someone for a few months away from me and his companions? Would that make him ill with stress or would he get over his obsessive compulsiveness!?? Any ideas? Ive trained many horses over the years but this is beyond me.
Thanks

He sounds similar to how my mare was! She had huge separation issues with my other mare and would stuff her face silly too! She is very intolerant to clover so check out Calm Healthy horses website. She has also been treated for ulcers - gastric and hind gut. Worth testing with the succeed poo test. Chios mastica gum from Intelligent horse has transformed her, along with salt, mycosorb, forage balancer and yea sac. I now have a pony who will come in by herself, not stress when others leave her and she seems to be eating slower too.

 

[hellfire]

I do make sure if he is on grass my fields don't have much clover but there is some there. So that will put weight on for sure. There's not much. Ive sewn my pasture with grass for lamanitics. He did have a bout last year. So using the supplements alone helped your mare? He's on magnesium which is meant to possible help with IR and calming. Ive seen it help the fat deposits but not the calming. He has salt and a feed balancer as with soaked hay and grass very rare I know hell lack in bit and min. I'll check out the web site and give it a go for sure. I do worry about ulcers as he goes so long between feeds. I do hay 4x a day but he gobbles it so quick.
How long untill you saw a difference in her behaviour?
Thanks very much for the info.

 

[EquiEquestrian556]

Hi there, this is a really silly question, going off subject, but Minstrel isn't by any chance a palomino/ chestnut Welsh Cob type is he?

 

[Pingu42]

I do make sure if he is on grass my fields don't have much clover but there is some there. So that will put weight on for sure. There's not much. Ive sewn my pasture with grass for lamanitics. He did have a bout last year. So using the supplements alone helped your mare? He's on magnesium which is meant to possible help with IR and calming. Ive seen it help the fat deposits but not the calming. He has salt and a feed balancer as with soaked hay and grass very rare I know hell lack in bit and min. I'll check out the web site and give it a go for sure. I do worry about ulcers as he goes so long between feeds. I do hay 4x a day but he gobbles it so quick.
How long untill you saw a difference in her behaviour?
Thanks very much for the info.

The chios mastica powder is fed for four weeks. Her separation issues have taken a few years to sort completely. I started by taking her away from my other mare for 5 mins at a time and gradually increasing the time. Giving her feed and a little hay helped too. However, the biggest difference came after her ulcers were treated. I think maybe the pain that she was in caused her to be bolshy, panic, stress etc. She is now like a different pony, so calm, can be tied up outside her stable and others can go in and out without her reacting. Getting a hay cube and feeding soaked hay has helped her food intake. She still loves her food but doesn't seem so greedy now.

 

[hellfire]

I'll have to try a hay cube. He's so violent with these small holed hay nets. He's taken the posts out the field yanking them. Ive got two on trees now. One hung like a boredom breaker. He gets very frustrated. I soak hay most of the time. I tried the 5mins a time for years and he never got any better. I done it daily for nearly a year with no improvement. Tell a lie he wont go through wire fences and stock fencing anymore. Mainly because he hurt himself. He will still tackle electric some times. I'll defiantly get a test done for ulcers and try the suggestions.
Oh and Minstrel is a black Shetland. ��