Weaving!!

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Germolene

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Hi,
My new horse is a really bad weaver! I had her in trial for a week before I bought her (at a different yard) and she didn't weave at all. Now she's at my yard she is stressing out loads, I've had to change her paddock because she was pacing the fence ALL DAY and she was coming in sweating! Anyway in this new paddock she seems to be much calmer, no pacing at all but then I brought her in to the stable for the night and she started weaving like really manicly, kicking the door, whinnying etc. she was eating her feed and hay intermittently though, which was good.

I'm thinking of buying a herbal mix for her feed to help calm her, but I'm really not sure which one to try...does anybody recommend anything??

Ps: owner now stressed out lol. Might start weaving myself!
 
has she got other horses for company at your yard? i found that my mare was much calmer in a big yard with lots of horses and when i moved her to my current yard,( which i thought was nicer as she had much more turnout,) she was very unsettled in the stable for quite a while .. there is just one other horse at my yard, i was worried at first but she did evenutally calm down, i think it took about a month....
 
I recommend a stable mirror. It does sound like she is very lonely and stressed. Is she on her own? This will make her very worried. Is she brought in to stable on her own? This will also make her worried. Make things easier for her, horses beside her paddock if you can't do group turnout and try to make sure she has company in the stable.

Your yard is new, she's moved from all her friends and doesn't yet have any new ones. Of course she'll be unsettled. Please, whatever you do, don't get angry with her. She needs you to show that everything is OK at her new home.
 
The yard she's on now is much bigger and a lot more going on. She in a stable with a horse either side that she can see through the bars but she's still stressing out. She's not even made friends with any horses yet as she's in quarantine so it's not like she's fretting being apart from a certain horse either?!? I stood there watching her tonight, arms folded trying to work out why she was so stressed but she was just manic! She's got 2 licks up, hay nets etc so it can't be boredom surely. When I walked away she was kicking the door, but apparently before I got there this morning she was doing the same. I just hope she does calm down throughout the night and isn't doing it constantly. :/
 
Hi 9tails, yes I've just been reading about a stable mirror, I think I'll try magnesium powder too. I'm not angry with her at all, I'm just perplexed as to how stressed she is. She's allowed in the field with the horses in 2 weeks so hopefully this will help her, but I do worry that she'll never settle in a stable :(
 
Block up the bars. A lot of horses don't like to have their personal space invaded by strangers. She's fretting that she has LOST all her friends by moving, she's fretting for her old life.
 
Yes she obviously needs a lot more time to take it all in. It's just my other horse that I've now retired it sooo relaxed and laid back its just a shock to see this behaviour. I suppose patience is the key and she's obviously a lot more sensitive than all the other horses I've spent time with. Bless her
 
I'd second the stable mirror idea and also try to make sure that she is not the last one to be turned out or the first one to be brought in so that she is never on her own. My horse tends to weave if she is stressed and can't ever be left on her own or else she goes totally nuts. She is very sensitive and quite scary when she goes off on one :eek: It can take weeks for them to settle at a new yard, but a stable mirror really made a significant difference to my stress head horse. Good luck, hope she chills out a bit soon. xx
 
She's not even made friends with any horses yet as she's in quarantine
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No she's not - she has horses either side of her.

Get her some company, and give her time to settle. The weaving will abate, but stresses such as moving yards can exacerbate it.
 
Well I went to the yard expecting the worst this morning and there she was, stood really relaxed, no weaving and not kicking the door! I was made up. I just hope this is the start of her feeling more settled, but we shall see tonight :/
 
My tb weaves. Funnily the only time he stopped completely was a short period at a new yard where the boxes were indoor with metal bars between the horses. He was there 5 months on box rest and never weaved once!
I did see other horses extremely distressed though about the bars situation and fights were common so this may need addressing? It's fairly easy to attach wooden boards to the bars, they can be removed in minutes if you ever leave.
Weaving happens when the horse is at her most stressed which moving yard obviously causes so I'd expect her to improve when she settles and gets into a routine etc but she will probably always revert back to it from time to time. Mine often weaves when I am making his feed, filling his hay or if other horses are being turned out.
 
I guess when you've never had a weaving horse before you think it's a major problem, but as you say, it's what they do when they're stressed about something. I found that her weaving wasn't as bad when I wasn't near her stable?? Odd, maybe I'm making her stressed.

I've just bought some new feed, think its d&h cool mix which contains some magnesium in it so we'll see how that goes. :)
 
I think you have to do what you can then just try really hard not to let it bother you! I hated it so much at first and then each winter when he comes in at first I feel really stressy about it, as if he's miserable but tbh I don't think he's any more unhappy than my other horse it's just habit now!
 
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