Stressy mares in winter?!

[valleyview]

Hi, any thoughts or experience greatly appreciated on stressy mares in winter! I keep my mare on a DIY yard with winter turn out in the day. Horses are kept in individual paddocks but can see and touch others over fences. The majority of the mares (including mine!) have trashed their fields with incessant pacing up and down. The geldings are much more settled. Even one mare, who is actually in a paddock with a gelding, paces and will not settle out, while her companion is happy to tuck into the grass and probably thinks she is bonkers.

My mare is unstressy under saddle and is not a box walker or a maniac in the stable. This leads me on to my next little queery - I lean more towards a natural way of keeping horses and would like her out as much as possible. She is out 24/7 in the summer and does not stress at all, but what are people's thoughts about limiting her turn out to a few days a week, if that? She doesn't heat up when in the stable all the time. The only thing is all the other horses on her block of stables will be out in the day so she will be in alone. I do not really want to put her on calmer as everywhere apart from out she is good; she is a lovely, forward going mare and I don't want to give her anything that will make her less forward going. There is no other horse she can go into a paddock with but she can see and touch others.

Her field is a mire and I am also worried about lost shoes and pulled tendons. Funny that all the mares are the same. Any ideas?!

 

[mandwhy]

My mare is big on fence walking, but she doesn't really do it anymore now she has a companion actually in her field, so I think that may be your answer. Even though this other mare has a companion maybe she is just more interested in the others.

This yard doesn't sound ideal, if you want your mare out 24/7 would it be possible for you to rent land instead? That's what I do, but it depends if you need facilities and livery services etc.

A calmer such as mag ox based ones will be unlikely to stop her being forward, they're based on a deficiency in most UK soil hence why it works for some but not for others. It works for mine! It's not tension and adrenaline that produces nice work in the school, so if you were take it away by making her less stressed in general I don't think she'd be worse off!

 

[ExpressPrincess]

I have the same issue with my mare she is in a stable for her first winter in about 4 years and is being a real pain has fence walked and dug a muddy hole the length of the fence line which fills up with water when it rains and she proceeds to march up and down soaking wet and caked in mud. She was out on her own as were no other mares at the yard so I blamed it on this however she now has 2 new mare friends and will still hang around the gateway at getting in time although fence walking is 95% better on a daily basis i now can’t turn her out or leave her in on her own as will just pace up and down until her new friends come and join her... Bloody mares!