Will he calm down?

[nedzy]

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Last weekend I finally took the plunge, thanks to advice and comments on here, and moved my horse from Full livery yard to DIY. He travelled well, was stabled for 48 hours calmly (for worming), even went and wandered around the menage calmly. However, now that he has been out and made some new chums he doesn't like being in or out on his own. Tonight I thought I would bring him in out of pouring rain but as he was first in, he went mental. He has lived alone previously and been fine. He is on Supercalm to help with the move, the on the whole he is usually quite mellow. I'm just worrying now that as I work shifts, that there will be times when he is in or out alone. If I ask if I can bring another livery's horse in when I bring him in, I will still have this problem when I want to ride. Will he settle back down or has full livery got him stuck into the routine of coming in and out with his friends?

 

[w1bbler]

Took mine about 2 weeks to adjust from full livery to DIY yard. Have 3 horses that all moved at once so they didn't have the excuse of being alone, they were just nutters for a while, even the elderly bomb proof cob. Give time to adjust, he doesn't know why everything has changed, but once he knows meals still arrive etc I'm sure it'll be fine.

 

[rockysmum]

Many years ago my mare spent the summer living with a herd of cows. She appeared to be happy enough.

Moved her to a livery yard and she became a major stress head if she couldn't see other horses. Even jumped her stable door one day when the ones either side went out hacking.

She never really got over it, made me feel very guilty for keeping her on her own.

The others I have had have stressed for a while after a move and then settled down well.

 

[Brightbay]

You say he was OK in on his own before... but that was in a place that he knew.

Give him time to settle in, and for the new place and stable to become familiar, and you should find he will be fine in on his own for a while again

Put yourself in his place... Are you OK alone in your house at night? If you hear a creaky noise, you know what it is. Now, imagine you're in an unfamiliar house - an old dark one - all on your own, and you hear a loud creak. How much more scary is it in the unfamiliar house than in the familiar one? How long in the new house before you feel OK about all the odd noises? And if you're in the new house, but with a friend, how much better do you feel about the scary noises?

It's the same for horses