FinkleyAlex
Well-Known Member
So I've had my 2yo (officially 2 years and 6 weeks!) for coming up to two months now - we have had ups and downs but I've been SO pleased with his progress, especially picking up his feet which he does perfectly. He leads nicely, has good manners generally, ties up and picks feet up etc. He lives out 24/7 in a double field ie. two fields conjoined with the gate in the fencing separating them left open, with a bay mare who arrived a week before him, and then a shetland. Bay mares owner is the AWOL type, though she is apparently leaving in a week to be covered (I'm sceptical this will happen given his AWOLness!). I lead my boy across the field to the far side which has an enclosed section where he gets his dinner and has his feet picked out before joining the rest of the herd.
He formed a strong friendship with the bay mare from the start, and its gotten to the point where if I lead him to the enclosed section she will follow all the way and wait outside for him to rejoin her. If she gets bored and strays away from the gate where she waits for him, then my 2yo starts to get a little nervy. If I try leading him around the field she follows him then too, with the shetland eventually trailing after.
I had a horrible situation today - all three ponies have been sectioned into one half of the fields (the nearside, out of sight of the enclosure), the other is resting for another lady who brings her horses there for a month or two in summer to rest her field. I led mine out of the nearside field, leaving the bay mare and shetland behind, then walked him across the resting field to my enclosure to give him his grub. Bay mare went BONKERS screaming and running up and down the fence dividing the two fields. This set my 2yo off neighing back and being a bit of an arse, but I had him walking nicely and then all of a sudden he was on two legs rearing and flaying the front two at me! I gave a sharp tug and a big NO and down he got (giving him the benefit of the doubt as he's never done that before) and got to the enclosure. He had a few mouthfuls but was too worried to eat, and I didn't want to wind him up more so when he was calm he was walked nicely back to the other field - once he was in they were both fine.
My dilemma is that he needs to be separated to be fed (he does not do well off the grass alone). These are my only options at the moment:
1) continue walking 2yo across the farside field, out of the sight of bay mare and giving feed in the enclosure where my feed room is, and correct any bad behaviour whilst hoping he doesn't really turn nutty without her.
2) take him out of their field, into the farside field and feed just on the other side of the fence where he can see bay mare (until the other ladies horses come for their summer holiday, whereby that field will be in use). I'm not sure if this would just be enabling his behaviour as he'll never learn to be apart from her?
A teenager down the road says she has seen my 2yo try to suckle from the bay mare (who i'm guessing has been a broodie before given her AWOL owner's status as breeder). I don't know if she genuinely thinks he's her foal or something but their separation anxiety is obviously more of a problem then I ever realised before. How do I try and get this under control until the bay mare eventually leaves? (and I will genuinely not sleep the night before she does as 2yo will not take it well!).
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He formed a strong friendship with the bay mare from the start, and its gotten to the point where if I lead him to the enclosed section she will follow all the way and wait outside for him to rejoin her. If she gets bored and strays away from the gate where she waits for him, then my 2yo starts to get a little nervy. If I try leading him around the field she follows him then too, with the shetland eventually trailing after.
I had a horrible situation today - all three ponies have been sectioned into one half of the fields (the nearside, out of sight of the enclosure), the other is resting for another lady who brings her horses there for a month or two in summer to rest her field. I led mine out of the nearside field, leaving the bay mare and shetland behind, then walked him across the resting field to my enclosure to give him his grub. Bay mare went BONKERS screaming and running up and down the fence dividing the two fields. This set my 2yo off neighing back and being a bit of an arse, but I had him walking nicely and then all of a sudden he was on two legs rearing and flaying the front two at me! I gave a sharp tug and a big NO and down he got (giving him the benefit of the doubt as he's never done that before) and got to the enclosure. He had a few mouthfuls but was too worried to eat, and I didn't want to wind him up more so when he was calm he was walked nicely back to the other field - once he was in they were both fine.
My dilemma is that he needs to be separated to be fed (he does not do well off the grass alone). These are my only options at the moment:
1) continue walking 2yo across the farside field, out of the sight of bay mare and giving feed in the enclosure where my feed room is, and correct any bad behaviour whilst hoping he doesn't really turn nutty without her.
2) take him out of their field, into the farside field and feed just on the other side of the fence where he can see bay mare (until the other ladies horses come for their summer holiday, whereby that field will be in use). I'm not sure if this would just be enabling his behaviour as he'll never learn to be apart from her?
A teenager down the road says she has seen my 2yo try to suckle from the bay mare (who i'm guessing has been a broodie before given her AWOL owner's status as breeder). I don't know if she genuinely thinks he's her foal or something but their separation anxiety is obviously more of a problem then I ever realised before. How do I try and get this under control until the bay mare eventually leaves? (and I will genuinely not sleep the night before she does as 2yo will not take it well!).
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