Tell me your experiences with youngsters who panic in the stable

well he kind of figured it out for himself, I had been bringing him in little and often, literally like a couple of minutes but after being out 24hrs for 3 days of non-stop rain, brought him in and saw the penny drop in his brain that it was dry in the stable, he lay down and refused to get up for 3 hours. Now have the opposite problem, can't get him to stay out in the field....

Anyway, does your youngster have company or can he see other horses stabled nearby? Another one of mine is fine int he stable unless he is on his own when he goes mad (and he is 23 so not going to change), we just have to make sure someone else is in when he does.
 
Not a youngster, but Ned was very unhappy in a stable (Maybe it reminded him of his trailer accident? Or perhaps another bad experience) but he actually ripped the door off it's hinges and pulled some of the wood off the front of the stable.
I didn't see him do it, but I saw the aftermath and him thundering across the field!
It was at a show and caused a bit of chaos...

I wouldn't say he's 'cured' but I can put him in one and tack up and leave him for a second or two without him jumping out. I walked him in and out, in and out, in and out. Then I left the door open and let him sniff it out in his own time (while I was holding him) when he was in and standing, I closed the door and let him adjust to the slightly darker stable.

Good luck :D
 
We didn't think he could.... and couldn't change that, but turns out if he leans against his grill he can see the pony! He can also hear the other mare, so the answer is yes! He has been in 3 hours of ignoring his antics completely and he gets progressively worse, he stands up and strikes the walls with his front feet, he is a big cob 2.5 yrs old, knocking on 16hh and heavy, it's not funny him standing up on his walls like this, also he is knocking himself about, he ends up with battered fetlocks and nose! We have slowly got him used to his stable over the summer, he is fine when we are in with him, but he used to bunny hop by the door when left, so we put full grill up, as we know he likes to jump free of places, he seems very claustrophic when the grill is in, but thats not negotiable, he needs to be safe! He will eat hardfeed fine and dandy in his stable with everything shut up, and will happily ferret around for mints etc on the floor and play with his bucket, but the min he finishes up he starts trying to bash his way out. I don't want to give up and say oh he can't be stabled, what if he is every hurt and needs to be stabled, he is also intended to be our hunter, so will be expected to be clean and stabled before he goes hunting and also he will go in a trailer. It's been suggested we lob him in at dusk and just let him stay in the night, but it terrifies me!
 
He will get used to it, you just have to be patient/brave. I'd bring him him and give him a feed every day, gradually leaving him for a little longer each day after he's eaten up. Or get him a sheep?
 
We had a newly weaned foal that had company and was prepared for the event as best we could. He was fine at first but as time went on he became very insecure if turned out last. So much so that he tried to jump out of the stable and got stuck on the door crushing his rib cage and lungs....sorry not what you want to hear. He was fine physically after that and did try one more time, this time he cleared the door. Obviously something had to change to help him and I got him a stable mirror. Brilliant things and he was so settled with that in his stable. I also got one for his trailer and again he was brill with it.

I had 3 horses, so always turned him out 2nd so he had company at either end and over time he has become a calm and settled horse. Biggest change though came when I was gifted a shettie as his companion....he's worth his weight in gold that little thing! Good luck.
 
cblover said:
Biggest change though came when I was gifted a shettie as his companion....he's worth his weight in gold that little thing! Good luck.
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I think OP, you're either going to have to move him to a stable where he can easily see others from (even if you have a grill) or he needs his own companion. He sounds a genuinely frightened little horse and it's unfair to not to try to help him through it rather than just denying him the chance to settle in his own time if things were more in his favour.
 
This is a difficult one. I've had two that behave like your chap. One was a 6 month old wild filly straight off of the New Forest, she was ok at first as she was in with another foal but after a few weeks of handling them & bringing them in & out, we had to separate them as she was a bully to the smaller one. She'd go nuts & throw herself on the floor & at the door, she eventually did come over the door & landed on her nose! It seemed to shake her up & although she will still sometimes threaten, i don't think she wants to repeat the experience.

The other one is a 7 yr old cob gelding that we 'rescued' from a field. He'd grown up with gypsy's & probably never been stabled. He was very nervous & would rear up & put front two legs over the door, he looked very comical but would then panic as he felt trapped as he couldn't go backwards or forwards.

It has taken a lot of perseverance, bringing them in for loads of short periods of time. They always have a feed & haynet when they are in, i bring them in every day for 5-6 hours & are now also happy to be in overnight if i need them to be.

Good luck with your boy. I'm sure that he'll get used to it in time.
 
When you were bringing him in over the summer, did you build up the time he spent alone (without entertaining hard feed)?

Best approach is to bring in, leave stable, and as long as horse is quiet, return straight away and reward. Leave stable, wait a few seconds, and if horse is quiet, return and reward. Repeat, extended the time a little, and do say 5 each day. Key thing is... you must try to work within the window beforenhorse starts to get unsettled, and if he does get unsettled after a few seconds, try to wait a few seconds more until he stops moving/whinnying/creating a fuss, then return straight away. You want him to learn that being quiet and calm is what brings you back/gets him a reward/gets him out of the stable again.

At the moment, he's getting so wound up that you have to go back/remove him for his own safety, so he's learning that leaping around=getting out again.

This is not the same as leaving him to thrash it out... this can work, but carries the risk that, because the horse has never learned that stables are good places, you get the slightest thing out of sequence or upset, and you're back to square one. The key is to reward calm, and not expect him to be calm for long at the beginning, so start small :)
 
I honestly don't think a companion would help, he can see the mare fine, and he has even started doing it with me stood behind the grill, we have follow up, he does treat us as leader of the pack, so if he does it with me the other side of the door, he would do it with a horse nearby, This is a horse who will happily go for walks on his own and has been kept in his field on his own for weeks when the mares were hormonal and attacking him, he is as good as gold on his own, infact he walks out of the field leaving the mares behind, he is happy with us. So in my gut feeling with him having his paddy with me present I don't think touching another horse/sheep etc would work. He just wants OUT of the stable.
 
Brightbay said:
When you were bringing him in over the summer, did you build up the time he spent alone (without entertaining hard feed)?

Best approach is to bring in, leave stable, and as long as horse is quiet, return straight away and reward. Leave stable, wait a few seconds, and if horse is quiet, return and reward. Repeat, extended the time a little, and do say 5 each day. Key thing is... you must try to work within the window beforenhorse starts to get unsettled, and if he does get unsettled after a few seconds, try to wait a few seconds more until he stops moving/whinnying/creating a fuss, then return straight away. You want him to learn that being quiet and calm is what brings you back/gets him a reward/gets him out of the stable again.

At the moment, he's getting so wound up that you have to go back/remove him for his own safety, so he's learning that leaping around=getting out again.

This is not the same as leaving him to thrash it out... this can work, but carries the risk that, because the horse has never learned that stables are good places, you get the slightest thing out of sequence or upset, and you're back to square one. The key is to reward calm, and not expect him to be calm for long at the beginning, so start small :)[/QUOTE

I need to step back a bit to let you know what he was like....
We got him in January as feral, living in a herd, we spent 3 mths to get a halter on him through patience and kindness and 4000 packets of extra strong mints, we then sedated him and moved him in a trailer to this yard, he spent first few weeks on his own in the field because the mares tried to kill him, and he was happy with that, he couldn't touch them, they were 3 fields away, but could call them and see them, he came to us as pack leader and went from feral to calm, he is the most nicest well behaved horse you could ever meet, he knows boundaries, he knows not to step into my space and is mannerly, we have done alsorts with him over the summer, we popped him in the stable daily for a feed and because no grill up , and he did rears infront of the stable we felt we couldn't leave him alone, he was chilled in there and we got him out as soon as he finished grub, we have groomed him in the stable picked out feet etc all good, but no never built up time as we felt unsafe with no top door.
Roll on to last 2 weeks, we have popped up grill and boarded up side of walls to roof height with plyboard, he does have quiet moments in there, and we ignore all rears, the min he goes quiet for 10 - 15 mins we get him out on a good note. last week it was 45 mins rearing and 15 mins asleep and before he kicked off again we took him out. last 2 sessions we have said ok he can stay in longer, he can't get out, so let him get on with it, we have done 2.5-3 hrs and he got no better! Again took him out only when he was quiet. Perhaps you are right, perhaps we need to start over again with mini sessions. He will have to winter out on his own by night tho as the girls are elderly and need to come in, he will have them by day... again, i don't care about that as he has been on his own loads in the field and he's fine. There isn't any rush to stable him, I just feel he needs to learn as a smaller 2.5 yr old than a great bit 5 yr old!
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