What do you think I should do? (weaving!!)

Lexie81

Lexie81

Well-Known Member
Joined
30 April 2009
Messages
999
Visit site
My new loan horse arrived on Thursday afternoon. I have loaned her with a possible view to buy from a friend of a friend. Viewed her the week before where she was stabled 24/7 and turned out in the school for a stretch or ridden most days. I rode her when i tried her and she was fab and was also very quiet in the stable...I was really pleased and arranged for her owner to bring her to me.
I rent a stable and grazing on a private yard in the grounds of a house, my daughters pony is also kept there on grass livery, and we are the only liveries.
Since the horse arrived she has weaved an awful lot. Her owner did not tell she weaved when i tried her (I admit I didn't ask either) but when she dropped her off she did say she may weave a little while she was unsettled and at feed times...At present she is weaving the entire time anyone is on the yard, but once things are quiet she does stop (my husband and I hid and spied on her last night!)
Her owner told me she needed worming and YO asked me to worm her and keep her in for a couple of days before turning her out, which I have done. However now YO says she cannot go in the field at all incase she teaches her ponies to weave...she is convinced she will weave in the field. She has made it quite clear she doesnt want this horse on her yard and thinks i should be asking her owner to take her back.
My quandry is...i really like this horse. I want to turn her out and give her a chance, i just think she has been stabled a lot and would be much better rugged in a field being...well, a horse. She is such a sweet mare and just what I have been searching for. I love my yard though, its quiet, amazing hacking, fab school and my daughter is best friends with the YOs little girl and they love riding together and playing and she would be sad to leave

Ive spoken to a friend with her own grazing and she is happy to let me move her there temporarily where she could be out with others and I can see if she really will weave in the field. I will do this in the next day or so as I hate seeing her so stressed. I will leave our pony where he is for now and somehow manage to get to both yards for a few weeks, but wouldnt stay there long term as the roads for hacking are quite busy which is not ideal l for my daughter to ride on. If it works and she doesnt weave when in the field I will look for grazing as close to my current yard as possible so she can meet her friend for hacks..there are a few grass livery places near there..

Does this plan make any sense?? Am I mad to leave a lovely yard over this? Is it likely she will weave in the field?? aaaaaagggghhhhhh!!!!
 
She almost certainly won't weave in the field. Even if she does horses do not 'catch' stable vices from seeing others doing them so YO is being utterly ridiculous.

Why this myth persists is utterly beyond me. Grr. I'm sure that she will settle well in time and you will hardly see her doing it.
 
jesstickle said:
She almost certainly won't weave in the field. Even if she does horses do not 'catch' stable vices from seeing others doing them so YO is being utterly ridiculous.

Why this myth persists is utterly beyond me. Grr. I'm sure that she will settle well in time and you will hardly see her doing it.
Click to expand...

all of this/\/\/\!!!!
Thanks jesstickle, save me a lot of typing!!:D
 
What a difficult situation. Keeping the horse in is certainly going to make her worse. I think turning her out elsewhere is a good idea. She won't teach other horses to weave, even if she did do it in the field which is unlikely.
Good luck. I hope you can prove to the YO that she won't weave when turned out. It's so hard finding a horse that you like, it's worth doing everything you can to make it work out.
 
Thanks for the replies! I know, I took my daughter to a PC rally yesterday and was chatting it over with the instructors and some other horsey people who all said the same-that it isn't 'catching'!
 
My horse weaves when in the stable as there is something going on that she wants to get her nose into. She lives with my pony and one other horse, neither of the other 2 weave or have ever tried to copy her. She just gets frustrated at times. she is out all day in the paddock and has never done it out here.
 
As others have pointed out your YO is sadly talking rubbish. There is absolutely no evidence that horses learn to weave one from another.

If you like the horse find somewhere where she can have turn-out and enjoy her!
 
jesstickle said:
She almost certainly won't weave in the field. Even if she does horses do not 'catch' stable vices from seeing others doing them so YO is being utterly ridiculous.

Why this myth persists is utterly beyond me. Grr. I'm sure that she will settle well in time and you will hardly see her doing it.
Click to expand...


I have to say I have had horses for many years and I had a TB who cribbed like you wouln't believe, none of my other horses ever picked the habit up and another who weaved and again none of my other horses "caught" the habit either.
 
Littlepowderkeg said:
I have to say I have had horses for many years and I had a TB who cribbed like you wouln't believe, none of my other horses ever picked the habit up and another who weaved and again none of my other horses "caught" the habit either.
Click to expand...



when we got my sisters ex racer four months ago he weaved when he was unsettled and at feed times. we just ignored it and carried on as normal and he now hardly weaves at all. i would move and just let her settle, none of my other horses have caught on to the weaving.

xx
 
Your YO has made the problem worse by not letting the horse go out. No wonder she's weaving. I think it may be the case that there is not need to keep horses in after worming with modern wormers, cetainly not for a couple of days! Horses don't copy weaving.
I'd move yards and then the YO loses the income from two liveries.
 
jesstickle said:
She almost certainly won't weave in the field. Even if she does horses do not 'catch' stable vices from seeing others doing them so YO is being utterly ridiculous.

Why this myth persists is utterly beyond me. Grr. I'm sure that she will settle well in time and you will hardly see her doing it.
Click to expand...

This.

If you really like her then stick with it, tbh weaving wouldn't really bother me.
Are there any other yard you could move her to if the YO is funny about weaving?
 
I had a mare that was "an occasional weaver." So, a change of scene (moving home, going to a holiday livery), a stable she didn't like (she liked to be able to see as much as possible all around). I turned her out first thing in the morning, didn't make her wait in, and made the stable as welcoming as possible - plenty to eat and she could see out of the back as well as the front. Kept her out 24/7 in the summer, and into the autumn with a rug, although she came in during the really wet and cold weather. She settled down, and even survived a week's box rest at one tiime without weaving.

I sold her and the first new livery yard the owner went to she hated, and then at a second one (where she had a good view all the way round) she settled OK.

Sometimes things would set her off if she was in the field, like a strange trailer coming onto the yard, but mostly she was OK when out.

Mine was a lovely horse, really good to ride, so in a way it is a matter of being able to put up with this or not. You might try some sort of ulcer treatment and see if this helps as well.
 
My stallion started weaving when we had to separate him from his mare companion before she foaled. We put a talk grill in his stable and put his other favourite mare beside him and he stopped. He only weaves when we are turning out in the morning and is quite happy when out as long as he can count the girls!!
 
I'm encouraged to hear that some other people wouldn't be put off by weaving either! I have arranged for her to go to my friends on grass livery on Monday-thats the earliest I can get transport...tonight I brought her out and tied her outside her box while I skipped out and topped up her water and hay...it was dark and my daughter and the yard owners kids plus the dog were running around the woods behind her box shrieking and making a right old racket-she just stood and ate her hay net, didn't bat an eye lid...she is a sweetie and I can't wait to crack on with her!
 
Well done you! So glad you stuck to your guns and didnt listen to the twaddle your yard owner was spouting. Im sure your horse will be much happier out. If she does weave in the future dont let it put you off her (just put her somewhere nosy neighbours cant see!). I have a dreadful windsucking horse (really bad) but she is fabulous and now I am on my own yard (without people commenting all the time), it really doesnt bother me any more and it doesnt affect her performance, just have to keep an eye on her weight.
Hope the loan goes well and your horse rewards your kind thinking x
 
Thanks Jobird! It'll be a struggle for now with them both on different yards, but if she copes being out we'll find a field and shelter for them together...my fingers are firmly crossed!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top