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Discussion on Herd Bound Overnight? | |
Author | Message |
Member: beckyo |
Posted on Tuesday, Apr 15, 2008 - 10:56 pm: My horse has started acting crazy. When I bought him back (I sold him a few years ago) in November, I brought him to a new barn. This is the first time he's been at a place with no trainer, and no one to give me advice. He had lost weight and now is put in stall twice a day for an hour and a half each time to be fed. All the rest of the time he is turned out to pasture with the rest of the horses. Starting a few days ago, he began to act nuts. He still greets me at the gate when I arrive, he will head there as soon as he hears my car approach. But he does not want to go in his stall. When I put his feed inside, he will go in, take a bite, and round on the door as if to yell "Don't shut me in!" I talk to him for a few minutes till he settles down, and go back to work. When I come back two hours later, he is spinning in his stall, kicking the walls and ramming the door with his chest (huge bald spot now). When I open the door to let him out, he goes from standing still to dead gallop in one stride, runs to where the other horses are in the pasture cuts around and through them, runs circles around them, then finally settles down to graze. This only started in the last few days (since Saturday afternoon).Our barn is very country. All the owners work different hours, so all the horses are fed at different times. I cannot control the fact that he is put up to eat when they are not. There are no mares in the pasture, so no one is in heat. I realize this is herd bound behavior, but is there anything I can do to settle him in his stall? And does this type of behavior usually come on so suddenly? The only thing I can think of is he is trying to be the boss of the pasture. In the past he was at every place I boarded him at. Since buying him back and bringing him to this place he has not been. The boss here is an ancient tiny pony who can't even see over his stall door. I haven't notice any aggression toward any specific horse. He runs through them separating them a bit, then rounds them up. Any ideas on how to settle him down? I was thinking maybe I can feed him in the round pen in the middle of the pasture so he can have a better view of the other horses. He can't always see them when he's in the barn, and I've noticed it is worse if he can't see them. Thanks for any help. Becky |
Moderator: DrO |
Posted on Wednesday, Apr 16, 2008 - 6:28 am: Hello Becky,I recommend you make a clean break with this herd for a period. Move the horse away for several weeks until he settles down then try to reintroduce him into the herd. This is likely to be a problem that extends to when you go riding and the quicker you address it the better. DrO |
Member: scooter |
Posted on Wednesday, Apr 16, 2008 - 6:31 am: Hi Becky, I was going to suggest reading the article, but there doesn't seem to be one.Do you plan on riding this horse? What are you feeding him when he is in his stall? There a couple things that come to mind. My horses don't like stalls either, but sometimes it is necsecary to use them. With mine I had them stay in them until calm and they realized they were OK. If you can do it safely, when you get back to turn him out, put the halter and rope on and go in the stall and brush him, pick his feet out, ect. until he calms down. Then don't just open the door and let him gallop out...very bad and dangerous habit IMO. Lead him somewhere to hand graze away from the herd, yet can still see them. Put him back in the stall give a treat of some sort...something he really likes (in feed pan). when he finishes the treat and before he starts loosing it Lead him out and when he is standing CALMLY let him go. If he acts like he is going to bolt when let loose, sometimes facing them away from the herd helps. Or put a horse in next to him if possible. Or if he is going in just to get extra groceries and you don't want to deal with it, don't bring him into the stall, sounds like he is burning them off with the extra anxiety anyway, and spend the time walking him away from the herd and getting use to being alone. I'm sure others will have better ideas, but this has worked for my herd bound, don't wanna be stalled animals....takes time. |
Member: beckyo |
Posted on Wednesday, Apr 16, 2008 - 8:35 am: When I owned this horse previously, he was always kind of wild. Please don't mistake that for mean, he would never try to hurt anyone, let's just say VERY energetic. The reason I sold him was because I had two small children and no time to ride, and I couldn't find anyone to ride him for me. Since buying him back in the fall, he has been very calm, almost a different horse. He lost a lot of weight over the winter, and I was scared to ride him, I actually left a post on this a couple of weeks ago. I wanted him to gain weight back before I rode again. His weight has come back up. We're not where we need to be, but almost there.He gets 3 lbs of Triple Crown Low Starch and 1 and a half flakes of hay twice daily. He has never had this behavior before, and it only started a few days ago. Frankly I would not feel safe going in the stall with him. I've tried standing at the stall door talking to him, but this isn't working. Moving him someplace else is not an option. Frankly there isn't any other place, unless I drive 45 min. to an hour. In that case I would hardly have a chance to see him. The funny thing is, I don't usually have a lead rope on him. He comes and meets me at the gate, follows me to the barn and goes in the stall on his own (or sticks his head in the feed room to see what's taking me so long) The impatience when I first put him in, settles after a moment. I haven't left him there until I'm sure he's settled down. Today I'm thinking I'm not going to feed him in the stall, I'll halter him and bring him out and brush him while he's eating. As far as riding him goes, I was planning to start ground work again within the next week. Under saddle, this horse is a dream. He spooks at nothing and will go anywhere I ask. He'll go English, Western, or Running Walk all day long, even if he isn't in shape. I have to hold him back to keep him from hurting himself. One thing I know is he LOVES to be ridden, especially trail rides. I thought he had settled down in his old age, but maybe he wasn't feeling well when I bought him back? If that's the case, my boy is feelin' better now! |
Member: terrido |
Posted on Wednesday, Apr 16, 2008 - 10:08 am: This sounds like herd behavior, and they do tend to bond to a 'herd' rapidly. It's their nature after all.I would feed him outside in the open if you can, somewhere. I realize you probably give him the food and then go and do chores of some sort to occupy your time. But if you can stand with him while he eats and allow him to be out in the open to eat I think he would settle better. If he feels a bit of alpha role in this herd he will be antsy when out of sight of them, he is in charge of their care. Most of this can settle into a routine once he realizes it's a routine, that is if you are consistent in your times daily. After about 30 days he'll know the drill and will really settle better. Well unless a new horse is introduced into 'his herd' and then he'll again get very anxious and would want to be out with them to protect them. DrO is right though if he is getting this attached to the herd you need to work on separation or you will have your hands full riding him. Personally, I highly recommend using a method to gain his trust again. See https://www.thenaturalhorse.org/ Once you have his trust the herd-bound behavior will diminish quite a bit. Did for my horse anyway. good luck. I do highly agree you cannot allow him to bolt of and away. Again much of this is his eagerness to leave you and get back to the herd. And again his trust in you plays a huge part. But regardless you cannot allow this to happen. |
Member: ajudson1 |
Posted on Wednesday, Apr 16, 2008 - 10:34 am: I've got a young mare that does this. She don't always act this way but it's like every few months we go through the same thing. She'll race into her stall at a trot, barge past me in or out of the stall. Leaving her in alone, she also goes nuts. She'll knock me down if I don't move!So we go back to the respect thing. I don't have halters on my horses, so I just loop a twine over her nose and make her stand. Or stand, back, stand. I do it as long as it takes for her to be quietly standing there. (works best when letting her out, otherwise the other horses are trying to get in too) I'll do even more with the halter on and the twine over her nose to reinforce my actions. I leave her in the stall for a day or 2 straight. Brush her; make her move so that she is always facing me in the stall. Now that spring seems to be finally here, I'll repeat round pen training with her to get her back on track even better. And everyone else's advice is wonderful. I'd work on the running into stall thing first though so you don't get hurt. |
Member: beckyo |
Posted on Wednesday, Apr 16, 2008 - 1:24 pm: So this morning I tried to feed him in the open. I led him just outside the pasture with his halter on. He stood quietly the entire time. He didn't act up at all. When I turned him back, I led him back in, he stood quietly and walked off nicely. It was just like none of this ever happened.Now I did hear that he and the "Boss" pony got into yesterday evening. Apparently this tiny pony maybe 13hh, chased my 16.3 hand horse 10 laps at a dead gallop, until the pony gave up (I didn't know he had it in him) because he couldn't catch my horse. I'm wondering if that settled their "Boss" competition and that is why he settled down today. Something that was suggested to me is that in November when I got him back, he immediately started losing weight. My friend has suggested that he just wasn't well then, and now that he's feeling better he's going to act feisty again. I think I'm going to continue to feed him outside the gate like I did this morning. Spring is coming in, so his food will be cut down and I can stay with him while he eats. I used to do this, but this winter I had to up his feed so much it took 2 hours for him to eat each time. As much as I love him, it is not possible for me to be there for 4 hours everyday. But with the lightening of feed, and the need for hay going down I can do this again now. I just found it strange. He's been at this place for 5 months now and just started this now. Terrie, thanks for the link, I'll look that up when I get home tonight. Angie I think that's a good idea. I'll spend some time with him this weekend getting him to stand quietly. Thanks everybody! Becky |
Member: paardex |
Posted on Thursday, Apr 17, 2008 - 6:30 am: Good chance he is feeling MUCH better then he did! Sometimes I wonder why we try to get them in a condition that allows them to make our lives difficult as possible[and to make the fun complete shoe them so if they stand on our toes it really hurts!]Good luck Jos |